10 Tips to Lower Blood Sugar Naturally

It’s the Holy Grail for people with diabetes: Checking your blood sugar and seeing the numbers right in line. Can lifestyle changes help? Yes, saysJill Weisenberger, RDN, a diabetes nutrition expert based in Newport News, Virginia.

如果您患有糖尿病，降低血糖不仅是一个短期目标 -according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)，有助于预防或延迟diabetes complications, including heart, kidney, eye, and nerve diseases. It can change the course of the disease entirely.

“It's 100 percent important that [people with type 2 diabetes] try and lower their blood sugars through dietary approaches first,” says杰西卡·克兰德尔·斯奈德（Jessica Crandall Snyder，RD），CDCES理查德·道金斯在丹佛,至关重要的。“对一些人来说,它没有t only can be preventive, but it can also help with reversal of the actual disease.”

Crandall Snyder says making a few key lifestyle changes can sometimes eliminate the need for medication. “Poking yourself with insulin isn't fun,” she says. “Diabetes is a progressive disease, and you really have to figure out how to take control.”

Here are 10 ways to do it, no prescriptions required.

1. Keep an Eye on Your Carb Intake

Paying attention tocarbohydratesis important for people with type 2 diabetes. “Carbs are what cause your blood sugars to potentially fluctuate,” Crandall Snyder says.

How many carbs per meal is ideal? “It’s tailored to each individual,” says Weisenberger. How much you exercise, your weight, and your age can all affect how long sugars stay in your system,according to the CDC。A typical starting point for people with diabetes is to limit carb intake to 200 to 245 grams (g) per day, which amounts to about one-half of your daily calories coming from carbs, according to the CDC. From there, make adjustments according to your blood glucose readings or as recommended by a dietitian, Crandall Snyder says.

And keep in mind thatcarbs aren’t only found in the usual culprits，例如面包，土豆和意大利面。克兰德尔·斯奈德（Crandall Snyder）说，它们还在水果，蔬菜，糖果和乳制品中，因此您也必须考虑所有这些因素。

RELATED:8 Fruits That Are Good for People With Diabetes

2. Avoid Eating Large Meals

One way to keep carbs under control is by eating in moderation. “I always tell my patients to spread their food out over the day,” Weisenberger says. “Don’t eat small meals to save up for a big dinner.” Feeding your body throughout the day helps regulate your blood sugar levels and prevents highs and lows, Crandall Snyder says.

Weisenberger和Crandall Snyder都说，即使在零食时也要关注碳水化合物。克兰德尔·斯奈德（Crandall Snyder）说：“从经典上讲，每次零食少于15克碳水化合物是一种很好的标准方法。”她说，这是关于1杯水果中发现的。

3. Fill Up on Fiber

Fiberis another nutrient you’ll want to keep an eye on for blood sugar management, but in this case, the more the better! It can help stabilize your blood sugars, Crandall Snyder says. It also plays a role in weight management and can lower your risk of cardiovascular disease,according to a review published in September 2017 inAdvances in Obesity Weight Management & Control。

Fiber plays a preventative role, too. Studies have found that high-fiber diets can reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes by 15 to 19 percent compared to low-fiber diets,according to a March 2018 study published in the脊椎治疗杂志。

You’ll find fiber inplant foodssuch asraspberries, peas, and whole grains,according to the Mayo Clinic。豆是纤维的另一个良好来源。患有2型糖尿病的人至少吃一杯豆类（beans、鹰嘴豆和lentils) daily for three months had lower blood glucose levels as measured by theA1Ctest,according to a study published in theArchives of Internal Medicine。(A1Cis a way to measure your average blood glucose levels over a three-month period,according to MedlinePlus。) Beans also are an excellent source of folate, which is linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, a commondiabetes complication,according to the National Institutes of Health。

男人应以每天30至38 g的纤维瞄准，而女性应每天吃21至25克，according to the Mayo Clinic。

RELATED:2型糖尿病患者的7个健康进餐技巧

4. Get More Quality Shuteye

贫穷或有限sleepaffects body chemistry, and getting more slumber helps with blood sugar control, Weisenberger says. Chronic lack of sleep may contribute to the risk of type 2 diabetes,according to a small study published in糖尿病学in February 2015。Healthy volunteers who slept only four hours for three nights in a row had higher levels of fatty acids in their blood, which reduced insulin’s ability to regulate blood sugar by about 23 percent, the researchers found. Lack of sleep is also linked with other health conditions, including obesity, heart disease, and stroke,according to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School。

The National Sleep Foundationrecommends aiming for seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep per night.

Having sleep troubles? Follow these recommendations from the National Sleep Foundation:

• Sleep in a cool, dark room.
• Avoid consuming alcohol orcaffeinein the hours before bed.
• Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day, even on the weekends.
• Don’t look at screens for at least a half hour before bedtime, including TV, tablets, cell phones, and computers.

5.减肥一点

Carrying around extra weight is one of the main causes ofinsulin resistance, keeping the blood sugar-loweringhormonefrom working properly,according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases。

Your weight-loss goals don’t have to be enormous either. Some of Weisenberger’s patients have seen improvements in blood glucose readings with only a five-pound loss, she says. Makes sense:发表在American Journal of Preventative Medicinefound modest weight loss — losing 5 to 10 percent of body weight — resulted in improved insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. “Small steps in the right direction can yield big results in improvement or prevention,” Crandall Snyder says.

RELATED:如果您管理2型糖尿病，则8个步骤进行减肥成功

6.多喝水

Staying hydratedis an easy way to stay in control of your blood sugar levels.A previous studyfound the more water study participants drank, the less likely they were to develop高血糖。More specifically, the study found people who drank less than ½ liter of water per day were at increased risk of developing blood sugar issues.

The idea is that water helps flush glucose out of the body. “Having a glass of water can be really helpful in essentially diluting your blood sugar and lowering your blood sugar in a healthy way,” Crandall Snyder says.

7. Get a Handle on Stress

When you’restressed out, your blood sugar tends to rise, Crandall Snyder says.According to the Diabetes Teaching Center at the University of California in San Francisco, when you’re stressed, insulin levels fall, certain hormones rise, and more glucose is released from the liver, which ends up in the blood stream and can cause disruptions for up to eight hours.

How can you burn off tension?Yoga和meditationcan help people lower their blood sugar levels, Weisenberger says.A December 2014 study published in theJournal of Physical Therapy Scienceinvolving 27 nursing students and found a combination of yoga and meditation practiced for one hour once a week led to reduced levels of stress and lower blood glucose levels after 12 weeks.

Crandall Snyder also suggests taking a few deep breaths, going for a walk, playing with your dog for a few minutes, or listening to a fun song. Basically “whatever you can do to distract yourself for a few minutes and just lower your breathing rate” will help, she says. Indeed, theCDC注释that less water in your body is liked with a higher blood sugar concentration.

RELATED:压力的来源是你的血糖波动吗?

8. Never Skip Eating Breakfast

We’ve all heard that breakfast is the day’s most important meal. This is especially true for those who have diabetes. “I thinkeating breakfastis important, especially with potential risk forhypoglycemia和avoiding potential highs related to fasting for too long a period of time,” Crandall Snyder says.

A high-proteinbreakfast has an edge over breakfasts that are high in carbohydrates,according to research from The University of Missouri-Columbia。In the research, women ages 18 to 55 consumed meals with similar calories,fat, and fiber contents — but differing amounts of protein. Researchers monitored the amount of glucose and insulin in the participants’ blood for four hours after they ate breakfast. The best breakfasts contained 39 g of protein and led to lower post-meal glucose spikes than the meals with less protein, the researchers found.

Besides, eating breakfast may help overweight people with type 2 diabetes shed extra pounds. Of the participants in the国家体重控制登记处who maintained at least a 30-pound weight loss for at least one year, 78 percent said they eat breakfast daily.

9. Add More Resistant Starch to Your Plate

Resistant starch — found in some potatoes and beans — bypasses the small intestine and ferments in the large intestine, which means it doesn’t raise glucose levels and promotes the growth of good bacteria in the body,according to Johns Hopkins Medicine。“It’s a fiber-filled starch and helps with glycemic control,” saysJoelle Malinowski, RD, a certified diabetes care and education specialist with Ellis Medicine in Schenectady, New York. And the effect will last through your next meal, Weisenberger says. “It’s called the ‘second-meal effect,’” she says.

Interestingly, resistant starch can change with heat, and some foods, likerice, are higher in resistant starch when cooked and cooled than when cooked and served warm,according to Johns Hopkins Medicine。

Resistant starches are also found in:

• Plantains and unripebananas
• 豆类，豌豆和小扁豆
• 全谷物，包括燕麦和barley

Just be sure to keep carb count in mind when incorporating foods with resistant starch into your diet.

10. Ramp Up Your Movement Each Day

Exercise helps improve blood glucose in people with type 2 diabetes通过提高胰岛素敏感性和人体将葡萄糖用作能量的能力，according to the American Diabetes Association。“In type 2, exercise helps improveinsulin resistance,” saysJames G. Beckerman, MD, a心脏病专家in Portland, Oregon. “The end result is lower blood sugars.”

Crandall Snyder tells patients that exercise is like spring cleaning for the body. “It takes the stored form of glucose and uses it for energy so the next time you eat carbohydrates there's a place to put it,” she says.

Because exercise can immediately reduce blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes,work with your healthcare teamto determine the right amount of activity and timing for you.一项于2017年9月发表的研究Frontiers in Endocrinologyfound exercising 30 minutes after the start of a meal is usually best for maintaining blood sugar controls.

RELATED:7 Tips for Staying Motivated to Exercise When Managing Diabetes

Learn more about managing your blood sugar in Diabetes Daily's article "HbA1C: Everything You Need to Know。"