Seven Rules to Help Fight Diabetes

1. Eat more often
Start your day by eating breakfast, then go no more than five waking hours without a meal or snack.

By keeping food in your system, you avoid wild fluctuations in blood glucose – deep valleys brought on by skipping meals or eating them late, and high peaks caused by a surge in glucose when you finally get something into your stomach. But just as important, you keep your appetite under control by not letting hunger build to the point where you’re ravenous.

Eating more often means, for a start, eating breakfast every day. According to several studies, this not only helps to keep your blood glucose levels stable, it also helps you to eat fewer kilojoules throughout the day. What’s more, it boosts your metabolism so you burn more kilojoules.

Research suggests that adopting this simple habit can result in striking health benefits. For example, a report presented to the American Heart Association in 2003 found that rates of obesity and metabolic problems such as insulin resistance were 35 to 50 per cent lower in those who ate breakfast.

If you’re planning a late lunch or dinner, you’ll need to have a snack in between. Again, the aim is to keep your blood glucose levels steady and make sure you never become too hungry.