Resources to Help You Prevent or Reverse Type 2 Diabetes

Christine Lehmann, the Reverse Diabetes Coach

Resources

These resources will help you reverse diabetes naturally by showing you how to prepare and cook healthy delicious meals, exercise and manage your stress.

FOOD:

I recommend a balanced Paleo diet for women with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes made up of gluten-free and unprocessed whole food. To get your free low-carb shopping list, meal plans and printable recipes, download my free Quick Start Guide to a Paleo Diet.

Buy fresh, local, and seasonal food from farmers, if possible. Good soil has a lot of minerals so the fresher the food, the more nutrients it has.
Buy organic vegetables and fruit without toxic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Ask your grocer/farmer about chemical use. Organic pesticides are available.
Buy pastured, grass-fed beef, lamb, pork and chicken for leaner meat with more Omega 3. Grass-fed and grass-finished is the best choice because the animals have not been fed any grain or corn from start to finish.
Avoid meat from animals treated with antibiotics and hormones. Instead, buy meat from local farmers who treat their animals and the environment humanely.
Buy wild-caught fish rather than farm-raised fish. A study found levels of dioxins, chlorinated pesticides, PCBs and other contaminants up to ten times greater in farmed salmon than wild Pacific salmon.
Buy only gluten-free grains such as steel-cut oats or quinoa and eat only in small amounts. Gluten can trigger inflammation in people with type 2 diabetes. Avoid grains altogether if you have Celiac Disease.

Prepare food properly to preserve as many nutrients as possible.

Since heating can deplete nutrients, use low heat when cooking. Do not fry food, which adds extra calories.
Eat raw vegetables and fruit, including the skin (not avocados) for extra vitamins, minerals and fiber. According to the US Department of Agriculture, a large red apple with its skin intact contains about 5 grams of fiber, 13 milligrams of calcium, 239 milligrams of potassium, and 10 milligrams of vitamin C.
Blend or juice fruit and vegetables if you can’t digest them raw. Juicing loses some vitamins and minerals.
Prepare, cook, and eat most of your meals at home so you can control the ingredients and preparation.

Here are my favorite Paleo cookbooks for your reverse diabetes diet and meditation guidebooks to reduce stress.

Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle

The 21-Day Sugar Detox Cookbook: Over 100 Recipes for Any Program Level

Make-Ahead Paleo: Healthy Gluten-, Grain- & Dairy-Free Recipes Ready When & Where You Are

How To Meditate: Meditation Techniques For Beginners Guide Book

How to Meditate: A Practical Guide

Mediterranean Paleo Cooking

EXERCISE

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends five 30 minute aerobic sessions per week along with two strength training sessions. I have found combining aerobic exercise with strength training and stretching works best. The key is finding activities you enjoy so you will do them consistently.

You want to have a positive experience so I recommend starting with low-impact activities such as walking, swimming, yoga or Pilates, and brief strength training and toning exercises. You can always increase the intensity (i.e. power walking/jogging), duration (double or triple the time), and frequency (repetitions).

When you exercise moderately, your heart beasts a little faster and you breathe a little harder. Your muscles use more sugar in your blood stream, which can lower your blood sugar levels. It also makes the insulin in your body work better. You’ll get these benefits for hours afterwards.

Developing muscle tone is also important (no-one wants to look flabby, right?) You can tone with brief exercises that shape and strengthen your muscles. To jumpstart your muscle-toning, I recommend Lani Muelrath’s Fit Quickies which are great for busy people because each of the 10 video/audio exercises are 7 minutes or less.

STRESS MANAGEMENT:

Living with diabetes can make you sad or unhappy at times. Stress not only affects your mood, but it can raise your blood sugar, too. Stress might also cause you to make poor food choices. Meditation and yoga are proven ways to de-stress.

Meditation:

Just doing 5 to 10 deep breaths has a positive effect on your body. You can breathe in relaxation and light and breathe out anxiety, stress and negative energy. Research shows that even a very simple meditation produced sustained physiological benefits such as reduced heart, metabolic, and breathing rates. Meditation has definitely lowered my blood pressure by 20 points.

There are many free or inexpensive resources to guide your meditation, including online classes, videos and my favorite book How to Meditate by Kathleen McDonald.

Yoga:

If you practice even a beginner’s yoga, you will have a more flexible and toned body. Yoga incorporates deep breathing with a variety of poses that stretch and strengthen the body. Anyone who has ever held the plank or downward dog pose can relate.

There are many forms of yoga, including Vinyasa, Hatha, and Kundalini. You can read more about styles of yoga and take online yoga classes from the comfort of your home or anywhere you have an Internet connection.