Celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak breaks down ways to treat and prevent diabetes during the pandemic
If you’ve been stress eating and working out less during the pandemic, you’re not alone. But fitness and health expert Harley Pasternak warns that getting into the habit of living that way can put you at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. “Americans are not supposed to eat more than 30 grams of sugar a day,” Pasternak tells Yahoo Life. “Usually they consume 70 grams of sugar a day and, depending on what you read right now, Americans might be consuming over 100 grams of sugar every single day.” That can lead to negative consequences, including type 2 diabetes, he says. “That's why it's so important we manage our sugar intake,” Pasternak says. 1. Read labels. “Make sure your meals are less than 10 grams of sugar and snacks less than five grams of sugar,” Pasternak says. 2. Remove trigger foods from your life.Everyone has treats they love, and it can be hard to resist temptation when they’re right in front of you. “Make sure you remove those trigger foods in your house, that late night, sugary cereal in the cupboard or that ice cream in the freezer,” Pasternak says. “Get them out.” He also recommends doing your best to avoid those foods when you’re out, too, like bypassing a coffee shop with delicious pastries for one that doesn’t have treats. 3. Eat the good stuff. “Make sure that you're filling yourself up with the right foods so that you don't have a low blood sugar,” Pasternak says. He recommends loading up on healthy fats like nuts, seeds, olives, and avocados, high-fiber foods like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, and quality proteins like seafood, chicken, and dairy. 4. Exercise regularly. “Exercise is a very important tool in managing our blood sugar,” Pasternak says. “Every time we move, we require energy. Sugar is a simple carbohydrate that's used as a fast form of energy. So walking, jogging, dancing, all of these are forms of aerobic activity that help burn carbohydrates, energy, and eventually sugar immediately.” 5. Get plenty of sleep. “Sleep is an important element in making sure that we have stable blood sugars, that we have healthy metabolisms,” Pasternak says. And, he adds, if you don’t get enough sleep, it can lead to poor food choices. 6. Watch your alcohol and caffeine intake. Pasternak recommends removing alcohol from your evening routine. “Alcohol is the most commonly used sleep aid in the United States,” he says. “It also disrupts the quality of our sleep almost more than anything else. So, kick alcohol to the curb.” Caffeine can also disrupt your sleep if you have it too late in the afternoon, he points out.
Video Transcript
HARLEY PASTERNAK: The coronavirus quarantine has really led to people changing the way they live their lives. One in 10 Americans has diabetes. One in three Americans is a pre-diabetic. And if they don't change the way they're living, they could end up as part of that stat.
Americans are not supposed to eat more than 30 grams of sugar a day. A lot of Americans are consuming nearly triple the amount of daily sugar that they should. Research shows that after you have a high sugar meal, your immune system is actually suppressed for two to three hours and does not function as well as it normally should.
Other studies have shown that certain viruses, like a coronavirus, has a sweet tooth and over 80% of the cells that it attaches to ourselves covered with sugar. Make sure your meals are less than 10 grams of sugar and snacks less than five grams of sugar. Make sure that you're filling yourself up with the right foods, healthy fats, like nuts, seeds, olives, avocados, high fiber foods, like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, and quality proteins, like seafood, chicken, dairy, and vegetable sources of protein.
Americans are moving 30% less than they did a year ago at this time. Every time we move, we require energy. Walking, jogging, dancing, all of these are forms of aerobic activity that help burn carbohydrates, energy, and eventually, sugar. And then we have a resistance exercise, weight training with our body weights, dumbbells, cables, resistance bands. All of these make our muscles stronger and more active. And our muscles act as sponges in Soften up that sugar out of our bloodstream and helping make sure that our blood sugars do not get too high.
Sleeping is an essential part of managing our health, our metabolism, our digestion, our energy, our mood, our happiness. We are not sleeping well enough more now than we ever have. We have anxiety. We have stress. We've changed our daily routines.
First of all, go to bed earlier. When the sun goes down, start to get ready to wind down your day. I'm a big fan of caffeine, but I do it before noon. Make sure you're not having caffeine in the afternoons, because that could negatively impact your sleep.
And let's not forget the importance of turning off technology, at least an hour before bed. Make better food choices, move your body more and more meaningfully, sleep a little longer. All of these combine to help reduce our chances of becoming a type 2 diabetic and help us manage our diabetes, if you are a type 2 diabetic.
