Opt for a Healthy Lifestyle to Avoid Diabetes

It is generally impossible to cure diabetes totally, but with dietary changes, exercises, medications, etc., patients can control its symptoms. Nevertheless, if you include such healthy habits in your daily routine, you can significantly reduce the risk of getting diabetes. This is because these will help you curb sugar accumulation in your blood. 

Diabetes and Its Types

The human body transforms carbohydrate-rich foods into glucose or sugar to get energy. This sugar reaches body cells through blood. In this transmission of sugar, insulin plays a key role. However, the human body fails to produce insulin sufficiently, or the insulin does not interact with the cells properly when someone suffers from diabetes. As a result, sugar accumulates in the blood.

There are two types of diabetes – Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes.

• Type-1 Diabetes: It is caused due to autoimmune reactions that hamper insulin production. In this type of diabetes, patients need to inject insulin to survive.
• Type-2 Diabetes: It can happen due to inadequate insulin or insulin resistance. You can control this common type of diabetes by strictly following a healthy lifestyle and proper medication.

Lifestyle Habits to Reduce the Risk of Diabetes

Here are some lifestyle measures that can help you avoid this disease:

• Maintaining a Healthy Diet

You must ensure that the food you consume has less carbohydrate as the body breaks it down to glucose, resulting in an increase in the sugar level. You should ideally include more vegetables, whole grains, fruits, pulses, etc., in your meals. While maintaining healthy dietary habits for diabetes, avoiding salts, processed meats, and foods with low fibre, such as white bread, cereals, white rice, etc., is also imperative.  

• Exercise Regularly

Regular exercise is crucial to reduce the sugar level in the blood. It helps you stay active, lose extra weight and reduce stress. However, you do not necessarily need to hit the gym and do heavy exercises. Rather, light activities, such as going for a walk, cycling, swimming, etc., for at least 30 minutes can also work wonders if you are consistent.

• Go for Periodic Medical Check-Ups 

You also need to go for medical-check-ups at least twice every year. You must ensure that your blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol level are within the healthy limit.

• Quit Smoking

Diabetes increases health complications, including kidney diseases, heart diseases, stroke, nerve damage, etc. If you smoke, you can increase these diabetic symptoms further. Besides, it will also become difficult for you to exercise as smoking decreases the capacity of the lungs to hold oxygen. 

• Control Alcohol Consumption 

Alcohol can also substantially increase your blood sugar level. Moreover, alcohol can make it difficult for you to lose weight which is essential for controlling or reducing the chances of diabetes. This is why you must abstain from binge drinking.

People Who are More Likely to Get Type-2 Diabetes

Following are people more vulnerable to Type-2 diabetes:

• Individuals who have pre-diabetes like high blood sugar
• People with obesity or overweight 
• People having a family history of this disease
• Individuals with high blood pressure
• People with low good cholesterol or HDL and high bad cholesterol or triglycerides
• People leading an inactive lifestyle
• Individuals with a history of cardiovascular diseases or stroke
• People suffering from depression
• Patients of PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome)
• Chain smokers

Long term diabetes treatment is expensive. Therefore, people who are susceptible to diabetes should opt for ways to tackle these expenses without breaking their banks. A health insurance policy from a renowned company like Aditya Birla Health Insurance can be helpful.

Why Should You Buy a Health Insurance Policy if You are Susceptible to Diabetes?

You can safeguard your finances from costly medications and treatments of diabetes by keeping yourself covered under an effective health insurance policy. Generally, insurers list diabetes among PEDs (pre-existing diseases). These PEDs come with an extended waiting period under which Insurers do not cover any treatment expenses. This is why you need to buy a health insurance policy as early as possible. In fact, by purchasing such a policy at an early age, you can keep your premium amount minimum while getting the maximum coverage possible.

Things to Look for While Buying a Health Insurance Policy 

Here are some aspects you must remember while choosing a health insurance plan:

• Sum Insured 

It is the maximum amount you can get to meet your medical expenses. You need to ensure that the sum insured is sufficient.

• Premium Amount

You need to choose a health insurance policy with a reasonable premium. In this regard, you can compare the premium amounts of different insurance companies to understand which one has lower charges.

• Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

Inclusion criteria inform of the coverage included in this policy. On the contrary, the exclusion criteria indicate the aspects and scenarios under which the insurer will not cover your medical expenses. 

• Claim Settlement Ratio

It indicates the percentage of claims an insurer approves. Going with an insurer with a higher claim settlement ratio, you can enhance your chances of getting coverage for your medical expenses. 

In conclusion, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is imperative to reduce your risks of diabetes. In fact, with a healthy lifestyle, as stated above, patients with diabetes can also keep their blood sugar levels and other medical symptoms under control.