After we've been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, we often struggle to get our diets in sync with our body's needs. Once we've accomplished that, we can settle in to regular patterns, and routines and even anticipate unexpected situations that can derail our efforts to control insulin release throughout the day. But what happens when we travel on vacation or even worse, go to visit relatives who may or may not be diabetic, or much less care what they eat or what the feed you?
Tip 1
Drink lots of water. Staying hydrated is important when you're not in your regular environment. Eating, drinking and being merry, often come with visiting family and friends. Drinking water, can keep you fuller for longer periods of time and help curb the mindless eating that sometimes accompanies visits and vacations.
Tip 2
Maintain your activity levels. Don't suddenly become a couch potato. You've worked hard to increase your level of activity sense being diagnosed, so why stop now. In fact, this is a perfect opportunity to add some variety to your normal routine. Go for a walk around your relative's neighborhood, or around your vacation surroundings. It will be different and will allow you to discover new things.
If you jog, then jog. If you lift weights, you don't need weights to have a great workout. There are a number of body weight routines you can perform to keep up your resistance training while you're away.
Tip 3
Maintain portion control. This one can sneak up on you. When you're with relatives, they want to feed you as though you'll never eat again once you leave them. When you're on vacation, restaurants feed you as if you haven't eaten in a month. Remember, you are in control of what you put into your body.
When it comes to relatives, be honest. Tell them that you're watching you intake of food and you have to practice portion control. Family and friends will understand. Besides you can demonstrate portion control, tell them how delicious the food is and have that one piece of cherry or apple cobbler. Chance are, you will be the only one not complaining about how stuffed you feel after dinner. Offer the after dinner walk around the neighborhood.
Restaurants pose a similar, but different problem. Normally you get your food and see how much food there is to eat. At this point you have two choices. First you can visually break up the plate into smaller portions and only eat that much. Or, you can eat all you can and ask for a doggie bag. When we choose the latter option, we usually don't even eat the leftovers we bring home because the reheated taste is not the same or we just don't get around to eating it and throw it away. Another option at restaurants could be asking the waitress to halve your plate and bring you the doggie bag when you're ready to settle your bill. This way, you don't have to look at all that food and mentally fill up before you've eaten. This improves your chances of eating the leftovers before you have to throw them away.
Tip 4
Don't deprive yourself of treats. After all it is a vacation or a great visit with family and friends. Depriving yourself of the pleasures of these events can be counterproductive and send you into an inevitable binge. Have desert, or that hamburger you used to love so much. Once you've had, get back on track, it's as simple as that. Don't beat yourself up for doing either. Think of it as your secret weapon for success.
I hope these help you, and be sure to email me with your comments and additions.
If you are struggling with making the lifestyle changes necessary to prevent or reverse diabetes, you can get a FREE confidential health history consultation by going to http://www.nutrahealth4life.com/forms. For signing up for your FREE confidential health history, you'll receive a FREE Healthy Shopping DVD.
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