Five essential healthy habits for diabetics

Essential Daily Habit #1 . Eat Breakfast

We grew up hearing that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. The more we learn, the more we realize how true this is—and the type of breakfast is of paramount importance.

Breakfast literally means to break your fast of the previous ten to twelve hours (most of which you’ve slept through). Skipping breakfast creates prediabetic changes in insulin function and also raises total cholesterol and “bad” low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Having just coffee, juice, and a bagel, or a bowl of a sugary cereal, isn’t any better.

To improve your blood-sugar levels, curb your appetite, and lose weight, it’s essential that you eat a protein-rich breakfast each and every morning. People who eat a couple of eggs for breakfast are less hungry for the rest of the day and for much of the following day. Because they’re less hungry, they also eat less. In one study, scientists reported that an egg-and-toast breakfast led to people eating 420 fewer calories over the following day and a half.

If you don’t like eggs, you can eat a few bites of leftover chicken or another high-protein food, along with a small amount of fresh fruit. You can get somewhat similar benefits by eating a low-glycemic sugar-free cereal, such as oatmeal (so long as it is not instant oatmeal and does not contain any sugars). Still, our first choice would be eggs.