When diabetes develops during pregnancy, one of the medical goals is to lower blood sugar to the normal range. Nurses in Thailand examined the practice of careful nutrition and yoga in pregnant women diagnosed with gestational diabetes, to see if it is possible to improve oversupply and control blood sugar levels.
Their study, published in February 2014 in the journal Applied nursing studies, randomly divided women with gestational diabetes into groups. One group received the usual care, while the other group was instructed in attentive eating and yoga. The second group had significantly lower blood sugar and HbA1c levels than the control group.
From these results, sensible nutrition was concluded, and yoga could help in controlling blood sugar levels in gestational diabetes.
Attentive nutrition was invented as a way to eliminate drinking, and is based on Buddhist ideas of awareness of everything around you at the moment. Mindfulness has been used to:
- combat stress
- high blood pressure and
- stomach upset.
People who eat slowly have long been known, as a rule, have less problems with overweight or obesity than faster eaters. It will take about 20 minutes from the time you eat until your brain receives the signal you ate. If you eat too fast, there is a tendency to continue to eat after you have enough food, because the brain did not have time to get your stomach. Mother had the right idea when she told you to slow down and chew your food thoroughly.
When you study good nutrition, students can take 20 minutes to eat a tangerine or 3 raisins, thinking about food and how they feel all the time.
Try to cook a small meal and sit down to eat without a computer, television or phone. Think of spending 20 minutes or more at the table, without being distracted. Think about each bite of food and try to present your journey from a ray of sunlight heating seeds, soil and water through plant growth, harvesting, entering the market, returning home with you, washing, cooking and on your plate. Take time to enjoy the color, flavor, texture and aroma of each food piece. Eating with chopsticks or a knife and fork can slow you down if they are not your usual utensils. Eating with your second beloved hand, not with your beloved, can also cause you to be less harsh and you need more time to eat.
It is believed that stress while eating causes digestive problems when the body is preparing for a fight or flight. This may explain cravings caused by the malabsorption of essential nutrients. Try to clear your mind of stressful thoughts while at the table. When you want a snack to know why you want it. Are you really hungry, bored or even angry?
Eat healthy and enjoy every bite.
