By Here is a suggested plan of action if you are overweight with high blood sugar
My mum suffered from diabetes. Her diet and lifestyle plan added to the onset of this disease. Since I’m very healthy and conscious of what I eat, watching her eat unhealthy food wasn’t easy. I remember begging her to start paying more attention to her diet on many occasions, as it was not good for her — and she had celiac disease. But as you know, you can lead a horse to water but cannot force them to drink. It’s only when a disease diagnosis starts to manifest that people begin to pay attention! This frustrates me the most because it doesn’t have to lead to this path, but more people allow it, which is disappointing. I’m sure that if something had been done about her diet sooner, she’d still be alive today. I don’t want to scare people, but I would like to use this example repeatedly to help you understand that bad eating habits cannot go unnoticed for years without consequences — especially when you are older. As you age, your susceptibility to disease increases. However, that also doesn’t mean you should eat garbage when young. We should ALL pay attention to our diet — no matter our age group. You can supercharge your way towards health by adopting the principles of a vegan diet. Two diet groups were compared to vegan diets. One is the passive group, which means participants continue a regular diet with no change. The second group is active, following a dietary intervention like the popular Mediterranean diet, portion control etc. Data were analysed by 11 studies involving 796 individuals (between the ages of 48–61) who were overweight or had type two diabetes. This trial lasted 12 weeks on average, where considerable weight loss of at least 5kg was considered meaningful. Upon final analysis, the best evidence indicates that adhering to a vegan diet for at least 12 weeks may result in significant weight loss and improvement in blood sugar levels. The vegan diet plan can also be used to manage type two diabetes and weight control. Vegan diets result in more significant weight loss because of the lower caloric and higher dietary fibre intake. Fibre makes a huge difference when it comes to our appetite. There is only so much protein you can eat. It’s the fibre that hits the ‘satiety’ spot differently. You will notice if you start eating more of a vegan diet.
How can you add more vegans to your meal plans?
This is very simple, as the recommendation is to eliminate a couple of meat days by adding a vegan alternative. You can go on a complete change and eat vegan for 12 weeks if you wish — but slowly adding more vegetable and legume-rich alternatives into your diet is just as effective. You don’t count processed fake meats into your eating plan, as they are filled with chemicals and additives.
Here are some ideas for you:
- Lentil or beans soups
- Adding baked veggies as your meal base
- Lentil ‘mince’
- Scrambled tofu instead of eggs
- Vegetable soups
- Using nuts as added crunch into your salads
- Creating a ‘cheese’ texture with nutritional yeast
Here are also some plant-based recipe options to try out: Vegan Recipes An array of delicious, plant-based recipes for those meat-free days-dimos.medium.comIt’s not too hard to start adding some vegan alternatives. Give it a month or so to notice the difference, and if you dare — try a 30-day meal plan of pure vegan foods! Don’t knock it until you try it. Please sign up via my link if you want to read more articles like this or start writing your own. I’d love to see you on the other side. 
Sign up here for your medium subscription. I get a portion of your monthly fee at no extra cost to you, and it will go a long way in supporting me as a writer.