Type 2 Diabetes - A Modest Weight Loss After Pregnancy Can Help Prevent Diabetes

When we think of weight loss there is a tendency to think of getting down to our best lean weight, which is ideal but which can also seem daunting. Fortunately, small losses can also do some good. Gestational diabetes, the kind that starts during pregnancy, can lead to the development of full-blown Type 2 diabetes, so mothers who have had the former are told to normalize weight to prevent developing the latter form of diabetes. This is excellent advice but, according to a study reported on in the medical journal Diabetes Medicine in March 2014, modest weight loss can also be helpful.

Investigators at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Oakland, United States, studied 72 women enrolled in the Diet, Exercise, and Breastfeeding Intervention (DEBI) program. Blood sugar levels were measured 6 weeks after the women gave birth and again 6 weeks after that...

1. Women who had lost more than 4.4 lb (2 kg) showed lower blood sugar levels as well as insulin levels. Lower insulin levels indicates less resistance to insulin.

2. Women who gained at least 2.2 lb (1 kg) showed increases in blood sugar levels.

From these results it was concluded that losing even small amounts of weight could help women with a history of Gestational diabetes to lower their blood sugar levels.

According to a study completed at Harokopio University of Athens, Greece, and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in Shrewsbury, UK, breastfeeding is a natural way to lose most of the weight gained during pregnancy. The study, reported on in the medical journal Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2013,included 64 breastfeeding women during their first six months after giving birth. It was found that although they took in more calories than they expended, the mothers lost an average of 86 percent of the weight they had gained during pregnancy.

From this information it was concluded the weight lost was due to breastfeeding...

breast milk contains about 20 to 22 calories per ounce, depending upon the amount of time after childbirth.
infants drink around 20 to 25 ounces per day, depending upon their size and age.
A pound of human fat contains about 3500 calories, so breastfeeding for about 8 or 9 days should cause a loss of about a pound of fat.
Breastfeeding is also the best way to nourish infants because mothers milk contains the right kind of protein and the right amount of sugar and fat for human infants.

lose weight

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8396169