As a health professional, I never thought that I would be on the other side of a healthcare visit for those disease states which I treat. When I turned forty, everything seemed to get worst from my eye sight to getting diagnosed with prediabetes and high blood pressure. As someone who helps patients with diabetes and high blood pressure it should not have been a complete surprise, but it was. It wasn’t like I did not know the risks for getting diabetes but somehow thought it couldn’t happen to me. So what are the risks?
Risks for getting diabetes:
- The risks for diabetes are age, the older we get the higher the risk. This is one risk we cannot do much about.
- Another risk is having a family member who has diabetes. Unfortunately I had several family members with diabetes, starting with my mother, a couple of uncles and my grandmother. This is another risk we cannot change.
- Being overweight or obese, this one is one that we can modify. Losing a small amount of weight can lead to better blood sugars for diabetic patients but losing enough weight can keep patients with prediabetes from advancing to diabetes.
- Lack of exercise, another risk that can be changed. By becoming more active and being less of a couch potato you can keep from getting diabetes.
- Patients that have a diagnosis of high blood pressure or high cholesterol, have a higher risk for getting diabetes.
- Certain ethnic groups have a higher risk of diabetes such as Latinos, Blacks, Asians, American Indians, pacific islanders and Alaska Natives.
- If you been told that you have Pre-diabetes or high cholesterol puts you at higher risk for getting diabetes.
- Women who were diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
In my case I was not only getting older, had several relatives with diabetes, was obese, did not exercise, got diagnosed with high blood pressure at the same time, and I am Latina. So why was this so surprising to me? I think because I knew all this information, I thought that would be enough to avoid diabetes. But it takes more than knowing, is putting the knowledge to action and making real changes. When I had enough symptoms which could not be ignored, I visited my Doctor who after giving me the diagnosis of prediabetes and high blood pressure; told me to lose weight, eat better and exercise.
But I knew that! So why was it so hard for me to do? I had a busy life between a full-time job and taking care of my family. Two young daughters, a husband, and a mother who was getting older and needed help. I had a routine that helped me get most things done. But even if I was able to keep up with most things, I was not doing everything and feeling guilty whenever something didn’t get done. How could I now think about making time for my self to exercise and make meals that would allow me to lose weight?
It was not easy, I must confess that I gave up more than once but the thought of not being there for my daughters motivated me to make changes. I started to do some of the things I tell my patients, make small changes that you can stick with and once they are part of your routine for at least three weeks think about what else you can change. Most changes will not become truly part of your routine until you stick to them for at least three months. I enlisted my family to help me get motivated for the goals that were hard for me like exercise. We also experimented a lot with healthy foods to find ones we liked and could stick to.
Make a list of only one to three goals, break them into smaller goals that can be accomplished weekly or daily. Make sure your goals are SMART goals, goals you can measure, must be obtainable and realistic. Keep your self accountable by asking friends and family to help you with your goals.
I was able to lose over 20 lbs. and although I was still overweight, it was enough to get my blood sugars and specially my A1C below 5.7. I was also after a couple of years of treatment and losing the weight was able to come off my blood pressure medication.
For over 10 years since I was told I was pre-diabetes, I was able to maintaining my weight, eating healthier and mostly doing regular exercise have been able to keep from progressing to having diabetes. My A1c hover between 5.8 to 6.4 and I was not able to get it below 5.7. But the reality is that I struggled with my weight and have a hard time exercising.
Unfortunately after 13 years of having pre-diabetes, I was diagnosed as a person with diabetes. I could say it was the pandemic or that my mother died or all the stress at work. All which are true but the reality is that I never addressed the real problem, insulin resistance and I did not address nutrition deficiencies, improve my microbiome, reduce toxic load, reduce stress, improve sleep and cultivated friendships and family member relations in order to have meaningful interactions. The fact that I also was in peri-menopause only aggravated my insulin resistance.
Today I can say I have truly reverse my diabetes or how most endocrinologist like to refer to it as remission. I am here to tell you that you too can get healthy and reverse your chronic disease. You just need to make sure you are addressing everything I mentioned above.