What is Pre-diabetes? A condition in which blood sugar levels are high, but not enough to be qualified as type 2 diabetes.
Pre-diabetes Stats (2022)
- Total: 96 million people aged 18 years or older have pre-diabetes (38.0% of the adult US population)
- 65 years or older: 26.4 million people aged 65 years or older (48.8%) have pre-diabetes
Pre-diabetes is part of a group of conditions (chronic diseases) that are known to be caused by insulin resistance. We know the true cause of chronic disease , we know the modifiable risk factor that can lead to disease so we should be able to not only prevent but reverse most of these diseases.
Take the one minute test: Do you have pre-diabetes?
Tests
There are several tests to find out if you have pre-diabetes or diabetes:
1. Fasting plasma glucose is how much sugar is in your blood after not eating for 8 hours (often first thing in the morning)
2. Hemoglobin A1C helps your physician figure out your average sugar control over the past 3 months
3. Oral Glucose Tolerance Test blood sugar is measured after not eating for 8 hours and 2 hours after drinking a sugar-rich beverage
Tests Results
Test Normal Pre-diabetes Type 2 Diabetes
Hemoglobin A1C (%) less than 5.7 5.7-6.4 more than 6.5
Fasting Plasma Glucose (mg/dL) less than 100 100-126 more than 125
Oral glucose tolerance test (mg/dL) less than 40 140-200 more than 200
Symptoms
May have no symptoms
Patients should look for the symptoms of type 2 diabetes: increased thirst and urination, blurred vision, darkened areas of the skin, and excess tiredness
If you experience these symptoms, you should contact your doctor
Risk Factors for Pre-diabetes
- Being overweight
- Lack of exercise
- High blood pressure
- Women with a history of gestational diabetes or polycystic ovarian syndrome
- A family member has diabetes
- Adults 45 years and older
- High triglycerides (≥ 250mg/dL) or low HDL (<35mg/dL)
- Non-Hispanic black, Hispanic/Latino Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders, American Indians, and Alaska Natives
Is there treatment for pre-diabetes?
Diet and exercise can hold up or prevent the climb from pre-diabetes to diabetes.
Losing weight (7%) can also reduce the development of pre-diabetes
Exercise
- 30-60 minutes of activity at least 5 days per week
- Exercise all at once or throughout the day
- Check with your doctor before starting an exercise program
- Aim to work strongly enough to increase your heart rate
Ideas for fitness: walk around the neighborhood or mall, swim, walk up and down the stairs in your home, bicycle, borrow a fitness DVD from the library, or even do yard or housework
Work out with a friend to make it a fun and social experience!
Changes in Diet
- Pay attention to portion sizes
- Learn how to read a nutrition label
- Eat lean protein
- Cut out sweets completely (except maybe during special occasions)
- Cut out cereals , choose steel cut oatmeal not the microwavable one
- Choose whole-grain bread and crackers (ex. whole-wheat bread rather than white)
- Cut out any white starchy carb, reduce amount of whole-grain carbs
- Increase amount of non-starchy carbs (all rainbow colored vegetables)
- Eat fruit instead of drinking fruit juice to reduce the amount of sugar you take in
- Drink more water and cut out sugary sodas and juice drinks
- Add fish, especially fatty fish and beans to your diet to boost your protein intake
- Eat more healthy fats like avocado, nuts and olive oil
- Eat more fiber to stay full longer and snack less between meals
There is so much you can do to not only start getting healthy but to reverse chronic disease. Start with nutrition to reverse chronic disease. You can reverse chronic disease with nutrition because food is medicine, food is not only the cause of the disease but also the remedy.
Beyond diet and exercise, you also need to reduce stress, improve sleep, optimize your body’s detoxification and have meaningful social interactions; to improve your overall health.
Why should you take action now? Because even though your blood sugars are not high enough to get you the diagnosis of diabetes it doesn’t mean is benign. By having pre-diabetes your overall risk for cardiovascular disease goes up, that means your risk for heart disease and strokes goes up.