3 Ways to prevent Diabetes in a person who has a high risk to develop Diabetes.

Diabetes is scary disease for a lot of people. It brings to mind images of people who have to inject themselves with Insulin.

Fortunately, today we have blood tests that can indicate if you have a tendency to develop Diabetes in the future. We also continue to use fasting blood sugar level to to look at your chances of developing Diabetes. If your fasting sugar is less than 100, you are in the safe zone. If your fasting sugar is greater than 125 you are Diabetic. If your sugar level is between 100 and 125, you are in the gray area, that is, you have a tendency to develop Diabetes in the future.

We have a newer test called Hemoglobin A1C (all one word). Please refer to my previous post to find out what Hemoglobin is. This test tells you the average of your blood sugars over the last 3 months, hence the results are considered more accurate. This test can also tell you are in the gray zone and have a tendency to develop Diabetes.

Doctors refer to this gray zone or Diabetic tendency as Pre-diabetes or Impaired Fasting Glucose.
What do we do if we are told that we have a diabetic tendency? How do I prevent myself from developing Diabetes if my numbers land in the gray area?

You can prevent becoming a Diabetic through diet, exercise and even medication.

1. Diet- Avoid sodas. Divide your plate into 3 parts. Make sure carbohydrates (pasta, potatoes, bread, tortilla) make only 1/3rd of your meal. Proteins such as lean meat should form 1/3rd. Vegetables should form 1/3rd.

2. Exercise- Start small and gradually build an exercise regimen. The goal being activity for at least 30 minutes daily 5 days a week.

3. Medications- This is usually reserved for people at the higher end of the gray zone and high risk patients with a strong family history of diabetes. A discussion on medications is beyond the scope of this article.

(I have oversimplified this article. Kindly discuss with you provider about what your risk is of developing Diabetes and how you can avoid developing it. )

Do you have any questions or comments on Pre-Diabetes? Please share this article with your friends so that it may reach and help more people.