Managing Pre-Diabetes
Pre-diabetes is a condition where your blood glucose level is higher than normal, but not high enough to be considered diabetes mellitus. Like diabetes the body cannot produce enough insulin or use the insulin properly. The levels for pr-diabetes are
101-125mg/dl or 5.6-6.9mmol Canadian.
The general approach for maintaining pre-diabetes and even reversing it is diet and exercise. Pre-diabetes is on the increase due to expanding waistlines and sedentary lifestyles.
If your blood sugar readings are a little high you should take aggressive steps to manage it, as pre-diabetes causes the same risk factors for the complications of diabetes. It should be taken seriously.
Lifestyle modifications
New research has shown that simple lifestyles changes can help to reduce the risks of complications. These include damage to the blood vessels in the eyes that can lead to blindness, a buildup of fatty deposits in the cardiovascular system leading to strokes, heart attacks and possible loss of limbs. It can also cause damage to the kidneys which can result in kidney failure. It is a mistake to think that because you don't have symptoms, you don't have to worry about complications.
The best approach is to aggressively work on controlling or preventing your pre-diabetes. This may prevent it from progressing to full blown diabetes.
Lifestyle intervention has been found to be particularly effective in treating pre-diabetes. These are not major changes, just a low fat diet, weight loss, and a regular exercise program.
Know your risk factors
All people in their 40's or younger should know their risk factors to help prevent diabetes before it starts.
Know your risk factors:
- - Are you overweight?
- - Have a sedentary lifestyle?
- - Have a family history of diabetes?
- - Do you have high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol readings?
- - A history of vascular disease?
- - Have a history of "impaired fasting glucose" or" impaired glucose tolerance"?
- - Are members of an ethnic group? Your risk is higher if you are.
Treatment of pre-diabetes
A good start is to increase your exercise program to 30 minutes at least 5 days a week. Hopefully this with a dietary change will help you to lose weight and cut down on your risk. A loss of just 10 to 15 pounds can make a huge difference in managing your diabetes, or prevent diabetes from developing.
It is good to remember you are at a 50% higher risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. If you smoke, now is a good time to quit, as well as monitor your blood pressure and cholesterol.
Nutrition:
It is not so much what you eat but how much. A dietician can help you with this. They will help you determine the quantity and type of food you should eat.
The key issue in losing weight is portion size. It is good to get used to reducing your portion sizes. It will help you lose weight and manage your pre-diabetes.
Pre-diabetes is something you should take seriously, the alternatives are unpleasant. A good diet is easy to follow once you make the initial adjustment to eating differently.
You should cut down on the amount of fat you eat as well. 1 gram of fat has significantly higher amount of calories than a gram of carbohydrates or protein.
What this means is you should,
-Eat more broiled foods and less fried
-Eat more fish and chicken, and only lean cuts of meat
-Cut back on the amount of butter you use
-Have meatless meals, or a palm sized portion of meat with the balance of the meal being vegetables and salad
Based on three diabetes prevention studies,
-Reduce your total meal by eating smaller portions
-Reduce between meal snacks
-Choose lean meats, chicken or fish
-Use low fat milk, yoghurt, ice creams and custard
-Avoid all take away foods, they are high in fat
-Eat more fruits and vegetables
-Avoid butter, lard, cream, sour cream, and coconut
-Only eat pastries, cakes, puddings, chocolate and cream biscuits on special occasions and exercise after.
-Avoid cream style soups, use tomato or soy based soups
Pre-diabetes is a serious disease, not to be taken lightly. The complications on the body are severe, just like diabetes itself. Do yourself a favor and take it seriously. Manage it so it doesn't progress into diabetes mellitus
A final tip: One Beta Life can lower your readings and prevent your pre-diabetes from becoming diabetes. Protect yourself from the complications...
