Take action to prevent diabetes

Yet more than 80 percent of adults don’t know they have prediabetes. Knowledge truly is power. If you learn you have prediabetes, you can take steps to help prevent diabetes. Healthy lifestyle changes can go a long way in preventing or delaying type 2 diabetes.

So what is prediabetes? Prediabetes is a condition where a person’s blood sugars are higher than normal. Yet, the levels are not high enough to be type 2 diabetes. Since people usually don’t experience symptoms at this stage, diagnosing prediabetes takes a simple blood sugar test.

The CDC does a really good job explaining prediabetes. Prediabetes is usually caused by insulin resistance. Insulin is a hormone that acts like a key to let blood sugar into cells for use as energy. When people have prediabetes, the cells in the body don’t respond normally to insulin.  The pancreas makes more insulin, but it can’t keep up and blood sugar rises. This sets the stage for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes down the road.

The good news is you can lower their risk for type 2 diabetes with healthy lifestyle programs. That’s why healthcare providers look at prediabetes as a chance to prevent diabetes and complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and blindness.

Support and education can lead to success. Joining a healthy lifestyle program can help you move toward your goals. Healthy lifestyle goals include:

• Lose 5-7% of your body weight. For example, if a person weighs 200 pounds, that’s just 10-14 pounds.  
• Aim for 30 minutes of physical activity most days of the week. Start slow and try to get 150 minutes per week. Walking is usually a great place to start.
• Eat for good health by adding more non-starchy vegetables and fruit, lean protein such as chicken, whole grains and drinking water and unsweetened beverages.
• Try to eat less processed foods such as packaged snacks, baked goods and fried foods.

As a Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, my best advice is don’t try to do it alone. Lifestyle change programs are available in our community. The VINE Adult Community Center offers a Diabetes Prevention Program. This evidence-based course shows you how to improve food choices, increase physical activity and lose moderate amounts of weight.

In addition, your primary care provider may refer you to the Mankato Clinic Diabetes Care Center for a 1-on-1 90-minute consultation with a registered dietitian. Spouses and significant others are encouraged to attend. We cover prediabetes vs. diabetes, what’s going on in your body, risk factors and how to lower your risks for developing type 2 diabetes.

Many Americans are at risk for developing diabetes and prediabetes. Risk factors include family history of diabetes, being over age 45, being overweight or having a personal history of gestational diabetes to name a few.

To learn your risk for prediabetes and diabetes, visit the American Diabetes Association and take the diabetes risk test at diabetes.org/diabetes-risk-test. If your results show you are at high risk for diabetes, talk to your primary care provider.

Catching diabetes early can make a big difference in your health and quality of life today and tomorrow.