The Silent Disease
Hearing about someone you may know who has diabetes is not unusual in today’s times, as many are aware of family members or friends who were diagnosed. If you observe closely, it’s obvious why some people have diabetes, given the type of foods they continue to put in their mouths.
Diabetes is a tricky disease in that it doesn’t reveal obvious signs until it’s too late. The condition that leads up to the diagnosis of type II diabetes is better known as prediabetes. Prediabetes is the body’s way of telling you that the lifestyle being led by an individual is dysfunctional and needs correcting before it’s too late.
The mystery of prediabetes exists because most doctors aren’t aware of how to detect the markers for it, and the patients in the clinics don’t recognize them either. It’s the blind leading the blind, as the rising cases of diabetes continue to rise worldwide and will reach frightening heights in the next 5- 30 years.
Someone who has been diagnosed with prediabetes has the opportunity to reverse their situation and improve their health by making conscious decisions towards a healthier lifestyle. Knowing what a healthy lifestyle is is only half the battle; you have to maintain this way of living to avoid recurring this condition.
How to Avoid to Becoming Prediabetic
The deceptive part about prediabetes, or diabetes for that matter, is that the correct tests are rarely used to diagnose problems before they get worse in the near future. Many people don’t know which tests to request from their regular physician or clinician.
Taking care of your health pays off in the long run and you’ll always be aware of what’s going on inside your body. One of the hormones that are rarely tracked is insulin. Physicians will give you blood glucose results (A1C) when checked annually for most regular visits, but never check insulin levels with blood tests.
The insulin monitoring test (HOMA-IR) can only be requested by name, and many doctors have not even heard of this test in their practice. Keep in mind that insulin levels go up when blood glucose levels rise in the bloodstream (see How Much Sugar is Too Much?)
Insulin levels stay higher for individuals who have a carbohydrate/sugar addicted lifestyle, which is why these blood markers can slowly creep up after many years of this type of diet. This is also why the diagnosis of prediabetes or diabetes comes as a shock when the disease is discovered many years later.
When the pancreas becomes exhausted in producing insulin, the organ can begin to fail, a condition known as type 1.5 diabetes. This is when a person with type II diabetes is in the process of becoming a type 1 diabetic. People with type 1 diabetes face more challenges as they need regular amounts of insulin to keep blood sugar levels stable.
The prediabetes and diabetes epidemic can be completely reversed for many individuals if they change their lifestyle habits and know how their bodies work.
Avoiding Pre-Diabetes
For an individual to avoid becoming pre-diabetic, you should have a basic understanding of which foods affect and raise your blood sugar the most. Carbohydrates and protein both raise blood sugar levels, but nothing raises it faster than sucrose (sugar) itself, especially when sugary carbohydrates are eaten by themselves.
Protein and foods containing fat, in any amount, slow the release of sugar into the bloodstream, which helps control the amount of insulin released from the pancreas. This would be a good precaution: pair high-glycemic foods with a protein.
Make sure your insulin markers are no higher than baseline. Insulin should be no more than 2.5 to 4.6 microunits per milliliter to stay healthy and avoid the pre-diabetes condition. Your doctor may check your blood sugar and say everything is fine, but make sure to get the HOMA-IR blood results to verify whether your insulin markers are within a healthy range.
Part of a medical physician’s mantra is to advise patients to get plenty of exercise, and there are reasons for that. Exercise helps combat insulin resistance, as glucose is the body’s primary energy source during physical activity. More glucose breakdown means less sugar in the body and more sugar being used by the cells.
Besides regular exercise, you want to avoid stress whenever possible. Living in modern society demands more of your attention and leaves less time for yourself, creating a dire need for stress management.
Stress releases extra cortisol, which puts the body in a state of fight-or-flight. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone, meaning it breaks down the body’s cells (particularly muscle) when energy supplies are low. If stress is prolonged beyond normal, it leads to greater muscle breakdown and more fat gain.
The Wrap Up
The condition of prediabetes/diabetes tends to creep up when least expected because of problems with our diets and lifestyle. High-glycemic-index foods tend to raise blood sugar the most and keep insulin levels elevated for much longer. Avoiding these foods completely is not necessary, but they should be paired with lower-glycemic-index foods to keep blood sugar balanced. Regular resistance training and exercise are beneficial for preventing diabetes and for minimizing stress whenever possible.
