Diabetes: What You Need to Know

According to the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, about 84 million adults in the United States have prediabetes, leading to type two diabetes. That means 34 percent of adults at any given time are poised to cross a threshold that would take them down a chronic disease path. 

What if I told you they could take matters into their own hands and turn that trajectory around? It’s called prediabetes for a reason. 

When your fasting blood sugar levels are higher than average but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes, you’re considered prediabetic, also called insulin resistance. 

The body’s normal insulin response is impaired with every blood sugar spike. If you don’t do something about it, you will have full-blown diabetes, which won’t take long. Then, your whole life will change, including strict dieting, cardio complications, medication, and possibly daily insulin injections. 

So, how can you tell if you have prediabetes? And more importantly, what should you do to keep it from progressing to actual diabetes?  

Prediabetes, also known as metabolic syndrome, is characterized by excess body fat around the waist, elevated triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, blurry vision, excessive thirst, frequent urination, chronic fatigue, and difficulty sleeping. 

Of course, the only way to know if you have prediabetes or have already crossed the line into diabetes is with a blood test. 

The Fasting Blood Sugar test tells you how much sugar is still floating in your blood after you’ve fasted for 12 hours, while the Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) test gives you an average blood sugar level over three months. 

The good news is you have a lot of control over whether you develop prediabetes or type two diabetes. 

You can process insulin more efficiently if you maintain a healthy weight. Exercising regularly and not smoking can also help, and they are good for your heart. 

Diabetes and high blood pressure are part of metabolic syndrome. Controlling this syndrome with diet and lifestyle will help keep blood sugar within normal limits. 

What Is The Difference Between Type One and Type Two Diabetes? 

Type 1 diabetes is when the pancreas fails to produce insulin. As a result, people who have type one diabetes are insulin dependent. 

Type 2 diabetes starts with what is called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance leads to prediabetes, which leads to type two diabetes. 

Type one is not preventable, but type two is. Type two diabetes runs in families but can be acquired through a bad diet. The Standard American Diet can lead to type 2 diabetes. 

Type 2 Diabetes Can Be Prevented And Even Reversed Without Drugs 

According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), your diet is vital in not only managing and preventing diabetes, but also reducing the complications associated with it, such as kidney failure, heart disease, and blindness, but, more importantly, in preventing diabetes. 

By making changes in your diet and lifestyle, you can eliminate diabetes, glucose intolerance, and metabolic syndrome safely and without drugs. 

A healthy meal plan should balance your daily intake of fats, carbohydrates, and protein — and it should eliminate the high-calorie processed junk foods and sugary soft drinks that helped you get into this mess in the first place. But for most of us, eating this way is easier said than done. 

Thanks to a bombardment of conflicting — and often inaccurate — public health messages, misleading labels, and claims on packaging, Americans are confused about nutrition. 

We don’t know how to eat for good health. The problem foods are sugar, refined white flour, chemical additives, artificial sweeteners and flavors, trans-fats, and other chemicals and additives found in processed foods. 

“Nutrition confusion” isn’t our only problem. Most Americans don’t have the time, knowledge, or money to shop, cook and prepare healthy foods from scratch. And many of us wonder why we should bother — when convenient, and processed foods are so easy to obtain and prepare. 

Here’s why it’s worth it. Making a lifestyle change and eating healthy, nutritional foods can help you eliminate diabetes and blood sugar problems — for good.  

Diabetes Takes A Huge Toll On Your Life Both Physically And Financially 

People with diabetes experience a higher risk of various other illnesses. These include heart disease, stroke, dementia, blindness, peripheral nerve disease, nerve pain, kidney damage, failure, and skin disorders. 

Not only does that jack up your already skyrocketing medical costs, but it further deteriorates your quality of life!  

Diabetes… 

• Is the leading cause of new blindness in adults ages 20 to 74. According to the National Society to Prevent Blindness. 
• Makes you 17 times more likely to get kidney disease than the normal population. 
• Increases your risk of developing heart disease by 200 to 400 percent. 
• Causes nerve loss and infections that lead to lower extremity amputations. 
• Doubles your risk of dying over the next ten years! 

According to the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP), cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among people with diabetes. About 68 percent of people with diabetes die of heart disease or stroke. 

The Simplest Way To Prevent Diabetes 

According to the American Diabetes Association, studies show that those with prediabetes who change their diet, lose weight, and increase their physical activity can prevent diabetes by having their blood glucose levels return to normal. It’s all about making healthy choices and avoiding fast food, processed sugar-laden food, fried food, and food high in simple carbs like bread, pasta, cakes, sodas, and candy. Instead, focus on whole, unprocessed foods high in nutrients and fiber – foods like non-starchy vegetables, grass-fed protein, and healthy fats. 

Two of the best supplements Doctor’s Nutrition offers for blood sugar control are Berberine Max and Glucose Support Formula. 

To learn more about controlling your blood sugar naturally, call Doctor’s Nutrition today at 228-897-0070.

• GSF (Glucose Support Formula) has been formulated with 7 well known nutritional factors that: 
  – Help to maintain glucose levels within normal range 
  – Support energy 
  – Aid glucose transport and utilization by cells 
  – Reduce free radical damage associated with unhealthy glucose levels