Did you know that 57 million people in the US. have prediabetes? That’s according to a United Healthcare, one of the largest health care providers. That’s nearly 1 in 5 Americans. Because I’m passionate about helping ordinary people achieve extraordinary results with their health, I wanted to provide you with some ideas to create positive changes in your life related to prediabetes prevention and reversal.
Risk Factors
Prediabetes prevention starts with understanding your risk factors. According to the American Diabetes Association, you can develop diabetes without recognizing it. How? Because symptoms come on so gradually that you don’t notice things like unusual thirst, fatigue, recurring or frequent infections, etc. So what are the major risk factors?
- Being overweight, especially if you are age 45 or older
- High blood pressure
- Low HDL (good) cholesterol and high triglycerides (attributed to coronary artery disease)
- A family history of diabetes
- Experienced gestational diabetes
- Belonging to an ethnic group known to have a higher occurance of developing the disease
Prediabetes Prevention
The good news is that a prediabetes diagnosis doesn’t automatically mean you will develop diabetes. However, it is a warning sign that some lifestyle changes are in order. There are three things you can do to reverse course if you’re on the path to out-of-control blood sugar:
- Get more physical activity — as my tagline says “Life is more fun when you’re fit.” Think of ways to incorporate activity into your daily routine. Start off with easy things like walking around your neighborhood. Once you start, you’ll want to find other activities — like a zumba class or a fitness boot camp to accelerate your progress.
- Eat healthy foods — an easy rule of thumb is to eat real foods. You already know that processed foods and fast-food restaurants don’t offer the best nutritional value. Be smart about your calorie intake and your body will reward you. Need healthy snack ideas? Here’s a post that contains one of my favorite recipes: Peanut Butter Oat Bites.
- Lose excess weight — the biggest threat in developing full-blown diabetes is carrying too much weight for your body. Losing weight will also have the added benefit of reducing high blood pressure and joint pain.
Still Need Inspiration?
From the creators of the best-selling documentary Food Matters, Hungry For Change is a 89-minute film that focuses on why people have trouble achieving the health they want. You’ll find out why fast and convenience foods are so addictive.
The most rewarding client success stories are those who are willing to take control of their health. They set realistic health and exercise goals.
Need a little extra help? Give me call and we can set up a plan of action that personalized for you. Prediabetes prevention doesn’t have to be that hard. Promise ;-).
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Image Credit:
Blood Sugar Testing: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alishav/3534215167/