Are you at risk for diabetes?

Do you have diabetes?  Do you really know?  What is your fasting blood sugar reading?  Yesterday, Tuesday, March 22, was Diabetes Alert Day and I thought it would be important to cover a little about this silent epidemic, as it is affecting more and more people everyday, young and old.  Did you know one in three adults are at risk for type 2 diabetes?  And our children are gaining on the adults!  Even more astounding statistics, according to the American Diabetes Association, is there are nearly 26 million children and adults that have diabetes and 79 million more have prediabetes.  It costs over $174 billion dollars a year to treat this disease!   It is hard to believe, isn't it? 

Lets look at some risk factors:

• Are you overweight?
• And do you have a second risk factor such as inactivity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, poor eating habits, smoking, gestational diabetes, or if you are of a certain age, race, gender or if you have a family history of diabetes?

What exactly is diabetes?  It is diagnosed when your fasting blood sugar is 126 mg/dl or above.  Prediabetes is if your fasting blood sugar is between 100-126 mg/dl.

Some signs of diabetes: 
Type 1 (insulin dependent)

• Frequent urination
• Unusual thirst
• Extreme hunger
• Unusual weight loss
• Extreme fatigue and Irritability

Type 2 (insulin and/or pills for medication)

• Any of the type 1 symptoms
• Frequent infections
• Blurred vision
• Cuts/bruises that are slow to heal
• Tingling/numbness in the hands/feet
• Recurring skin, gum, or bladder infections

*Often people with type 2 diabetes have no symptoms! 

How do we help prevent or delay diabetes?  You should increase your physical activity.  Gradually at first, if you are new at it, and try to aim for at least 30 minutes per day, five days a week.  If you are overweight, start to work on losing weight.  The good news, you don't need to drop a huge amount of weight to start seeing positive changes!  Make a goal of losing 5-10% of your current weight to start getting the health benefits. 
Also, start eating healthier by reducing your portion sizes (Americas portion sizes are out of control!), and eating a diet with low saturated and trans fats and low in calories.  Easy way to do that? Fill the majority of your plate with veggies! 

Take this risk test provided by the American Diabetes Association to see if you are at risk for prediabetes.  If you suspect you may be prediabetic or diabetic, see your doctor right away to get on a plan.  If you don't think you are, see your doctor anyway, just to make sure! Remember, most Type 2 diabetics don't even know it until it is almost too late!

For more information visit http://www.diabetes.org/