Reversing Prediabetes to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes By Erika Dworkin, BCHN®
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diagnosis of prediabetes increases your risk for type 2 diabetes, but it does not necessarily follow that you will be afflicted with the disease. You can begin to reverse your condition with changes in your lifestyle, diet, and mental outlook. Various healing modalities, including dietary supplements and certified pure tested grade essential oils (EOs), can also provide valuable support.
In the United States, 88 million adults—more than 1 in 3—have prediabetes. What’s more, more than 84% of them don’t know they have it. With prediabetes, blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough yet to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes raises your risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States… [It] is the No. 1 cause of kidney failure, lower-limb amputations, and adult blindness. In the last 20 years, the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes has more than doubled. —Centers for Disease Control
What Is Prediabetes? The islets of Langerhans, irregularly shaped patches of endocrine tissue located in the pancreas, secrete the anabolic hormone insulin. Insulin regulates glucose, the sugar from food that the body uses for energy when it enters the cells of the liver, muscle, and fat. When those cells do not respond well to insulin and therefore cannot easily take up glucose from your blood, your pancreas creates more insulin to aid in the absorption of glucose. Blood glucose levels will stay in the healthy range as long as the pancreas can make enough insulin to overcome the cells’ insulin resistance. If the pancreas overreacts to insulin resistance, the resulting hyperinsulinemia increases the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and decreases health span and life expectancy. A prediabetic patient has glucose levels higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed a diabetic, and often has some insulin resistance or a
pancreas that makes an inadequate amount of insulin to keep blood glucose in a normal range. Normal fasting glucose is lower than 100 mg/dl. The test results for prediabetes, also known as impaired glucose tolerance, are: 1. A fasting plasma glucose (FPG) of 100–125 mg/dl 2. Postpandrial glucose (PPG; 2 hours after eating), or oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) glucose, of 140–199 mg/dl 3. A1C (average blood sugar for the past 2–3 months) of 5.7–6.4% According to the American Diabetes Association, patients almost always develop prediabetes before they succumb to type 2 diabetes. Since there are no clear symptoms of prediabetes, it is generally diagnosed when a patient is tested for diabetes. Prediabetics should be tested for diabetes every 1–2 years.
Modifying the Lifestyle Choices behind Prediabetes If your doctor has diagnosed you as prediabetic or has advised you that you are headed in that direction, you have the power to improve your health and prevent type 2 diabetes through various lifestyle changes. These include modifications that can lead to weight loss and improve your overall physical well-being: 1. Change your diet. Try the Mediterranean or keto diet and increase fiber consumption. Eat fewer white, refined, empty-calorie carbohydrates and synthetic sweeteners (e.g., high-fructose corn syrup, sodas, juices, sweets, breads/crackers, potato chips/other snacks). Lower trans/ saturated fat and sugar intake, reduce portion sizes, and try intermittent fasting and vegetable juicing. Drink more high-quality water (up to half your body weight in ounces) and drink less alcohol. www.NaturalNutmeg.com
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