|
|
|
Prevent, delay diabetes with lifestyle changes
|
Routine
visits to your health care provider can help you to identify risks,
lead to early diagnosis and aid in preventing a number of chronic
diseases, including Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is a serious disease
defined as the body’s inability to produce or effectively use insulin
to properly change glucose into energy. Diabetes is a major cause of
health problems such as heart disease, kidney disease, blindness,
sexual dys-function, periodontal disease and amputations.
Preventive health practices can help to lower your risk. Ask your
primary care provider to test you for diabetes. A common test is the
fasting blood glucose and a newer way to diagnose diabetes is the A1C
test. If you have an A1C greater than or equal to 6.5, you have
diabetes. If your A1C is 5.6 to 6.4, you have prediabetes.
Fasting blood glucose results:
- 100 mg/dl or below means that you do not have diabetes and should work to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
- Results of 100-125 mg/dl are considered
pre-diabetes. This does not mean that you have diabetes or that you
will necessarily develop diabetes. At this point you can take the steps
to prevent or delay the onset of diabetes.
- Results 126 mg/dl or higher are diagnosed as diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes preven-tion or delayed onset may be achieved through:
- Visiting your primary care provider regularly, and asking how you can live a healthier life and prevent diabetes.
- Engaging in at least 30 minutes of regular physical exercise on most days.
- Losing weight if overweight (even small reductions, such as 10 pounds can decrease your risk).
- Eating a healthy diet high in vegetables,
fruits and whole grains, while avoiding fried foods, fatty meats, salt
and sugar (eating sugar does not cause diabetes).
Online March 19, 2010
|
|
|
