Taking steps to avoid diabetes

Disease prevention




You’re no doubt aware that Type II diabetes is rampant in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 10 percent of California adults in 2013 had been diagnosed with diabetes (types I and II). That is a startling number, and even more so when it’s noted that the rate was just 4.2 percent in 1994.

Diabetes is complicated. In essence, people with the disease have an overabundance of glucose (a form of sugar) in their bloodstreams. We need glucose for energy, but too much in our blood can cause serious problems all over the body. Blindness, kidney damage and nerve damage in the hands and feet (sometimes leading to amputation) are just three of the many possible effects of diabetes. People with the disease are also at higher risk for stroke, heart disease and other potentially fatal conditions.

Although it can be controlled with medications and lifestyle changes, there is no cure for diabetes. Once you have it, you have it for life. That’s why it is so important to make changes now to avoid becoming diabetic in the first place.

The first and most important step you should take to prevent diabetes is to arrange for a visit with your primary care physician. He or she will talk with you about your family history, eating and exercise habits and other factors that might make you more likely to become diabetic.

In addition, your doctor may order tests that will help to assess your current status in terms of diabetes or your risk for developing the disease. Most likely, one of these tests will be an A1C test, which measures the amount of glucose in your bloodstream over the past three months. You’ll need to fast for a few hours (typically overnight) before blood is drawn for your A1C test, but it is otherwise a very simple process.

After the test results are back, your physician will talk with you about your A1C and any other related tests you’ve had. In addition to detecting diabetes, these tests are very helpful in identifying pre-diabetes—a condition in which blood glucose (often call blood sugar) is not yet high enough to be considered diabetes, but is in the danger zone.

Whether you are pre-diabetic or just concerned about developing diabetes, there are lifestyle modifications you can make to lower your risk for the disease.

One key step you can take is to lose weight. The more fat you have in your body, the more difficult it is for the hormone insulin to regulate the glucose in your blood. If you’re significantly overweight, take heart: Study after study has shown that even a modest amount of weight loss can get you out of the pre-diabetes category.

It’s always best to take a two-pronged approach to weight loss: nutrition and exercise. Our high-carbohydrate American diet is a major culprit in the dramatic rise in diabetes. Some foods you might think are healthy—even some vegetables, such as potatoes— are high in carbohydrates.

There are excellent online resources and apps that provide nutrition information about various types of food, including the amount of carbohydrates in the food. If you want to make sure you have a reliable resource for this information, speak with your doctor or a dietitian.

The other important action you can take is to increase your exercise, which not only helps you lose weight but creates other positive changes in your body that shield you against diabetes and a wide range of other diseases.

You don’t have to join a gym or buy expensive equipment to get great exercise. Take a walk, drag your bike out from the corner of the garage or go to the park and play Frisbee with a friend. The important thing is simply to move more. As you get used to exercise and find activities you enjoy, you can increase your effort.

Remember that you can take action to prevent diabetes. Get started today to avoid being a member of a group you don’t want to join.

John Dingilian, M.D., is a family medicine physician in Simi Valley and chief medical officer at Simi Valley Hospital.



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