Pre-diabetes: A Warning Light
‘If I’d only known I would have done better.’A common thought after we’re burdened with a preventable disease. With some, we don’t need a crystal ball to predict because a simple blood test will suffice. Type 2 diabetes is not a condition that attacks overnight. It preys upon the overweight and under active and it happens over time. A condition now labeled as pre-diabetes can be screened long before diabetes hits. The best part is that you can stop it with a combination of will power and hard work. But before we look at the best methods to reverse a speeding train, let’s get a better understanding of the disease itself.
An organ in your body called the pancreas makes insulin. I like to think of insulin like a ferry that transports people across a river to get to their jobs every day. In this case, the passengers are the sugars in your body that you get from food. One bank of the river is your blood stream and on the other side we have all the cells in your body where the work gets done. Insulin takes sugar from your blood stream and transports it to your cells. The ferry can also turn around and go the other way, back to your blood. After you eat a meal, you have a surplus of sugar in your blood; insulin takes the surplus to your cells, which use the sugar as fuel to get the work done. After going for some time without a meal, the sugar in your blood runs low. Insulin steps in and takes some of the sugar out of your cells and ferries it back to your blood.
When someone has type 2 Diabetes they either don’t have enough insulin (too few ferries) or their bodies don’t respond to the insulin they have. (Ferries have sprang a leak) This can result in having really sugary blood. Since your blood travels throughout your body, every part of your body can be affected by this imbalance.
So how can you tell if your ferries (insulin) are up to snuff? Most of the signals your body gives you appear after you have diabetes. There is a screening test that involves giving a small blood sample and putting off breakfast that morning. This test in not usually covered by insurance but taking it is definitely worth the time, expense and effort. You can ask for a diabetes test at any local hospital or clinic.
If you have pre-diabetes, while it’s a serious matter there is no need to hit the panic button. You hold the controls here because things can often turn around with diet and exercise. This doesn’t mean that you need to lose enough weight to bounce a quarter off your abs. It means modest changes, like going for a walk everyday or drinking water instead of Coke. So many overweight people are malnourished because the foods they eat are low in vitamins and minerals. By taking a multivitamin and eating a few more things from the garden, your body will be more satisfied.
At the end of the day, it’s the quality of our health that gives us the freedom to enjoy life. Live well now and invest in the opportunity to enjoy good heath for a long and happy future.