It was just announced by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) that 26 million Americans now have type II diabetes, and 79 million have pre-diabetes. If this doesn’t scare you it should. Diabetes is a blood sugar problem that can cause all sorts of health issues such as abdominal weight gain, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, and heart attack. Having diabetes can ruin your eyesight, create poor wound healing, and cause loss of fingers and toes.
Ask your health care provider to check your fasting insulin and glucose. Insulin acts like the key that gets glucose (blood sugar) into the cells to be used as energy by your body. If your insulin receptors are broken or if you’re eating too much sugar and simple carbohydrates then your numbers start to creep up.
Typically, you want your blood sugar to be under 99 when fasting but pre-diabetes occurs when your numbers fall between 100 and 125. If you’re at 126 or higher, that is diabetes. For those of you wanting to lose weight, your number should be under 85. If your numbers are not in the appropriate range, take it very seriously and start to make major changes in your diet and lifestyle.
It’s really important that you cut out all sugar from your diet. I know this sounds harsh and unfair but diabetes is a sugar issue and you need to get rid of it. That includes sugary things such as fancy coffee drinks (syrups, chocolate, whipped cream), juice, soda, white rice, white bread, white noodles, crackers, candy, cookies, cake, and brownies. It also includes most yogurt (gasp!) because a typical container has 18-25 grams of sugar, and it also includes granola and granola bars. Since when is adding chocolate chips or marshmallows considered healthy in a granola bar?
It’s really important that you start eating three meals per day and make sure they are higher in protein and vegetables than carbs. Have an egg scrambled with vegetables without toast, enjoy a vegetable turkey soup or hamburger without the bun, and stir-fried chicken and vegetables without rice. You can do it.
It’s also really important that you exercise. I love the quote "If you’re always doing what you’ve always done, you’re going to always get what you always got." Basically, nothing is going to change unless you change, so start changing. Get off your backside and move it most days of the week. Are you a regular walker now? Start lifting some weights or do interval training. Are you a regular couch surfer? Then get up and start walking. Weight bearing exercise burns sugar up to 14 times faster than non-weight bearing exercise.
Don’t be a statistic – take care of your health and work really hard to keep your blood sugar well into the normal range.