Waist Circumference And Diabetes

By Dr. Carrie Jones Expert HERWriter

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Concerned about developing diabetes? Then check your waist circumference. That means, take a tape measure and measure around your belly button. In women, it should be less than 35 inches, less than 40 inches in men. If you already have an impaired fasting glucose (between 100 and 125) then you’re in major trouble.

The wider your waist gets, the more fat develops around your middle organs causing serious risks to your health. While some fat is stored for energy, padding, or warmth, you do not need a lot of fat around your heart, liver, or gallbladder. Fat tissue (adipocytes) can secrete its own group of hormones that potentiate blood sugar irregularities, pre-diabetes, and full-blown diabetes. The only way to get it under control is to lose the fat.

Unfortunately, Americans continue to become more and more obese which is causing those in the ‘overweight’ category to view themselves as ‘normal’ in relation to the ‘obese’ surrounding them. Some schools have sat up and taken notice with the amount of overweight and obese kids/teens by removing vending machines from the schools and refocusing on their choices for lunch.

Fat deposition starts with the diet. You are what you eat. If you are eating a lot of carbohydrates (doesn’t matter if they are whole grain), sugar, aspartame, and fattening foods such as ice cream, mayonnaise, or cream cheese then you are probably going to gain weight around your middle. If you skip the fruits and vegetables or only drink vegetable juice (which is very high in sugar even if it claims to be real fruit juice), then you are going to be unhealthy.

Following your diet, you have to be exercising most days of the week at a higher intensity. A nice walk around the block is a start but if you really want to burn fat then you need to break it up into intervals. Try speed walking as fast as you can for 30 seconds, then do your regular pace for 10 or 15 seconds and repeat. If walking isn’t your thing, do the same thing on the treadmill, elliptical, bike, or row machine. Remember to add in weight training as your muscles burn up a lot of sugar for energy.

Don’t become a statistic and join the millions of overweight/obese Americans on their way to diabetes. I challenge you to measure around your waist at your belly button and see where you fall…how healthy are you?

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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.