If you've just been told that you are one of the 24 million Americans who are at risk for diabetes, cheer up. The news is not all bad. Modern medicine has developed a number of effective approaches to managing the disease and helping you maintain a healthy life.
Diabetes is a serious cardiovascular disease--largely because you can live for years, symptom-free, before you know you have it. For this reason, many physicians recommend that if you have a family history of diabetes, you get your blood sugar tested annually starting at age 30. Using a simple blood test, your doctor can determine if you have impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) or impaired fasting glucose (IFG). Both are precursors of full-blown diabetes.
Even if you have no family history of diabetes, you may be at risk due to other risk factors. Research has shown that men and women who are overweight and lead sedentary lifestyles are more prone to developing diabetes than their leaner, more active counterparts.
The first step in preventing diabetes is to get a checkup by your doctor. Not only can he rule out glucose intolerance, he can give you the green light to begin a regular exercise program. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that adults get a minimum of 20 minutes of aerobic exercise a day, five times a week. This can be all at once or broken up into several sessions per day. Regular aerobic exercise will have a number of positive effects. First, it will help you to lose weight – and excess weight is the biggest contributor to diabetes. Second, exercise will help lower your blood pressure and improve your blood lipid profile, raising your HDL and lowering your LDL cholesterol. In conjunction with regular activity, losing weight can be the most significant lifestyle change you can make toward warding off diabetes.
Making healthy changes to your diet will also help. Avoid fast foods, simple sugars and other calorie-dense foods. Replace them with fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, beans and lean meats. Try to reduce your total fat intake to 20 percent (or less) of your total caloric intake.
If embarking on an exercise program and making healthy changes to your diet does not lower your risk of diabetes, you may need to consider taking medication. There are some exciting studies currently being conducted on the prevention of diabetes via prescription drugs. One of the most popular drugs is Metformin. In conjunction with diet and exercise, Metformin has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes by over 58 percent. Other common medications being studied include Xenical, Precose and two classifications of drugs typically prescribed to lower cholesterol: statins and ACE inhibitors.
Whether or not you have a family history of diabetes, you can reduce the chances that you'll contract it by watching your weight and making heart-healthy changes to your diet. Contact your family physician for an annual physical exam and make an appointment with a registered dietitian to see how easy it can be to avoid this silent killer.
