What is prediabetes?
Prediabetes is a condition that occurs when your blood sugar levels are high, but not high enough to cause type 2 diabetes. When you have prediabetes, it acts as a warning sign that you are at risk of having type 2 diabetes. The good news is that prediabetes can be reversed through lifestyle changes. Eating the right food, increasing your physical activity, and maintaining a normal weight can bring your blood glucose back to normal range. If left untreated, prediabetes can progress to type 2 diabetes or even cause heart disease or stroke. Normally, a gland called the pancreas makes insulin that helps to regulate your blood glucose levels. If you have prediabetes, this process does not function properly. Therefore, your body might not make enough insulin during meals, or doesn’t respond to insulin. Because glucose cannot enter the muscle cells without insulin, it will stay in the bloodstream, leading to high amounts of blood glucose. Prediabetes can affect both adults and children. It is not clear why some people get prediabetes, though it appears genetics and family history could be a factor.
How to reverse prediabetes naturally
It can be scary for anyone to be diagnosed with prediabetes; however, that doesn’t mean you will get type 2 diabetes. There are changes you can make to your lifestyle, including taking medication that can prevent progression to type 2 diabetes. You can do the following things if you want to reverse prediabetes.
- Exercise more
Lack of physical activity is one of the risk factors that contribute to prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. However, if you exercise more, you can prevent the risk of prediabetes turning into diabetes. Exercise is an important part of the prediabetes treatment, since it helps to reduce high amounts of blood sugar and body fat. It is recommended you get 30 minutes of moderate exercise every week. Your doctor can help you come up with an exercise plan.
- Reduce weight
Having too much fat, especially around the abdomen, can make your body become resistant to insulin. Insulin resistance is one of the factors that contribute to type 2 diabetes. If you lose weight, you can prevent the risk of getting diabetes. Studies show that if you weigh around 200lbs, losing just 10 to 14lbs can reduce your chance of having diabetes by 58%.
- Eat healthy
Eating unhealthy foods that contain high amounts of fat and calories is not good for your health. Instead, include higher fiber foods into your diet. Eat 1 to 3 servings of fruits daily, and eat more vegetables such as spinach and broccoli. You can also add whole grains like brown rice.
- Sleep more
If you are overweight and you don’t get enough sleep, it can make it difficult for you to lose weight. Lack of sleep can make it difficult for your body to effectively use insulin. Thus, increasing your risk of getting type 2 diabetes. Therefore, it is important you create good sleeping habits
Doctor’s Recommendation
Try to achieve the 300 minutes per 7-day period of moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise. Adopt a healthy ketogenic diet. Sleeping 8 hours nightly is crucial because it releases less stress hormones, which cause cravings for comfort foods and poor dietary choices. Patients who are overweight should google the STOP-BANG questionnaire and try to see if they score 3 points or higher. If so, the patient has a higher risk of obstructive sleep apnea. If a score of 3 points or higher, a PCP should refer the patient to a sleep specialist to ensure that the patient is not suffering from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). If OSA is present, it leads to poor sleep despite adequate sleep time, resulting in poor dietary choices, as mentioned above. Furthermore, some individuals are within average weight and have relatively active lifestyles but have metabolic issues genetically. This highlights the importance of participating in annual routine blood work. In such cases, the pharmacological intervention of Metformin will likely adequately resolve the issue.
Disclaimer: Please note that the contents of this community article are strictly for informational purposes and should not be considered as medical advice. This article, and other community articles, are not written or reviewed for medical validity by Canadian Insulin or its staff. All views and opinions expressed by the contributing authors are not endorsed by Canadian Insulin. Always consult a medical professional for medical advice, diagnosis, and treatment.
