Have you ever been told that your A1C is elevated or you have Prediabetes?
While always challenging to hear that anything might be wrong with your blood work, a diagnosis of pre-diabetes or an elevated A1C is reversible and offers you one of the greatest opportunities to prevent disease in the future and safeguard your future health.
First the facts…
- If you have pre-diabetes you are 2-5 times more likely to develop diabetes than patients with normal blood glucose levels.
- About 11% of people with prediabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes within three years.
Now, the reason we’re sending you this…
With lifestyle changes, prediabetes can be reversed and diabetes can be avoided!
The same factors that cause prediabetes also cause diabetes.
The following are our top tips to prevent diabetes:
1. Become More Active
By far the most important thing to do is KEEP MOVING!! Experiment and find something you truly enjoy. Walk just 30 minutes a day (Just 2.5% of your day!!!) can cut your odds of getting diabetes by 58%!!!!
Can’t commit to a regular workout? Challenge yourself to move more every day by tracking your steps. If all else fails… Walk after dinner!
2. Focus on Food Choices
Load up on fruits and vegetables! The best are less-starchy kinds such as spinach, broccoli, carrots, and green beans. But don’t take our word, discover your own favorites!
Increase the amount of fiber rich whole foods in your diet. Fiber slows the absorption of sugar from your gut, helps you feel full and even lowers cholesterol!
Avoid refined foods! If it has white sugar, white flour or comes in a package… it’s likely adding to your sugar.
Watch out for inflammation! Anti-inflammatory diets such as the Mediterranean diet have been shown to not only improve your A1C but also be effective in lowering blood sugar and preventing diabetes.
Always eat breakfast! A recent study showed that skipping breakfast triggers acute insulin resistance contributing to diabetes risk and blood sugar control. Committing to always eating breakfast is a one simple shift that has profound results!
Focus on foods high on magnesium!
3. Watch your waist!
Weight gain, particularly visceral fat (belly fat) increases risk of metabolic syndrome greatly. Visceral fat releases hormones like cortisol and pro-inflammatory signals that increase metabolic syndrome risk. Weight loss of 10% of total weight is associated with an average of .81 reduction in HBA1c (That’s almost a whole point!).
Increasing red meat consumption raises the risk of type 2 diabetes, independent of weight gain. Ever thought about going vegan?
4. Get your ZZZZZZ’s (sleep)!
Lack of sleep on a regular basis not only makes you tired and grumpy… it increases stress hormones in your body, is a risk factor for diabetes, and causes the body to store fat making it hard for you to lose weight. Improve your sleep hygiene.
5. Upgrade Your Outlook
Having the right mindset can help you tackle prediabetes. Make a commitment to the best choices for your health. Accept that you won’t do things perfectly every day, but pledge to do your best most of the time. Focus on lowering stress. Excess stress negatively impacts overall health and metabolism. Deep breathing is a powerful stress reliever that costs nothing, you can do anywhere, and has no side effects!
Consider Supplements to further support optimal insulin and sugar balance in your body.
A few that we routinely use at SeeBeyond include Berberine, Insulin Support, Cinnamon, and My Weight.
Don’t wait any longer. We are here to support your personal health journey. Much of talk today is about “compressing your morbidity”, but let us help you extend the euphoria of good health. Schedule an appointment to come in and discuss a personalized plan for you.
Stephen Dahmer, MD
SeeBeyond™ Medicine
Director of Holistic Primary Care
Please consult with a physician before following any of our protocols or schedule a free consult with SeeBeyond Medicine.