Last week, federal health officials reported that only 11% of the 79 million Americans who have pre-diabetes know that they are at increased risk. At Optimal Body Balance, we talk about diabetes and insulin resistance all the time, and we know that everyone has some degree of insulin resistance. In fact, our entire eating plan is designed to balance blood sugar and prevent insulin resistance.
Pre-diabetes means that you have higher than normal blood sugar levels. If you continue to have high blood sugar levels, you are in danger of developing Type 2 Diabetes.
Whether or not you have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, you should be concerned and aware of your blood sugar levels. Everyone has some degree of insulin resistance, caused by various lifestyle factors and eating habits. Factors that increase your insulin resistance are: eating too many carbs, skipping meals, eating fast food, not exercising, being overweight and family history, just to name a few.
Making changes in the areas of exercise and diet can reduce your risk of developing diabetes by 58%. That is more than traditional drug therapy used! Metformin reduces the risk of developing diabetes by 31%.
What are some changes that you can make to reduce your risk?
- Eating balanced meals. You need to include a vegetable, protein, healthy fat and carbohydrate at every meal. Most of your carbohydrates should come from fruit. At Optimal Body Balance, we determine the right balance of each of the components for you individually.
- Never eat carbohydrates by themselves! Eating carbs alone (without protein, fat and vegetables) will cause a blood sugar spike. Doing this habitually will lead to high blood sugar levels and insulin resistance.
- Exercise! 30 minutes of physical activity per day is excellent! At least aim for 30 min, 3 times a week.
- Don’t drink soda of any kind. That includes diet. Regular soda is obviously loaded with sugar, sure to cause a blood sugar spike. Diet soda can still affect your insulin levels! Your body still reads diet soda as incoming calories, it releases insulin in expectation — when no calories arrive, your body freaks out because your hormone levels are off. This causes hunger and and overall increased calorie consumption, as well as eventual insulin resistance.
