Do you ever wonder if you are headed for hypoglycemia, pre-diabetes or even diabetes? Do you have a family history of blood sugar issues? Aunt Mary, Cousin Sam or Mom have Diabetes? Well even though heredity is not the only indicator that you may become Diabetic – it still represents a 50/50 chance.
I live with Diabetes everyday. My husband was diagnosed with diabetes long before I met him. Since his stroke nearly 2 years ago he has become insulin dependent. I have seen first hand how it has ravaged his body. It started with his eyesight where he had to undergo 3 separate eye surgeries to correct a debilitating diabetic phenomenon called diabetic retinopathy. He was then put on statins, blood pressure medication and many other medications to combat the other.
It has been nearly 5 years since we first became aware that he had kidney disease. He was actually born with only one kidney – not as rare an occurrence as expected. Most of us will never need to have an ultra sound taken of our kidneys and will, therefore, never know how many kidneys we actually have. So unless kidney function is impaired as is determined by pain, discomfort or abnormal blood work, only then would you find out how many kidneys you actually have. So taking care of them now if a very good idea.
I am sharing my husband’s and my situation with you today simply to let you know that yes – Diabetes can be a very damaging disease affecting nearly even organ system in your body. There is, however, a silver lining. There are thankfully many things you can do today to prevent its development.
Here are YOUR 5 Keys to Preventing Diabetes:
Key #1 Get Your Bloodwork Done Regularly: It’s important to have regular bloodwork done – at least every 6 months. You need to have a fasting glucose, cholesterol, HDL, LDL (and their ratios), triglycerides, plus an A1C. Your A1C will indicate how managed your blood sugar is over a longer period of time – about 3 months versus just the particular day your blood was drawn, as glucose would show.
Key # 2 Move: Of course, you need some type of daily or at least 3x/week ritual of exercise. Walking helps relieves stress which is the major culprit in any disease process. Merely walking or riding a recumbent bike 30 minutes/day will help you manage and lower elevated blood sugar if you have it. If neither of these two activities do it for you, find something that does – but you must do it in order to benefit. Unless you are up and moving along while watching your favorite dance contest on TV or while surfing the internet – you won’t be able to count these activities as exercise.
Key #3 Take the Right Supplements: Ask yourself, would you rather take effective supplements now, or inject yourself with insulin later? It’s really that simple. There are many extraordinary blood sugar balancing nutrients that will help you manage an imbalance today. If you have a tendency towards hypoglycemia, know that that is a precursor to hyperglycemia, aka high blood sugar aka diabetes. Including a good fish oil, chromium, alpha lipoic acid, blood sugar formulas which include cinnamon and gymnema will help tremendously.
Key #4 Make Your Diet Matter – a lot! Blood sugar issues are primarily a lifestyle issue. Therefore, by changing your lifestyle, specifically your food choices, you will have a much better chance of preventing diabetes. Choose whole foods – fresh fruits and vegetables, quality proteins, and good fats. Stay away from high fructose corn syrup, agave, and all sweeteners. Know that fructose or fruit sugar found in real fruits is very different from fructose found in packaged, processed foods. Real fruit also contains pectins and fiber which are essential in the proper breakdown and ultilization of the sugar found in fruit. To be clear Agave, which falsely masquerades as a health food, is potentially harmful to your liver – not a good thing at all!
Key #5 Don’t Ignore Your Symptoms: If you suffer from signs of hypoglycemia – shakiness, headaches, or brain fogginess – always carry healthy snacks with you. The goal is to eventually eliminate these types of symptoms all together. Again, hypoglycemia can turn into hyperglycemia or diabetes. Pay attention – your body is talking to you. So many have ignored symptoms, whether pre-diabetic or any other, only to end up much worse off than when the symptoms first appeared. If you do not feel right you must take steps to begin a process towards improved health – the sooner the better.
