Americans love sugar. Sweet carbohydrates surround us nearly everywhere we go. In the recent past you were told “carbs” were bad. That fad diet has died down, but has left folks wondering, what should they eat? Regardless of the dietary confusion, the statistics are clear. Diabetes is on the rise.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and American Diabetes Association (ADA) agree that the number of people in the US with diabetes in on the rise (both Type 1 and Type 2). In 2050 the CDC has predicted that the number of diabetes patients will double, therefore 1 in every 3 Americans will have the disease. How staggering is it that with modern medicine an often-preventable disease can be on the rise? Yes, there are different types of diabetes and genetics play a large role. However, it is not the genetics that are going to double the number of cases seen in the next 40 years, it is the American diet and lifestyle.
The first step in preventing increased incidence of diabetes is getting a few simple labs tests. Your fasting blood sugar (glucose) level should be measured annually. This tells you your blood sugar at that specific moment in time, (it is constantly changing) which should be below 100 mg/dL. Due to the fact that your blood sugar can be so variable from moment to moment your doctor may repeat this test. If your fasting blood sugar on average is above 100 mg/dL then you have prediabetes. The other preventative test is called hemoglobin A1C (HgBA1C). This test monitors your blood sugar over time. Your hemoglobin are in your red blood cells, which last in your body for approximately 3 months. The hemoglobin provides a long term marker because they get saturated with sugar (glycosylated). The ADA recently lowered the percentage for HgA1C (normal including 5.6% and below), which helps flag prediabetes early.
Once you know how great your risk for diabetes is, then you can put the necessary energy into preventing the development of diabetes. Diet and lifestyle are powerful tools in the prevention of diabetes. The extreme fad diets never work long term. The most reasonable way to look at your diet, is not as a “diet”, but as a lifelong eating plan. There are many health professionals that are equipped for the tough and specific questions about what you should eat, how much, how to read labels, ect. Take the first step in preventing diabetes and get checked by making an appointment with a doctor to perform a diabetes screen (annual physical, fasting blood sugar, and HgA1C). Naturopathic doctors are preventative medicine experts. We perform screening tests and educate our patients about specific dietary and exercise guidelines.
