National Diabetes Month: Spotlight on Prediabetes

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November is National Diabetes Awareness Month 

This year's focus is on prediabetes and preventing diabetes.

What is Prediabetes?
Prediabetes is when your blood sugar levels are elevated above normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes. 

Your doctor can do a blood test called hemoglobin A1c, which is a measure of how much sugar sticks to your hemoglobin cells in your blood. This can give a rough estimate of what your blood sugar has averaged for the past 3 months. If your HgA1c number comes back between 5.7 and 6.4%, you may have prediabetes. If it is over 6.4%, your doctor might decide to run more tests to see if you have diabetes.


Take this quiz to determine your risk for type 2 diabetes!

LiveWell Vermont's top three actions to reduce risk of diabetes
especially if you have been told you have prediabetes:

1. Move more! 

  • Cardio exercise (like walking, biking, or dancing) utilizes the glucose that is digested from our food and gets transported to our blood, which means that more of the carbohydrates (or sugar) you eat will get turned into energy. 
  • Muscle strengthening exercises (like pushups, lifting weights, and squats) improve our sensitivity to insulin, or improve how well our muscles are able to turn the sugar in our blood into energy for our cells. 
  • Bonus: Some exercises provide both cardio and strengthening benefits, like swimming!

2. Swap your sugary beverages for zero-cal drinks. 
  • Our favorites are flavored unsweetened herbal tea (hot or iced!), seltzer water, and infused water.
  • Check the sugar content of your usual coffee, juice, soda, smoothie, or tea. Many bottled drinks have more sugar than a candy bar!

3. Increase fiber*! 
Fiber slows down how quickly we turn our food (carbohydrates) into sugar (glucose), which can help your body better control your blood sugar levels. 

Try these ideas to increase fiber intake: 
  • eating more fruits and vegetables (any are good sources of fiber, especially if you leave the peels on foods like apples, pears, and potatoes)
  • swapping white rice for brown or black rice 
  • having oatmeal for breakfast
  • adding nuts/seeds to salads, oatmeal, 
  • adding beans or lentils to some meals, and
  • choosing bread and cereal with at least 3 grams fiber per serving (look in the ingredients label to see if the first ingredient begins with the word "whole")


*When increasing fiber, it is important to make sure you also increase your fluid intake to prevent uncomfortable side effects. You'll also want to choose one suggestion at a time to gradually increase your fiber intake over a few days or weeks.

See this infographic for more ideas!

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For free online Diabetes Prevention and Management Workshops, visit MyHealthyVT!



 


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