Diabetes: How to prevent this avoidable disease
As with many medical conditions, there are several diabetes warning signs your body will show in the early stages of the disease. Unfortunately, the catch is that many of these indicators come on gradually and may be too subtle to notice, written off as just “getting older” or “too much stress,” mistakenly attributed to some other medical condition, or even simply ignored.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes, and in this case your body does not use insulin properly. This is called insulin resistance. At first, your pancreas makes extra insulin to make up for it. But, over time it isn't able to keep up and can't make enough insulin to keep your blood glucose at normal levels.
If diagnosed early, diabetes can often be controlled with proper diet and exercise (though the diabetes will never actually be “cured,” so to speak). So what kinds of things should you be on the lookout for as diabetes warning signs?
Common Diabetes Warning Signs, Commonly Missed
- The need to urinate more often than usual. Since your body is already struggling trying to break down the sugar from the foods you eat, it’s trying other ways to get rid of it. With frequent urination, it's trying to eliminate the sugar from your bloodstream by treating it as a waste product.
- Feeling fatigued or short-tempered is another diabetes red flag. Your blood sugar spiking up and down during the course of a day can wreak havoc on your energy levels, not to mention your emotional state.
- Weight loss, despite all of the increased eating and drinking, is also something to keep an eye on. You may drop actually some pounds because of the water loss from frequent urination, which also gets rid of a lot of the sugar calories your body would otherwise have held onto and turned into fat.
How to prevent Type 2 diabetes:
Common risk factors include increased weight, blood pressure and cholesterol.
Here are some tips to help you reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes.
- Manage your weight. Excess body fat, particularly if stored around the abdomen, can increase the body’s resistance to the hormone insulin.
- Exercise regularly. Exercise will manage weight, reduce blood glucose levels and can improve blood pressure and cholesterol.
- Eat a balanced, healthy diet. Avoid processed foods. Reduce the amount of fat in your diet, especially saturated and trans fats. Eat lean proteins, fruit, and vegetables. Be sure to watch salt intake.
If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms or especially if you have a family history of diabetes, make an appointment with a health care professional and schedule the simple blood test to determine your blood sugar status. It’s quick, easy, and can save you a whole lot of trouble in the long run.