Lowering the Risk: Healthy Habits to Prevent Diabetes
November is National Diabetes Month — are you one of millions of Americans living with diabetes or at risk? Though diabetes can have a profound impact on one’s lifestyle, it is a disease that can be treated with medication and healthy lifestyle choices — and in some cases, those choices can prevent the disease from occurring at all. Learn more about how diabetes affects the body and what you can do to lower your risk.
What Is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce enough insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas that allows the body’s cells to absorb blood sugar for energy. Diabetes is typically diagnosed as one of two types:
- Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks the beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. Usually diagnosed in children and young adults, type 1 diabetes is an inherited disease with no known prevention. Common symptoms include frequent urination, feeling thirsty or hungry even when eating, extreme fatigue, blurred vision, cuts and bruises that are slow to heal, and weight loss despite eating more.
- Type 2 diabetes is an acquired disease in which the body develops an insulin resistance and the pancreas can no longer manufacture enough insulin to stabilize the body’s blood glucose levels. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, accounting for about 90-95% of diagnoses. Typically found in middle-aged adults — though the diagnosis rate is increasing in younger adults — risk factors for type 2 diabetes include obesity, physical inactivity, age, and family history. Warning signs may include frequent urination, feeling thirsty or hungry even when eating, extreme fatigue, blurred vision, cuts and bruises that are slow to heal, and tingling, pain, or numbness in the extremities.
Additionally, a third type of diabetes, gestational diabetes, occurs during pregnancy when the hormones from the placenta block insulin, leading to insulin resistance. Prediabetes is a condition that describes when blood glucose levels are abnormally high, but not quite high enough to be considered type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes is a precursor to type 2 diabetes, but it can be reversed with healthy choices.
Preventing Diabetes
Though there is no cure for type 2 diabetes, recognizing the warning signs early on can allow patients to reverse the trend toward developing the disease. One way to prevent type 2 diabetes is to lose a relatively small amount of body weight. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends patients lose roughly 5-7% of their body weight — for a 200-pound person, this equals about 10-14 pounds.
The CDC also recommends increasing the amount of physical activity to about 150 minutes per week of brisk walking or a similar activity. That equates to roughly 30 minutes per day for five days a week. Some other ways to lose weight include:
- Eating a balanced diet and snacking on healthy foods like fruits and vegetables
- Drinking water and unsweetened beverages to reduce sugar intake
- Minimizing alcohol intake
- Managing portion sizes
- Scheduling regular checkups with your primary care provider