How to Help Prevent Diabetes

Diabetes has become the third largest cause of death among Americans. According to the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, one of the National Institutes of Health, nearly 13 percent of Americans over the age of 20 have diabetes, but less than half have been diagnosed. Diabetes sets a foundation for heart disease and eye problems, as well as diseases of the kidneys, mouth and skin. Efforts to prevent the onset of this killer should begin at an early age.

Things You'll Need

• Athletic shoes

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Instructions

• 1

  Control your weight. We all add pounds as we age. Obesity is the single best indicator of the probability of onset of gestational diabetes. It limits the body's ability to use insulin properly and contributes to problems like poor circulation, high cholesterol or cardiovascular disease, which are in turn indicators of pre-diabetes. A healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) should be between 19 and 24. Anything over 29 is considered obese.

• 2

  Choose the right foods. Crash diets and wildly fluctuating weight can be as dangerous as doing nothing, often affecting the endocrine system and throwing off blood chemistry, paving the way for type 2 diabetes' inability to use insulin. The dietary advice given to pre-diabetics works for us all: limit portions, follow the food pyramid recommendations, consume raw vegetables and whole grains, and restrict the use of sugar and starch. Eating a lot of glucose-producing food (like those with refined sugar and bleached flours) "shocks" the system.

• 3

  Exercise regularly. Walk, run, swim, or sit in a chair and do specially designed calisthenics. Ride a bicycle or pump a recumbent bike. Mow the lawn or use the stairs instead of the elevator. Whatever you do, do it for 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days out of the week. The point is to keep the systems going, to keep your weight down and keep your blood doing its job of carrying nourishment to every part of your body. Exercise (or a change in type of exercise) will jump-start weight loss when it plateaus after the first big loss.

• 4

  Make a plan, and enlist your health provider's help in implementing it. Set reasonable goals, and decide how you'll reward yourself when you reach them. If you're older and pre-diabetic, ask your doctor about a program of exercise with or without a drug called metformin that's been shown to be effective in reducing the onset of type 2 diabetes. Consult with a nutritionist to set up a diet for weight loss or "carb" control. Finally, participate in your own checkups, asking about blood results and questioning what should be "normal" instead of just accepting that "everything looks fine."

• 5

  Protect your children. If you or people in your family have type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes, your children may inherit it. Children from these families should be examined immediately by their pediatricians for signs of juvenile diabetes. Those who come from families without a history should be encouraged by their parents to follow the same rules as any adult would follow to avoid developing type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes: eat right and exercise.