Can Diet And Exercise Reverse Prediabetes?

Prediabetes is a warning sign that you might be heading towards type 2 diabetes, a significant health problem affecting lots of people around the world. By 2025, it's expected that 380 million people will have diabetes. This is a big deal because diabetes can lead to other serious health issues like heart disease, kidney problems, strokes, and even blindness.

Prediabetes is what happens before someone gets type 2 diabetes. It means their blood sugar levels are higher than usual but not high enough to be called diabetes. But this doesn't mean there's no hope. In fact, over one-third of people in the U.S. and the EU have prediabetes, showing how common it is.

The good news is that prediabetes can serve as a wake-up call. It's like your body saying, "Hey, let's make some changes before things get worse." Many wonder if making significant changes to their lives, like eating better and exercising, can turn things around and prevent diabetes.

This was the main topic of a discussion where experts and people who've managed to beat prediabetes shared their insights. They talked about how changing your diet and moving more can make a difference and potentially reverse prediabetes, stopping diabetes before it starts.

Diabetes and prediabetes used to be checked by looking at how much sugar was in someone's blood after they hadn't eaten for a while or after they drank a special sweet drink. Doctors would see how the body handled that sugar over several hours.

What counts as prediabetes can change over time and might differ depending on where you are.

It's kind of like a sliding scale, where there's a range from healthy to diabetes, and prediabetes is somewhere in the middle.

For example, the EU and the U.S. use different methods to measure blood sugar. The EU uses a unit called millimoles per litre, while the U.S. uses milligrams per deciliter. It's like measuring temperature in Celsius versus Fahrenheit; they're just different ways of measuring the same thing.

Lately, doctors have been using something called haemoglobin A1C to check for diabetes. It gives an average of your blood sugar levels over the past few months. However, this test has different ways of showing results, which can be confusing.

Blood sugar isn't just a simple number. It's more about the range your results fall into. Most people agree on what's expected and too high, but the in-between numbers can be debated.

The World Health Organization recommended the A1C test to determine if someone has diabetes. Nowadays, doctors focus on A1C results but sometimes look at other sugar readings.

In the EU, prediabetes is defined by an A1C level between 39 to 47 mmol/mol. If it's above 48 mmol/mol or 6.5% in the other way of measuring, it's considered diabetes. Doctors like to have two high readings before they say someone has type 2 diabetes.

Someone mentioned they were told they had prediabetes when their A1C was 5.8%. The line between normal and prediabetes has been getting lower over the years, so what used to be seen as almost usual might now be considered prediabetes.

Prediabetes often doesn't show any clear signs, making it tricky to spot. Some people might start feeling thirsty, need to go to the bathroom at night or notice their energy levels going up and down like a rollercoaster.

A person shared that they didn't see many changes in their body at first. They were used to drinking much water, so it was hard to tell if anything was different. But they did realise that if they went too long without eating, their blood sugar would drop, making them feel pretty off. Over time, and with some changes in how they lived, they noticed they could go over 16 hours without eating and not have this problem.

These ups and downs in energy and sugar levels could be early clues that diabetes is developing.

Prediabetes can mean your blood sugar is high either before or after eating. This can lead to blood sugar levels bouncing around more than they should, especially after meals. This happens because the body either can't make enough insulin or isn't working as well as it should. Insulin helps keep your blood sugar stable.

Most of the time, people with prediabetes don't even realise these swings are happening because they're not checking their blood sugar regularly. So, these changes might go unnoticed.

But improving how you live, like eating better and losing some weight, can help. It can make your insulin work better and keep your blood sugar levels more stable, cutting down on those sudden highs and lows.

Being overweight, having a high BMI, and being older are some big reasons why someone might get type 2 diabetes. As we age, our bodies don't use insulin as well, which means we're more likely to get prediabetes or diabetes.

Stress and eating lots of sugary foods and drinks can also make it more likely for someone to develop diabetes. However, eating foods high in fibre and low in simple sugars can help prevent problems with blood sugar.

If you don't move around much during the day, especially if you spend a lot of time sitting and watching TV, your risk of getting diabetes goes up. Being active is essential for keeping your body's insulin working right.

Your background and your genes also play a significant role. For example, studies in the EU have shown that people from South Asian backgrounds might be at the same risk of getting diabetes at a lower BMI than people from other backgrounds.

Family history is another significant factor. Some people might have a higher risk of getting diabetes because their parents or other family members have it, even if they're not overweight or don't fit the usual picture of someone with type 2 diabetes. It's not just about lifestyle choices; genetics plays a big part, too.

There are over 40 different genes that can make you more likely to get diabetes. Each might do little on its own, but they can increase your risk together.

Reversing prediabetes often involves a combination of strategies, including intermittent fasting, adopting a balanced diet rich in lower-glycemic index foods and complex carbohydrates, and significantly increasing physical activity. This approach focuses on making sustainable lifestyle changes rather than adopting strict or short-term diets that are hard to maintain.

Incorporating weight and resistance training into the exercise routine can also be beneficial. These methods target weight loss and improve overall health and metabolic function, making the body more efficient at using insulin and managing blood sugar levels.

It's important to acknowledge that while these intensive lifestyle changes can be very effective in preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes, they might not be easy for everyone to implement. However, understanding the risk and taking even small steps towards a healthier lifestyle can serve as a crucial early warning and motivate individuals to make positive changes.

For someone with a healthy body weight, losing more weight might not be the right way to tackle prediabetes. Instead, the problem might be more about needing to move more or having a stressful job that leaves little time for exercise.

Strength training is a great way to build muscle and help your body use insulin more effectively. When you exercise, your muscles release substances that can benefit your heart and blood sugar.

More muscle can also speed up how fast your body burns calories, which helps keep your weight steady. Plus, when you're active, you build muscle and burn fat, which is excellent for your overall health.

Regularly moving can help keep blood sugar levels steady, and you don't have to do super intense workouts to see benefits.

When people think of exercise, they often imagine running on a treadmill until dripping with sweat. While that's one way to work out, avoiding sitting around too much is also important.

Standing up burns more calories than sitting, and walking around is even better. Some interesting studies have found that simply getting up from your seat every hour or half-hour, walking around a bit, or even doing a few squats can make a big difference in managing blood sugar throughout the day.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ACTIVE?

Being active doesn't mean you have to do something extreme like climbing a huge mountain or running miles on a treadmill. It can be as simple as standing up and taking a short walk now and then. Even small actions like this can have a significant positive effect on your health.

If you need assistance, don't hesitate to contact Mobi Doctor. We're available to provide the support and guidance you need.