I am not (yet) in the group of 1 out of every 3 Americans who are pre-diabetic. Good for me. Still, I don’t take that for granted and I’m closer than I would like. Pre-diabetic condition means your glucose level (blood sugar) is higher than normal, but not in the “type 2 Diabetic” range.
Like many readers, I am over 45 years old (now there is an understatement). The 45-year mark tends to be a time when the pancreas slows down a bit (and produces less insulin to absorb glucose). If you are in – or heading toward – the pre-diabetic range, you have to test for it. (Read about the A1c test in a previous post). There are no real symptoms, thus the need to test. Why not just wait? After all, “watchful waiting” is often the reasonable and conservative approach to many conditions.
You don’t want to wait to test because taking action early enough is a major defensive key. Appropriate steps may stop you from ever reaching an almost-irreversible type 2 diabetes stage (in which self-treatment is much more difficult). The CDC estimates about 15-30% of those with pre-diabetic levels will advance to full blown type 2 without intervention or habit changes like moderate exercise and weight loss.
Timing is also a major risk factor. Studies suggest people are more resistant to insulin at night. See my post: My Worst Bad Habit – Meal Timing. Thus, some modifications of our habits, like meal time, are less onerous than others.
Carrying extra weight is rarely good for any condition – except benefiting from immediate gratification syndrome (ok, that’s not an official thing). But 4 of the 6 typical risk factors given for pre-diabetes have to do with weight. Other than age and family history, the chief risks are obesity, sedentary lifestyle (adding to weight gain), large waist size and poor diet.
Even if you wear skinny jeans you should get tested because a strong-family history can predispose you as well. I don’t wear skinny jeans. Sigh. But it is important for those of you who do to realize you can’t just consider yourself “safe” and mentally shout “olly, olly oxen free” – a term I remember from when I did wear skinny jeans.
The Dinner Plate Only
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I will skip other Dos(s) and Don’t(s). Instead, I am pursuing the trite, but so accurate, concept that a picture is worth a thousand words. I offer you my simple infographic below to help ‘design’ your dinner plate. [A dinner plate earlier in the evening than mine I hope.] Placing this graphic next to the timing graphic from the post mentioned above may add to our motivation. We might not succeed EVERY night, but as we have heard before ‘every little bit (less) helps’.
The best thing about this dinner plate representation is that it’s helpful for most conditions, as well as a healthy life in general. And if you’ve been advised that weight loss is vital for you, use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate – but go ahead and “fill’er up.” You can stack it a bit more and really feel like you had a lot to eat.
Notice that we aren’t even addressing lunch. We could consider the same plate designing at lunch, but simply making this change for one meal of the day will help all of us. Help in terms of test numbers, our looks, and how we feel.
Bon appétit
