A standard blood sugar test showed that Mr. Smith — let’s call it that — is approaching type 2 diabetes. Uncontrollably for now. Mr. 64 years old, and he is fat. With this analysis, he entered the group of adult Americans who have a prediabetic state.
There are almost eighty million people like him in the States. Seventy percent of them will get this disease in full, but the trouble is that 90 percent of them do not even suspect it. Moreover, 28 percent of adult Americans do not suspect that they already have diabetes! This is such a disease, at first almost imperceptible – you think, sudden dry mouth, and when you catch it, then, sometimes, it’s too late.
Mr. Smith believes that he was lucky to receive such a warning when he is still relatively healthy. He had a chance to correct his situation through lifestyle correction. And he did it.
For six years, he tracked the amount of calories he consumed, as well as the types and amount of carbohydrates, and generally adhered to the diet in terms of its usefulness or harm to the body. He practiced five times a week, walked for thirty minutes and swam for an hour in the local pool. (I understand that not everyone in Russia has the opportunity to swim in the “nearest pool”, but everyone can go.) In addition, he checked the presence of sugar in the blood – such devices are affordable and easy to use. And, of course, he took the necessary pills. Mr. Smith lost 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of his original weight. For six years, this is not so difficult. There was still the opportunity to undergo surgery to recover completely and forget about it. But Mr. Smith decided not to risk it.
But, unfortunately, there are relatively few such as Mr. Smith. Most patients start this disease. Today, diabetes has taken on the character of an epidemic that takes its toll on health, lives and multibillion medical expenses. A fifth of all “medical” dollars in the United States is spent on treating this disease. This is 245 billion!
Diabetes means complications such as heart disease of various kinds, strokes, kidney and nerve diseases, blindness, amputation of limbs and hearing loss. Blindness, kidney disease, and amputation are primarily caused by diabetes. Cases of Alzheimer’s and senile dementia are also being considered today in connection with diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is caused, first of all, by a person’s inactivity and his passion for gluttony, which leads to obesity. And how difficult it is sometimes to overcome oneself. And we are moving towards a situation of inactivity with literally leaps and bounds. In the eighties, the reluctance to move led to a disease risk of 20 percent of the adult population, and today 40 percent. If this tide, which can be called a tsunami, continues at the same pace, then by 2050 every third person will have diabetes. Given that life expectancy is increasing, and the risk of the disease is also increasing with age and today the number of patients older than 65 is one fourth, then these gloomy predictions (one out of three) are not surprising.
Theoretically, the upcoming crisis can be avoided. Since complications generally begin 20 years after the onset of the disease, normal behavior and diet delay the development of the disease until the end of a person’s days. He is dying from other causes. 20 years is given to man! What is this, if not the generosity of nature towards a person who is swine to his health. Who should be offended if problems arise, if not for themselves.
The American Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.org.) Has developed a seven-question test to help people evaluate their health status and their risk of getting sick. Important factors contributing to the development of the situation are heredity, gestational diabetes (diabetes of pregnant women), obesity, immobility and age.
People with high blood sugar levels (but not yet diabetic) can still not relax, because this level, according to the magazine Diabetes Care, also contributes to the development of cardiovascular diseases and even death. A consolation may be statistics suggesting that such patients do not always go into a state of complete diabetics. Have they all sorts of complications with the same inevitability as in diabetics, is not entirely clear. There are no statistics on this.
Note: the main work of insulin is not the destruction of excess sugar in the blood, but its movement from the blood to the cells for the energy needed by the body and for reserve in case of need for sugar. When resistance to insulin occurs, which is a harbinger of the initial stage of diabetes, the pancreas begins to produce more and more insulin to inhibit the growth of sugar, and in the end, it “gets tired.” Sugar levels begin to skyrocket. Hello, gentlemen, prediabetes and diabetes!
Prediabetes is often called the “first call.” And it’s not necessary to lose 40 kilograms to avoid diabetes. A loss of 7 to 10 percent of the total body weight is enough. And do not become a fanatic of exercise. Thirty minutes a day, five times a week brisk walking is very useful. If it’s hard to walk for half an hour in a row, you can break the exercise into ten-minute segments. In fact, the more exercise, the better. But we must start at least with this minimum.
Diabetes experts give advice to all people: “Consider yourself at risk, and therefore take care of yourself. We eat too much and move too little. And it’s harmful even if you don’t have diabetes. Do not drink too much – it is sugar. Drink water – it is only healthy. ”
It’s easy to give such advice. It’s hard to fulfill them. Life is full of temptations, and we are so lazy to exercise. But it is necessary if we want to live a normal life.