There’s a lot of attention around diabetes recently, and it’s for a good reason.
Approximately one in 10 Americans have diabetes, and an additional one in three live with prediabetic blood sugar levels. Unfortunately, all forms of diabetes put you at risk of serious short- and long-term health complications, ranging from cardiovascular disease and nerve damage to eye damage, hearing impairment, and even limb amputation.
The good news is that you can be proactive when it comes to managing, preventing, or reversing diabetes. At Houston Family MD, Dr. Ranjit S. Grewal and our team help our patients take charge of their health. By actively addressing serious and life-altering problems like diabetes, you can lead a long and happy life free from disease.
To get you started, we’ve gathered a few steps you can take to prevent diabetes, better manage your condition, and even reverse it.
First things first: When it comes to diabetes, you have to educate yourself about the disease. And if you’re reading this, you’re already well on your way.
There are different forms of diabetes, but the most common is Type 2. This form usually gets diagnosed in adults over 45, but kids are increasingly developing the condition. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance, meaning your body becomes resistant to insulin, which regulates glucose levels in your blood.
In response, your pancreas tries to make up for the resistance by producing more insulin. Unfortunately, the levels aren’t high enough to help, leaving you with too much sugar in your bloodstream.
Having chronic high blood sugar leads to very dangerous health complications, including heart attacks, vision loss, peripheral neuropathy, and strokes.
One of the biggest risks for developing Type 2 diabetes is being overweight or obese. So, one of the best ways to prevent diabetes is by losing weight.
We know that this is far more easily said than done, but we can help. Dr. Grewal can perform a comprehensive physical examination and offer supervised weight-loss treatments tailored to your unique health concerns and goals. And, if you’re prediabetic, we can design a nutrition plan to help you lose weight with the goal of preventing diabetes.
Additionally, even if you have a new Type 2 diabetes diagnosis, a recent study shows that you can reverse your diagnosis through a low-calorie, diet-based weight management program. In fact, more than 45% of participants in the study put their Type 2 diabetes into remission, and 70% were still in remission after two years.
The diet is strict, but the benefits of losing weight more than make up for your efforts.
Another great way to keep diabetes at bay is by regular exercise, which also helps with shedding those extra pounds! Plus, similar to weight loss, exercise has been proven to help people both avoid a diabetes diagnosis, and it is also beneficial if you’ve had a recent diagnosis.
If you’re new to exercise, Dr. Grewal recommends starting out slowly by taking some short walks around your neighborhood. Then, as you build strength, you can lengthen your walks and increase their frequency.
Ultimately, we’d love to see you get approximately an hour of exercise each day, but even five times a week does the trick.
Our last recommendation is extremely important in preventing diabetes: You must have the right medical team to oversee your health. At Houston Family MD, we specialize in diabetes, so our team knows which red flags to look out for, and that enables us to intervene quickly.
And, if you end up receiving a diabetes diagnosis, we work with you every step of the way to properly manage your disease and prevent the serious complications associated with the condition.
For more tips on preventing or reversing diabetes, contact our office in Cypress, Texas, to set up an appointment. You can call us at 281-477-0525 or use the “book online” button to schedule your visit.
