Pre-Diabetes
What is pre-diabetes? Pre-diabetes is a condition that comes before type 2 diabetes. Blood glucose (sugar) levels are higher than normal but aren’t high enough to be called diabetes. Pre-diabetes is a silent disease, meaning you can have it but not know it. The good news is that cutting back on calories and fat, being physically active, and losing weight can reverse pre-diabetes and therefore delay or prevent type 2 diabetes. Diabetes doesn’t go away once you have it, so it’s better to prevent it in the first place. How can type 2 diabetes be delayed or prevented? In a recent study, people at high risk for type 2 diabetes greatly reduced their risk of getting it by eating less than usual, increasing their physical activity, and losing weight. They • cut down on fat • cut back on calories • exercised about 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, usually by brisk walking • lost weight—an average of 15 pounds in the first year of the study These strategies worked equally well for men and women a...