Blood Sugar Problems? Lose Weight Now to Avoid a Future of Health Woes

May 27, 2007 11:04 AM
By Susan Parsons MD

Are you at risk of developing diabetes? Odds are good if you are overweight. More than two thirds of Americans now fall into the overweight category, and the rest of the developed world is following suit. So you may be one of the endangered ones.

You don’t even need to be diagnosed with diabetes to start developing many of the health problems associated with this disease. The syndrome of insulin resistance, or pre-diabetes, is often a forerunner of heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, infertility, some forms of cancer, and even Alzheimer’s dementia.

You may want to read my new article Cut Diabetes Risk To Prevent Alzheimer’s at BrainReady.com. This is an in-depth exploration of the medical evidence confirming the diabetes-Alzheimer’s link. If you or a loved one is at risk for diabetes, you won’t want to miss this eye-opening information.

By the way, if you haven’t read all of Brainready.com’s great articles (and they have a lot) by now, you should definitely stop by their site and check them out. The focus of this excellent website is on keeping your brain fresh, vital, and ready for anything. Be sure to read about the Top 5 Brain Health Foods. The 5 they chose may surprise you.

So, do you have insulin resistance? Just measure your waist size. If you are a woman and your waist size is greater than 35 inches, you are likely to have this problem. For a man, a waist size over 40 inches is a red flag. A borderline-high blood sugar reading, a borderline-high blood pressure reading, or a characteristic cholesterol profile (low HDL, high triglycerides) confirms the diagnosis. Read our Basics section on Insulin Resistance for exact numbers.

In my experience, many individuals are in denial about their blood sugar trouble. A “little blood sugar problem” is NOT a little problem … it is a BIG concern! Your life is likely to be cut short by your “little blood sugar problem”. Or you may be so debilitated in your later years that you will have a very poor quality of life.

Now is the time to wake up and do something about your little blood sugar issue. First of all, exercise daily. Then, find a healthy diet plan and stick with it. Not just for a little while, but for the rest of your life.

The good news is that you can reverse diabetes in its early stages. You can regain your health. Weight loss is key! Even a loss of 5 – 10% of bodyweight can make a huge difference for you. But you need a weight loss guide. I highly recommend joining an on-line weight loss plan. The low cost of these plans is minimal compared to the high costs of medicines and doctor’s visits in your future if you don’t.

The best plans for those with insulin resistance and diabetes? You should be following a program that helps you control carbohydrates, eliminate the high-glycemic carbs, and learn to discriminate between healthy and unhealthy fats. You will probably need some hand-holding. Here are my top recommendations for those with blood sugar issues:

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