KALAMAZOO -- The formula for living diabetes-free is pretty
simple, but it's one that hundreds of thousands of people are
either missing or ignoring, says Dr. Michael Valitutto, medical
director for the Borgess Center for Diabetes Care. To avoid
getting Type 2 diabetes, it's important to make healthier food
choices, stay physically active and maintain a healthy weight,
Valitutto says. One way that the medical community is aiming to
reduce the incidence of diabetes is by alerting people when
their blood-sugar levels are at a "prediabetic" stage so that
they can change their eating and exercise habits. People with
prediabetes are likely to develop diabetes within 10 years
unless they take steps to prevent the disease, according to the
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease.
Prediabetes blood-glucose levels are defined as those between
100 and 125 milligrams in a fasting state, or 140 and 200 in a
nonfasting state. In 2003, the threshold for a prediabetes
diagnosis was lowered from 110 t