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" As far as diabetes goes, times have really changed. It used to be that you were at risk for the disease during two distinct periods of life: childhood for type 1 (an autoimmune condition), after 45 for type 2. But that&amp;#039;s not the case anymore Teens, and sometimes preteens, are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes\u2014the more common form in which your body doesn&amp;#039;t respond to insulin or doesn&amp;#039;t produce enough\u2014and there&amp;#039;s a huge upsurge in type 2 cases among people in their 20s and 30s. Basically, every member of the family needs to be concerned about the risk. In fact, according to the latest numbers, a whopping 8% of the population has diabetes, an increase of 1.6 million since 2006. And experts estimate that 1 out of every 3 children born today will develop the condition. &amp;quot;We are in dire need of stopping this increase because nearly every piece of your body is damaged by diabetes\u2014the blood vessels, the heart, the skin, the nervous system, the GI tract, the kidneys, the eyes and the brain,&amp;quot; says Francine R. Kaufman, MD, head of the Center for Diabetes at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, and chair of the National Diabetes Education Program. Indeed, research shows that poorly controlled diabetes raises the risk of many serious conditions including heart disease, stroke, depression and even some cancers. It&amp;#039;s also the leading cause of kidney failure and adult blindness, notes Ann Albright, PhD, RD, director of the division of diabetes translation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and president of health care and education at the American Diabetes Association (ADA). But you can avoid this looming health risk. Experts say that simple lifestyle changes can make a huge difference in whether you develop diabetes or not. Exercising and eating well, which helps you lose a small amount of weight, can lower your risk by 58%. &amp;quot;Type 2 diabetes is almost totally preventable by a healthy lifestyle,&amp;quot; says Robert A. Rizza, MD, past president of the ADA and a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. &amp;quot;If you stay lean and fit, you reduce your chances of developing type 2 diabetes by 90%.&amp;quot; Even if you&amp;#039;ve been diagnosed with diabetes, research shows that improving diet and exercise can help prevent complications, lower the dosage of drugs or even eliminate the need for them altogether. Your Diabetes Prevention Plan Know what the right-size portions look like Almost any restaurant or takeout dish is double or triple what you should be eating in one meal. And we do so much buying in bulk that every now and then we need a refresher on what one serving really looks like. A quick guide: One serving of meat, chicken or fish is the size of your palm; of rice and pasta, about the size of a baseball; of oils and butter, about the tip of your thumb. Eat &amp;quot;real&amp;quot; food Load up on what you find in nature: fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, whole grains, lean protein and lowfat dairy products. One study showed that for every additional two servings of whole grains women ate a day, their risk of developing type 2 diabetes went down 21%. Other research has found that middle-age women who ate the most dairy also had a 21% lower risk of developing diabetes than those who ate the least. Don&amp;#039;t drink your calories The sugar from juice and soda is so concentrated that it enters your bloodstream immediately and your body has to produce a quick burst of insulin to deal with it, explains Dr. Kaufman. If you prompt your body to do this frequently, it can lead to weight gain and increase your risk of becoming insulin-resistant (your body will start to need extra insulin, a hormone that maintains normal blood sugar levels in the body). This in turn may lead to diabetes. Cap the amount of juice everyone in the family drinks at no more than 1 cup daily; better yet, dilute it with water or club soda. Take a 30-minute walk every day Besides helping you stay at a healthy weight, regular physical activity\u2014such as walking, jogging, biking, swimming\u2014helps your body use insulin better. And you can break it up into two or three sessions: One study found that people who racked up 30 minutes of moderate activity five times a week have a much lower risk of the disease than those who don&amp;#039;t exercise regularly. Get everyone moving by scheduling a nightly after-dinner family walk. Make sleep a priority &amp;quot;Inadequate sleep reduces your body&amp;#039;s ability to produce and respond to insulin, which may contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes,&amp;quot; Dr. Albright says. One study found that people who regularly slept five or fewer hours a night were almost twice as likely to develop diabetes than those who slept seven hours a night. Quality counts too, so if you think you&amp;#039;re sleeping enough but are still tired, get screened for apnea, sleep-disordered breathing and restless leg syndrome. Each of these has been linked with impaired glucose tolerance, a pre-diabetic condition. Unwind for at least 10 minutes a day Stress is unavoidable; it&amp;#039;s how you deal with it that makes the difference. &amp;quot;Chronic stress can trigger inflammation in the body, which may lead to insulin resistance and raise diabetes risk,&amp;quot; says David Nathan, MD, director of the Diabetes Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and a professor of medicine at Harvard. If you make decompressing a daily habit, your body won&amp;#039;t be as damaged by stress when it hits. Lose weight if your BMI is too high Excess weight can lead to chemical changes that increase diabetes risk as well as cause inflammation, says Dr. Nathan. Ideally your BMI should fall in the normal range (under 25), but even losing 5 to 7% of your weight\u2014which translates to 10 to 15 pounds for someone who weighs 200 pounds\u2014can dramatically reduce your risk of developing diabetes, according to the Diabetes Prevention Program. &amp;quot;I stopped diabetes in its tracks&amp;quot; Lisa Schaffer, 22, senior at Penn State University When I was 16, my periods disappeared and didn&amp;#039;t come back for more than a year. I also started feeling hungrier than usual and became much more muscular. My doctor wasn&amp;#039;t concerned\u2014he said these symptoms were probably cropping up because I worked out a lot\u2014but my mom wasn&amp;#039;t so sure. When she spotted some dark hair growing on my belly, she took me to another doctor. This doctor ordered a battery of blood tests, which showed that I had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal and metabolic disorder that&amp;#039;s often associated with insulin resistance. He put me on birth control pills to regulate my periods and gave me another drug, called spironolactone, to counteract the excessive amount of male hormones that my body was producing. Everything seemed under control until two years ago. I started breaking out a lot and craving sweets all the time, which caused me to quickly gain about 20 pounds. I used to be really energetic and upbeat, and all of a sudden I was depressed, sluggish and really uncomfortable in my body. Finally, an endocrinologist who specializes in PCOS diagnosed me with pre-diabetes. She encouraged me to cut down on refined carbs (like white bread, pasta and sweets) and to get more exercise. She also prescribed a slew of drugs, including metformin, which she said would help get my blood sugar under control. I now take eight pills a day, which is more than my grandmother takes! But it&amp;#039;s worth it: I&amp;#039;ve lost weight, have more energy, and feel more like my old self again. &amp;quot;I was in denial&amp;quot; Deborah Freeman, MD, MPH, 57, ob-gyn at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland  In 1995 I found out that not only did I have type 2 diabetes, but my blood sugar was in the 300s! [Normal is less than 100.] The doctor who diagnosed me gave me a shot of insulin right there in the office. As a physician, I shouldn&amp;#039;t have been shocked. I had gestational diabetes while I was pregnant with my second child 10 years before, and my weight had crept up to 205 pounds (I&amp;#039;m 5&amp;#039;5&amp;quot;). I was also starting to feel thirsty all the time and running to the bathroom. But I was too busy to worry about my health until I developed Bell&amp;#039;s palsy (a temporary paralysis of half my face) and shingles. That&amp;#039;s when I went to the doctor who diagnosed me with diabetes. She prescribed oral medications and told me to limit carbohydrates, fat and alcohol. Within four years my blood sugar had improved enough that I no longer needed the medication, but I was still struggling with my weight and my blood pressure was too high. The turning point came in 2003. I literally woke up one day and decided that I was done with dieting; I needed to make a permanent commitment to lead an overall healthier life. I joined a gym, hired a personal trainer, and started working out six days a week. I also revamped my eating habits: I started eating five small meals a day\u2014mostly complex carbs (like salads and veggies) and lean protein (such as egg whites, chicken, turkey or fish). Today I weigh in at a lean 130 pounds and my blood sugar is now in the 80s or 90s. I even started competing in bodybuilding contests! I had never worn a bikini before, and now I&amp;#039;m competing in one in front of thousands of people. &amp;quot;My hairdresser saw the warning signs&amp;quot; Patty Kidd, 45, mother of two, Grand Rapids, Michigan Two years ago, when the texture of my hair changed and patches starting falling out, I mostly worried about how I was going to look. But my hairstylist, Synia Jordan, made me realize that my health could be in danger. I had been seeing Synia for nearly seven years, and we always talked about a lot more than my hair. I told her that I had been diagnosed with diabetes in 1990, but that it was &amp;quot;only&amp;quot; type 2 and I was taking medications that would keep me healthy. I wasn&amp;#039;t on insulin, and my kidneys weren&amp;#039;t showing any signs of problems, so I didn&amp;#039;t think it was a big deal. But when I started filling out a survey from Synia&amp;#039;s program, I got nervous. (She had recently joined the National Kidney Foundation&amp;#039;s Healthy Hair Starts with a Healthy Body program, which trains stylists to talk to clients about their risks of diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease.) I was doing everything wrong, from not eating as many vegetables as I should to not exercising enough. I also weighed about 190 pounds, and I&amp;#039;m only 5&amp;#039;3&amp;quot;. What really scared me the most was talking to Synia about her mom, who was on dialysis. Around the same time, a friend who was a diabetic learned that she needed a kidney transplant. That&amp;#039;s when I realized that I wasn&amp;#039;t OK, and that I needed to make some major changes to prevent these kinds of problems. In the past, I had promised my doctor I would diet and exercise, but it was always so hard and I gave up quickly. This time, I joined a diabetic education program and, with their support, finally stuck it out. Now I&amp;#039;m down to 147 pounds and my doctor has even lowered my dose of medication.  4 Foods to Fight Diabetes Research has shown that people who regularly have the following foods may be less likely to develop type 2 diabetes: 1. Whole grains (including oatmeal, whole-grain breads and cereals) 2. Spinach, kale and other leafy greens 3. Lowfat dairy 4. Coffee Which Tests to Get When The current guidelines call for anyone 45 and older to get screened for diabetes, but ask your doctor about doing it earlier if you have any risk factors, including a family history of the disease, a body mass index (BMI) over 25 (go to womansday.com/bmi to learn yours), high blood pressure, low HDL (&amp;quot;good&amp;quot;) cholesterol, or if you had gestational diabetes or a baby weighing more than 9 pounds. Certain ethnic groups are also at a higher risk, including African-Americans, Native Americans, Latinos and Asians. Your doctor will give you one of these tests (or both): a fasting blood sugar test, in which your blood sugar levels are measured after fasting for eight hours, or an oral glucose tolerance test, in which your blood sugar levels are tested after you drink a sweet liquid that contains glucose, a type of sugar. The oral glucose test is often used to diagnose gestational diabetes in pregnant women. The results of both tests can also tell your doctor if you have pre-diabetes (your blood sugar levels are too high to be normal but not high enough to be diabetes). Surprising Signs That You May Be Developing Diabetes Excessive thirst or hunger or frequent urination are the well-knowns, but here are some not-as-apparent clues that you may be on the road to developing the disease and should talk to your health care provider ASAP: 1. Recurrent vaginal yeast infections 2. Tingling in the extremities 3. Blurred vision 4. Gum infections 5. Fatigue 6. Trouble concentrating 7. Poor wound healing 8. Unexplained weight loss You&amp;#039;ve Got Pre-diabetes, Now What? Step one: Exercise more, eat healthier and slim down if you&amp;#039;re overweight. &amp;quot;Being diagnosed with pre-diabetes is more than a warning,&amp;quot; says Paul S. Jellinger, MD, past president of the American College of Endocrinology. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s evidence that the disease process has already begun.&amp;quot; In fact, studies suggest that most people with pre-diabetes (meaning your blood sugar is high but not high enough to be diabetes) will develop type 2 diabetes within 10 years. But you can lower your risk with these crucial steps: Lose weight if you need to Aim to shed 5 to 10% of your body weight. In the landmark Diabetes Prevention Program study, people who did this lowered their risk of developing diabetes by 58%. Exercise at least 30 minutes five days a week or more. Get a fasting blood sugar test and a hemoglobin A1c test at least once a year. The A1c tests gives a sense of your sugar levels over the past three months. Check your cholesterol and triglycerides every 6\u201312 months. Levels should be kept as low as is recommended for diabetics, which may mean taking meds. Keep your blood pressure less than 130/80 (as low as is recommended for diabetics). Consider taking a blood sugar\u2013lowering medication if you&amp;#039;re at especially high risk for developing diabetes. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/womens-health/a27/diabetes-on-the-rise/>