Almost exactly a year ago, I posted an alarming study based on then-new guidelines that lowered the threshold for pre-diabetes to below 100 milligrams per deciliter. Based on that revised baseline, more than 40 million Americans with readings in the 100-125 deliciter range were then considered pre-diabetic and at a significant risk of developing full-blown diabetes.
Despite all the warnings, however, too few Americans actually did something positive about it. In fact, according to a new study by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, it's worse than I thought: About two-thirds of the Americans diagnosed with type-2 diabetes don't even have their condition under control.
Moreover, one expert believes diabetes management has worsened over the past decade, indeed a sad reflection of the obesity epidemic fueled by sedentary lifestyles and high-fat junk food.
By the numbers:
- Based on a nationwide survey, 67 percent out of some 157,000 patients didn't have an adequate A1C blood sugar reading. (A separate Harris poll found 60 percent of the respondents didn't even know what A1C meant!)
- In a state-by-state comparison, no more than half of the patients in any state managed to control their blood sugar at all.
Fortunately, I have all the free tools you'll ever need to learn about this horrible disease and fight it -- without expensive and harmful drugs and treatments. Here's a few suggested links to get you started on the path toward optimizing your health:
- Quickly reduce your intake of grains and sugars, with the long-range plan of eliminating them entirely from your diet.
- Learn to optimize your eating habits based on your body's unique nutritional type.
- If you haven't started an exercise program, get moving today! (To create a plan that's best for you, I urge you to take advantage of the advice provided every week by Paul Chek and Ben Lerner, two of my popular contributing editors in the field of exercise.)
- Because disease has an emotional component than can be devastating if not properly dealt with, you can do a lot to bolster your mind and body by learning an effective energy psychology tool like the Emotional Freedom Technique.
Type-2 diabetes is one of the easiest diseases to treat, and one of the most devastating if you choose to do nothing about it.
Yahoo News May 18, 2005