Diabtetics Not Controlling Blood Sugars

About a year ago, new guidelines 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 are considered pre-diabetic and at a significant risk of developing full-blown diabetes. Despite the warnings in the media few Americans actually did something positive about it.

In fact, according to a new study by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, 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, fueled by the obesity epidemic, our sedentary lifestyles and high-fat, high-sugar junk food.

By the numbers from the study:

• 67% of some 157,000 patients didn't have an adequate A1C blood sugar reading.
• A separate Harris poll found 60% 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.

Anyone who is significantly overweight or obese needs to know if they are pre-diabetic or already diabetic. Get yourself tested and if you're pre-diabetic or diabetic, make the changes to your diet, lifestyle and activity level now to control your health in the long-term.

The easiest changes to make are in your control...

• your diet should be rich with non-starchy vegetables, low-glycemic load fruits, legumes, quality fats/oils and high quality proteins.
• Non-starchy vegetables should make up the highest volume food that you eat each day.
• If you do include grains, make sure they are only 100% whole grain without added sugars!
• Eliminate added sugars, trans-fats (if you see "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" on the ingredients list, put it back on the shelf), high-fructose corn syrup and refined grain foods (flour, cookies, cake, white enriched pasta, etc.) from your menu
• Get moving - exercise not only helps control your body weight, it also is great for your cardiovascular system and controlling your insulin and blood sugar levels.
• And, lastly, don't forget to relax - stress is counter-productive to long-term health.