Authors: Travis Stork
The Doctor's Diet: Dr. Travis Stork's STAT Program to Help You Lose Weight & Restore Your Health (46 page)
Group 3, the control group, did neither.
This is what the researchers found: after one year, the people in the diet and activity group—Group 1—slashed their risk of developing diabetes by 58 percent. That’s a
huge
reduction in risk. Believe me, if you’re a medical researcher and you discover something that cuts disease risk by 58 percent, you pop open a bottle of champagne, because it’s a career-maker.
What’s even more interesting is that the medication group—the people who took a drug that has for years been considered the first-line drug of choice for diabetes treatment—shaved diabetes risk by only 31 percent.
That means diet and activity were nearly
twice as effective
at warding off diabetes as the top-of-the-line diabetes medication.
But there’s more, believe it or not. To me, this is the most amazing news of all. Remember I said the people in the study who lowered their diabetes risk did so by losing weight and increasing activity? When I first heard this, I figured they must have had to lose lots and lots of weight to get such incredible results—25 pounds, maybe even 50 or 100 pounds. But when I read the study, I was astounded when I learned the details: the average weight loss in Group 1 was just 5 percent to 7 percent of total weight.
That’s right—just 5 percent to 7 percent of their body weight.
That means people who weighed 200 pounds dramatically slashed their diabetes risk by losing just 10 to 14 pounds.
I’m not saying it’s easy to lose 5 to 7 percent of your weight. But it sure beats having to lose a ton of weight before you can even start to make a difference.
As for activity, the folks in Group 1 didn’t start running marathons or hitting the gym five times a week. They simply added more activity to their lives. They walked, gardened, danced, swam, and got up off their butts for about 30 minutes a day, five days a week.
I can’t tell you how exciting this is. If you are overweight or obese and have prediabetes, you have the power to turn your health around. Not by losing an impossible amount of weight, becoming a star athlete, or popping pills for the rest of your life. You can do it by making some reasonable changes in your diet and adding more activity to your life.
You can do this. I know you can.
WALK AWAY FROM HIGH BLOOD SUGAR
Activity is a great way to get blood sugar in control. When you’re active, your muscles use their stored glucose for fuel and replace what they’ve burned with glucose from your blood. And the cells in active muscles are more sensitive to insulin than those in sedentary muscles. Activity is especially helpful after meals, when blood sugar levels tend to soar. Going for a walk nearly every day can lower the risk of type 2 diabetes by as much as 58 percent.
Q: SHOULD I BE TESTED FOR DIABETES OR PREDIABETES?
A:
My answer to this question is an unequivocal yes. If you haven’t had your blood sugar tested within the past couple years, it’s time to roll up your sleeve and ask your doctor for a blood test. Of the more than 25 million Americans who have diabetes, 7 million don’t know they have it. And who knows how many people with prediabetes don’t know they have it. If your blood sugar is high, you and your doctor should know about it.
It’s especially important to have a blood sugar test if you are overweight, inactive, over age 45, or if you have any risk factors for diabetes, such as:
You have a parent or sibling with diabetes
Your ethnic background has an elevated diabetes risk, such as African American, Alaska Native, American Indian, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, or Pacific Islander American
You had gestational diabetes during pregnancy or gave birth to a baby weighing more than nine pounds
You have high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels, or other heart disease risks
You have polycystic ovary syndrome
Your waist measures more than 35 inches if you’re female or 40 inches if you’re male
You’ve ever had an abnormal blood sugar test
You have other health problems, including diseases of the kidney or liver
LET’S TURN THIS EPIDEMIC AROUND!
We throw around the word “epidemic” a lot these days. You may think an epidemic is a disease that spreads from person to person, like the flu. You can’t catch diabetes—but it truly is an epidemic, meaning way too many people have it and other blood sugar conditions. When it comes to diabetes, we really are talking about an epidemic, as you can see:
25.6 million Americans have diabetes
79 million Americans have prediabetes
It’s a little hard to wrap your head around how many people that is. What it comes down to is this: nearly half of all Americans have diabetes or prediabetes. Nearly half! That breaks my heart, not only because type 2 diabetes is such a terrible disease, but because it’s so preventable.
It’s even worse for certain ethnic groups. Because of biological, genetic, cultural, and economic factors—known and unknown—some ethnic groups have even higher rates of diabetes. For example, compared to non-Hispanic whites, the risk of diagnosed diabetes is:
18 percent higher among Asian Americans
66 percent higher among Hispanics/Latinos
77 percent higher among non-Hispanic blacks
If you’re in one of those high-risk ethnic groups, changing your diet and losing weight are even more of an emergency. But don’t worry—diabetes doesn’t have to be your destiny, even if the odds are against you. No matter what your risk, you can start taking steps today that will help protect you.