If you ignore prediabetes: It worsens and can become type 2 diabetes. With type 2 diabetes, health care costs could increase by nearly $10,000 each year. Your risk increases for heart disease, kidney disease, and stroke.
Prediabetes puts you at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. The good news is that if you have prediabetes, the CDC-led National Diabetes Prevention Program can help you make lifestyle changes to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes and other serious health problems.
Without intervention, many people with prediabetes could develop type 2 diabetes within 5 years, which puts them at risk of serious health problems, including: Heart attack.
Losing weight and reversing prediabetes can take anywhere from a few weeks, to a few months, to a few years, but the window of time to reverse prediabetes after a diagnosis is between 2-6 years – so you have time!
The good news about prediabetes is that you still have time to make changes in your life to prevent or delay the development of diabetes. Don't dismiss prediabetes; view it as a serious reason to make healthy lifestyle changes and a chance to prevent type 2 diabetes.
Prediabetes has been linked with long-term damage, including to your heart, blood vessels and kidneys, even if you haven't progressed to type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes is also linked to unrecognized (silent) heart attacks. Prediabetes can progress to type 2 diabetes, which can lead to: High blood pressure.
Cut out added sugar
While there are many diet recommendations out there, one of the simplest ways to lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and reversing prediabetes is by simply cutting out added sugar.
Studies have shown intermittent energy restriction to be efficacious in preventing and managing prediabetes and DM, with remarkable improvements in the metabolic and cardiovascular biomarkers of individuals with DM.
According to an ADA expert panel, up to 70% of individuals with prediabetes will eventually develop diabetes.
Not everyone with prediabetes will go on to develop diabetes. Over the short term (three to five years), about 25% of people with prediabetes develop full-blown diabetes. The percentage is significantly larger over the long term.
When stress affects your body consistently for too long, it increases the secretion of certain hormones, like adrenaline and cortisol, leading to health issues like prediabetes.
Prediabetes doesn't always have symptoms, so it's important to get blood sugar levels tested, especially if you're at high risk.
feeling or being sick. abdominal (tummy) pain. rapid, deep breathing. signs of dehydration, such as a headache, dry skin and a weak, rapid heartbeat.
Drink water.
Drinking water instead of other beverages may help control blood sugar and insulin levels, thereby reducing the risk of diabetes. Sticking with water most of the time helps you avoid beverages that are high in sugar, preservatives and other unneeded ingredients.
If your cells become too resistant to insulin, it can result in elevated blood sugar levels, which can lead to weight gain, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Losing weight with insulin resistance is more difficult because the body stores excess blood sugar as fat.
The Bottom Line. Bananas are a delicious, nutritious and affordable food for everyone, including those with diabetes. Eating this healthy fruit can help stabilize blood sugar levels, improve insulin sensitivity and improve heart health.
Having prediabetes may mean making a few diet changes, but it does not mean you need to give up coffee! When drunk responsibly, coffee may actually help lower risk for prediabetes!
And most importantly, it's reversible. You can prevent or delay prediabetes from turning into type 2 diabetes with simple, proven lifestyle changes.
Start Strength Training. If you're already walking more throughout the day, add in strength training too. In one study where sedentary overweight or obese adults over age 50 with prediabetes performed resistance training twice a week, 34 percent of participants had normal blood sugar levels after three months.
Foods to avoid if you are prediabetic include sweets (pastries, cookies, cake, candy, pie, doughnuts), refined carbohydrates (white bread, pasta, bagels, crackers, pretzels), sweetened breakfast cereals, flavored yogurt, fried foods, fatty meats, jams, jellies, potato chips, snack bars, and others.