A few tips to help avoid becoming part of the diabetes epidemic

Why are so many people developing diabetes? If you aren't part of the diabetes epidemic yet, prediabetes — elevated blood sugar high enough to trigger alarms — should worry you.

Genetics plays a role.

• As well, extra pounds and a sedentary lifestyle will cause you to develop type 2 diabetes.

Often, there are none.

• As it progresses, symptoms include thirst, frequent urination, intense hunger, weight loss, tiredness, blurry vision, sores that are slow to heal and frequent bladder and vaginal infections for women.

If you have risk factors for diabetes or a blood test shows you have prediabetes, here are actions you can take before you develop this disease:

Drop a few pounds:

• Excess weight is the number one reason you are at higher risk for type 2 diabetes. Packing dangerous excess fat around your midsection desensitizes cells to insulin, the hormone that makes you cells absorb blood sugar. Insulin resistance is the first step to type 2 diabetes.

Get your five to nine:

• That's servings of fruit and veggies, plus three servings of whole grains. Following this diet plan keeps blood sugar low and steady, and cools chronic low-grade inflammation, which interferes with the absorption of blood sugar.

Give up "liquid candy:"

• One daily serving of soda raised the risk of metabolic syndrome by a staggering 44 percent. Quench your thirst with water, club soda, unsweetened tea or skim milk instead of soft drinks.
• Getting at least one serving of fat-free skim milk, yogurt or cheese a day lowered metabolic syndrome risk by up to 62 percent in one study.

Move more:

• Exercise helps protect against diabetes by feeding blood sugar into fuel-hungry muscle cells, making them more sensitive to insulin.
• A study found that 30 minutes a day of brisk walking cut diabetes risk by 43 percent. Take a local YMCA recreational swim, go bowling or just put on some music and dance.

Cut fast food:

• Researchers discovered that people who ate two servings of hamburgers a week were 26 percent more likely to wind up with metabolic syndrome.
• A daily helping of fried foods raised it another 10 to 25 percent. Foods high in saturated and trans fats are linked to diabetes.

Trade burgers for fish:

• Burgers and butter not only clog arteries, they increases insulin resistance, which leads to diabetes. Fish and olive oil actually lower your diabetes risk — same goes for peanuts and canola oil.

Measure your waist:

• Women whose waists measure 89 centimetres (35 inches) and men who measured 102 centimetres (40 inches) or more are more likely to triple their risk of diabetes. Researchers are seeing more people at a normal weight with big waists, so it's not enough to watch the scale.
• Eat breakfast. In one study, people who ate breakfast were 35 to 50 percent less likely to be overweight than breakfast skippers. If you don't eat breakfast, your liver churns out stored glucose to keep your blood sugar levels up. At the same time, it raises levels of an appetite-stimulating hormone so you want to eat more.

Get help for depression:

• Scientists think that depression itself alters body chemistry in ways that spell trouble for anyone at risk for diabetes. Rates of insulin resistance were 23 percent higher among depressed women than among women who weren't depressed, regardless of body weight, exercise habits or age.

Sleep better:

• A chronic lack of sleep leads to weight gain and reduces your body's sensitivity to insulin. In one study, men who averaged just five to six hours of sleep per night doubled their risk of diabetes; women had similar results.

In most cases, diabetes is completely avoidable with the proper healthy lifestyle. Incorporate these changes into your daily life; you'll keep diabetes away and feel much better for it.