This topic has six parts, and you don’t have to start at Part I. Each part is self-contained. In fact, each topic is self-contained, so if you see a topic title that really excites you like “The Testing Spectrum: Having the Essential Tests and Interpreting Results,” feel free to jump right in there. Here is a brief discussion of what you can find in each part of this topic.
Part I: Confronting the Prediabetes Epidemic
This introductory part gives you a foundation of understanding as to what prediabetes is all about. I start with a discussion of how prediabetes originates. From there, I move on to talk about when you should suspect that you have developed prediabetes. What are the elements of your family history, your personal history, and your current lifestyle that suggest this diagnosis?
Moving right along, I trace the factors that convert prediabetes to diabetes. Then I offer a general discussion about stopping this conversion before it happens.
Part II: Food and Other Factors: Battling an Unhealthy Lifestyle
What you learn in these topics should make it clear to you that prediabe-tes, as well as type 2 diabetes, is promoted by an unhealthy lifestyle, which means both conditions can be reversed by adopting a healthy lifestyle.
The first element of your lifestyle to consider is the food you eat. Some foods are good for you, and others aren’t. You constantly make choices, and I want to help you make the right ones. From your own kitchen to the homes of your friends to the restaurants you frequent, you need to be aware of what to choose.
Next you want to deal with your weight. I am not interested in turning you into a fashion model, just getting your weight to the level where it does not hurt your health. Of course, should you decide to turn into a fashion model, I wouldn’t mind a signed photograph.
The next aspect of your lifestyle that we must deal with is your exercise program. What exercise program, you say? If you don’t exercise, that has got to change. You want to feel all those good chemicals that come from your brain when you exercise. It’s a natural, inexpensive, and very healthful high.
Finally, you want to learn how to deal with stress so it doesn’t damage your health, and you want to eliminate bad habits such as any interaction with tobacco of any kind, as well as excessive drinking. I help you to do those things to the best of my ability, but you have to carry them out (so they don’t carry you out).
Part III: Getting a Diagnosis
First I want to help you recognize what is going wrong. Diabetes, and even more so prediabetes, is like a stealth bomber. You may not see it coming before a lot of damage is done.
Many tests can be valuable both to make the diagnosis of prediabetes and to see how far along you are. I explain these tests in detail and tell you when to get them and how to interpret them. You may be able to teach your doctor a thing or two before you finish this part.
Special issues apply to children and the elderly when it comes to diagnosing prediabetes. The final topic in this part discusses these issues. We are witnessing an epidemic of type 2 diabetes in children, which means there is an even greater epidemic of prediabetes in children. Is that excess weight just baby fat that will disappear when your child has a growth spurt? Or is it necessary to do something right now to help your child get healthy? You find out here.
Part IV: The Dangers of Moving toward Diabetes
Diabetes, untreated, is not a benign condition. People with diabetes are the largest component of blind people and people with kidney failure in the United States. This part clarifies the complications, both major and minor, that are associated with uncontrolled diabetes.
First there are the short-term complications that can come and go in a few days or even hours, such as low blood glucose (hypoglycemia) and very high blood glucose (hyperglycemia). These conditions have a very definite effect on your quality of life and need to be prevented.
Next are the long-term complications that take ten or more years of diabetes to develop but can be devastating. Blindness, kidney failure, nerve disease, and heart disease are the things to fear in this regard. But you are never going to have any of these complications because you are going to reverse your prediabetes so it never gets to diabetes!
A special category of long-term complications are sexual complications and the complications of pregnancy. These situations warrant their own topic. (It’s not X-rated, so feel free to read it even when the kids are around.)
Part V: Avoiding or Reversing Prediabetes
Up to now you have been learning. Now you will be doing, with my help. First, in topic 15, we go to the supermarket together and make good choices. Then we cook together and enjoy the healthful and delicious food we make. In topic 16, I provide you with a bunch of recipes that you can enjoy — recipes that feature inexpensive ingredients so anyone can make them.
Next I take up exercise. You may find some surprises in topic 17, but you have to read it to find them out. I am not giving you any clues here.
Can medications help to reverse prediabetes? You find out in topic 18, and you also learn whether any vitamins or supplements may make a difference.
Surgery for weight loss may seem like a drastic solution, but it may not be as drastic as you think. When all else fails, this option is a reasonable and almost guaranteed answer. You find out how surgery may help, its pros and cons, and what to expect if you have weight loss surgery in topic 19.
To put all your new knowledge together, I provide topic 20, which features a complete plan for a three-month health makeover. Sometimes you need structure in order to succeed. This topic tells you what to eat, what exercise to do, and everything else you need to know.
Part VI: The Part of Tens
No topic For topic is complete without this part. You can read ten myths about prediabetes, ten staples to keep in your kitchen, and ten things to teach your child with prediabetes.
