Why Prediabetes Is a Big Deal

There's a lot of confusion out there about prediabetes. What is it? Why do I have it? Is it really that big a deal?

Prediabetes is a BIG deal.

Often, prediabetes is described as "slightly high blood sugar". It is easy to feel a false sense of security. "Slightly" anything doesn't sound so bad, does it?

Here's what that "slightly high" blood sugar really means: INTERNAL METABOLIC ARMAGEDDON.

"Slightly high blood sugar" is the tip of the iceberg - the bit we can see.  It is the warning that 'here be dragons'. It hints at the giant, invisible monster hiding beneath so perilous it can sink a Titanic. 

When blood sugar starts to go up, it is a signal that our body's internal systems are unraveling. 

Our HERO BODIES take whatever we throw at them - dozens of years of pizza and donuts and binge-watching TV and sugary drinks as big as our heads - and cope. And cope. And try to cope. And start to fail to cope...

Until we have "slightly high blood sugar". 

"Slightly high blood sugar" indicates that our human bodies are failing to deal with the EXCESS that is part of modern life.

The crazy thing is - we generally don't feel bad at this point. That's why it is so important to understand what prediabetes means, and to do everything we can to detect it and make lifestyle changes to stop prediabetes and prevent Type 2 diabetes.

Excess = too much food at one time, eating too many times in a day, eating too much crummy food outside of the home, exposing ourselves to snacks and foods with huge amounts of added fats and sugars and salt, too much stress and worry and not sleeping, too much sitting during work, too much work without a break,  too much sitting in the car, too much sitting during time off...

Forty years ago, much of this wasn't happening. Forty years ago, prediabetes and diabetes happened much less often to much older folks. 

Today, we take our human bodies - which were designed to shine during times of scarcity - and we throw too much of the wrong kind of food too often at them until they fail. We've removed the "natural righting" mechanisms of periodic food scarcity and physical activity. We're developing prediabetes and other metabolic conditions in record numbers, at much earlier ages than ever before.

It's common to not talk about the big picture. We play whack-a-mole with all the different signals that an "allergy to excess" is going on: we develop high blood pressure, or high triglycerides, or fatty liver, or our good cholesterol tanks, or we have "slightly high blood sugar"... and we try to deal with each as if it were the problem. 

The problem is that we don't want the party to end - the party of too much.

To be fair, much of the "too much" isn't even fun - we do it because it's there, because it's easier, because we're stressed, because we're tired...

Prediabetes is a BIG DEAL because it is just the tip of the iceberg. Because it is telling us we're heading towards metabolic meltdown with more health issues on the horizon UNLESS we take action and make some changes.

I've heard the huge increase in the numbers of people who are developing prediabetes in this century described as a tsunami, a pandemic, an epidemic, a plague...

85 million Americans are estimated to have prediabetes - and only 10% are aware they have it.

It is time to recognize that it isn't just about slightly high blood sugar - it is about learning how to protect ourselves from excess and make conscious decisions to avoid the internal metabolic armageddon from the perfect storm that is the 21st century lifestyle.

 AND ~ There is so much you can do to befriend your body and bring it back to health and balance ... once you decide to act. Check this out: Avoid These 7 Mistakes If You Have Prediabetes - Or Want To Prevent It!