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Writer's pictureVictoria Chavez, MPH, BHW

Diabetes: Part 1, Pre-Diabetes

Pre-diabetes is a severe health condition. The term relates to where a person's blood sugar levels are higher than 100 milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg/dL) but not over 126 milligrams per deciliter of blood. Thus not diagnosable as Type 2 diabetes. One out of every three adults in the Americas is pre-diabetic, which is approximately 84 million adults. The sad part is that 75.6 million pre-diabetic adults do not even know they are at risk of developing diabetes. Click on the YouTube Video before if you want more visual information or continue reading.

Pre-diabetics that unaware of their condition are at a higher risk of developing chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and worst yet; they can have a stroke.


But what is the cause of Pre-diabetes?


The pancreas, the organ that is responsible for producing insulin, sends blood sugar to the cells to use for energy. What occurs is that the cells are not responding adequately to the insulin, thus causing the pancreas to release extra insulin to encourage your blood cells to react. Then what occurs is that the pancreas is unable to keep up, causing the blood sugar to rise.


There are no concise symptoms of Pre-diabetes. The best way to find out is by getting your A1C tested. Do not wait till its too late, many people with diabetes find out about their disease when they have a keto-acidosis episode.


There are many risk factors to look for;

  1. being overweight or obese

  2. genetics (having an immediate family member with type 2 diabetes) lack of physical activity

  3. developing diabetes via pregnancy (gestational diabetes)

  4. PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome, which I will go over in another segment).

  5. and age just the simple fact of being over the age of 45

It is crucial to check your blood sugar levels, because fortunately, if we catch that a person is pre-diabetic, we can reverse the symptoms.


What are the ways that we can help reverse the symptoms of Pre-diabetes? Stay tuned for our next segment, Reversing Pre-diabetes holistically!



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