The Basics: Diabetes and Prediabetes and Why They Are on the Rise - 1

Under Beating Diabetes

The number of people suffering from type 2 diabetes and related conditions has skyrocketed over the past fifty years. And more and more people have blood-sugar levels that, while not high enough to qualify as diabetes, are too high for good health. This condition goes by the name glucose intolerance, or prediabetes.

If you have normal blood sugars or prediabetes, the program in this book will help you protect your health and perhaps stave off diabetes and its serious long-term complications completely. And if you already have type 2 diabetes, this program can help you take control of your condition, improve your blood-sugar levels, and perhaps enable you to cut back on some of your medications. What you're about to learn is a program for living. It isn't based on drastic changes or extreme recommendations for diet and exercise. Tt is about reversing lifestyle history.

This chapter will begin by explaining what diabetes is, we normally handle the nutrients in our food, and how disturbances in metabolism can affect your overall health. Then we'll discuss why we're facing an epidemic of obesity, prediabetes and diabetes, and heart disease. When you understand how pivotal lifestyle is to these conditions, you'll understand how and why this program can make a difference.

Source: David M. Nathan, M.D. and Linda M. Delahanty, M.S., R.D, Beating diabetes: The First Complete Program Clinically Proven to Dramatically Improve Your Glucose Tolerance, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (2005)