Pre diabetes

I absolutely believe pre-diabetes and even full blown diabetes can be controlled with diet and exercise. Your body is an efficient machine, good at what it does, you just have to treat it right if you want it to work properly.

Best of luck!

I agree, I think pre-diabetes can be reversed and diabetes can be controlled and/or reversed by diet and exercise. Although I don't have diabetes or pre-diabetes as of yet, I'm heading there if I don't take control NOW. Hence one of the reasons I am on here. I gain weight in my stomach, my mother had diabetes 2 caused by lifestyle choices (overweight, belly fat and sedentary lifestyle). I refuse to go down that road.

Congrats on the 12 pounds down!!!

Definitely. Although, I suspect you probably have a higher risk if you revert to your previous habits.

>There are many doctors who believe that most people who are diagnosed pre diabetic will become full blown diabetic in 2-4 years .

IMO, they are being realistic (if cynical) - Most people don't put forth the effort to stop it. Most people don;t lose weight. Most people don't stop smoking. Most people don't stop drinking to excess. Most people don't exercise. Most people don't eat right.

Don't be most people.

(You might also ask about metformin. There are some studies that show that it can also be useful in preventing type II.

http://www.diabetes.org/news-research/research/access-diabetes-research/can-meformin-prevent-or-delay-type-2-diabetes.html )

Here's the thing... there are plenty of people at a normal weight that have T2 diabetes and plenty of obese people who do not have and never will have it so being overweight does not actually cause it.

That being said losing weight, exercise and diet can keep your blood sugar stable and at "normal" levels (for example under 140) post meals. I have read of people who lost a lot of weight and said they no longer have diabetes but have found no info on what their actual A1C or what happens to their blood sugar levels. I suspect if they ate something like 100 carbs in one sitting they would still spike but I don't know... I hope to find out for myself in the next year .

I have been reading everything I can, met with my dr, nutritionist and diabetes educator, read books and gotten advice from people that have lived with it for many years so this is just based off my experience so far - there really isn't a "cure" for diabetes as much as there is "control".

edit to add metformin: is a drug that keeps the liver from dumping glucose into your bloodstream so that you do not spike as much, so fyi that is basically what it does

I was diagnosed with pre diabetes about a month and a half ago . Since then I have lost around 12 pounds and I've been exercising and taking my glucose readings . My question is do you believe that pre diebetes can be cured by losing weight , eating right and exercise ? I read a lot online . There are many doctors who believe that most people who are diagnosed pre diabetic will become full blown diabetic in 2-4 years . I want to do everything I can to get healthy . I don't want to ever be diagnosed full blown type 2 .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSUw9SaPLmA

check that link out.

Raw (or 60%) vegan diet seems to be one of the best methods without drugs. As a former eat meat till you sweat, this is an easy diet.

It's basically a metabolic disorder effecting carbohydrate metabolism from chronically elevated blood glucose, in other words insulin resistance. Weight loss (deficit) works because blood glucose levels drop from less overall available glucose on a comparative level. Exercise works because it increases glucose transport during exercise and the after effects of that is increased insulin sensitivity. Lowering carb intake will work in tandem with weight loss and exercise, which I believe works the best.

I have been Type I (insulin dependent) for 23 years. There are differences between Type I and II but in terms of controlling the disease (and in your case hopefully delaying it for a very long time), you need to have a daily exercise regime and eat a healthy diet. I cannot stress how big an impact exercise has on blood sugar control. Get some every day! You don't need to go nuts but make sure you get 45 minutes a day walking or jogging (or whatever you like to do that gets your heart rate going). Eat foods that are low glycemic as these will not cause spikes in blood sugar. For example, if you like bread or pasta, make sure you eat ones that are 100% whole grain and don't have enriched flour as that crap is awful for blood sugar control.

You don't have to eat a special diet or avoid carbs when you have diabetes. You just want to eat healthy and watch your portion sizes just like everyone else should do.

Agree with most of this but, I would suggest that Low GI doesn't necessarily equate to no spike in insulin. White pasta and snickers are low GI and these will definitely elicit an insulin response, while something with a high GI, fruit for example eaten in conjunction with a balanced meal will have less overall effect on an insulin response. If someone doesn't want to reduce carbs while trying to fix their insulin resistance, I would suggest that they employ the glycemic load as well as the glycemic index to find the full effect on insulin from the volume of carbs as well as it's ability to effect insulin.

Yeah Snickers and pasta are not something your going to want to make a part of your regular diet especially if your diabetic.

I know, but you said low GI won't cause spikes in insulin, so then why not eat them? I guess you missed my point, that's ok, it wasn't the first time and won't be the last.

Here's the thing... there are plenty of people at a normal weight that have T2 diabetes and plenty of obese people who do not have and never will have it so being overweight does not actually cause it.

I'm not sure that you know what you are talking about at all. Try to read some peer reviewed science rather than random opinions on the internet . Type 2 diabetes is very closely related to weight.

Indeed there is a big difference in mechanism between type 1 and type 2 diabetes in that type 1 is caused by insulin deficiency and type 2 by insulin resistance and it is type 2 that people generally aquire in adulthood.

Is there any consensus on the cause of insulin resistance? Is it peak insulin levels, i.e. insulin spikes due to "meals" that deliver glucose to the bloodstream very fast or is it chronically high insulin, i.e. a diet/lifestyle that means the cells that respond to insulin never see insulin drop to a low level, or are both factors?

If it is the spikes that are the problem it would be possible to avoid developing insulin resistance by choosing low GI foods or meal combinations that limit the rate at which the glucose enters the blood. If the later then reducing the total carb intake would be more successful. If both are factors then maybe a combination approach would be the most successful.

I have seen almost nothing offerered on the mechanism by which exercise would be beneficial in this though everyone seems to agree it is a good idea. I have read that in the presence of insulin the muscles will preferentially use glucose and in the absense of it switch to using fatty acids so on that basis taking exercise in the period after a meal when the blood glucose level is rising would mean the glucose was removed from the blood faster for a given level of insulin which could limit the peak insulin level. What would happen when the timing doesn't match, though? Does having deplete gycogen levels in muscles mean they can do something similar but storing the glucose rather than immediately using it?

Regarding reversal of insulin resistance aagain I don't know. There are plenty of cases where the body adjusts to the levels of things including just about all things that alter neuurological state, hence the reducing effects of mind altering drugs and these adjustments seem to be made back towards normal when the offending substance is removed. There are also cases where chronic overstimulation causes permanent damages such as noise induced hearing loss.