Ep. 031 - A Quick Guide to Reversing Prediabetes

SHOW NOTES

Are you on the path to pre-diabetes and unaware of it? 

1 in 3 North American adults may be pre-diabetic and a shocking 84 % of them don't have a clue.

This eye-opening episode of Man in the Arena is your wake-up call. We tackle the silent health crisis of prediabetes, a grave metabolic disorder with ramifications that can lead to chronic diseases like heart disease and Alzheimer's. But here's the good news - with concrete steps, this life-altering condition can be reversed. 

Armed with knowledge, we break down the mechanics of insulin, its role in glucose metabolism, and how it all correlates to our health. We then arm you with actionable steps to reverse this condition through lifestyle and dietary changes. 

Discover the pivotal role that your diet, sleep, and stress levels play in this process and how simple lifestyle changes can drastically lower glucose levels and halt the progression of type 2 diabetes. I guide you through what you should eat, foods to avoid, and the importance of regular exercise. 

TRANSCRIPT

Prediabetes is not just a warning sign. It's severe metabolic disorder. Fortunately, you can reverse prediabetes with lifestyle and diet changes.

Welcome to man in the Arena, your go-to podcast for all things related to health and weight loss for men over 40. Here we discuss strategies that will get you off the sidelines and into the game so you can achieve your optimal health. It's time to lead a legacy of longevity.

Hello and welcome to man in the Arena. Today we're diving deep into a topic that affects millions of people worldwide Prediabetes. I recently read a stat that 1 in 3 North American adults may have prediabetes and 84% of those have no idea. That's why I wanted to talk about this today. So let's talk about what it is, how you become prediabetic, its diagnosis and, most importantly, how to reverse it. What is prediabetes? Prediabetes is definitely a sign of future problems, but, more specifically, it's an indication that your body has a current metabolic dysfunction. In other words, glucose levels in your body are higher than optimal, but they're not high enough to be labeled as type 2 diabetes. So it's a sign that you have elevated insulin and insulin resistance, which, as we know, leads to a stack of chronic disease. Before we jump into how you become prediabetic, I want to talk a little bit about insulin for a minute, because understanding its impact on our health is crucial. So insulin is often referred to as the fat storage hormone because of its role in regulating glucose metabolism and promoting the storage of energy, primarily as fat. Here's why, when you consume carbohydrates, they're broken down into glucose and that goes into your bloodstream.

The pancreas then responds by releasing insulin, which signals to the cells to take in that glucose, and then muscle and liver cells store this glucose in the form of glycogen for immediate energy needs. But insulin also suppresses the activity of an enzyme called HSL, or hormone sensitive lipase, in the fat cells. Now, hsl is responsible for breaking down stored fat into free fatty acids which can then be used for energy. But when insulin levels are high, the breakdown of fat is inhibited and it ensures that the body uses available glucose for energy instead. In other words, when insulin is present, we cannot use fat as fuel. So insulin also activates an enzyme called LPL lipoprotein lipase which helps fat cells take up and store fatty acids as triglycerides. And then, when insulin levels are elevated, especially when we're eating higher amounts of calories, there's a tendency to store more and more fat. So, as you can see, insulin helps us move energy into the cell, but when it's high levels of glucose, we're not going to be able to use stored body fat for energy. And if we're trying to lose weight, that's what we really want to do.

We want to keep our blood sugar low so that we can really utilize that stored energy body fat. So how do we get pre-diabetes? Well, now that we know about insulin, we can understand that pre-diabetes is primarily the result of insulin resistance. So when our glucose levels remain high, our body produces more insulin to manage it. Over time, this can lead the cells to becoming insulin resistant, setting off this chain reaction that can result in chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes and even Alzheimer's. So if you're chronically overeating, you're chronically stressed, you're sleep deprived, you're not exercising, chances are you have consistently high glucose levels and you're on a pathway to being pre-diabetic. So how do you diagnose pre-diabetes? Well, we want to look at the glucose levels in our body, and we do this through testing a fasting glucose test or the HVA1C test. The fasting glucose test measures blood glucose concentration without the influence of a recent meal. So for fasting glucose levels, we don't want them, but when they are between 100 and 125 milligrams per deciliter, that indicates that we're pre-diabetic. And then for the HVA1C test, this captures an average glucose level over the past three months and a reading between 5.8 and 6.4 suggests pre-diabetes. This sounds like a lot of bad news, but there is good news you can reverse pre-diabetes, and we do this through lifestyle changes. Lifestyle changes can significantly lower glucose levels and prevent the progression of type 2 diabetes. A National Institute of Health study showed that individuals at high risk of diabetes who made lifestyle changes actually had a 58% chance lower chance of developing diabetes compared to a control group. So you might be asking yourself well, how long does it take to reverse pre-diabetes? And of course, this depends on the severity of your glucose impairment or the sort of metabolic distress that you've been under. It also depends on your overall health and it depends on the measures that you take to reverse this. So some studies have shown that 50% of participants could restore normal glucose tolerance within six years through lifestyle interventions.

The CDC suggests that losing 5% to 7% of your body weight and exercising more can cut your risk of developing diabetes by 58%. So we know that we can reverse pre-diabetes and we can do this through natural lifestyle changes. So what we want to do is we want to focus on a combination of dietary changes, regular exercise, we want to take steps to manage our weight. Of course, adequate sleep and reducing stress is helpful and, most importantly, you want to quit any really unhealthy habits like smoking or excessive drinking. Flip that over.

We want to consume whole foods, manage our sleep and stress, want to stay active and we want to support our gut's natural microbiome. If you're pre-diabetic and you want to reverse this trend, I believe the best place to start is with your nutrition, with the decisions that you make about what you're eating, because diet plays a pivotal role in reversing pre-diabetes. So here's what I want you to do. Number one I want you to avoid sugars, processed grains and foods that come in a box or a bag. If it comes in a box or a bag, I don't want it going in your shopping cart. Number two I want you to start eating more fruits and vegetables and foods that are high in fiber and protein rich, like chicken fish, some beef, some pork. Number three you want to limit snacking and impulsive eating by sticking to regular eating times throughout the day. I find an intermittent fasting schedule of 16 to 8, so a 16-hour fast and 8-hour eating window to be the absolute best for managing our blood sugar levels and reducing those blood sugar spikes. Number four this last point isn't necessarily diet related, but after you eat, I want you to avoid being sedentary, so I want you to get up, move around.

Even a five-minute walk is helpful in reducing rising blood sugar levels after you eat. That wraps up our episode on reversing diabetes. Remember our daily choices have a significant impact on our metabolic health. I want you to stay informed, make conscious decisions and always prioritize your health. Thank you for tuning in. I'll catch you next week on the next episode and in the meantime, keep leading a legacy of good health and longevity.

If you're ready to step inside the arena and change the trajectory of your health, head on over to the Spearmethodcom and download my free guide to learn simple and effective strategies on how to optimize your health today.