Prediabetes For Dummies E-Book

Alan L. Rubin

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Seitenzahl: 524

Beschreibung

Accessible information on the causes, health risks, and treatment of prediabetes If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with prediabetes - a heightened level of glucose, and/or impaired glucose tolerance - the time to act is now. Prediabetes For Dummies examines the signs and symptoms of this potential precursor to diabetes and offers up-to-date information about treatment. It provides clear, practical advice on steps you can take to minimize the risk of serious health consequences. This plain-English guide shows you how to stop prediabetes in its tracks and prevent it from progressing to diabetes. You'll learn how to recognize the symptoms of this often-undiagnosed condition, and what to do if you think you may be prediabetic. You'll also discover how simple lifestyle changes, such as changes in your diet and moderate exercise, can put the brakes on prediabetes and even reverse the condition. * Offers clear explanations of prediabetes causes, health risks, and treatment * Includes the latest advances in the use of diabetes medications to treat prediabetes * Provides diet suggestions, meal plans, and exercise tips * Contains helpful suggestions for friends and family members who want to support a loved one with prediabetes While there is no cure for diabetes, it can be prevented if prediabetes is diagnosed and treated early. Packed with valuable information for patients of all ages, Prediabetes For Dummies is an important resource for taking control of this dangerous condition.

Leseprobe

Prediabetes For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

Why Do We Need This Book?

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You Don’t Have to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Confronting the Prediabetes Epidemic

Part II: Food and Other Factors: Battling an Unhealthy Lifestyle

Part III: Getting a Diagnosis

Part IV: The Dangers of Moving toward Diabetes

Part V: Avoiding or Reversing Prediabetes

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Part I: Confronting the Prediabetes Epidemic

Chapter 1: The Origins and Dangers of Prediabetes

Distinguishing Prediabetes from Diabetes

Going from normal to prediabetes

Focusing on type 2 prediabetes

Knowing the Recent History of Prediabetes

Needing new language

Understanding the risks

Realizing Who Is Affected

Comparing ethnic groups

Considering children and adolescents

Finding rampant prediabetes in the elderly

Considering the Costs

Actual health costs

Other economic costs

Social costs

Chapter 2: Suspecting Prediabetes in Yourself or a Loved One

Taking a Risk Quiz

Identifying Key Risk Factors That You Can Control

Understanding the role of calories

Focusing on your weight

Getting up and moving

Dealing with stress

Understanding How Prediabetes and Diabetes Develop

Keeping glucose under control

Losing control of glucose

Seeking a Medical Diagnosis

Choosing a general doctor

Doing your research

Choosing a specialist

Making sure your doctor covers the bases

Chapter 3: Tracking the Transition from Prediabetes to Diabetes

Turning Prediabetes into Diabetes

Recognizing Short-term Effects of Diabetes

Handling hypoglycemia

Managing ketoacidosis

Dealing with the hyperosmolar syndrome

Dealing with Severe Long-term Complications

Viewing eye disease

Avoiding kidney disease

Detecting nerve disease

Dodging heart disease

Facing Sexual Issues

Male sexual problems

Female sexual dysfunction

Pregnancy problems

Chapter 4: Stopping Prediabetes in Its Tracks

Halting and Reversing Bad Choices

Becoming a Brand New Shopper

Focusing on fresh

Reading labels like an expert

Knowing what foods and ingredients to avoid at all costs

Rethinking How You Eat

Becoming your own personal chef

Navigating a restaurant meal when you must

Getting your portions in check

Putting Your Body in Gear

Overcoming your fear of exercise

Getting a walking start

Adding Medications to Your Daily Routine

Tackling Prediabetes through Surgery

Gastric bypass

Gastric banding

Part II: Food and Other Factors: Battling an Unhealthy Lifestyle

Chapter 5: What’s in Your Kitchen? Identifying Problem Foods

Understanding the Evolution of Our Food Supply

Moving from forest to supermarket

Catering to our tastes

Creating unrecognizable foods

Picking on Problem Ingredients

High fructose corn syrup

Refined carbohydrates

The wrong types of fats

Connecting Problem Foods to Prediabetes

Reacting to sugars and refined carbs

Realizing the consequences of eating bad fat

Battling food addictions

Becoming Aware of the Glycemic Index

Analyzing Your Child’s Lunchbox and Lunchroom

Checking the lunchbox

Looking at school lunches

Chapter 6: Facing Your Weight

Looking in the Mirror, Stepping on the Scale

Facing facts

Sizing up your status

Becoming Familiar with Your Body Mass Index

Identifying Where You Carry Your Fat

Finding the danger in visceral fat

Measuring your waist

Realizing How You Got Here

Eating out

Miscalculating portions

Misreading your appetite

Craving the wrong kinds of foods

Knowing That You Can Lose Weight

Helping an Overweight Child

Chapter 7: Stuck on the Couch: The Risks of Being Sedentary

Understanding the Essential Role of Exercise

Stopping prediabetes from becoming diabetes

Preventing heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral vascular disease

Increasing your self-esteem

Reducing your risk of osteoporosis

Maintaining or increasing your weight loss

Using Exercise to Combat Depression

Inactivity contributes to depression

Depression contributes to inactivity

Unraveling the Typical Excuses

Lacking time

Loving your TV or computer

Convincing yourself that exercise is too hard

Planning to Move

Exercising through your depression

Finding time

Turning off your TV or computer

Chapter 8: Stressing Out

Recognizing Sources of Stress in Your Life

Categories of stress

Stressors you can change

Stressors out of your control

Assessing Your Attitude toward Your Stressors

Looking carefully at yourself

Giving yourself a break

Linking Your Stress Level to Your Relationship with Food

Avoiding Exercise Because of Stress

Realizing How Stress Contributes to Prediabetes

Understanding Stress in the Elderly

Perceiving Stress in Kids

Identifying sources of stress

Reducing stress

Part III: Getting a Diagnosis

Chapter 9: Spotting the Metabolic Syndrome

Defining the Metabolic Syndrome

Determining Your Level of Risk

Having a genetic predisposition

Getting older

Gaining weight

Living a sedentary lifestyle

Becoming aware of other risk factors

Recognizing Major Signs and Symptoms

Identifying physical signs and symptoms

Looking at laboratory abnormalities

Reversing the Causes of the Metabolic Syndrome

Dealing with Uncontrolled Metabolic Syndrome

Reversing high blood glucose

Lowering your blood pressure

Improving your blood fats

Chapter 10: The Testing Spectrum: Having Essential Tests and Interpreting Results

Checking Your Blood Glucose Level

Going to a lab: Fasting glucose or glucose challenge

Using your own meter at home

Choosing a blood glucose meter

Tracking Your Glucose for the Last 90 Days

Knowing Your Cholesterol Levels

Recognizing four kinds of lipoproteins

Deciding whether treatment is necessary

Treating elevated fat levels with medication

Keeping Your Blood Pressure in Check

Clarifying the numbers

Dealing with high blood pressure

Looking for Evidence of Inflammation

Hunting for Nutrient Deficiencies

Keeping your vitamin levels on target

Stocking up on minerals

Getting a TSH test

Chapter 11: Children and the Elderly: Special Considerations

Diagnosing and Managing Prediabetes in Children

Checking if your child is overweight

Securing a diagnosis and taking action

Paying Close Attention to the Elderly

Checking for memory and thinking disorders

Evaluating an elderly person’s diet

Adding exercise to the program

Stopping the progression to diabetes

Part IV: The Dangers of Moving toward Diabetes

Chapter 12: Dealing with Short-Term Complications

Watching Your Blood Glucose Drop: Hypoglycemia

Looking out for symptoms

Identifying the severity

Treating hypoglycemia

Fighting Ketoacidosis

Looking out for symptoms

Pinpointing causes

Treating ketoacidosis

Letting Your Blood Glucose Soar: Hyperosmolar Syndrome

Looking out for symptoms

Pinpointing causes

Treating hyperosmolar syndrome

Identifying Other Annoyances of Diabetes

Chapter 13: Suffering Long-Term Consequences

Grappling with Kidney Disease: Nephropathy

What’s happening to your kidneys?

Are there early signs of damage?

What are your treatment options?

Coping with Eye Disease: Retinopathy

Facing Nerve Disease: Neuropathy

Diagnosing neuropathy

Recognizing symptoms

Putting Your Heart at Risk

Realizing the role of the metabolic syndrome

Feeling the effects of nerve disease

Dealing with an enlarged heart

Avoiding a Stroke

Fighting Peripheral Vascular Disease

Amputating Due to Diabetic Foot Disease

Suffering with Diabetic Skin Disease

Experiencing Diabetic Gum Disease

Chapter 14: Risking Your Sexual Health: Sexual Function and Pregnancy

Considering How Diabetes Affects Women’s Sexual Function

Focusing on Pregnancy

Diagnosing gestational diabetes

Understanding the consequences to mother and baby

Treating diabetes during pregnancy

Impacting Men’s Sexual Performance

Explaining erectile dysfunction

Treating erectile dysfunction

Part V: Avoiding or Reversing Prediabetes

Chapter 15: Shopping for Food in a New Way

Looking at the Grocery Store’s Layout

Shopping More Often

Visiting the Sections of the Market

The bakery

The produce department

The dairy case

The deli counter

The meat and fish counter

Frozen foods and diet meals

Canned foods

Bottled drinks

The snack aisle

Reading and Understanding Food Labels

Stocking the Essentials in Your Pantry and Fridge

Using the Right Tools

Chapter 16: Cooking and Eating for Health and Enjoyment

Knowing What to Eat

Following the U.S. government food pyramid

Checking out American Diabetes Association guidelines

Considering American Heart Association suggestions

Increasing fiber

Creating a colorful plate

Sticking with food you can recognize

Taking the glycemic index into account

Reducing Your Fat Intake

Hydrating Your Body

Changing Your Pace and Your Portions

Modifying your eating behavior

Reducing portions

Keeping a Food Record

Trying Some Simple Meal and Snack Recipes

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Snacks

Chapter 17: Maximizing Movement

Knowing U.S. Government Recommendations — and Mine

For adults

For children

For older adults

For healthy pregnant and postpartum women

My recommendations

Starting a Walking Program

Choosing Other Activities

Figuring out your preferences

Focusing on calories

Staying Active while Traveling

Using a Pedometer

Buying the right kind

Aiming for 10K a day

Getting Awarded and Trekking the Country

Taking the President’s Challenge

Walking across the country

Adding Resistance Training to Your Program

Doing resistance training with free weights

Doing resistance training using machines

Progressing with free weights or machines

Chapter 18: Taking Medications or Supplements

Utilizing Medication

Starting with metformin

Moving to pioglitazone

Injecting insulin

Considering GLP-1

Looking at DPP-4 inhibitors

Researching Supplement Claims

Chromium

Aspirin

Cinnamon

Pancreas Formula

Fat Burner

Ki-Sweet

Gymnema sylvestre

Vitamin supplements

Antioxidant supplements

Soy protein

Phytochemicals

Fish oil supplements

Alpha-lipoic acid and racemic lipoic acid

Pycnogenol

Chapter 19: Considering Bariatric Surgery

Deciding That Diet and Exercise Are Not Enough

Realizing the possible benefits of surgery

Meeting the criteria for surgery

Picking the Right Kind of Surgery

Focusing on gastric bypass

Opting for adjustable gastric banding

Habits of successful surgery patients

Weighing pros and cons of each

Choosing the Right Surgeon

Figuring out your options

Asking the right questions

Pinpointing the costs you have to cover

Preparing for Surgery

Getting ready mentally and physically

Knowing what to expect on the day of surgery

Charting a successful course after surgery

Thinking about Surgery for an Obese Child or Adolescent

Meeting some strict criteria

Facing the risks

Waiting for results

Chapter 20: Putting Your Knowledge to Work: A Healthier You in Three Months

Getting Ready to Change

Following the Plan

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Applauding Your Accomplishments

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 21: Ten Myths about Prediabetes

I Have Borderline Diabetes

My Biggest Problem Is Elevated Blood Sugars

I Can’t Eat Anything Fun

I Have to Get Thin to Be Healthy

Exercise Is Dangerous for Me

Vitamins and Other Supplements Can Help Me

I Have to Buy Special Machines to Monitor My Status

I Need to Take Diet Pills

A Week at a Health Spa Is All I Need

I’m On My Own

Chapter 22: (More Than) Ten Staples to Keep in Your Kitchen

Green Vegetables

Tomatoes

Proteins

Fresh meat, fish, and poultry

Canned fish

Dairy products

Eggs

Beans

Nuts and seeds

Berries, Apples, and Other Non-starchy Fruits

Olive Oil

Herbs and Spices

Chapter 23: Ten Things to Teach Your Prediabetic Child

Diabetes Need Not Be Devastating

Diabetes Is Not Inevitable

Now Is the Time to Act

You Can Comfort and Reward Yourself without Food

Healthy Food Can Taste Great

Vegetables Are Delicious

Water Is Vital

People Are Supposed to Move

We All Need Rest

A Positive Attitude Is Crucial

Appendix: Additional Resources

Prediabetes For Dummies®

by Alan L. Rubin, MD

Prediabetes For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2009939354

ISBN: 978-0-470-52301-8

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

Alan L. Rubin, M.D., is one of the nation’s foremost experts on diabetes. He is a professional member of the American Diabetes Association and the Endocrine Society and has been in private practice specializing in diabetes and thyroid disease for over 30 years. Dr. Rubin was Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of California Medical Center in San Francisco for 20 years. He has spoken about diabetes to professional medical audiences and non-medical audiences around the world. He has been a consultant to many pharmaceutical companies and companies that make diabetes products.

Dr. Rubin was one of the first specialists in his field to recognize the significance of patient self-testing of blood glucose, the major advance in diabetescare since the advent of insulin. As a result, he has been on numerous radio and television programs, talking about the cause, the prevention, and the treatment of diabetes and its complications.

Since publishing Diabetes For Dummies, Dr. Rubin has had four other bestselling For Dummies books — Diabetes Cookbook For Dummies, Thyroid For Dummies, High Blood Pressure For Dummies, and Type 1 Diabetes For Dummies — all published by Wiley Publishing. These four books cover the medical problems of 100 million Americans.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my new granddaughter, Rachel Natania Ross, who was born almost exactly when the book was completed. It is my fervent hope that she will never need the information in it, but if so, that it contains all she needs to know to live a long, healthy, active life.

Author’s Acknowledgments

For this first edition, acquisitions editor Michael Lewis deserves major thanks. I have had the pleasure of working with him for several years. He is supportive, encouraging, and fun and I look forward to a long association with him. I am also blessed with another great project editor, Joan Friedman, who not only made sure that everything was readable and understandable, but offered excellent suggestions to improve the information. My thanks also to Dr. Dawn Ayers for reviewing the book.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Joan Friedman

Acquisitions Editor: Michael Lewis

Assistant Editor: Erin Calligan Mooney

Editorial Program Coordinator: Joe Niesen

Technical Editor: Dawn M. Ayers, MD

Senior Editorial Manager: Jennifer Ehrlich

Editorial Supervisor: Carmen Krikorian

Editorial Assistants: David Lutton, Jennette ElNaggar

Art Coordinator: Alicia B. South

Cover Photos: © iStock

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Illustrations: Kathryn Born, M.A.

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Patrick Redmond

Layout and Graphics: Melissa K. Jester, Christine Williams

Proofreaders: Jessica Kramer, Linda Seifert

Indexer: Slivoskey Indexing Services

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

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Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

We’re going to have some fun together. “What,” you say, “is funny about a discussion of a problem like prediabetes?” On the surface, maybe nothing. But a spoonful of humor makes the medicine go down. If you ask women what they want in a man, a majority will say “a sense of humor” (among other things). I believe that’s what you want in a book as well. I believe you will find what I have to tell you much more palatable if I add a dash of fun. If it’s too dry, you won’t be able to swallow it. So prepare to smile.

Why Do We Need This Book?

The simple answer is that my wife wants to redo the bathroom. But, as you can imagine, the answer is much more complex. The prefix pre means “before,” as in prefix, “before the word.” Prediabetes is that time when you aren’t quite normal but you don’t quite have diabetes. I define it clearly in Chapter 1. Prediabetes is not usually associated with all the bad complications of diabetes, which I discuss in Chapters 12, 13, and 14, but it may be associated with some heart problems, which I discuss in Chapter 13.

And prediabetes is not only the stage before diabetes. It may also be the stage before high blood pressure (prehypertension) and the stage before high cholesterol (precholesterol: Oh, sorry, I got carried away — there is no such term). All the abnormalities that lead to prediabetes (that can go on to diabetes) are also to blame for the development of prehypertension (that can go on to high blood pressure) and mildly elevated cholesterol (that can go on to hypercholesterolemia).

So if I help you to reverse prediabetes, I am also helping you to reverse the other two conditions. You are basically getting three books for the price of one. What a deal!

And you can reverse prediabetes. If there is one thing that I want to make clear, you are not doomed to develop diabetes just because you have prediabetes. You can return to your normal state of perfection. But you have to read what I have written, and you have to follow my recommendations. If you reverse prediabetes, you will probably reverse prehypertension and mildly elevated cholesterol as well. Chapters 15 through 20 provide everything you need to know to do this.

About This Book

This book is an excellent resource for what you need to know about prediabetes — and a lot about diabetes as well. (Everything you need to know about diabetes can be found in an excellent book called Diabetes For Dummies, written by an author well-known to me and published by Wiley.)

You don’t have to read this book from start to finish (but it wouldn’t hurt). You can pick up the book and start reading anywhere you want. If you want to know what prediabetes is, start with Chapter 1. If you want to know what factors lead to prediabetes, Part II provides the answers. Getting a diagnosis is taken up in Part III, while the potential complications should you develop diabetes are discussed in Part IV. Part V tells you how to avoid or reverse prediabetes.

So if you are some kind of genius and already know what prediabetes is, how to diagnose it, and that you have it, go ahead and skip to Part V. But be forewarned! I will ask you to do things that may be a lot harder than tenth-grade math. Unlike tenth-grade math, however, what I ask you to do can save and prolong your life. Just avoid getting hit by a car.

Conventions Used in This Book

The sugar in your blood is called glucose, and too-high glucose leads to many of the complications of diabetes. But the white sugar you eat is not glucose; it’s sucrose. And many other sugars exist, like fructose, maltose, and galactose. So I don’t use just the word sugar in this book; I call the particular sugar by its proper name.

When I mention a level of blood sugar (oops, glucose), it will be shown in units called milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl). I don’t mean to confuse you, but the rest of the world uses the International System of units called, in this case, millimoles per liter (mmol/L). You can convert mg/dl to mmol/L as you cross the border of the United States into Canada simply by dividing the mg/dl by 18. For example, a blood glucose of 100 mg/dl is 5.5 mmol/L.

Two major types of diabetes exist: type 1 diabetes mellitus and type 2 diabetes mellitus. I refer to them as type 1 and type 2 diabetes in this book.

I discuss calories frequently in this book because how many of them you eat affects your weight, which in turn affects your susceptibility to prediabetes and diabetes. When I talk about a specific number of calories that you consume, I use the proper term, which is kilocalorie. A calorie is actually a much smaller unit of energy than a kilocalorie. Food manufacturers always use the abbreviated calorie, which is confusing and not technically correct.

Finally, in Chapter 16, I include a handful of recipes to try. If you’re a vegetarian, look for the tomato next to the recipe name that indicates the recipe does not contain meat or fish.

What You Don’t Have to Read

You don’t have to read anything in this book if you don’t want to, but that would be a waste of my time and your money. Instead, if you really don’t like complicated scientific explanations, skip the material in the sidebars that are shaded in grey. You will still understand everything else, but you may not be able to answer a trivia question someday. The sidebars are there for the people who demand to know why.

Foolish Assumptions

I assume that your mind is a blank when it comes to prediabetes and diabetes. Therefore, you won’t suddenly come up against a term that you have never seen before without finding an immediate definition of that term. On the other hand, if you already know something about the subject, you can expect to find much greater detail. Throughout the book, the most important points are clearly marked using tools such as icons (which I explain in a moment).

How This Book Is Organized

This book has six parts, and you don’t have to start at Part I. Each part is self-contained. In fact, each chapter is self-contained, so if you see a chapter title that really excites you like “The Testing Spectrum: Having the Essential Tests and Interpreting Results,” feel free to jump right in there. Here is a brief discussion of what you can find in each part of this book.

Part I: Confronting the Prediabetes Epidemic

This introductory part gives you a foundation of understanding as to what prediabetes is all about. I start with a discussion of how prediabetes originates. From there, I move on to talk about when you should suspect that you have developed prediabetes. What are the elements of your family history, your personal history, and your current lifestyle that suggest this diagnosis? Moving right along, I trace the factors that convert prediabetes to diabetes. Then I offer a general discussion about stopping this conversion before it happens.

Part II: Food and Other Factors: Battling an Unhealthy Lifestyle

What you learn in these chapters should make it clear to you that prediabetes, as well as type 2 diabetes, is promoted by an unhealthy lifestyle, which means both conditions can be reversed by adopting a healthy lifestyle.

The first element of your lifestyle to consider is the food you eat. Some foods are good for you, and others aren’t. You constantly make choices, and I want to help you make the right ones. From your own kitchen to the homes of your friends to the restaurants you frequent, you need to be aware of what to choose.

Next you want to deal with your weight. I am not interested in turning you into a fashion model, just getting your weight to the level where it does not hurt your health. Of course, should you decide to turn into a fashion model, I wouldn’t mind a signed photograph.

The next aspect of your lifestyle that we must deal with is your exercise program. What exercise program, you say? If you don’t exercise, that has got to change. You want to feel all those good chemicals that come from your brain when you exercise. It’s a natural, inexpensive, and very healthful high.

Finally, you want to learn how to deal with stress so it doesn’t damage your health, and you want to eliminate bad habits such as any interaction with tobacco of any kind, as well as excessive drinking. I help you to do those things to the best of my ability, but you have to carry them out (so they don’t carry you out).

Part III: Getting a Diagnosis

First I want to help you recognize what is going wrong. Diabetes, and even more so prediabetes, is like a stealth bomber. You may not see it coming before a lot of damage is done.

Many tests can be valuable both to make the diagnosis of prediabetes and to see how far along you are. I explain these tests in detail and tell you when to get them and how to interpret them. You may be able to teach your doctor a thing or two before you finish this part.

Special issues apply to children and the elderly when it comes to diagnosing prediabetes. The final chapter in this part discusses these issues. We are witnessing an epidemic of type 2 diabetes in children, which means there is an even greater epidemic of prediabetes in children. Is that excess weight just baby fat that will disappear when your child has a growth spurt? Or is it necessary to do something right now to help your child get healthy? You find out here.

Part IV: The Dangers of Moving toward Diabetes

Diabetes, untreated, is not a benign condition. People with diabetes are the largest component of blind people and people with kidney failure in the United States. This part clarifies the complications, both major and minor, that are associated with uncontrolled diabetes.

First there are the short-term complications that can come and go in a few days or even hours, such as low blood glucose (hypoglycemia) and very high blood glucose (hyperglycemia). These conditions have a very definite effect on your quality of life and need to be prevented.

Next are the long-term complications that take ten or more years of diabetes to develop but can be devastating. Blindness, kidney failure, nerve disease, and heart disease are the things to fear in this regard. But you are never going to have any of these complications because you are going to reverse your prediabetes so it never gets to diabetes!

A special category of long-term complications are sexual complications and the complications of pregnancy. These situations warrant their own chapter. (It’s not X-rated, so feel free to read it even when the kids are around.)

Part V: Avoiding or Reversing Prediabetes

Up to now you have been learning. Now you will be doing, with my help. First, in Chapter 15, we go to the supermarket together and make good choices. Then we cook together and enjoy the healthful and delicious food we make. In Chapter 16, I provide you with a bunch of recipes that you can enjoy — recipes that feature inexpensive ingredients so anyone can make them.

Next I take up exercise. You may find some surprises in Chapter 17, but you have to read it to find them out. I am not giving you any clues here.

Can medications help to reverse prediabetes? You find out in Chapter 18, and you also learn whether any vitamins or supplements may make a difference.

Surgery for weight loss may seem like a drastic solution, but it may not be as drastic as you think. When all else fails, this option is a reasonable and almost guaranteed answer. You find out how surgery may help, its pros and cons, and what to expect if you have weight loss surgery in Chapter 19.

To put all your new knowledge together, I provide Chapter 20, which features a complete plan for a three-month health makeover. Sometimes you need structure in order to succeed. This chapter tells you what to eat, what exercise to do, and everything else you need to know.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

No book For Dummies is complete without this part. You can read ten myths about prediabetes, ten staples to keep in your kitchen, and ten things to teach your child with prediabetes.

Icons Used in This Book

The icons alert you to information you must know, information you should know, and information you may find interesting but can live without.

I use this icon when I relate a story from my personal experience or from the experience of one of my patients.

This icon points out when you should see your doctor (for example, if your blood glucose level is too high or you need a particular test done).

When you see this icon, it means the information is essential and you should be aware of it.

This icon marks important information that can save you time and energy.

Part I

Confronting the Prediabetes Epidemic

In this part . . .

Prediabetes is a relatively new concept. In this part I explain its meaning and who is affected. I tell you how to recognize that you or a loved one may have prediabetes. I discuss the transition from prediabetes to diabetes. And I open the discussion of how to stop prediabetes from becoming diabetes and how to return your metabolism to its normal state.

Chapter 1

The Origins and Dangers of Prediabetes

In This Chapter

Crossing the line from health to prediabetes to diabetes

Noting the recent origin of prediabetes

Figuring out who is affected

Calculating the costs

About 60 million people in the United States have prediabetes. That means if you are in a room with three other adult U.S. citizens, one of you will probably have prediabetes, and chances are that person won’t know it. The purpose of this book is to radically change that situation. Anyone who reads this book will know whether he or she has prediabetes. Anyone who follows the recommendations in this book will not proceed to diabetes and will probably return to normal health.