Millions Of Americans Are At Risk For Diabetes. Here’s How To Get Screened

Millions of Americans Are at Risk for Diabetes. Here’s How to Get Screened

November is National Diabetes Month.
In the U.S., approximately 29.1 million people are living with diabetes (either type 1 or type 2). Medical expenditures for those people are as much as 2.3 times higher than for a person living without diabetes.
Diabetes: Type 1, Type 2 and Gestational
Type 1 diabetes, previously known as juvenile diabetes, is most often diagnosed in children, teens and young adults.
Type 2 diabetes is more common. It makes up about 90-95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes, yet it’s estimated that in 2015, as many as 7.2 million adults were undiagnosed. That same year, 84.1 million Americans aged 18 and older had prediabetes, which is a precursor to type 2 diabetes.
Gestational diabetes develops during pregnancy but often goes away soon after delivery. However, if you’ve ever been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, you and your baby are at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
Fortunately, there are simple and fairly inexpensive (and sometimes even free!) tests that can let you know if you have diabetes or if you’re at risk of developing it later in life.
Who Should Get Screened for Diabetes
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that adults aged 40 to 70 be screened for abnormal blood glucose and diabetes. However, if you or a family member are experiencing what may be symptoms of type 2 diabetes, you should talk to a medical professional about your concerns, regardless of age.
(Type 1 diabetes is unlike type 2 in that type 1 is too often diagnosed only when it reaches a critical point, meaning most symptoms may Continue reading

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The Paleo Diet and Diabetes: Preventing and Healing Type 2 Diabetes

50% of Americans are pre-diabetic. Can getting back to your ancestral roots reduce your risk?
We’re in the midst of a diabetes (type 2) epidemic. The global burden of diabetes doubled from 1980 to 2014, and it is rising rapidly in low to middle income families and countries. (1) The World Health Organization predicts that by the year 2030, diabetes will be the 7th leading cause of death in the world. (2)
Today, 50% of Americans are classified as pre-diabetic or diabetic, despite experts being in agreement that the standard American diet (SAD) figures centrally in the pathogenesis of “diseases of civilization,” such as diabetes. (3) Can getting back to your ancestral roots and adopting a Paleo diet reduce your risk or reverse pre-diabetes and diabetes?
What is Diabetes?
After you eat a meal, your food travels from your gut to your liver, and finally into your bloodstream. In order to get blood sugars from your bloodstream INTO the cells, your pancreas releases insulin, which signals cell receptors to take up glucose. Insulin’s job (amongst many other tasks) is to lower your blood sugar levels and deliver the glucose to your tissues to fuel activity and cellular processes.
Suffering from Diabetes or blood sugar imbalance? Grab our FREE Diabetes Guide & 7 Day Meal Plan here!
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition in which the beta cells of the pancreas do not produce insulin. This is where the wonders of modern medicine save the day, providing lifesaving insulin that can be delivered after each meal. This condition requires the use of exogenous (i.e., medication) i Continue reading

Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes as an Adult? You Are Not Alone

What happens when you're diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as an adult? LADA - latent autoimmune diabetes in adults, also sometimes called diabetes 1.5, can strike later in life than typical type 1 diabetes.
Imagine that you are in your twenties, thirties, or even your forties or fifties. You are progressing down your chosen path in life, whether it's an established career, a relationship, marriage, children or all of the above.
All of a sudden, you're losing weight, thirsty and in the bathroom all the time, and you feel like you have no energy. You just plain don't feel good.
You find out that you have type 1 diabetes, and your world is turned upside down, at least until you get the hang of managing diabetes in the middle of everything else you have to do in life.
There aren't many resources for adults diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Most of the literature and support is geared toward kids because typically type 1 strikes children and teens. Not so long ago, type 1 diabetes was known as "juvenile diabetes."
How does it feel to be hit with a disease that is usually diagnosed in children? E-mails and comments from readers talk about some of the issues of dealing with a new diagnosis of type 1 as an adult.
Mary, on feelings of isolation with adult onset type 1 diabetes
I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 42.
My doctor had never met a type 1 adult before and absolutely freaked. She rang the specialist and talked to him in front of me before even telling me of her diagnosis. Since then I have self-managed my diabetes control and go through periods of frustration and Continue reading

Can You Be an Astronaut If You Have Diabetes?

Though you may not be able to become an astronaut, and go to space just yet if you have diabetes in the United States, you can get fairly close to it. Currently, there are no astronauts with diabetes in space in the US or Russian space programs. If you were wondering how astronauts with diabetes could manage their condition in space, that’s a good question.
There is one man, Josu Feijoo, an astronaut from Spain, who will be going to space with Type 1 Diabetes in 14 months. He is going with a private company VirginGalactic, to research the safety of having astronauts with diabetes in space.
Josu has Type 1 Diabetes, and we will speak with him about his space adventures, and what the researchers are expecting to learn from this research. It’s an exciting time where in 14 months’, a person with diabetes will be doing space exploration. Private companies are opening the door for more people with diabetes to have this experience.
There are people with diabetes who work in positions at NASA, like “Nerdy April,” who landed her dream job as an ADCO (Attitude Determination and Control Officer) for the International Space Station (ISS). To find out how she is still working to break down the barriers to becoming an astronaut, read on. She is an inspiration!
Due to laws against discrimination, there should be no more blanket bans on diabetes for any occupations anymore. Therefore, each astronaut application must be evaluated individually. All things are considered, including blood sugar control, episodes of low blood sugar, and complications of diabetes that may already be pr Continue reading

More than 500 children with Type 2 diabetes - just 16 years after first ever case

More than 500 children in England and Wales are now suffering from type 2 diabetes, just 16 years after the first reported case.
The figures in the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit have been branded a “wake-up call for the nation”, as the Government faces calls to tackle the rising levels of childhood obesity which is fueling the diabetes surge.
Unlike type 1 diabetes, type 2 is largely preventable and is closely linked to lifestyle, in particular diet.
The Government faces a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take game-changing actionLocal Government Association
Of the 533 cases of type 2 diabetes reported in the year 2014-15, eleven were in children aged nine or under.
The audit found that 95 percent of those diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were overweight, meaning a body-mass index of 25 to 29, and 83 percent obese, a BMI of 30 or above.
The condition, which usually beings in middle or older age, can cause serious long-term problems, the most of common of which is loss of vision.
Type 2 diabetes is also responsible for a high proportion of cases of kidney failure and lower limb amputation.
But data from the National Child Measurement Programme in 2014-15 found that ten percent of four and five-year-olds and 20 percent of 10 and 11-year-olds are currently obese.
Dr Just Warner, clinical lead for the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit, said: “The Government must act now before this becomes the norm.
“The long-awaited obesity strategy will go some way in doing this, however it must offer clear and bold solutions.
“This includes more research into prevention of obe Continue reading