The Numbers Are Staggering
Based on the most currently available data, it is estimated that slightly more than 37 million people (11.3% of the population) have diabetes in the United States. Only 28.7% have been diagnosed, leaving 8.7% with diabetes that hasn’t been identified. Unfortunately, there are 96 million adults who have prediabetes (1 in 3 people), of which 8 out of 10 have no idea.
Are You At Risk?
Here’s the checklist. If you have any of the following, you are at risk and should really get some simple blood tests:
- Age: Over 45
- Activity: Physically active less than 3 times per week
- Pregnancy history: Gestational diabetes or baby weighing more than 9 lbs
- Family history: Parent, brother, or sister with type 2 diabetes
- Genetics/Ethnicity: African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian, Alaska Native, Pacific Islander, or Asian American
- Overweight or obese
- Smoking
- Unhealthy diet
It’s More Complicated Than "Eat Less, Move More"
One can be "overweight" and be healthy—provided the fat doesn’t lie around the internal organs (visceral fat). And both conditions, when unhealthy, are secondary to mechanisms that are much more complicated than just "eat less and move more." Often there are underlying hormonal or inflammatory conditions that must be diagnosed and treated first.
What Is Pre-Pre-Diabetes?
Pre-pre-diabetes, as the name suggests, is the step before pre-diabetes. In our practice we look for high visceral fat levels (as detected on our body composition scale), high insulin, low adiponectin (a hormone that helps you burn fat), and the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). In simple terms, HOMA-IR tells us about how well your body can handle blood sugar.
We like to intervene at the pre-pre-diabetes level because it is the easiest to get under control. By the time pre-diabetes develops, one needs to do much more to improve their health, and once you are diabetic, complications are very quick to take place. We don’t want either condition to occur.
How We Help at TREVI
We are here to help. Come in for a wellness consultation and have appropriate blood testing performed. Sometimes we recommend food sensitivity testing, other times testing for leaky gut, micronutrients, or hormones. We then take the data and come up with a customized program which may include supplements, fasting, intermittent fasting, or medications. We follow your journey into wellness and an improved sense of well-being.
