Those extra servings of pastelitos are delicious but may add unnecessary sugar and fat to your diet over time. Yes, we love them. Yes, they are best warm from the oven. But if you are over 40, high sugar in your diet and you might become pre-diabetic, an early stage of diabetes.
Pre-diabetes means you have blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not high enough to be called diabetes. Glucose comes from the foods we eat. Too much glucose in your blood can damage your body over time which increases your health risk at cardiovascular disease by 50%. Particularly around the holidays when sweets are plentiful, try your best to avoid sugar-loaded foods.
Most people with pre-diabetes don’t have any symptoms which is troubling. Your doctor can test your blood to find out if your blood glucose levels are higher than normal, something you would want to know.
Nearly 41 million Americans are classified as “pre diabetic” after the age of 40 and over. If you are overweight and 40 years old or older, your doctor may recommend that you be tested for pre-diabetes.
Here are a couple of healthy tips to help prevent diabetes for active adults, courtesy of our board-certified physicians at our Urgent Walk in Centers in greater Miami.
- Keep your weight under control. If you lose at least 5 to 10 percent if overweight, then you can prevent or delay diabetes or even reverse pre-diabetes. That’s 10 to 20 pounds for someone who weighs 200 pounds.
- You can lose weight by cutting down on the amount of calories and fat you eat plus get 30 minutes of physical activity each day.
- Walking or frequent exercise makes your body’s insulin work better.
One of the easiest ways to prevention of diabetes is selecting foods that contribute less sugar to your dietary intake. Rather than eating pastelitos, why not try a piece of fruit instead?
