Prediabetes

Last summer, after a routine blood test, I learned that my blood sugar had gone up into the prediabetic range. I was surprised, because I thought that my diet was pretty healthy. But I sure didn’t want to add diabetes to my growing list of ailments. So I cut out white carbs, starchy vegetables like potatoes and corn, cheese, and anything with added sugar. I discovered chickpea pasta, farro and yu choy, stopped feeling hungry between meals and lost five pounds. Now my bad numbers are going back down.

When younger people get prediabetes, it’s a red flag. They have to make lifestyle changes, or they’re on their way to diabetes. But when seniors get prediabetes, it’s a different story. Guess what proportion of seniors have prediabetes: it’s 48.8%. That’s right: almost half of us. And it happens even to seniors who exercise regularly and eat healthy diets. That’s because many seniors produce less insulin and process it less efficiently than younger people. But we’re not at the same risk as younger people of going on to develop diabetes. A recent study of seniors with prediabetes showed that, over a 12-year period, most of the study subjects remained stable or reverted to normal. In fact, more people regressed back to normal than proceeded to diabetes. If you would rather read a layman’s version of the study, check out this New York Times article. But prediabetes still increases the risk of heart disease, and it may progress to diabetes in some seniors. So if we’re given a diagnosis of prediabetes, we probably shouldn’t blame ourselves for negligence, but we should keep exercising and maintaining a healthy diet.

It's simply a fact of life in old age: we have to keep pedalling faster just to stay in place.