This effort never ends, and our bodies have a love/hate relationship with this simple sugar. We need it for energy, but too much of it hanging around in our bloodstream is very corrosive.

Blood sugar is the most important decider of your health, second only to blood pressure. There is a complex dance going on in your body every second of every day in an effort to manage blood sugar, aka glucose levels.

And yes, there is a happy medium somewhere between 65 and 99 milligrams per deciliter(mg/dl). There is no universal agreement on this, but somewhere between these two numbers is usually considered good.

Similar to blood pressure, there’s a range of acceptability with blood sugar, and as long as you’re in it, your healthcare provider (PHP) will not treat it.

Blood sugar’s alter ego:

Well, when you get a fasting blood draw (usually in the morning before eating or drinking anything but water), you get a snapshot of your glucose level at the time of the draw. This is OK, but not really good enough because this number will change easily depending on many things.

If it’s too high or too low, however, it might warrant further testing. If it’s too high, this would certainly mean an A1c test and possibly a fasting insulin test.

Glycated hemoglobin:

I have already written about glycation here, but this was about skim wrinkling and aging. Glycation (glucose attaching itself to other things) goes much deeper than just skin. Blood sugar can and will combine with the hemoglobin in your blood.

Hemoglobin is what makes your blood red, and it’s the iron content in it that does it. Unfortunately, glucose can “hook up” with the iron in your blood, and some of your hemoglobin becomes glycated.

This can be measured. Since your blood cells are replaced every 90 days, this test (A1c) represents a 90-day history of your blood sugar levels.

The A1c test is considered diagnostic, and consistently high A1c levels identify the patient as a type II diabetic.

There is another test that some physicians use called the Fasting Insulin test. This test can be a warning of impending danger because insulin resistance is a characteristic of the metabolic disorder that precedes diabetes.

You can request this test from your doctor. It will indicate how well your body deals with insulin. Actually diabetics do this test every morning. It is a measure of insulin resistance.

Medically and personally, metabolic disorder is easier to deal with than full-blown diabetes. As with all diseases, early detection and treatment is the best medicine.

So if we need blood sugar for energy, how can it be corrosive?

Actually, it’s not blood sugar itself that’s so corrosive. It’s its downstream effects on organs and tissues. Below is a PDF that explains sugar’s effects on your body. Here’s a PGF that says it in clear and readable language:

Hart-3Download

You can download this PDF and save it by clicking on “Hart-3” above.

Does the inside of your body look like this old car?

Well, it doesn’t have to; here are some things you can do to stop the accelerated aging brought on by high uncontrolled blood sugar levels:

Don’t develop high blood sugar in the first place:

See a doctor at least once a year and get your blood glucose, A1c, and fasting insulin levels checked. High blood sugar problems don’t come on all at once; they are mostly lifestyle issues that develop over time.

These three tests will provide advanced notice of a developing problem. In almost all cases, metabolic syndrome emerges well ahead of full-blown type II diabetes. At this point, you can do something to reverse it and minimize the damage already done to you internally.

Full-blown type II diabetes is much more difficult.

Things you can do about metabolic syndrome:

  1. Start following a diabetic diet. Even if you’re not diabetic now, act as if you are because you will be if you don’t change your eating habits. Most likely, this is how you got where you are now.
  2. Lose weight. Not everyone with metabolic syndrome is overweight, but most of them are. You know where you stand on this, so get busy. Shoot for mid-range on the BMI scale.**
  3. Start a real exercise program with resistance and aerobic training. Don’t think that walking for ten minutes a day will do – this is wishful thinking. Your health is on the line, so get serious about exercise.
  4. Stop eating junk food with no fiber and little nutritional value. Eat foods with lots of fiber to keep digested food and waste moving through your body.
  5. Same thing with your kidneys, lots of fluids. Make sure you drink enough water to urinate six or more times daily. Your body dispels fluid in many ways. Don’t keep track of your fluid intake; track your urination instead.
  6. Stop eating and drinking all sweets – most of this stuff has no nutritional value and is useless food. Like smoking… just stop.
  7. Consider restricting your eating times to eight hours a day, leaving sixteen hours for your body to do its work. This gives your body time to “sweep” insulin out of your system and re-open insulin receptors on your vital organs.
  8. Stop, stop, stop snacking. This is the most self-defeating behavior you can engage in. Some people lose weight simply by stopping their snacking habits.

**(Yes, I know that the BMI scale is under attack, I’ve seen the articles, and I am aware that Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his prime, would have been deemed overweight. I know there are questions about how weight and size are measured. For most of us, however, the BMI scale will suffice.)

OK, so what if you’re a full-blown type II diabetic?

Well, do the same list as above, follow your doctor’s advice and take your meds. Type II diabetes makes you age much faster, do everything you can to defeat it.

Finally, if you are a type II diabetic and want to attempt to reverse this condition, here is a book well worth reading.

OMY1

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