The Mayo Clinic defines diabetes, which impact nearly 37.3 million Americans,  as a group of diseases that affect how one’s body uses blood sugar or glucose. Diabetes can linger, however, in a more moderate manifestation displaying stark signals of progression toward an unequivocal diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, a contracted disease, as opposed to the inherent Type 1 form of diabetes.

Below, we will discuss conspicuous warning signals that may indicate you are in the rudimentary, or perhaps terminal, stage of prediabetes. While no single indicator can infallibly demonstrate you are suffering diabetes, if you do notice these 10 warning signs of diabetes, it may be wise to consult your doctor in order to militate against the advance of Type 2 diabetes.

Extreme Hunger

If you’re appetite has noticeably increased, it isn’t necessarily a harbinger of contracting diabetes, but it should be at least acknowledged. When your body is uncertain of how to correctly process incoming sugar or nutrients, it will not adequately digest what you’re consuming, leaving a deficiency in energy levels.

Extreme Thirst

When your body is inundated with sugar, your kidneys accelerate into overdrive, vainly attempting to dispel any excesses in your bloodstream. This can culminate in a feeling of extreme thirst, as your system attempts to liquidate itself.

Frequent Urination

Connected, of course, to the complaisance of excessive thirst, is the ensuing tendency to frequently urinate. If you become aware of a sudden surge in your bladder movements, it could be a marked indicator that your kidneys are operating at an unhealthy level.

Unexpected Weight Loss

Losing weight, without any outwardly external attempts to do so, inclusive of a mediated diet and consistent physical exercise, is an additional warning sign that your body is functioning atypically. Prediabetics are unable to fully absorb the nutrients gleaned from variable food products, leading to a consequent reduction in weight. This might seem slightly counterintuitive, as diabetes is often associated with overconsumption, or perhaps injudicious consumption, of food. But if you’re body is struggling to digest food, you’ll the consequences on the weight scale.

Fatigue

If you’re feeling uncommonly lackadaisical, invariably winded after the execution of relatively mundane activities, it could be a sign of potentially severe underlying issue. Diabetes inhibits the body’s capacity to convert nutrients from food into expendable energy, minimizing your daily energy output. The effects of frequent urination, and the expenditure of bodily resources to excessive kidney functioning, can also leave one feeling a profound and unwanted sense of malaise.

Poor Vision

High blood pressure can have deleterious effects on the integrity the blood vessels in the eyes, adversely impairing your vision. If one insists on leaving their diabetes untreated, one can incur permanent damage to their eyesight, eventually culminating in complete blindness.

Numbness

Intermittently feeling tingling, or numbness, in the extremities is nothing to be profoundly anxious about. However, if one is experiencing consistent, sometimes unabating, tingling and numbness, it could again point to interruptions in the proper circulation of your bloodstream. Most frequently, pre-diabetics begin to feel a sense of tingling or numbness in the hands or feet.

Delayed Healing

High blood sugar, as we’ve discussed, is pernicious to the functioning of the circulatory system. Ineffective blood circulation militates against proper oxidation, and restricts the absorption of nutrients into the body. This prevents the body from expeditiously healing from even minor cuts, bruises, or sores. Oftentimes, due to the slow rehabilitation time, these once innocuous cuts can transform into more critical infections, further eroding the overall health of your body.

Dark Skin Patches

The formation of enduring dark skin patches, which can be easily mistaken for a momentary accumulation of dirt easily wiped away, is another conspicuous indicator of prediabetes. They commonly occur around the circumference of the neck, nestled in the armpit or armfolds, as well as the groin area. Due to the high levels of insulin that diabetics typically harbor, the production of additional skin cells is starkly activated, resulting in the aforementioned blemishes.

Yeast Infections

Bacteria and yeast multiply when blood sugar levels are elevated. The ensuing excess glucose can contribute to maladies like a urinary tract infection that can, again, point to an overarching issue such as diabetes. Moreover, these microbes multiply in warm, moist environments, like the genital region. This consequently increases the persistence of things like yeast infections, especially in women.

3 Common Tips To Prevent Diabetes

There are myriad ways to prevent the onset of diabetes. In order to mitigate the possibility of a diagnosis of diabetes, one must simply exert a number of regulatory habits to ensure your body remains healthily calibrated.

Healthy Weight

Obesity is a co-morbidity for the advent of numerous derogatory health issues. While it has recently become trendy to “loom large,” to celebrate the advantages of becoming grotesquely overweight, the reality is that obesity is a keen harbinger of a truncated lifespan. Most weight gain, moreover, can be easily moderated; by installing reasonable measures, like a lower caloric intake and consistent exercise.

In one large study, individuals reduced their risk of contracting diabetes by almost 60% after losing 7% of their body weight. The American Diabetes Association recommends that people displaying signs of prediabetes lose 7-10% of their extant body weight. The more you lose, generally, the more positive benefits you will notice.

Speak with your doctor, first and foremost, and establish a baseline for a healthy weight to set as an objective. You can also consult a dietician, to organize a diet that will accommodate your weight-loss goals.

Physical Activity

Diabetes is a disease that, most readily, disorients your bloodstream, failing to nourish many of your most vital organs properly. Frequent exercise is a quick catalyst to ameliorating this, as it inevitably boosts the pace of your bloodstream throughout the body. Exercise, quite obviously, is also a critical method of alleviating, “or burning,” the quantity of calories you consume during a given day.

Traditionally, those engaged in a daily workout regiment practice one of three exercises: Aerobic, or cardiovascular exercise; resistance exercise, where one interacts with weights in practiced movements; or by merely limiting long bouts of inactivity, interjecting a sedentary office routine with a daily walk, a set of leg squats, or simply standing up and stretching.

Stay active. If you avoid gluttonous eating habits in conjunction with a steady workout regimen, you’ll notice quickly incremental weight loss and an overall improved sense of well-being.

Avoid Processed Food

 A general rule of thumb, even if you’re not especially at-risk, is to avoid over-consumption of processed foods. Processed foods are notorious for featuring a high amount of sugar or high fructose corn syrup; they are generally less fibrous, leading one to consume them in excessive amounts in order to feel satiated; they are genetically modified to trigger dopamine in your system, the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure; they are high in sodium; and they are notably nutrient deficient.

Eat more conscientiously, by ingesting more organic, whole foods that will supplement your body with the nutrients it requires in order to thrive.