Ok, that’s a bold title, I know. But I hate diabetes. I really hate it.

I hate it for many reasons.

I hate it for what it does to people.

It damages your eyes, blood vessels, nerves, kidneys, brain, heart, bones, immune system, joints, … really, everything.

I hate it because it’s physically painful, time-consuming, and expensive to ‘manage’ – requiring constant testing, office visits, medication adjustments and appointments with specialists.

But the biggest reason I hate it…

is because it is almost entirely PREVENTABLE!

This article concluded that with a healthy lifestyle, the risk of developing diabetes can decrease by 75%!

So, what is a ‘healthy lifestyle?”

It’s actually pretty easy…

1. Maintain a healthy weight by ‘eating to live, not living to eat.’ That is, back off the sugars and carbs and increase your colorful foods (fruits and veggies… not Fruit Loops.)
2. Don’t smoke. There are absolutely NO good reasons to smoke anymore. It’s time to be done.
3. Cut back on the alcohol. Again, occasional drinks are fine, but do you really need 3 drinks at a sitting? Try water instead.
4. Get some exercise. You don’t need a gym membership, just get off your butt a few times a day and stop organizing your whole life around being as sedentary as possible. It’s ok to walk, you know! Climb the stairs, for goodness sake!

Ok, I’m being a little over-the-top, tough-love here because it really, really breaks my heart when I get that lab report that says that someone has just earned themself the terrible ‘diabetic’ moniker.

They might not understand what it means, but I do… and I’ve seen hundreds of people casually stumble onto this deadly road without a clue as to how they could have prevented it.

But now they’re there… and they’ve got a new journey to walk out – most likely for the rest of their lives.

It’s a really bad road to take.

Please don’t do it.