Free Atkins Diabetes Revolution by Robert C. Atkins

repeated several times. As the weight fell off, I felt like a jerk for letting myself slide.
    I was so happy when I read the July 7, 2002, article in the New York Times Magazine confirming that Dr. Atkins’ controlled-carbohydrate program was a healthy lifestyle, despite its allowance of natural fats and eschewing of excessive consumption of fruits and grains. Finally, someone else was explaining why low-fat dieting hasn’t worked for countless people! I had some new ammunition for the naysayers around me, friends and family alike, who’d been telling me that eating the Atkins way would come back to haunt me.
    I have since gone through another painful divorce. I also changed jobs and moved. These kinds of stresses commonly cause people to overeat and eat the wrong kinds of foods. But I managed to control the stress through exercise, refusing to revert to the old, sick me. My two-year-old twins, one boy and one girl, are going to need me for the next 20 or 30 years. I have every intention of being here for them.
     
    Note: Your individual results may vary from those reported here.

Chapter 5
    WARNING: PREDIABETES!
    As the term implies, there can be no clearer warning of impending Type 2 diabetes than the fourth stage of the six-step progression: prediabetes—or, more technically, insulin resistance with hyperinsulinism and impaired glucose tolerance. For many years, before it was given official recognition, doctors called this stage a variety of names, such as the insulin resistance syndrome, subclinical diabetes, borderline diabetes, or mild diabetes.
    In 2002 and 2003, the American Diabetes Association revised its guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes. 1 Among other things, the new guidelines formally defined prediabetes.You have pre- diabetes if you have one or both of these blood sugar problems:
     
Impaired fasting blood sugar (also known as impaired fasting glucose, or IFG). To measure your fasting blood sugar (FBS) level,a blood sample is taken in the morning after you have fasted for a minimum of eight hours. Normally, your blood sugar at that point would be less than 100 mg/dL. If it’s between 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) and 125 mg/dL(7.0 mmol/L),you may have impaired fasting blood sugar. If it’s higher than that, you may have diabetes. A single high blood sugar reading on the fasting blood sugar test isn’t necessarily a definite indication that you have prediabetes. If the elevation is found on a second test on another day, however, this is a reliable indication.
Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). This condition is defined by an abnormal rise in blood sugar after consumption of a specifically defined amount of carbohydrate. People who have IGT don’t produce insulin quickly enough after a meal to clear away the blood sugar, so they become hyperglycemic an hour or two after meals (this is known as postprandial hyperglycemia). IGT has two components—the blood sugar rise just discussed, and the slow initial response in insulin production. To diagnose IGT, doctors use the 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test.After a fast of 8 to 12 hours,your fasting blood sugar is measured.You then drink a sugary liquid and your blood sugar is tested at the 1- and 2- hour marks. Normally, your blood sugar would go up no higher than 140 mg/dL 2 hours after having the drink. If your blood sugar goes above 140 mg/dL(7.8 mmol/L) but stays below 200 mg/dL(11.1 mmol/L), you have impaired glucose tolerance. 2 We’ll go into the details of the very useful 5-hour oral glucose tolerance test in Chapter 6, Diagnosis: Diabetes.
    These blood sugar cutoff points for prediabetes are based on a large body of research showing that damage to the tiny blood vessels of the eyes and kidneys starts to happen at these levels—in other words, the damage to your body from hyperglycemia has already begun.
    Clearly, if you have prediabetes, you already have a serious medical condition. And you will almost certainly develop Type 2 diabetes