At this time of year, we’re bombarded with the sights and smells of addictive sugary foods and beverages. Gingerbread, candied yams, and egg nog beckon at every turn. Sooner or later, someone is going to put a platter of Christmas cookies in your face.
If we aren’t careful, one sugar-loaded indulgence can lead to another—and another. Some of us give into sugar for the whole season and end up sicker and heavier just as the New Year is beginning.
More than 50 percent of Americans are estimated to be prediabetic or diabetic. Research in 2016 using a risk test found that more than 60 percent of Americans older than age 40 and about 80 percent of Americans older than age 60 are at high risk for prediabetes, and many of these high-risk individuals will have prediabetes when tested. Being insulin resistant, which is at the core of having prediabetes, significantly increases the risk of not just obesity and Type 2 diabetes but also cardiovascular disease, some types of cancer, dementia, and depression….