Oprah Reveals She Had Prediabetes Prior to Weight Loss (2024)
Prior to losing 42 pounds through her commitment to a healthier lifestyle and WW (formerly Weight Watchers), Oprah Winfrey was living with prediabetes, she has revealed.
Prediabetes — a condition in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough for a diabetes diagnosis — increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and affects an estimated 84 million people in the United States, about 90% of whom don’t know they have it. In a letter she shared with People, Oprah, 65, divulged that she was diagnosed with the condition: “I haven’t shared with many, but I will share with you, that I was diagnosed with prediabetes before WW.” Her mother Vernita, she says, had type 2 diabetes and was taking insulin.
Fortunately, there are steps that can help reduce the chances of prediabetes developing into type 2, including increasing physical activity, eating a healthful diet and losing weight. As a result of adopting a healthier lifestyle, Oprah says that her blood pressure “is now stabilized and in a healthy range,” and her blood sugar “numbers are back to normal too.”
Senior Digital Editor for DiabetesSelfManagement.com, Fennell has 16 years’ experience specializing in diabetes and related health conditions. Based in New York City, she has a degree from Columbia University.
Oprah Winfrey Reveals She Was Pre-Diabetic Before Losing 42 Pounds With Weight Watchers
Weight Watchers
WW International, Inc., formerly Weight Watchers International, Inc., is a global company headquartered in the U.S. that offers weight loss and maintenance, fitness, and mindset services such as the Weight Watchers comprehensive diet program.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › WW_International
. Oprah Winfrey, 65, recently revealed that she was pre-diabetic due to high levels of blood sugar and blood pressure. Winfrey re-dedicated herself to a healthier lifestyle and lost 42 pounds, which she credits to joining WW.
In fact, losing as little as 5 to 10 percent of body fat can improve your blood sugar level and help reverse prediabetes. For some people, this is about 10 to 20 pounds. Insulin resistance increases when you have a larger waist size, too.
Limiting portion sizes of refined carbohydrate foods such as white bread, white rice and white pasta. Incorporating fiber to reach a goal of 25 to 30 grams per day by eating a variety of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Limiting saturated and trans fats by choosing lean protein and low-fat dairy.
Obesity is a major risk factor for insulin resistance, which means your body can't properly regulate blood sugar levels. “The best way to reverse the prediabetes process and for you not to develop Type 2 diabetes is weight loss,” Dr. Avadhanula notes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that to reverse prediabetes, people need to focus on losing between 5-7% of their body weight and increasing physical activity, such as walking, biking, or swimming. Reversing prediabetes takes time, and everyone is different.
It's real. It's common. And most importantly, it's reversible. You can prevent or delay prediabetes from turning into type 2 diabetes with simple, proven lifestyle changes.
Avoid foods that are high in simple sugars. Fructose, or sugar, can cause visceral fat to grow. Reduce the amount of sugary drinks, juices, refined grains, baked goods and processed foods in your diet. Eating to your energy needs can help prevent visceral fat from occurring or increasing.
When participants in the study drank one cup of chamomile tea after meals three times per day for six weeks, they showed a reduction in blood sugar levels, insulin, and insulin resistance.
Without taking action, many people with prediabetes could develop type 2 diabetes within 5 years. With numbers like that, it's important to learn about prediabetes and take action.
Here's why: As you shed extra pounds, the insulin in your body lowers your blood sugar levels more efficiently, which will cause your A1c levels to drop over time. In one study, people with type 2 diabetes who lost 5% to 10% of their body weight were three times as likely to lower their A1c by 0.5%.
Whether you have prediabetes, have just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or if your diabetes has been out of control for a long time, it's never too late to stop diabetes in its tracks.
Just as there is no such thing as a single best “diabetic diet” there is not ONE food that works for everyone, and that also applies to oatmeal. Oatmeal has a lot of great health benefits and studies have shown that oatmeal can be beneficial for people living with pre-diabetes as well as type 2 diabetes.
Regular exercise, such as walking, can help prevent or reverse prediabetes and insulin resistance. If someone is typically inactive, they can start by taking a 5–10 minute walk on most days of the week, gradually working up to 30 minutes.
Having prediabetes may mean making a few diet changes, but it does not mean you need to give up coffee! When drunk responsibly, coffee may actually help lower risk for prediabetes!
Vegetables that belong to the cabbage family such as cauliflower, Brussels, broccoli, and sprouts should never be consumed raw. These vegetables contain sugar that is difficult to digest. Eating these vegetables raw may lead to a number of gastronomical problems.
While there are many diet recommendations out there, one of the simplest ways to lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and reversing prediabetes is by simply cutting out added sugar. This does not mean cutting out fruit, vegetables, or dairy that have natural sugars.
According to the national guidelines and recent research, losing weight can lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure -- and potentially eliminate high blood pressure. For every 20 pounds you lose, you can drop systolic pressure 5-20 points.
While there are many diet recommendations out there, one of the simplest ways to lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and reversing prediabetes is by simply cutting out added sugar. This does not mean cutting out fruit, vegetables, or dairy that have natural sugars.
Salt, or specifically the sodium in salt, is a major contributor to high blood pressure and heart disease. This is because of how it affects fluid balance in the blood. Table salt is around 40 percent sodium. Some amount of salt is important for health, but it's easy to eat too much.
Caffeine may cause a short, but dramatic increase in your blood pressure, even if you don't have high blood pressure. It's unclear what causes this spike in blood pressure. The blood pressure response to caffeine differs from person to person.
Still, you can make lifestyle changes to bring your blood pressure down. Something as simple as keeping yourself hydrated by drinking six to eight glasses of water every day improves blood pressure. Water makes up 73% of the human heart,¹ so no other liquid is better at controlling blood pressure.
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