Yep, you read that right.  In less than 20 years, a whopping ten percent of our world’s population will have diabetes.  That should strike fear into the hearts of everyone who reads it.  TEN PERCENT!  Already, our country is staggering under the increased health care costs related to our awful Western diet and lifestyle.  Type 2 diabetes is primarily a result of eating poorly, being overweight and not exercising enough.  By these predictions, it means our world is going to continue getting fatter, lazier and less healthy.

As someone with risk factors for diabetes, I have a difficult time making significant changes.  I know I am not the only one.  It is difficult to comprehend just how drastically this will affect our quality of life if we do not change to prevent it.  I am currently struggling with gestational diabetes, and that little taste of what life as a diabetic is like has really helped focus my priorities.  Unfortunately, most people don’t get the option to test drive their diabetes like this and fail to realize just how life-changing it can be.

Experts say that even decreasing your weight by ten percent can make a big improvement in your health and lower your risk for diabetes.  At 200 pounds, 10 percent is 20 pounds.  While that may seem like a lot, a brisk walk every day, combined with cutting back on junk foods and lowering your portion sizes, can get you that weight loss in relatively short order.

One thing I am surprised about while eating on a low carb diet is how little I really need to eat to be satisfied.  We are being convinced by the food industries that we need to eat more and more and more.  In reality, we need to be eating less.  I don’t want to be one of those ten percent.  I don’t want to be a statistic, one of the currently 4.6 million deaths per year from diabetes.  I doubt you want to be either, so let’s make a stand today.  Let’s prove those predictions wrong!