If you take care of your, or a loved one's, diabetes you know it’s a demanding 24/7/365 job. From day to day, even hour to hour, you make multiple decisions to balance keeping glucose in control and staying safe. This reality makes diabetes 'custom-made' for our increasingly technologically connected world. Great news, I believe, for people with diabetes (PWD), caregivers and diabetes healthcare providers!

The diabetes blogosphere began to blossom in the early 2000s with a few brave bloggers sharing diabetes news and/or personal diabetes management trials and tribulations.

Fast forward a decade: Today hundreds of diabetes-related blogs are up, each with a slightly different twist and turn. There’s even a diabetes blogger on Huffington Post!

With the increasing conversation about prediabetes and type 2 diabetes you’ve likely heard the terms insulin resistance and it’s opposite insulin sensitivity. Another term that’s entered our lexicon with the epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes is metabolic syndrome…a group of symptoms which at its core is insulin resistance.

Think of metabolic syndrome, prediabetes, and type 2 diabetes as a continuum.

What follows are simple explanations of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome along with action steps to put them in reverse or at least slow their progression over time. 

Insulin Resistance Defined
Insulin resistance most often occurs in people who are overweight. It’s particularly common in people who carry excess weight around their middle – waist line. An apple-shaped figure is often associated with insulin resistance. The medical term is central adiposity.