Personal stuff - diet and exercise

I'm not one to agonize publicly about my weight, my food preferences, how much I did or did not exercise on any given day. Really, who wants to read that? Suffice it to say that I have wrestled with said issues my entire adult life, mostly with some degree of success. I'm overweight but not obese, and I have a good fitness level (actually, for my age and not being an athlete, a very good fitness level). As I've gotten older, my motivation has shifted away from vanity to health/energy. There's a strong family history of Type 2 diabetes on my father's side. He was only a year older than I am now when he died of a stroke secondary to his diabetes.

We have learned so much about not just how to treat Type 2 diabetes, but how to prevent it. Exercise, exercise, exercise. Weight control. Healthy eating. (I'm sure not smoking is in there somewhere, but that's never been an issue for me.) Fortunately, I've always found some form of exercise I love, whether it's dancing, running, martial arts, weight lifting, hiking, yoga... So I'm not diabetic, not even an abnormal fasting glucose level, normal total cholesterol, but I do have high triglycerides and low HDL (and an "apple" shape) - all of which are markers for metabolic syndrome, the precursor to Type 2 diabetes.( Read more... )