i hate this

[kristen]

i am a 13 year old girl that is a pre dibetic and is domed to be a dibetic becouse my mom an dad has it an my dad lost his toe because of it. an for years i told myslef that i was not goin to be a dibetic and im not yet but im almost. an it sucks cause being a teenager you cant eat the same things as your friends do.

[Laura]

You're not doomed to be diabetic. I was "pre-diabetic" in my 20s, but low carb has completely changed that in my 30s.

First thing, the term pre-diabetic isn't really a medical condition. You're starting to show signs of not producing/using insulin correctly. That means that your blood sugar numbers are a little higher than they like. You can turn it around.

It does suck not being able to do everything your friends do. Unfortunately, that means your choices are being different and heading this thing off or doing what they do with some potentially life threatening consequences.

What you can do is eat low carb at home, when you're not with your friends, then just be very careful what you do eat when you are with them. Some foods are better than others (for example, get the small fries and a diet coke instead of the monster fries and full sugar gallon of soda).

In fact, if you can cut out just processed sugar, you can lose weight, your skin can clear up, and you have a head start on avoiding full blown diabetes. And you don't have to be obvious about it, either.

Good luck, hon. It's hard, but taking care of your health when you're young really pays off when you get old. (And trust me, you'll spend more time being old than being young ;) )

[Betty]

I agree with all that Laura said. It is hard when you are young to be facing this, however as Laura told you, pre-diabetic does not mean you have to become diabetic. Starting now to turn things around gets you further ahead than many. You are thinking about it and not just ignoring it. That is very good and I say a great big yahoo for you. I know it can be difficult when you are out with your friends, but sometimes you could order a side salad instead of the fries, and as Laura said, when you do order fries order the small ones and don't get the monster burger, get the regular size. We wish you the best and you can come here to vent, talk, ask questions anytime you want.