Obesity

Obesity is a complex medical illness requiring medical management just like any other disease or illness. It can cause many medical problems; such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cancer and arthritis. Obesity is characterized by abnormal body chemistry and hormonal imbalance. Its treatment is not as simple as ‘eating less and moving more’. Medications not only suppress appetite, help you control craving and change your eating behavior, but they actually help correct some of that hormonal imbalance.

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes used to be called insulin-dependent or juvenile diabetes, usually occurs among individuals under 20, although it can occur at any age. It is an autoimmune disease that destroys the body’s ability to make insulin. Currently, no one knows how to prevent type 1 diabetes, and it is the most difficult type to manage, but it can be treated successfully.

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 Diabetes is the most common type of diabetes and it is much more prevalent in adults. If you have type 2 Diabetes, your body doesn’t use insulin properly; this is called insulin resistance. Type 2 DM is directly caused by excess weight, and many common anti-diabetic medications cause weight gain and the need for more medications, creating a vicious cycle. Type 2 Diabetes can be prevented and its progress can be slowed by weight loss.

Pre-Diabetes

Prediabetes is a serious health condition where blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough yet to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. More than 1 in 3 American adults have prediabetes, of those, more than 80% don’t know they have it. Prediabetes puts you at increased risk of developing T2DM, heart disease and stroke.

Insulin Resistance

Insulin resistance means your body can’t respond properly to the insulin it makes. Your blood sugar and her A1c could be completely normal. The routine blood test your doctor checks may miss it. Insulin resistance can lead to type 2 diabetes. It precedes diabetes and pre-diabetes by many years and it doubles risk of cardiovascular disease.