Ways to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes

Did you know that you can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes by losing a small amount of weight? To get started, use these tips to help you move more, make healthy food choices, and track your progress. Reduce Portion Sizes Eat a half of a bagel instead of a whole bagel. Put less food on your plate. Drink a large glass of water 10 minutes before your meal so that you feel less hungry. Keep meat, chicken, turkey, and fish portions to about 3 ounces. Three ounces is about the size of a deck of cards. Share one dessert.   Eat Small Meals Use teaspoons, salad forks, or child-size utensils to help you take smaller bites and eat less. Make less food look like more by serving your meal on a salad or a breakfast plate. Eat slowly. It takes 20 minutes for your stomach to send a signal to your brain that you are full. Listen to music while you eat instead of watching TV. People tend to eat more while watching TV.   Move More Each Day Try to be active for at least 30 minutes, 5 days a week. If you are looking for a safe place to be active, contact your local parks or health department [...]

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Cut Your Risk of Chronic Disease

If you keep up with health and fitness news, you probably don’t need another reason to be active. Most people already know that exercise can help you lose weight; manage your blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels; and lower your risk for serious heart problems. But did you know that even a small amount of physical activity makes a big difference? A new study from Kaiser Permanente in Southern California has found that just a little bit of exercise can slash your risk for heart disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions–often by more than half. Read on to find out more. The research This study looked at over 600,000 people with an average age of 49. When they had appointments with their healthcare providers, they were asked how much physical activity they did every week. Based on their answers, the researchers split them into three groups: Active: At least 150 minutes of moderate or hard exercise each week Irregularly Active: Less than 150 minutes of exercise each week Inactive: No exercise They found that people in the first two groups had much lower blood glucose and blood pressure levels than those in the third group. This means that people [...]

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Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes

  Today, 29.1 million people (almost 10% of the US population) have diabetes, including 8.1 million who are undiagnosed. Another 86 million Americans have prediabetes, which means they have a high risk of getting type 2 diabetes. Having diabetes raises your risk for blindness, kidney failure, amputation, heart disease, cancer, and dementia. These risks can double individual healthcare costs. A balanced meal plan and regular physical activity are extremely important in treating and preventing type 2 diabetes. Ensuring that blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol are within healthy ranges also makes a big difference. Because diabetes care and prevention is now better than ever, rates of complications–notably heart disease–have gone down. But diabetes management is not as effective as it could be, especially among poor and/or minority populations. Testing for diabetes and prediabetes Because the risk for type 2 diabetes goes up with age, all people over 45 should be tested regularly. You should also be tested every year if you are overweight and have one or more of the following risk factors: High blood glucose and/or A1C High triglycerides PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) Dark, velvety patches of skin around the neck, elbows, groin and/or armpits High blood pressure A [...]

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