Your "defeat diabetes" guide for the new year
The New Year and its all-too-often forgotten resolutions are quickly sliding away. But before you settle into Groundhog Day and figure broken promises are just deja vu all over again (thanks, Yogi B.), we want to offer you a guide to help you get your diabetes under control and, yes, even reverse it!
Why will this guide work? Because you won't be going it alone - it's based on proven techniques, and the results are guaranteed to make you feel happier, healthier and back in control. But first, some facts:
Diabetes costs you big bucks. In the U.S. it's the most expensive chronic condition, costing $101 billion annually for diagnoses and treatments! (It's followed by ischemic heart disease at $88.1 billion; low back/neck pain at $87.6 billion; and hypertension at $83.9 billion. All those conditions can be related to diabetes.)
That $101 billion doesn't include expenses for over-the-counter medications, privately funded home health care or lost productivity for you or your caregivers. The study in JAMA that came up with the data estimates total personal health care costs in the U.S. at $2.4 trillion in 2013. Hear that sucking sound as the money is pulled out of your wallet?
Diabetes can compromise your eyes, nerves, kidneys, digestive system, heart, brain, emotions, teeth, feet ... basically every inch of you. About 80 percent of people with Type 2 diabetes have high blood pressure, greatly increasing the risk for stroke, kidney failure and cardiovascular disease. More than 35 percent of U.S. adults with diabetes have chronic kidney disease, and up to 26 percent of people with Type 2 diabetes have evidence of nerve damage at the time they're diagnosed.
Neglecting your health puts your future children at risk. If you're of child-bearing age and are obese, not only are you likely to develop - or already have - Type 2 diabetes (currently, 34 percent of U.S. adults are obese and over 11 percent of people 20 or older have diabetes), but a new study in Pediatrics found that children of obese mothers lack fine motor skills, such as the ability to control the small muscles in the fingers and hands. Children of obese fathers were more likely to fail measures of social competence, and kids born to extremely obese couples were more likely to fail tests evaluating problem-solving ability.
Finally, there are new guidelines for you and for docs! The American Diabetes Association has issued a new set of guidelines for doctors on "Psychosocial Care in Diabetes." They make YOU the center of treatment for diabetes and recommend YOU have a team of supporters, including your family and all medical specialties that are appropriate, to help YOU negotiate the challenges of sticking with the lifestyle changes YOU need to defeat diabetes.
We've long advocated the buddy/team system (because it works!) for everything from daily walking and activity routines to nutritional support and following your medication regimen. The system includes friends, family, support group members, professional social workers, diabetes educators and your doc!
-Start with your doc to establish your treatment plan.
-Get a diabetes educator (go to www.diabeteseducator.org) for help with nutrition, medication and physical activity.
-Don't hesitate to join a support group (www.defeatdiabetes.org has a listing) or seek therapy to manage your worries or reluctance surrounding your diabetes care.
-Enlist buddies for food shopping and cooking, walking and physical activities - see www.sharecare.com/buddy.
-Start journaling daily to monitor your healthy habits. Use a digital tracker or journal to record your food, your activity and your compliance with medication regimens. Tip: The expanded ADA Standard of Care now suggests that you count fat and protein intake, not just carbs; that you make sure to stand up every 30 minutes to avoid the health risks of prolonged sitting; and that you expand your physical activity to include flexibility and balance training (we say it's not just for older folks!).
Build a team, and you'll build resolve. You'll defeat diabetes, and it won't defeat you.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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