Caitlin Whyte (Host): Welcome to another episode of the St. Joseph's Health Medcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Whyte. In today's episode, we're shining a spotlight on an incredible initiative, the St. Joseph's Health Diabetes Prevention Program; a life changing resource designed to empower individuals in taking control of their health and reducing their risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Joining us is Alexis Gantos, a dedicated life coach with a passion for helping people build sustainable habits, overcome obstacles, and create healthier lifestyles. Together we'll explore the power of prevention, practical strategies for long term success, and how personalized coaching can make all the difference on your wellness journey. 

Well, Alexis, thank you so much for joining us today. Can you kick off our conversation by telling us about the St. Joseph's Health Diabetes Prevention Program? Who is it for and how does it work? 

Alexis Gantos: The Diabetes Prevention Program is for people who are marked at higher risk for developing Type 2 diabetes in their life. So that is pre diabetics, people who have had gestational diabetes, as well as people who could be at higher risk due to family history, or even heart disease can affect it, and many other different conditions could.

So what we do is we meet in 26 sessions throughout an entire year. The first part of the program is 16 weeks. And that is when we would meet weekly, and people would be trying to make lifestyle changes to try to prevent the diagnosis. And then the next 10 sessions, which is spread out through the rest of the year, would be trying to maintain that progress that they've already made. It's proven that if people lose about 5 to 7 percent of their body weight, their chances of getting Type 2 diabetes decreases by 58%, and for those 60 and over, that decrease in risk actually increases to 71%.

Host: Wow. Well, what are some goals then of the program?

Alexis Gantos: Yeah, so as I just mentioned that weight loss, has very significant outcomes for people when it comes to decrease in risk and also lowering their A1C as well. So with the exercise and the eating we talk about what's best for them and how they could make those changes to make it realistic for them.

And they try to just gradually make those lifestyle changes. And they're, once again, supposed to either lose about 5 to 7 percent of their body weight or lower their A1c by about 0.2%.

Host: From what I understand, there's quite a bit of this program that happens in a group setting. So why is that part beneficial to how the program works?

Alexis Gantos: Those sessions are all in a group setting and the reason for it being in a group setting is that they are able to support each other because they're all in the similar situations. And it kind of hold each other accountable and so we've seen with them making that connection in that group setting that they can make some really significant progress on their health journey.

Host: So, it sounds like there are a lot of group settings and sessions for people to mingle and talk with other people going through this scenario and this situation, but there's also a lot of self-direction in this program. Can you tell us why that is also important to how this all works?

Alexis Gantos: Yeah, so, everybody always asks me if there is a meal plan or a workout regime to all this. There is no specific meal plan, workout regime, or anything else that the typical, weight loss programs we see you know, all over society have. The reason for that being is everyone is in a different situation, and the best analogy I can give is that I'm going to give you the example of my street growing up.

My street is a street with a cul de sac in it, and not everybody paid the same for their houses on this one street. Not everyone makes the same on this one street, and not everyone even has the same medical history on this same street. And people are at different points in their life, there's some people retired on this street, some people who have kids that are going to school on this street, some people who have adult kids and are thinking about leaving this street. 

 So people in this group of 20 from all different areas are not going to be able to be given something that is very specific and then get the same result. And it's because not everyone can afford the same amount of food or afford medical equipment if they needed it.

And so what we are trying to do is help people reflect on their situation and how they can make the changes realistic for them and their situation. And so there's a lot of variability when we are in these groups because, you know, I've had groups with people who are in their 20s all the way up to in their 60s before. We've even had people in their 80s do this as well.

So, everyone's going through something different, and we can't just expect them to get the same result if we're giving them something specific. 

Host: I love that. And to wrap up our session here, what are some milestone successes that you've seen so far? 

Alexis Gantos: Oh my goodness. Okay, let's see. I have seen, an A1c lower from 6.4, which is the highest A1C for pre diabetic, all the way to 5.4 in the few months that we were measuring. I've seen people lose about 10 percent of their body weight and keep wanting to lose more. I've seen people feel healthier in general, even if they're not getting the right numbers for, you know, the sake of my program, they're still finding health benefits in other ways and they're, they're happier about it. And I, that's so invaluable.

Host: Absolutely. And Alexis, is there anything else you want folks to know about this program that we didn't touch on yet?

Alexis Gantos: Yes, so this program, I am on the same team as people in St. Peter's in Albany, and so you could either have someone in Syracuse as a coach or someone in Albany as a coach if you're doing virtual, and so if you are interested and you email us or fill out the intake form, please just know that you could either get a call from someone with a 315 number or an Albany number. It could go either way. And it's not a scam, it is us.

Host: I love that. So 315, 518. Those are our safe area codes.

Alexis Gantos: Yeah.

Host: Thank you so much, Alexis, for sharing these invaluable insights. It's clear that this initiative is making a real impact on people's lives. For those at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, this program offers a supportive and practical path to prevention. To learn more, take a risk test or get involved; you can visit the link in our episode description and don't hesitate to reach out to us via email at PreventT2 at S G H S Y R.Org for any inquiries or referrals. Until next time, thank you for listening.