A whole month to recognize diabetes. A time to offer compassion to those living with it. Also a time to raise awareness about the risk factors and actions that can be taken to prevent or prolong someone getting the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

First let’s clarify the different types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is when a person’s pancreas doesn’t produce any insulin. There is no way to prevent getting type 1 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is when your body doesn’t fully respond to its own insulin and can’t keep blood sugar in normal ranges. There are ways to prevent or prolong the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. Pre-diabetes means your blood sugar is higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. Pre-diabetes can be thought of as a window of opportunity, you can continue what you are doing and possibly end up with the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. Or you can make changes to your lifestyle and prevent or prolong the diagnosis.

According to the CDC, in 2020 there was 34.2 million people with diabetes in the nation and 88 million adults with pre-diabetes. If you break that number down, 1 out of every 3 people have pre-diabetes.

The good news is that you can take the actions now to prevent or prolong the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. The foundation of this is eating healthy balanced meals and getting regular physical activity. But if it was that easy everyone would be doing it. It also takes a lot of support from physicians, family, and friends to help make those changes because doing them alone can be challenging.

You’ve probably heard of the Diabetes Prevention Program that St. Anthony Chronic Care Center puts on. It’s a program where a team of a registered dietitian, certified nurses in diabetes, and ARNP work with you to teach and help you make lifestyle changes to lead a healthier lifestyle and prevent or prolong getting type 2 diabetes.

If you don’t have the time or aren’t able to join us in our Diabetes Prevention Program, we do offer individual appointments for pre-diabetes and diabetes that might work better with your schedule. Regardless, I encourage you to start small today. It can be as simple as cutting out sugar sweetened beverages or start a plan to go on a walk for 5 minutes a day. These may seem like insignificant changes, but small little changes here and there can create the biggest impact.