How to Dodge Diabetes
When we look at the epidemic of diabetes sweeping the western world, it can seem as though developing diabetes is almost inevitable. Don’t panic just yet though – there is hope!
A landmark clinical trial (Diabetes Prevention Program) has shown that a healthy diet and regular exercise can prevent type 2 diabetes. This three-year study found that, people who lost 5-7% of their body weight and exercised for 30 minutes a day were able to reduce their diabetes risk by more than half!
The trial compared lifestyle changes (portion-controlled diets with prepared meals and moderate-intensity exercise for at least 175 minutes a week) with simple diabetes education. After one year, people in the lifestyle group had lost an average of 8.6% of their body weight, compared with 0.7% in diabetes education group. With the combination of weight loss and exercise came improvements in blood sugar, blood pressure, and HDL (good) cholesterol. Later follow-up showed that these improvements extended over the first four years of the study.
Even more importantly, the lifestyle changes also improved quality of life. The greatest gains were physical changes, people in the lifestyle group were fitter, felt more vital and had less aches and pains. They also reported feeling less depressed and a more positive frame of mind.
So, it’s pretty clear that by losing weight and exercising, we can significantly reduce our risks of developing diabetes. However, this can seem like a pretty hard thing to do sometimes. So, If you’re ready to make some changes to avoid the life-long consequences of diabetes, talk with your Healthy Business coach or your doctor. Together you can create a manageable plan that increases your chances of success.
Source: Healthbeat – Harvard Health
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