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Prediabetes Lifestyle Program
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Are you one of the estimated 54 million people in this country who have prediabetes? If so, it’s time to take action to reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Project Diabetes is a FREE program sponsored by the Tennessee Department of Health. Participants come twice a week for three months (Tuesday and Thursday from 6-7 pm). Tuesday sessions are classroom-style learning taught by Charlotte Cavin, registered nurse and certified diabetes educator; pharmacist Laine Lindley; and registered dietician Judy Galloway. You learn more about diabetes, blood sugar monitoring, diabetes medications, and dietary matters such as label reading, portion control, and carb counting. Thursday sessions are exercise only. Exercise specialist Denise Blockman teaches the class and makes sure everyone's technique is correct. She also explains how to exercise in your home without expensive equipment, the importance of walking, and how to incorporate exercise into your lives so you will stick to it. What is the difference between prediabetes and diabetes? According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes is defined as a fasting blood glucose level of 126 mg/dL or greater. If symptoms exist and you have a casual blood glucose taken at any time that is equal or greater than 200 mg/dL, this also meets the criteria for diabetes. Prediabetes is diagnosed as a fasting blood glucose of 100-125 mg/dL. It also may be defined as impaired fasting glucose. If your doctor gives you an oral glucose tolerance test, and two hours later your blood glucose is 140-199 mg/dL, you have impaired glucose tolerance. If you have been diagnosed with impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance, you have prediabetes. What are the risk factors for prediabetes? Among those who should be screened for prediabetes are overweight adults age 45 and older and those under age 45 who are overweight and who have one or more of the following risk factors:
Could I have prediabetes and not know it? Absolutely. People with prediabetes don't often have symptoms. In fact, millions of people have diabetes and don't know it because symptoms develop so gradually, people often don't recognize them. Some people have no symptoms at all. Symptoms of diabetes include unusual thirst, a frequent desire to urinate, blurred vision or a feeling of being tired most of the time for no apparent reason. What should I do if I am diagnosed with prediabetes? If you have prediabetes, take control of your health by making lifestyle changes. Our Take Control program is based upon The Diabetes Prevention Program, a major clinical trial that demonstrated diet and exercise can reduce the risk for developing type 2 diabetes by 58 percent. In the DPP, participants reduced their daily caloric intake by following a healthy low-fat diet and engaged in moderate physical exercise for 30 minutes, five days a week or a total of 150 minutes a week. So the best treatment for prediabetes is weight loss? Yes. The treatment consists of losing a modest amount of weight (five-10 percent of total body weight) through diet and moderate exercise, such as walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Don't worry if you can't get to your ideal body weight. A loss of just 10 to 15 pounds can make a huge difference. If you have prediabetes, you are 50 percent more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke, so your doctor may want to treat or counsel you about cardiovascular risk factors, such as tobacco use, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.  Top of Page |
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