As I write this, some 54 million Americans are living with pre-diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and they may not even know it. November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. As the daughter of a type 2 diabetic, I know first-hand what it is like living with the disease. Between medications, finger sticks, foot checks, vision tests, and the daily grind of nutrition and exercise, it can be a lot for people to manage, especially after years of unhealthy habits.
So, wouldn’t it be great if you knew what you could do to control your diabetes, or better yet prevent diabetes, in the first place? Well, you’ve come to the right place. This blog post will describe the top three steps you can take to prevent or reverse type 2 diabetes.
If you could do something to prevent cancer, would you do it? You might say “yes,” but unfortunately you might not actually do it. How’s this for an alarming fact?
At least one-third of annual cancer deaths in the United States are related to dietary factors. Increased fruit and vegetable consumption can reduce cancer risk, but less than one-third of U.S. adults eat the recommended servings of fruit and vegetables every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Eating healthy, including fruits and vegetables loaded with phytochemicals (powerful antioxidants), and following a low fat diet helps people manage weight and prevent disease! Think about it, every day you have choices of what to eat. You have the power to keep yourself healthy from the inside out.
Along with fall comes the seasonal flu. It’s inevitable. People at high risk of catching the flu should protect themselves first and foremost with a flu shot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has great information on steps you can take to prevent a flu infection. It includes the basics like washing your hands and avoiding people who exhibit flu-like symptoms. But I’m going to focus on an area that is often overlooked – your immune system.
The job of your immune system is to protect your body from bacterial and viral infections, such as the ones that cause the common cold and seasonal flu. The immune system protects you in three different ways:
- It creates a barrier that prevents bacteria and viruses from entering your body (your skin).
- If a bacteria or virus does enter the body, the immune system tries to detect and eliminate it before it can make itself at home and reproduce.
- If the virus or bacteria is able to reproduce and start causing problems, your immune system is in charge of eliminating it.
The federal government’s stimulus plan isn’t just for the fat cats of Wall Street. It’s also being aimed at reversing our country’s obesity epidemic.
The Obama administration is going to provide states and local governments with money to control obesity, which will include investing in public transportation to encourage more walking, says Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Sebelius says that the majority of the $1 billion stimulus plan appropriated by Congress for disease prevention would go to a CDC-planned initiative to fight obesity, heart disease and other chronic conditions.
With the passing of the King of Pop Michael Jackson of apparent cardiac arrest and the infomercial king Billy Mays of heart disease, guess what comes to the forefront of everyone’s minds. You guessed it.
It’s estimated that in 2005 more than 27 percent of all Americans died of a heart-related ailment. To put it in even more dire terms, one American dies every 37 seconds from complications related to heart disease.
These statistics, while getting worse, aren’t particularly new. Heart disease has been the leading killer in the U.S. for every year since 1900 excluding 1918 when there was a flu pandemic.
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