Diabetes is a silent disease. You can have it for years and not know it. During this time, harm can come to your eyes, nerves, and kidneys without you even knowing it.
Your risk for Diabetes goes up with getting older, gaining too much weight, or if you do not stay active. Diabetes is more common in African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders.
Risk factors for diabetes include:
- Having high blood pressure (at or above 130/80).
- Having a family history of Diabetes.
- Having diabetes during pregnancy or having a baby weighing more than nine pounds at birth.
Don't Wait for Signs
Most people with diabetes do not notice any symptoms. If you have any of these symptoms, contact your health care provider right away:
- Being very thirsty
- Urinating often
- Losing weight without trying
CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE, CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
You can prevent Type 2 diabetes with our Lifestyle Change Program!
The Lifestyle Change Program Reduces Your Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
If you have prediabetes or other risk factors for type 2 diabetes, now is the time to take charge of your health and make a change. The Graves County Health Department can help!
Life Style Change Program is part of the National Diabetes Prevention Program led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It features an approach that is proven to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes and includes:
• Trained lifestyle coach
• CDC-approved curriculum
• Group support
• 16 weekly meetings
• 6 monthly follow-up meetings
By improving food choices and increasing physical activity, you can lose 5 to 7 percent of your body weight — that is 10 to 14 pounds for a person weighing 200 pounds. If you have prediabetes, these lifestyle changes can cut your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by more than half.
Prediabetes Can Lead to Type 2 Diabetes
One out of three American adults has prediabetes, and most of them do not know it. Having prediabetes means your blood glucose (sugar) level is higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. This raises your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
Without weight loss and moderate physical activity, many people with prediabetes will develop type 2 diabetes within 3 years. Type 2 diabetes is a serious condition that can lead to health issues such as heart attack; stroke; blindness; kidney failure; or loss of toes, feet, or legs.
The lifestyle changes you make in the Lifestyle Change Program will help you prevent or delay type 2 diabetes.
You may have prediabetes and be at risk for Type 2 diabetes if you:
• Are 45 years of age or older
• Are overweight
• Have a family history of type 2 diabetes
• Are physically active fewer than 3 times per week
• Ever had diabetes while pregnant which disappeared after delivering the baby (gestational diabetes) or gave birth to a baby that weighed more than 9 pounds
How the Lifestyle Change Program works
As part of a group, you will work with a trained lifestyle coach and other participants to learn the skills you need to make lasting lifestyle changes. You will learn to eat healthy, add physical activity to your life, manage stress, stay motivated, and solve problems that can get in the way of healthy changes.
Lifestyle Change Program groups meet once a week for 16 weeks, then once a month for 6 months to help you maintain your healthy lifestyle changes. By meeting with others who have prediabetes you can celebrate each other’s successes and work together to overcome obstacles.
The Lifestyle Change Program
Program Fees
• Accepting all income brackets and insurance carriers.
• NO OUT OF POCKET CHARGES!
• Must Pre-Register to Participate
Some insurance plans will cover the cost for the Lifestyle Change Program. Check with your insurance provider to see if it is covered. If it is not, that’s okay! You’re still welcome to participate.
If You Think You May Be at Risk for Prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes:
• Take this fact sheet and this physician’s patient referral form to a health care provider and ask to be tested for prediabetes. The health care provider may do a simple blood test.
• If you don’t have a health care provider, call us to find out if you can still qualify for the program.
• You can also check out the “Could You Have Prediabetes?” online quiz at www.cdc.gov/Diabetes/Prevention. If your score shows you are at high risk for prediabetes, talk to your health care provider or contact our program.
• A referral from your physician is not required in order to participate in this program.
The Purchase Area Diabetes Connection is a coalition of members – lay and professional
persons – who direct their efforts to providing education to western Kentucky. Any interested people may become members. Meetings are held ten times a year at various sites. Two events that the PADC sponsors each year are the Diabetes EXPO held on the third Saturday of September and a Spring Prevention event in the Spring.
For more information about PADC, please call DeAnna Leonard 270-444-9625, ext. 107.
Diabetes Resources
ADA-American Diabetes Association
CDC Diabetes Info
JDRF-Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse
NDEP-National Diabetes Education Program
Prediabetes Information
Type 2 Diabetes Facts
Diabetes Awareness: Assess Risk & Save Lives
World Health Organization
