World Diabetes Day by Cindy Weinberger, MS RD CDN

Health & F tness

World Diabetes Day

By Cindy Weinberger MS, RD, CDN

November 14 is World Diabetes Day. National health days are generally instituted to increase public awareness of a health issue. Unfortunately, many of us are all too familiar with diabetes. I’m sure every person knows at least one person who has been clinically diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. It is estimated that 24 million Americans currently have diabetes.

Type II Diabetes is a growing epidemic worldwide. Diabetes is a disease in which a person has chronic high blood sugar (more than 200mg/ dL fasting blood glucose). This is due to the body’s lack of insulin production or because the cells are not responding to the insulin that is being produced. Thus, the glucose receptors inside the cells do not take up the glucose from the blood, resulting in high blood glucose levels, hyperglycemia. Long-term hyperglycemia increases one’s risk of developing coronary heart disease and microvascular complications such as neuropathy, kidney and eye disease. Unfortunately, diabetes usually goes hand-in-hand with other medical conditions, such as obesity, hypertension, and heart disease. Fortunately, diabetes is preventable and treatable.

Prevention is key, especially if you are at-risk for diabetes; risk factors include being overweight, if you have obesity or if you have a family history of the disease. Diabetes prevention is as simple as eating healthy, being more physically active, and losing a few extra pounds. Simple lifestyle changes now can help prevent long-term complications down the road such as kidney, nerve and heart damage.

The best way to prevent diabetes is to increase your physical activity. Exercise is not only effective for weight loss but also lowers your blood sugar and increases your insulin sensitivity. As one gains weight, triglycerides get stored in the fat cells. This causes the fat cells to become insulin resistant. When one loses weight, the fat

cells shrink, reducing the insulin resistance, thus increasing insulin sensitivity. As you can see, losing weight does not only decrease your chance of developing diabetes, but in addition to the direct benefits of weight loss, losing weight increases insulin sensitivity, thus helping manage diabetes. Try to include at least 20-30 minutes a day, 3-4 times a week of physical activity into your schedule. If the gym doesn’t work for you, exercise can include brisk walking, biking, walking up and down steps, dancing, swimming, playing sports…basically anything that gets you moving and your heart rate going.

Along with exercise comes eating right. All around healthy eating is vital for preventing diabetes. Be sure to include lots of fruits and vegetables in your diet and choose whole grains, low fat dairy products, monounsaturated fats, and lean meats. Research has shown that a high-fat diet is directly linked to an increased risk of developing diabetes. Try to cut out as much fat

Simple lifestyle changes now can help prevent long-term complications down the road.

as possible, especially trans and saturated fat. That means limit the fast food, processed food, deep fried food, margarine, and red meats.

Research suggests that the greater the amount of fiber consumption, the less likely one is to develop Type 2 diabetes. Therefore, a highly recommended dietary approach for preventing diabetes is to eat a high fiber diet. The recommended amount of fiber is 25g/ day and 38g/day, for men and women respectively. According to the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the average fiber intake in the United States is 17g/day. The national intake is evidently lower than the recommended intake. Fiber has been shown to help manage diabetes by decreasing your blood sugar. Fiber slows down the digestion process, thus decreasing the spike of glucose in your bloodstream. The slow digestion of fiber also causes one to feel fuller for longer, thus aiding in the weight loss process and indirectly increasing insulin sensitivity. Fiber is beneficial in many ways; be sure to add high fiber foods to your diet such as fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds.

This year, on World Diabetes Day, pick one area discussed above in which you will try your best to improve in. Hopefully the public awareness and this advice will help decrease your chances of developing diabetes and/or help manage your current diabetes as well as combating the national diabetes epidemic.

Cindy Weinberger MS, RD, CDN, is a Master’s level Registered Dietitian and

Certified Dietitian-Nutritionist. She grad-

uated CUNY Brooklyn College receiving

a Bachelor’s in Science and Master’s degree in Nutrition and Food Sciences. She is currently a private nutritionist. She can be reached at CindyWeinberger1@gmail. com or at 917-623-6237.