Twelve Percent of Americans have Diabetes, Prevent Complications
More than 38 million Americans have diabetes, and the number of people diagnosed is on the rise. This means 1 in 10 Americans are living with this condition, about 12% of the population.
Here’s the diabetes breakdown:
Diagnosed: 29.7 million people.
Undiagnosed: 8.7 million people.
This means about 1 in 5 don’t know they are already living with diabetes.
Diabetes is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. Diabetes is one of the leading causes of disability and death in the United States.
The condition impacts so many people, this year’s Diabetes Awareness Month’s focus is on taking action to prevent diabetes health problems. Diabetes Awareness Month underway from November 1 to November 30, 2024. Within that, World Diabetes Day, is November 14th.
Diabetes is a serious chronic disease that can affect many parts of the body. It begins in the endocrine system with the pancreas and is considered a metabolic condition. Diabetes can lead to serious complications, such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage and lower-limb amputation. It’s most common in people over the age of 45.
It can be caused by a number of factors. Type 1 diabetes is an immune mediated condition while type 2 diabetes is a metabolic condition. Obesity, diet, smoking, and a sedentary lifestyle can all contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes. Toxic chemical exposure is also a presumed cause for U.S. military veterans and veterans now have some expanded protection under the PACT Act (2022 legislation) if they develop diabetes after being exposed to toxic chemicals while in service.
To prevent or delay complications from diabetes, you can:
- Eat healthy: Follow a healthy eating plan that limits saturated fats and includes low-fat dairy and lean meats
- Be active: Get at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week
- Manage your blood sugar: Get regular A1C tests (blood glucose) and monitor your blood sugar levels
- Manage your blood pressure: Keep your blood pressure below 140/90 mm Hg
For those who are newly diagnosed or anyone who has already been diagnosed but would like to better understand and/or better manage diabetes, there are a number of good resources that can support you, your loved ones, and your practitioners. Here’s a starter list to spark discussions with your doctors.
Wellness Diary for Diabetes: Manual and Daily Tracker to Better Manage Diabetes Mellitus and other Metabolic Conditions
Talk with your doctor about making a diabetes care plan. Managing diabetes as soon as possible after diagnosis can help prevent serious health problems. This educational guidebook with workbook section provides science backed tools to help you gain insights into how your endocrine and digestive systems work. These insights inspire productive conversations between the patient and provider and enable you to sit with your practitioners to co-create a treatment plan that aims to provide you with what you consider the best quality of life based on factors you consider important. This book monitors key elements such as lifestyle factors, diet, bowel movements, blood glucose, and blood pressure.
Think Like a Pancreas: A Practical Guide to Managing Diabetes with Insulin
This book is on insulin therapy for the medical management of type 1 diabetes. It is for diabetes who need to use insulin. Type 1 is not the same as Type 2. For people with Type 1 diabetes, this is caused by an immune mediated condition.
Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars
Originally published in 1997 and updated multiple times since, Dr. Bernstein offers a unique resource that covers both adult and childhood onset diabetes. He explains step-by-step how to normalize blood sugar levels and prevent or reverse complications. While he also offers detailed guidelines for establishing a treatment plan, there is no workbook space for logging data or analyzing it in this book. It could easily be used in addition to other books that include detailed logs and analysis sections.
It’s important to remember that with diabetes, you can work with your medical professionals to optimize lifestyle factors with the aim to reduce diabetic complications. More serious complications from diabetes can include heart problems, kidney trouble, nerve damage and vision loss. The resources on this list, plus many more, can help you work with your practitioners to reduce risks and optimize your quality of life.
Cambridge MBA | Autoimmune and Gut Nutritionist | Patient Advocate
Author #1 New Release in Colon & Rectal Surgery for Wellness Diary and Pouch Passport on Amazon USA, also available via GoodReads
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