Madison County Rural Health Council offering free prediabetes program in Chittenango
One out three American adults have prediabetes. Those with prediabetes have higher-than-normal blood glucose levels and are five to 15 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. According to the CDC, approximately 84 million American adults have prediabetes and 90 percent don’t know they have it. Prediabetes often leads to type 2 diabetes, which increases the risk of significant health problems including heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure or loss of toes, feet or legs.
People are more likely to have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes if they:
- Are 45 years or age or older
- Are overweight
- Are physically active less than three times per week
- Had gestational diabetes
- Fasting blood glucose level of 100-125 mg/dl
- Have a parent, brother or sister with type 2 diabetes
People with prediabetes can beat those odds and prevent or delay type 2 diabetes by joining an evidence-based program called the Prevent T2 Lifestyle Change Program.
Guided by a trained lifestyle coach in a group setting, participants will learn skills they can use to make lasting changes such as losing a modest amount of weight, adding more physical activity into their daily routine, managing stress, staying motivated and solving problems that often get in the way of maintaining healthy changes. The program’s group setting provides a supportive environment with people who are facing similar challenges and trying to make the same changes.
Prevent T2 meets for a year – once a week for six months, then once to twice a month for the second six months to maintain healthy lifestyle changes. Prevent T2 is based on research that showed that people with prediabetes who lost 5 to 7 percent of their body weight by making modest changes reduced their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58 percent. Many Madison County residents have successfully completed the program and greatly reduced their risk of type 2 diabetes.
You may also go online to check your risk by completing the CDC Prediabetes Screening Test at cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention/pdf/prediabetestest.pdf. If your physician has already diagnosed you as having prediabetes, or if you have any of the above risk factors, please consider joining the Prevent T2 Lifestyle Change Program.
Starting Nov. 8, the Prevent T2 Program will meet at the Sullivan Free Library in Chittenango on Thursdays from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. The program is free. For more information or to register, call the Madison County Rural Health Council 315.454.2108 or email henry.s@mcruralhealthcouncil.org.