Ask the Expert: How can I dodge diabetes?
Following three simple rules each day could save you from being swept up in a massive wave of type 2 diabetes headed in our direction over the next 10 years, says Michelle Matthews, a diabetes nurse educator in the Diabetes Education & Management Centre (DEMC) at Hotel Dieu.
Dodging diabetes can be as simple as adopting three easy habits:
“In 2000, 1.3 million Canadians had diabetes and in 2020, 3.7 million people will be living with it. And Ontario’s numbers are greater than the national average and growing,” says Michelle.
“We have a society that’s increasingly aging, overweight and sedentary. That’s the background for a massive wave of type 2 diabetes that won’t stop unless we put up some roadblocks now.”
Cooking a meal at home gives you a better chance of avoiding high-fat foods that cause weight gain and play havoc with blood glucose levels, explains Michelle. A healthy weight helps with blood glucose control and is healthier for your heart.
Likewise, she says, drinking pop and fruit juice regularly will raise blood glucose levels in both adults and kids. The better choice is good old-fashioned water, which satisfies your thirst, doesn’t add pounds and is as close as the nearest tap.
The other way to improve blood glucose control has also stood the test of time—walking. At least 30 minutes a day will make a difference.
Michelle and her fellow DEMC diabetes educators are seeing increasingly more complex cases of diabetes involving patients who need intensive adjustments to their insulin levels and medications. But prevention is top of list for the hospital diabetes program.
“People can start now to prevent type 2 diabetes,” she says. “Eat regular, home-cooked meals, drink water and walk every day. It’s that simple.”
