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American Diabetes Association Alert Day® is March 26, 2019
Join Magee General Hospital in celebrating American Diabetes Association Alert Day® on March 26, 2019, as we encourage everyone to visit www.diabetes.org and take the Type 2 Diabetes Risk Test, and learn more about reversing the risk for diabetes. One in three Americans is at risk for developing type 2 diabetes, a serious disease that can lead to complications such as kidney disease, blindness, and amputations. But type 2 diabetes doesn’t have to be permanent–it can be prevented or delayed with healthy lifestyle modifications. Click the following link to learn more.
To learn more about the Magee General Hospital Wound Healing Center, call 877-295-2273.
Take Action To Prevent and Reverse Diabetes
As more and more Americans are diagnosed each year with some form of Diabetes, the burden that this preventable disease places on the healthcare system and on our families and loved-ones can not be ignored. It is becoming all too routine for someone we know from our family, friend groups, church or even our children’s school, to be told by the healthcare provider “you have diabetes”. Let these numbers sink in.
A total of 30.3 million people have diabetes (9.4% of the US population). Diagnosed: 23.1 million people and undiagnosed: 7.2 million people (23.8% of people with diabetes are undiagnosed). A total of 84.1 million adults aged 18 years or older have prediabetes (33.9% of the adult US population) and 23.1 million adults aged 65 years or older have prediabetes. As many as 2 out of every 5 Americans are expected to develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime. Think of you and four of your friends-2 of you will likely develop diabetes in your lifetime. What do we know are some of the primary causes of this deadly disease?
Processed refined carbohydrates turn to sugar in your body when eaten, causing our blood sugar to elevate, then insulin from the pancreas is elevated to battle this. When we have elevated blood sugars and high insulin levels for long periods of time, we develop something called insulin resistance. Meaning your body considers sugar as toxic and will stop it from entering into your cells as fuel to use. Also, insulin is our fat storage hormone and will store these excess carbs as fat on and around your organs. You will then likely see weight gain, belly fat, abnormal blood sugars, high insulin levels and other chronic illnesses. It’s a vicious cycle, but can be reversed. We want to reverse this because high insulin levels and insulin resistance causes not only Type II Diabetes to develop, but also causes obesity, stroke, blindness, heart attack, high blood pressure, kidney failure, dialysis, poor circulation and amputations.
Insulin, considered to be a master hormone for its affect on other hormones in the body, is released from the pancreas in response to eating, primarily carbohydrates, in order to balance blood sugar levels. Insulin acts as a key unlocking our cell doors and allows sugar and nutrients to enter the cell. Elevated insulin levels caused from the body becoming resistant to insulin are a major driver in poor health and chronic disease. This usually happens over time as a result of over consuming processed and refined carbohydrates. It is thought that up to 90% of all chronic conditions are caused from elevated insulin levels including some cancers, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and obesity. But there is good news!
At the end of 2018, the American Diabetes Association released its 2019 Standards of Medical Care in diabetes. After having conducted a systemic review of the scientific literature since 2014 the ADA has updated it guidelines to include the use of a low carbohydrate diet as Medical Nutrition Therapy for adults with Type 2 Diabetes, this moves a low carb diet from the realm of a popular lifestyle choice to Medical Nutrition therapy for the purpose of disease treatment. The ADA concluded that a low carb diet may result in lower blood sugar levels, may lower the use of blood sugar lowering medications and effective for weight loss, and cites one-year study data by Virta Health with used a ketogenic approach, as well as two other studies. The ADA concludes a low carbohydrate diet is safe to use in non pregnant or lactating adults without kidney disease or risk of eating disorder.
If you or someone you know is suffering with diabetes and wants to explore nutrition as a possible way to reduce the affects of this disease and possibly reduced the reliance on expensive medications, contact your local Registered Dietitian and set up an appointment. Every day spent trying to manage Diabetes is a day not spent trying to reverse diabetes.
Brady Taylor, RDN, LD
Director of Clinical Services-Nutrition Systems
President-Elect Mississippi Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
