Diabetes Prevention

Lee Health Certified Diabetes Educator Annette McClenahan said Type 2 Diabetes has become an epidemic. “96 million Americans have prediabetes. If we don’t do anything, that prediabetes will progress to type two diabetes.”

When people are in that stage, they are at a higher risk for heart attack and stroke. However, just because they are pre-diabetic, it doesn’t mean diabetes is inevitable. “We know there are two things that can reverse prediabetes. 5-7% weight loss, and increasing your physical activity to 150 minutes of moderate pace activity per week,” said McClenahan.

Those are some of the things taught in Lee Health Solutions diabetes prevention class. “We talk about barriers that get in the way. We talk about stress management, falling off track, triggers. You know when you go to the movie theater that thing that goes off in your head that says you need to buy popcorn with butter. We talk about how you deal with that,” said McClenahan.

The group class meets for an hour a week over a yearlong period. “When you’re in the group setting, you build support and relationships where you can continue to support each other because you have the same goals and then you have a long lasting support system,” said McClenahan.

The class is covered by Medicare and most insurances and McClenahan said the results speak for themselves. “Some of the evidence and research that has been done when people are successful and go through this program is they reduce the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes by as much as 58%. When someone hits the age of 60, that risk reduction rises to 71%.”