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Defeat Diabetes Foundation

Defeat Diabetes
Foundation
150 153rd Ave,
Suite 300
Madeira Beach, FL 33708

DIABeducation™

By Theresa Garnero, APRN, BC-ADM, MSN, CDE

Overcoming the Heat

If you’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing the heat and humidity of a blazing summer’s day in Washington D.C., consider yourself lucky—it’s overwhelming. It feels like you don’t stand a chance to walk just one more block to the shelter of an air-conditioned room.

As I return from the American Association of Diabetes Educator national conference held in our nation’s capital, I thought about how diabetes can also be overwhelming, and how sometimes people say they don’t feel like they stand a chance in this epidemic—but you do!

Over the past week, I rubbed elbows with an army of nearly 5,000 diabetes educators from across the globe and heard pearls of wisdom about how we are fighting this disease. May these insights bring you respite from the intensity of diabetes:

Diabetes is not a death sentence.
Diabetes is not the leading cause of heart attacks and strokes—uncontrolled diabetes is.
Your actions make a difference; obey your instincts.
85% of diabetes is diagnosed by a primary care physician.
Obesity is driving the diabetes epidemic. Average adults gain 1.8 pounds per year. To prevent that weight gain, you’d only have to cut out 100 calories a day.

In the U.S., the average steps taken by men are 5,940, and women take and average of 5,276 steps. With that, we have an average obesity rate of 22.8%. Colorado has the highest average of steps taken per day, about 6,500, and only 16% are obese. With the Amish, average steps taken per day are 16,000 and obesity rates are between 4-9%. Connection? You bet!

It would take only 2,000 steps a day to prevent type 2 diabetes. Mr. Diabetes® is a wonderful example of taking those extra steps.

Ready for more? Read on:

We need to monitor blood pressure (BP) just as vigilantly as we do blood glucose levels. Go pick yourself up an Omron BP monitor. It’s accurate and can save your life. (Omron also makes a wonderful pedometer.)

Fear of hypoglycemia is the main cause of not being in tight control. 12 year olds average 2-4 cans of soda/day (comprising roughly 20% of total daily calories).

Less TV viewing means weight loss for adolescent girls, but not boys.
30 years ago, 66% of children walked or biked to school. Today, 13% do. In Marin county California, a “walking bus” program was started and increased the number of kids walking to school to 64%.
70% of your self-talk is negative. Attitude is latitude. Think positive!

As my year as the national Diabetes Educator of the Year passes, I am renewed with a sense of passion from my colleagues whose mission in life is also to be that place of refuge for people with diabetes. The new Diabetes Educator of the Year, Mary Bowens from Mississippi, will carry on the torch of spreading joy across the nation, inspiring other diabetes educators to make that diabetes difference. And if you ever feel overwhelmed, remember, there is a diabetes educator close by, like a breath of fresh air.