A senior moment: Are you doing your part to prevent getting diabetes? – Oroville Mercury Register

Lets face it. You only get one body and if you want to be around awhile and enjoy good health, its your job to learn how to take care of it. Thats why I have been so pleased to attend the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes Healthier You series of eight classes that are held at the Enloe Conference Center and taught by Enloe Medical Center health professionals.

On March 20, I attended a class on prediabetes, presented by Mary Aram, clinical dietitian with Enloe Diabetes Services. Diabetes is a major health scourge of the modern age, and it is essential that you do what you can to keep from getting it, or if you have it already, to know how to control it.

There are two types of diabetes: Type I or childhood-onset diabetes and Type II, adult-onset diabetes. We are talking here about adult-onset or type II diabetes, a metabolic disorder in which the body becomes resistant to insulin, the hormone produced by the pancreas that lets the bodys cells take up sugar from the blood to use as energy for body functions.

People with type II diabetes have both high insulin levels and high blood-sugar levels, and that does a great deal of damage.

Diabetes can be associated with complications in about all organ systems and causes an increased rate of atherosclerosis (plaque on the lining of artery walls), stroke, heart disease, kidney failure, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, poor circulation, peripheral nerve damage, blindness, erectile dysfunction, and dementia.

As we exercise less, eat more, and choose foods poorly, the rates of this debilitating disease are ballooning. Between 1980 and 2009 the rate tripled. Diabetes is the sixth leading official cause of death among those who are over 65, and those who have diabetes have twice the risk of dying from other causes such as heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease. According to Rebecca L. Ferrini and Armeda F. Ferrini in Health in the Later Years, to be diagnosed with diabetes at age 60 means that you have lost 7-10 years of life.

In addition, diabetes is the most costly chronic disease, requiring 25 percent of the total Medicare budget to treat. In this time of growing aged population and threats of government cuts to Medicare, this is an important consideration.

Alarmingly, poor life style choices are causing people to develop diabetes at an earlier age. In a recent study of California health, 43 percent of 18-39 year-olds in Butte County had prediabetes, and 10 percent already had developed diabetes. Unless this trend is reversed, huge numbers of future elders will be debilitated by this disease and require even more of the health care budget.

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There is good news. This is a medical condition in which the patients lifestyle changes can positively affect the disease outcome. Losing 5-7 percent of body weight (10-14 pounds for a 200-pound person) and getting a half hour of moderate exercise five times a week can significantly prevent or delay onset of diabetes.

Aram points out that when people reach their target blood glucose levels, most of the time they mitigate their incidence of diabetes complications by 60-70 percent.

Prediabetes often does not have any symptoms, so it is essential to be aware of risk factors, to have regular blood sugar tests, and to make immediate life-style changes if the tests indicate prediabetes.

The chance that you will get prediabetes increases if you

Are over age 45

Have African American, Hispanic American, Native American, Asian American or Pacific Islander heritage.

Have a parent or siblings with diabetes.

Are overweight.

Store extra fat in the abdomen (waist over 40 inches for men, 35 inches for women).

Are physically inactive (especially when sedentary for more than a two-hour period).

Have high blood pressure or you take high blood pressure medication.

Have low HDL cholesterol and/or high triglycerides.

Are a woman who had diabetes during pregnancy.

Have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

If you are over 45, even if you have no risk factors, you should have your blood sugar tested at least every three years. If you are over 65, have any risk factors, or previous tests have shown high blood sugar, you should be tested every year.

Discuss the results of your blood sugar tests with your physician. If your fasting glucose test is over 100, you are at the cut-off for prediabetes. This does not mean you should wait until you actually have diabetes before taking steps to improve your health. It means you have to act now.

If exercise is a dirty word for you, think in terms of activity that you enjoy. Little things can make a big difference: walk the dog every day; park the car farthest from where you are going; go for a 10-minute walk after meals.

If you are really out-of-shape, choose specific, measurable realistic goals, like walk for 10 minutes three times a day. Gradually, as you become stronger, you can raise the bar.

Regular exercise will help your body use insulin better and improve blood sugar levels. It also relieves stress, reduces depression and anxiety, and improves sleep. It will reduce heart disease and improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Finally you will lose fat and gain muscle. All of this will help prevent diabetes.

When people think of diabetes, they frequently think of reducing sugar intake, but several factors of diet and meal planning affect glucose level. The type of food, the timing of meals, and combinations of protein, carbohydrates and fat all play a part in the amount and speed at which glucose gets into the blood stream.

It is important to educate yourself about the glycemic index and learn which foods will cause a low and slow, rather than fast and high, increase in blood sugar. Helpful information can be found at http://www.glycemicindex.com.

Whether you have pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, diabetes risk factors or you are simply interested in healthier living, you can sign up for a two-hour Prediabetes Education Class at the Enloe Outpatient Center, 888 Lakeside Village Commons, Bldg. C, Classroom A, Chico. Classes meet quarterly, on Thursdays from 6-8 p.m. (check in at 5:30 p.m.).

The next classes will be held April 20 and July 20 so sign up now. Classes are $10. You can preregister at http://www.enloe.org (look under Healthier You, then by date under the Classes heading) or by calling the Enloe Public Relations Office.

As Aram emphasized, the purpose of these classes is to help patients become better advocates for themselves.

Two more presentations remain of the OLLI Healthier You series for this semester.

On April 17, Jeff Zelenski, manager of Enloe Outpatient Rehabilitation Services, will speak on Joint Health.

On April 24, Shawn Furst, DO, of the Enloe Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinic will present information on Pain Management.

These classes, which are free and open to the public, are held at the Enloe Conference Center, 1528 The Esplanade, Chico, 2-3:30 p.m. Mondays.

Leslie Howard is a retired English teacher and certificated gerontologist. She welcomes comments and suggestions at leslie.t.howard@gmail.com.

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A senior moment: Are you doing your part to prevent getting diabetes? - Oroville Mercury Register