Preventing Diabetes

by Nicholas Mele

Many of us who have diabetes are, like me, Type 2 Diabetics. Preventive measures and education, especially improving knowledge of nutrition and the role of exercise in health, can reduce both the incidence of Type 2 Diabetes and the cost of care. Too many of the people who cannot afford health care eat high sugar, high carbohydrate diets and contribute to their diabetes that way. Locally, a non-profit has been offering nutrition awareness programs that encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables and less processed carbohydrate-rich foods. Such a program must also address the cost factor, as many people seem to believe healthy diets are for the affluent.

At some point, it may become necessary also to reign in advertising and availability of unhealthy foods, but this is a much more difficult strategy to put into practice.