Monthly Archives: March 2017

Got a Minute?: What is your diabetes risk The Livingston County News The theme is Take it, the ADA diabetes or pre-diabetes risk test; Share it, share this test with those you care about; and Learn it, find out if you are at risk for pre-diabetes or diabetes and if so, start learning and take charge. According to ... and more »

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Got a Minute?: What is your diabetes risk - The Livingston County News

VALDOSTA Approximately 1.1 million people in Georgia, or 14.2 percent of the adult population, have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Each year, an estimated 60,000 people in Georgia are diagnosed with diabetes.

The South Georgia Medical Center Diabetes Management Center seeks to help those diagnosed live a healthier lifestyle, according to a hospital press release.

"Because diabetes increases a persons risk for other serious medical conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease and lower extremity amputations, its critical that diabetes be managed carefully," said Dawn Taylor, DMC director.

She said staying healthy means more than just following a doctors plan and taking medication. The DMC offers various education and tools to help.

One important opportunity open to anyone with diabetes is the centers Diabetes Support Group which meets monthly.

On Monday, nearly 50 people gathered at Winn-Dixie to participate in a grocery store tour led by DMC team members, according to SGMC.

The tour focused on accurately reading food labels, calculating carbohydrate servings, and making overall healthier meal choices.

"As you learn healthier ways to eat, snack, and cook for your diabetes, youll also learn how to make healthier choices for your family members, Taylor said.

More information on the DMC, visit sgmc.org/diabetes or call (229) 433-7200.

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Diabetes group tours stores - Valdosta Daily Times

Julio Munoz, M.D., FACP 1:04 a.m. MT March 25, 2017

Julio Munoz MD(Photo: Courtesy Photo)

Diabetes affects nearly 30 million people in the United States a stunning 10 percent of the overall population. And recent research reveals that diabetes is now the third leading cause of death, not the seventh, as was previously thought. Perhaps the most concerning statistic is that one in four persons living with diabetes is unaware that they have the disease.

The American Diabetes Association sponsors Diabetes Alert Day to serve as an annual wake-up call. The organization wants to remind Americans about the seriousness and prevalence of diabetes, particularly when the disease is left un-diagnosed or untreated. This year, Diabetes Alert Day is Tuesday, March 28.

The incidence of type 2 diabetes in this country has tripled in the last twenty years. The adoption of sugary diets and sedentary lifestyles has caused the disease to reach epidemic proportions. On the positive side, this condition doesnt have to be a death sentence. Its almost always avoidable, and even reversible, with serious lifestyle changes.

Researchers estimate that, if current trends continue, one in three Americans will have diabetes by the year 2050. Left untreated, diabetes can lead to kidney failure, limb amputations, blindness, and even death. Early diagnosis and treatment is critical to preventing irreversible damage to your health and longevity, so awareness and access to care are the key areas of focus.

Here are the top five ways to keep blood sugar at healthy levels, and to keep type 2 diabetes from impacting you and your loved ones:

If you have a family history of diabetes, you are at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes yourself. Also, the condition is more common in African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders. Above-average body weight increases diabetes risk for people of all backgrounds.

Only your doctor can tell for sure if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic. As part of your annual health physical, be sure to talk to your doctor about the results of your fasting blood sugar and A1C tests. If your numbers are heading in the wrong direction, you can act quickly to get back on the right track.

If you need assistance in diagnosing or managing your metabolic health, or you just need to be connected with a primary care physician, contact Pecos Valley Internal Medicine at 575-234-9692 or visit http://www.PecosValleyDocs.com.

I would also like to take this opportunity to invite the public to a free Diabetes seminar on Thursday, March 30, at 3p.m. at Carlsbad Medical Center in the private dining room. The seminar will be presented by Susan Dade, RD, LD, CDE and Danielle Weathers, RD, LD, and will include information on healthy diets and eating habits for those living with Diabetes. For more information on the seminar, please call 575-628-5069.

Dr. Julio Munoz is a board certified internal medicine physician with over 30 years of experience.He received his medical degree from Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and completed his residency at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in Bronx, NY. In addition to being certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, Dr. Munoz is also a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP). He is a member of the medical staff at Carlsbad Medical Center.

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The dangers of diabetes - Carlsbad Current-Argus

Earlier this week I was told I was diabetic. When sharing it with people, some felt maybe this was not the type of news the founder of Less Cancer should broadcast.

I am sure that it is exactly the kind of thing to share. Since founding the organization in 2004, I have always been open about some of the lifestyle challenges and risks I have engaged in; from being a chain smoker as a child to having a diet so poor that as a college student at 661/2 and 168 lbs, I was diagnosed with malnutrition.

Since that time I have been far from saved. I did quit smoking twenty-one years ago when my son was born, as he had a respiratory issue that would have prevented me from ever holding him. Fortunately, the doctor that was treating him at the time used his agency to say that I would have to leave my clothes outdoors and take a shower before picking him up. With the help of the patch, I quit right away.

Pancreatic cancer and diabetes have been linked in patients who have had diabetes for less than five years, yet it is unclear if diabetes contributed to the cancer or if the pre-cancerous cells caused the diabetes. Also, research suggests that new-onset diabetes in people over 50 may be an early symptom of pancreatic cancer. (Pancan.org) My sister died of pancreatic cancer at a young age.

Type 2 diabetes has a stronger link to family history and lineage than type 1, although it too depends on environmental factors. If there is a family history of type 2 diabetes, it may be difficult to figure out whether it is due to lifestyle factors or genetic susceptibility. I only know of a few family members with type 2 diabetes, and they were all at an enviably healthy weight.(Diabetes.org)

However, for over twenty years I have been vigilant about eating and serving certified organic foods to my family. For me, sugar is the head-spinning devil. And no matter how healthily I eat around it, its just too tough to burn off a slice of cake. I walk at least a few times a week, and I have started running on the treadmill with a trainer when I am back home in Virginia.

When I heard the news of my diagnosis, I felt ashamed as to how I could not know better. Certainly, I had been warned. I was most angry with myself because, with my very non-profit salary, I understood that I would never really be able to afford the meds for a diabetic. My doctor has given me three months to turn things around.

However there is something even more insidious, and that is isolation.

In my work, without intention or awareness, I seem to have systematically built a wall around myself to the outside world and my own personal needs.

I am immensely grateful for the handful of amazing friends and my immediate family, with whom I am in touch daily. But something strange began happening as I heard from more and more people that I did not know and started connecting with on social media, and then through blogs. In the course of the day, I often speak to more strangers than people I know. I am on the road so much that I often eat alone and have little social contact.

After the United States Congressional Caucus and the Cancer Prevention Workshop this past February, on the only free day I had I met with a few of the cyclists for the bike ride to raise money for Less Cancer. The day of my birthday in Detroitmy big nightwas spent on my laptop, in my hotel. I took a moment to check Facebook and email only to notice an embarrassing amount of birthday wishesbetween social media and email it was well into the hundreds.

As I drove out of town the next day, hurrying to my next stop, I could not help but think how strange it felt to look at all these communications from so many people I did not know-despite being very appreciated. I meet kind and wonderful people each day and I am one of those people that love others more than myself.

As more people get to know me and the work of Less Cancer, I receive accolades but not always from people I know. I feel a need to protect myself by establishing boundaries, thus creating even greater distance between me and the world.

Somehow the more I connect and work with the masses my wall, unseen by the outside seemingly inches higher, insidiously moving further away from filling my metaphoric bucket or addressing some very basic needs.

With a focus outwards on the rest of the world, I move further and further away from my needs.

In trying to understand my diabetes diagnosis, I find myself asking what isolation means to human healthworking alone, traveling alone, and frequently not having any connections beyond people who want to talk to me about my work.

In a report by Soledad OBrien, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said the greatest public health crisis (according to the surgeon general) isnt cancer or heart disease. Its isolationisolation and the affects of being socially disconnected.

I may never know if my diagnosis is hereditary or lifestyle, stress or isolation. You can count on me turning my sights inward as a matter of health. Watching diet and exercise, connecting with friends and asking for help with the work for Less Cancer.

I will be exploring more about isolation as it impacts human health, including diabetes. Diabetes can, in fact, be a cancer risk. Now more than ever, we need to get a handle on these preventable diseases, and it needs to start with me.

Is this my legacy to my children? Is this what I leave thema future knowing that the idea of Less Cancer will be a missed opportunity to turn the steadily increasing incidences of cancer around. A future with a cancer economy?

I am not giving up-if you want to help, please help the work of Less Cancer not because of me but rather because we are doing life-saving work that is making change.

First published in Thrive Global

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Is Diabetes the Disease or the Symptom - Huffington Post

MANSFIELD -- Students at Discovery School are learning about Type 1 diabetes and the differences it has with Type 2.

Not only are the students talking the talk -- they are walking the walk. Discovery School's student body will hold a Kids Walk for Type 1 Diabetes March 29 at 11:40 a.m.

The event was sparked when student Jager Thornton, 4, was diagnosed with the disease.

Jarger's mother, Ashley Thornton said she wants to make sure people are aware of the differences between the two types, not "lumped together as one disease."

Type 1, or insulin-dependent diabetes is a chronic condition in which the body no longer creates its own insulin. Insulin is a hormone necessary for blood cells to create energy from consumed sugar.

Type 2 diabetes, a much more commonly-known version of diabetes, occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin or doesn't make enough insulin, according to the Mayo Clinic.

"We've adjusted pretty well," Thornton said of her son's condition. "It's a lot of routine, finger pokes, loss of sleep. It was life altering. My son's life is now in the hands of his caretakers. If he get's too little insulin he could die."

Third grade teacher, Lindsay Wicker said allowing students to have an opportunity to take action is a emphasized mantra for students at Discovery School.

"I tell my students that all the time," Wicker said. "And when (Ashley) said she was wanting help raising awareness, I thought this would be a great opportunity to have my third-grade students to be able to take action for something important."

Wicker's students are reading facts about the disease during morning announcements, stuffed information about the disease into envelopes to spread to their peers and are helped organize the walk.

"It's a great opportunity to make a difference even though they are only in third grade," she said.

Discovery School has raised $500 for the JDRF, the leading global organization for Type 1 diabetes research, in the first week.

Students also were given three paper shoes to sell for any amount of money. The money will be donated to the JDRF Organization.

"It's impressive. They don't have to sell the shoes," Thornton said. "They have one more week (to raise money); they are on Spring Break right now."

Thornton said she is gratefulto Discovery School for its cooperation and willingness to teach students about the disease. She hopes the education will provide her son with the ability to fit in and feel like his classmates.

"One thing I want for Jager is more people to be aware of Type 1 of this disease," Thornton said. "I just wish people would learn there is more than (the Type 2 version), that it's not the same."

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Discovery School walks the walk in Type 1 diabetes awareness ... - Richland Source