An Ounce of Prevention

Sixty million Americans are at-risk for developing diabetes – but it’s not an inevitable fate that you have no choice but to succumb to.

We know that diet and lifestyle changes can make a huge difference in preventing diabetes. In fact, the sooner you get started eating well and moving more, the better: According to a study published in the journal Diabetes Care, earlier intervention could prevent 37 percent of new cases of diabetes. That’s about 22 million people. This same study also found that prevention would save money. (Sure hope they didn’t dish out too much cash to determine what you and I already know — that staying healthy is cheaper than being sick.)

Despite these facts, Medicare won’t pay for diabetes prevention care until a person reaches 65 years old. Unfortunately, most people who are going to develop diabetes already have it by that age.

With diabetes rates ballooning along with the rates of obesity in this country, it’s just common sense to try to ward off this epidemic any way we can. Besides, any costs associated with offering earlier preventative care would be recovered from the untold amounts of money saved when those who are pre-diabetic avoid acquiring the full-blown disease.

But since los Federales aren’t going to change their procedures anytime soon, it’s up to each of us to take our health into our own hands. The bottom line is, you do have the power to prevent diabetes from ever becoming part of your future. Granted, some of the steps involved aren’t the easiest (like eliminating refined sugar and flour from your diet), but they’re well worth it in the long run. Dr. Wright has covered diabetes prevention in-depth several times over the years, particularly in the July and August 2001 issues of Nutrition & Healing.