Tarry Health Fitness, Weight Loss, Workouts and Healthy Eating
1. Diabetes costs $174 billion annually, including $116 billion in direct medical expenses.
2. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults.
3. People with diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease than someone without diabetes.
4. Only about five percent of all people with diabetes have type 1 diabetes.
5. One-third of Americans are thought to have prediabetes. Before the onset of full-blown diabetes, many people have prediabetes, a condition in which blood sugar is higher than normal, but not so high that an individual is considered diabetic. A whopping one in three Americans suffers from this precursory condition—and a full 70% of those people will go on to develop type 2 diabetes. The vast majority of people who have prediabetes don’t know anything about their condition and even people with Type 2 diabetes often don’t suffer from any symptoms. This is why diabetes is known as the “silent killer”.
6. People with diabetes are twice as likely to suffer from depression. This can complicate the proper management of the disease, for which a high level of self-care is vital. Furthermore, depression is associated with a 60% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
7. You don’t have to be overweight to develop type 2 diabetes. You might think that all those who suffer from type 2 diabetes are obese and inactive. You might also think that you’re in the clear if you don’t fit that description. Unfortunately, the condition is becoming a problem for the young and thin, too. An astounding 15% of people with type 2 diabetes are not overweight!
8. If you are at risk, when it comes to Type 2 Diabetes, lifestyle changes to lose weight (healthy eating and regular exercise) are more effective in preventing or delaying diabetes than medications. Making small, healthy lifestyle changes are less expensive too and have many additional benefits. Losing weight—even as little as 5 to 10% of your starting weight—can prevent or delay Type 2 Diabetes or even reverse prediabetes. For a 200 pound person, this is just 10-20 pounds!
9. In addition to proper weight management and regular exercise, chronic stress can make your blood-sugar levels skyrocket, and regularly getting less than six hours of shut-eye can double your diabetes risk.
10. Scientists believe that Type 2 Diabetes may be reversible. Weight loss, regular exercise and adopting healthy eating habits have allowed many Type 2 Diabetics to get off medications completely.
