November is American Diabetes Month. Therefore, it’s an opportunity for greater awareness about the disease that affects 26 million people nationwide. We will discuss American diabetes and how you can help to raise awareness during this month.

American Diabetes Month

There are three main types of diabetes. These include the following:

Type 1 Diabetes

With type 1 diabetes, your body is unable to produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone that acts like a key to let blood sugar into cells for use as energy.

Therefore, if you have type 1 you will need to take insulin every day. These type of diabetes is less common that type 2 diabetes. About 5% of people who have diabetes have type 1. Currently, there is no cure for type one diabetes.

Type 2 Diabetes

The majority of individuals with diabetes—9 out of 10—have type 2 diabetes. With this type of diabetes, your body does not utilize insulin. It’s also not able to keep blood sugar at normal levels. The sooner you find out, the sooner you can start making healthy changes that will benefit you now and in the futre. If you have any of the following risk factors, ask your doctor at Brashear Family Medical if you should be tested for diabetes:

Race and ethnicity also play a role.  The following races are at higher risk for type 2 diabetes:

If you are overweight, losing a small amount of weight can lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. In addition, getting regular physical activity can help.

Gestational Diabetes

Most of the time, gestational diabetes goes away after the baby is born. However, even if it goes away, you have a greater chance of getting diabetes. Your child is also at future risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes.

In fact, half of all women who had gestational diabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes.

How to Manage Diabetes

Managing your diabetes requires balancing your food, activity, medicine and blood sugar levels. The following are a few guidelines for managing diabetes:

How to Raise Awareness During American Diabetes Month

We can use this month to raise awareness about diabetes risk factors and encourage people to make healthy changes.

The following are just a few ways you can raise awareness:

These are just the basics of diabetes. For more information or to schedule an appointment with Brashear Family Medical, contact us with the link below!

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