Preventing Diabetes 2
In my family there is cancer and diabetes. I chose my topic to be diabetes since this what I am concerned about the most. My sister, Connie, has been diagnosed with having type 2 diabetes and another sister, Judy, has to watch her sugar intake because she is on the line of getting diabetes. My family and I are all on the heavy side when it comes to weight and this has really affected our health. I feel I am a good candidate for diabetes if I continue to go down the road that I am on. I have been learning what I need to do to help prevent me from getting diabetes.
First, diabetes is a group of diseases that can be characterized by high levels of blood glucose. This results in a defect to insulin production. There are at least seven different risk factors that one needs to pay attention too.
1. Obese or being overweight
2. Parent, brother, or sister with diabetes
3. Prior history of gestational diabetes
4. Ethnic background
5. High blood pressure measuring 140/90 or higher
6. Irregular cholesterol. HDL (good) cholesterol is 35 or lower
7. Physical inactivity-not exercising more than three times a week. (Manzella, 2007)
Of these seven risk factors, I currently have three of these factors. I am overweight, a sister with diabetes, and my HDL (good) is at 35. I know that I am responsible for two of these three factors. The reason for my being overweight and my cholesterol level being low is because of what I eat. I love to eat pizza, cheeseburgers, and anything greasy.
Preventing Diabetes 3
One of my big problems is I would eat these foods around eight or nine at night just before bed time. Eating is not just the only problem that helped to cause my situation. I am also responsible for drinking a lot of soda pop. A lot of soda pop means I was drinking six 20 oz. bottles in a day. My stomach was always bloated because of all the sugar and sodium from these soda pops.
I needed to take action to help...