Among diabetes organizations, November is known as American Diabetes Month, Diabetes Awareness Month, and even National Diabetes Awareness Day (November 14). Regardless of the name, the purpose is to raise your awareness of this epidemic disease and its risk factors, and learn how you can avoid it or control it.
The startling facts about diabetes:
- One in 12 Americans – more than 30 million – has diabetes
- Diabetes is one of the leading causes of disability and death in the U.S. and worldwide
- If not controlled, diabetes can cause blindness, nerve damage, kidney disease, heart disease, vascular problems, and foot and lower leg conditions, some leading to amputation
- The American Diabetes Association estimates that the total national cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States is $245 billion
Those statistics are nothing to take lightly. But if that weren’t bad enough, there’s a bigger crisis looming: Eighty-six million of us have prediabetes, which is chronic, elevated blood sugar levels which aren’t yet considered diabetic, but can quickly become so. Just a little bit of education however, can help you avoid developing diabetes and its many complications. For those already diagnosed with type 1 or type 2, use November to educate yourself about lifestyle changes you can make to control your disease, and schedule appointments with your physicians for an annual screening.
***All diabeteics should receive an annual screening from a podiatrist to look for early signs of numbness or hypersensitivity in the feet, which can be early warning signs of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Visit our website to learn how to prevent diabetc complications in your feet.
Resource 1: The American Diabetes Association’s America Gets Cooking to Stop Diabetes
America Gets Cooking to Stop Diabetes is an initiative designed to engage and inspire people to live a healthier and more active lifestyle. The initiative encourages and empowers you to cook nutritious and delicious food and to be more active, with ideas like Get Moving Mondays and Tasty Tip Tuesdays. Get more info on America Gets Cooking to Stop Diabetes.
Resource 2: The National Diabetes Education Program
NDEP is a partnership of the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than 200 public and private organizations. Throughout National Diabetes Month, the NDEP will promote “Be Smart About Your Heart: Control the ABCs of Diabetes” to help people with diabetes learn they are at greater risk for heart disease, and how they can lower that risk by managing the diabetes ABCs: the A1C test, Blood Pressure, Cholesterol and Stop Smoking. Get more info on the National Diabetes Education Program.
Resource 3: JDRF and Thunderclap
JDRF, also known as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund, is an advocacy organization for raising awareness of Type 1 diabetes, the autoimmune disease one inherits from one or both parents. This November, JDRF is teaming with Thunderclap, a “crowdspeaking” social media platform that integrates with your facebook and twitter accounts. The concept behind Thunderclap is for everyone to share the exact same message on the same days on their social media accounts so that the JDRF posts have a chance to rise above the usual noise of cat memes and “5 Things You Can Do Right Now To…” posts. Get more info on how you can help JDRF raise awareness for Type 1 diabetes.
Please join us in November in raising awareness of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Read our posts about diabetes
Schedule an appointment with one of our podiatrists for a diabetic foot exam.
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