By: Kimberly Wolfe MS RD LDN CDE
Diabetes and prediabetes is a growing concern in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 30.3 million US adults have diabetes and 1 in 4 of them don’t know it! November is National Diabetes Month and Registered Dietitians have a unique ability to help patients and the community with the prevention and treatment of this chronic disease. Here are some ways to get more involved for diabetes month.
Empower our community! Knowledge is power. Helping clients understand that there are many areas of diabetes prevention or treatment that is within their power. Educating the community and placing more focus on areas that can be controlled (like lifestyle) rather than areas that cannot be influenced (like genetics), in the development of the disease.
Spreading the word about the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) is powerful! The CDC created a program that compares a lifestyle intervention compared to a medication intervention. It turns out that a healthy lifestyle is as powerful as medication! By increasing this awareness, the community can feel empowered to take more control over their health.
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) created a 60-second quiz to determine your risk for Type 2 Diabetes. An advantage to taking the quiz is to find out where you stand in order to take healthy steps to maintain or improve your health!
Take the quiz here: http://www.diabetes.org/are-you-at-risk/diabetes-risk-test/?loc=alertday.
Get involved: Offer a class, workshop, or prevention program. No matter if you work in clinical, community, or food service, get more involved with those that you reach on a regular basis. For example, offer a healthy lifestyle class to hospital colleagues. Host an educational workshop to campus students with a cooking demo that shows healthy cooking techniques. Or create a workshop for your local community on ways nutrition and exercise can prevent, delay, or improve diabetes.
Team Up: team up with other health professionals. Collaborating is not just for singers and musicians. It helps your job and those around you when you cross educate with another health professional. Think about the value created for others when you partner with a Registered Nurse or an exercise physiologist, or a YMCA staff member that the community respects. This will help you cross market and reach more members of your community.
Promote fun! Implementing a healthy lifestyle can be daunting or it can be fun! The choice is up to you. RDs can teach clients on how to focus on the great feeling movement brings into your life. By placing energy on your WHYS for having a healthy lifestyle and the sense of pride that is felt when following through, consistency will be established.
Kimberly Wolf MS, RD, LDN, CDE is a Registered Dietitian working as the outpatient MNT manager for Sodexo. She just graduated with her Master’s degree and in her free time enjoys exercising, cooking, and curling. Connect with her on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiankimberly/
