FOR THE TOMAHAWK LEADER
MINOCQUA – Marshfield Clinic is offering a diabetes prevention program called Prevent T2, which is approved by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During the sessions, Clinic health educators teach the skills needed to reach a healthy weight, increase activity and make healthier choices.
There will be a free informational session about the Minocqua program Monday, Feb. 17, at 5 p.m. in the lower level conference room at Marshfield Clinic Minocqua Center, 9601 Townline Road. Attendance at this session is encouraged, but not required to participate.
The first classes will be held Monday, Feb. 24, at 5 p.m. at Minocqua Center.
“The program offers a trained lifestyle coach to guide and encourage you – and you gain support from other participants,” said Jan Drossart, Marshfield Clinic Minocqua Center health educator. “This is a year-long course that begins with 16 weekly sessions, followed by six monthly follow-up sessions. The program focuses on helping prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes and offers support from other participants with the same goals as you.”
This is a lifestyle modification program to help develop healthy behaviors related to weight management, food choices and physical activity. An interesting variety of other topics are also discussed. Although moderate weight loss is encouraged, it is not specifically a weight loss program and does not require participants to follow a certain diet.
“One out of every three American adults has prediabetes, and most do not know it,” Drossart said. “You may have prediabetes and be at risk for type 2 diabetes if you are 45 years or older, are overweight, are physically active fewer than three times per week or have a family history of type 2 diabetes.”
According to the CDC, after a 20-year increase, new diabetes cases have declined. There has been a 35% drop in new diabetes diagnoses – and no increase in total cases. This is the first sign that efforts to stop the nation’s diabetes epidemic are working, CDC researchers report in the British Medical Journal’s Open Diabetes Research and Care.
While the causes of the plateau and decrease remain unclear, researchers suggest that they may be driven, in part, by increased awareness of – and emphasis on – type 2 diabetes prevention, changes in diet and physical activity, and changes in diabetes diagnostic and screening practices. The new report represents the longest sustained plateau in existing cases of diagnosed diabetes and the longest decline in new diabetes cases.
For information about the diabetes prevention class in Minocqua, email [email protected] or call 715-358-1773.