The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has some stark realities to share. Chronic diseases and conditions—such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity and arthritis—are the leading cause of death and disability in the United States. They are also among the most common, costly and preventable of all health problems.
Individual health choices really do affect us all. In the U.S., preventable chronic diseases and conditions account for the majority of health care costs—86% in 2010. Moreover, the World Bank Group revealed that the U.S. has the highest health expenditure of any country in the world. Unhealthy behaviors have become a national burden.
The CDC is doing something about it. In July 2015, it launched its yearlong National Diabetes Prevention Program, designed to empower participants to change their lifestyle behaviors in hopes of preventing type 2 diabetes.
At Ontario County, two Public Health employees—Kate Ott, public health educator, and Christy Richards, registered nurse and chronic disease coordinator, recently led 13 county employees through this CDC behavioral change curriculum. The employees were all at-risk for or worried about developing diabetes, and were looking to turn things around.
“Participants learned basic skills they didn’t have before,” Ott says. “The program is about changing their approach to food and their activity levels. It’s not a diet. It’s about changing your thinking.”
The program, which was sponsored by Ontario County Worksite Wellness, presented a significant time commitment for the 13 women who joined. Participants met in person once weekly for six months to learn about how they could change their lifestyle to change their health. The following six months involved monthly phone meetings. Together, the group lost more than 100 pounds—more than 7% of their total body weight—over the course of the year.
Here, two participants share their stories of how the diabetes prevention program helped them.
Sheila Blair and her husband have lost a combined total of 50 pounds, thanks to healthier lifestyle choices.
In 2013, Sheila Blair began feeling lethargic. She was diagnosed with cancer, which was successfully treated. However, because of extreme fatigue, exercise had fallen by the wayside and she gained weight. When Blair was approached by Ott and Richards about the CDC program, she saw an opportunity.
“The program is not a diet. But I started going and started losing weight,” Blair says.
The biggest factor in losing weight, Blair says, was learning more about her food choices and the combinations of food that would help her eat healthiest.
She and other participants had to journal everything they ate. Soon she began to monitor whether she was eating too many starches, enough fruits and vegetables, or the right kind of protein. Blair also began walking more and gave up soda.
Blair says the program has instigated a whole lifestyle change for her—one that has also led to a 20-pound weight loss. She incorporated her healthier eating habits at home, too, and her husband, Joseph, lost 30 pounds.
“The program gives you all the tools you need, but it’s up to you to utilize them,” she says.
Barb Garman started the program on a whim. She didn’t have any pressing medical issues, but recognized the combination of her age and weight merited more focused attention. Plus she was tired of having achy knees and ankles.
Barb Garman says she wants to be a healthy influence on her three grandchildren—plus one on the way—including Will and Paige, seen here.
She started the program by purging her cupboards and keeping the required food journal. She says she didn’t enjoy tracking all the food she ate, but it helped her to stay committed.
“It’s not that I didn’t know what to do intellectually,” she says. “It was just difficult to get it done.” She did, however, enjoy the weekly meetings and weigh-ins.
Over the course of the program, Garman lost 50 pounds. Her knees and feet don’t ache as much either. But she feels the biggest change is her new food label-reading habit. Most important, Garman wants her healthier food choices to be integrated into her lifestyle, including her family.
“I’m trying to find out what fits with me—a Pennsylvania Dutch grandma who likes to eat. That internal piece is the most important and I’m working on it,” she says.
