Even a Little Loss Helps with Type 2 Diabetes
(4 comments)
If you’re thinking that you have to shed megapounds to reap big health rewards, think again.
Recent research found that people with type 2 diabetes who lost just a modest amount of weight—about 8%—enjoyed improved blood glucose control. Many were able to decrease their need for diabetes, blood pressure, and lipid-lowering medications.
This news comes from Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes), a clinical trial of 5,145 overweight or obese adults with type 2 diabetes. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, this program is examining the long-term impact of an intensive lifestyle intervention, including group and individual meetings to help participants stay on track with their weight loss and exercise programs.
Look AHEAD researchers found that the group of people who received intensive lifestyle intervention lost more weight than did a group that received traditional diabetes support and education: In fact, the intervention group members lost 8.6% of their body weight in a year, while the other group participants lost just 0.7% in the same amount of time. Continued intervention and follow-up will show whether these positive changes are maintained and if they reduce any cardiovascular disease risks.
4 Comments
This is so true....even a modest weight loss certainly helps diabetics manage their symptoms! It is harder to lose weight when we have diabetes ( it was for me!) but it has to be a new mindset. All it took for me was to meet a young man (about 35) who had lost a leg due to a diabetic ulcer...man, I said to myself, this can not be the path I'm heading down. It frieghtened me. Then I began to notice all the people with amputations and wondered if it was due to diabetes. I wasn't about to ask them, of course, but what if only 1 in 10 was due to diabetes? That's a lot of people! So, what did I do? I started eating breakfast and lunch. I was such a "meal-skipper" because I had so much going on all the time! I committed to myself that my life was going to be more important than any activity, and I learned to say NO. Today, I have lost over 20 lbs, it's been almost a year, and I have not gained it back. My only problem area is trying to always plan my meals in advance. Breakfast and lunch are on automatic pilot for me now, but dinner is not there yet.
HOW DID I DO IT? I JOINED overeaters annoymous, which is the program of last resort. We compulsive overeaters (any more of you out there?)have tried every diet there is, and have always gained it back. I'm living proof that this program works, the weight comes off and stays off, as long as you commit yourself to the 12 steps of the program. There is no magic wand for us, we just do the footwork, and we can reach oour goal of abstinence from compulsive overeating. Weight loss is just a result! Look up OA on the web......Thank you for letting me share
Posted at
11:58 AM
July 26 2008
by
Miss Tika
Seems the article is incomplete. There is very little information that can be used. Where is the description of the intensive intervention strategies used in the study?
Posted at
2:52 PM
July 24 2008
by
Laura
I need help finding good recipes that taste good for me and I am over weight and have type 2 diabetes. I have to loss the weight or it will kill me I am only 38 years old. CAN YOU HELP ME!
Posted at
6:33 PM
September 7 2010
by
Arkether
I would like to learn how to cook more healthier meals that my son can eat and like them
Posted at
9:46 PM
August 23 2008
by
kandibar1
