Tuesday March 24, 2015 is the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) annual Diabetes Alert Day. This day kicks-off a four-week campaign which runs through April 21, 2015.

Diabetes Alert Day is THE day each year that ADA sets aside to alert the public to the Diabetes Risk Test. If the results of your risk test indicates you'r at risk, take the next step to know for sure. The goal is for you or your loved one to TAKE ACTION to get diagnosed and care for prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. 

I wholeheartedly support this effort. The time for action is now!

The statistics about the prediabetes and type 2 diabetes epidemics are alarming enough to sound the alarm 365 days a year. They show the dent diabetes is making and will continue to make on our health care system, let alone peoples’ lives and longevity!

According to CDC's Diabetes Facts:

• 29 million children and adults are living with diabetes. (This includes about 6 million people who currently have diabetes but have not yet been diagnosed.) Based on the current U.S. population, about 314 million people - roughly 9.5%. 
• 86 million people are estimated to have prediabetes placing them at a much greater risk for developing type 2 diabetes. CDC estimates that’s about 35% of all adults over the age of 20 and 51% of adults over 65 years of age (yes, you read that correctly!). Research from CDC shows, unfortunately, that barely 11% of these people know they have it.
• One in three American adults will have diabetes in 2050.

Suffice to say, dramatic changes have occurred in our understanding of the onset and progression of prediabetes over the last decade. Lightening speed changes have also occurred regarding the therapies available to achieve optimal blood glucose control.

However, even with all of this change many old dogmas hang on. It’s time to be aware of the new realities. Here I’ve focused on two common old dogmas and the new realities.

For people with type 1 or 2 diabetes carbohydrate, or carb, counting has evolved to be the most common method taught to help you plan meals and, if you take insulin, gauge your insulin doses. Carb counting is based on research showing that it’s the total amount of carbohydrate you eat that most impacts your blood glucose levels after you eat. (Check out two of my articles about the fine art of carbohydrate counting in Diabetic Living magazine Solving

Yes, we’re once again in depths of the post holiday New Year's resolution ritural. And yes, the most common resolution is: lose those unwanted pounds – again or still. But, think - are you really ready to lose weight and do the daily work to keep off those unwanted pounds?

The first report of the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcome Study (DPPOS) came out October 29th, 2009 online in The Lancet, a well known medical journal. DPPOS is part two of the ongoing Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) conducted in the U.S. as a National Institutes of Health multi-site study. The DPP and DPPOS results are similar to findings from trials conducted internationally over the past two decades in Finland, China and elsewhere.