Dining with Diabetes
Let 2020 be the year you take back control of your diabetes
Return to Health and Nutrition Agent Articles
1 in every 10 adults in Kansas has been diagnosed with the disease that can lead to stroke, blindness and kidney failure.
Imagine a gathering with 10 of your friends and family members. Now imagine that at least one of you has a disease that can lead to blindness…or amputation...or a stroke. The prospect is not at all far-fetched.
About one in 10 Kansans has been diagnosed with diabetes, a chronic disease characterized by elevated blood sugar (blood glucose). High levels of blood glucose are a result of inadequate production of insulin or a resistance to the effects of insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas.
According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment:
- In 2014, 10.3 percent of Kansas adults aged 18 years and older reported ever being diagnosed with diabetes.
- In 2014, 6.5 percent of Kansas adults had ever been diagnosed with prediabetes.
- The prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes among Kansas adults increases with age. The highest prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes is among adults, age 55 and older.
- Diabetes is more prevalent among non-Hispanic African-Americans and Hispanics than among non-Hispanic whites. The prevalence of prediabetes does not differ significantly by race or ethnicity group.
- The prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes does not differ significantly by gender.
- In 2013, among Kansas adults with diabetes, more than 15 percent reported they had been diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, which can lead to blindness.
- In 2014, more than 14 percent of Kansas adults with diabetes reported they had ever had a stroke or coronary heart disease.
K-State Research and Extension is offering a national extension program designed to boost the health and wellness of Kansans with Type 2 diabetes and help educate their family members, caregivers and others who support them.
“There’s so much at stake,” said Gayle Price, K-State Research and Extension family and consumer science specialist and coordinator of the program in Kansas. Diabetes increases the risk of stroke, heart disease, kidney disease, retinopathy that can lead to blindness and neuropathy that can lead to lower limb amputation.
The vast majority of adults who are diagnosed with diabetes – 90 to 95 percent – have Type 2 diabetes which occurs when cells in the body become resistant to the effects of insulin. Unlike Type 1, which occurs when the body cannot produce insulin and cannot be prevented, the onset of Type 2 can be prevented.
The prevalence of diabetes is greater in African-Americans and Hispanic Americans and among older adults and those with a family history of Type 2 diabetes, Price said. Some risk factors, however, can be modified, including being overweight or obese, physical inactivity, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and smoking.
An estimated $245 billion was spent on diagnosed diabetes in 2012 in the United States alone according to a study by the American Diabetes Association, Price said, including direct medical expenses and lost productivity. That was up from $43 billion in 2007. The study also indicated that people with diabetes spend an average of 2.3 times the amount of money on their health every year than people without diabetes spend. That works out to an average of $13,700 a year per person, about $7,900 of which is directly attributed to diabetes.
Dining with Diabetes is a series of two-hour classes held once a week for four weeks. Lessons focus on the best ways to take care of yourself if you have the disease; healthful food choices including familiar foods; low-impact physical activity; food sampling; cooking techniques using herbs, spices, reduced-fat foods and artificial sweeteners.
For more information or to register for Dining with Diabetes classes, visit johnson.k-state.edu/. Classes will be held on Tuesday, January 28, February 4, 11 and 18 from 3:00-5:00 PM at our Johnson County Extension Office. Dinner is included in every class. The fee for all four classes is $25.
Source: www.k-state.edu/diningwithdiabetes
