November is Diabetes Month in Canada, and the national organization in partnership with Northern Health has created regional events to bring the attention of the disease to the public.
In the Bulkley Valley, two events have been organized in both Smithers and Houston, to help assess if residents could be at risk, and to offer educational seminars on how to both prevent and manage diagnosis.
Diabetes is the fasting growing disease in Canada and is estimated that close to eleven million Canadian adults, or approximately 30% of the country’s population, are living with it or have a predisposition to it.
In Smithers and Houston, approximately 1784 and 944 people could be affected by the disease respectively.
Through the regional events, the public can come and consult with a nurse and registered dietitian to discuss ways to improve lifestyle and food choices.
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with Northern Health, Wendy Marion-Orienti, has throughout the year worked in Smithers and seen the incidence of diabetes increase, not only locally but nationally. She attributes that part of the diagnosis in part to early detection.
She says that Type II diabetes, in particular, is a full lifestyle disease so informing the public about this allows steps to be taken to prevent it.
During the free public event, a computer will be set up on-site that will allow a user to take a test to determine the level of risk, check current blood sugars and learn about creating a healthy gut through a live cooking demonstration.
Ms. Orienti stresses that though the idea of gut health is a new area of research, having a healthy population of good bacteria in the digestive tract definitely has an impact on how the body metabolizes any food consumed, and a diet that supports a healthy gut is very much in line with the foods we know stabilize our blood sugars, cholesterol and blood pressure.
“The fact that simple sugar intake has increased so much in Canada, it’s a factor in causing diabetes, but does not in of itself directly cause diabetes, but because its an empty calorie kind of food, and can promote weight gain that in turn is a risk factor for type II diabetes”
Diabetes Canada is also targeting sugar consumption in Canada. Their goal is to reduce the sugar consumption by 10 million kg by 2020. So far 2.5 million kg has been reduced between 2015-2016.
EVENT DETAILS:
SMITHERS
Living Arts Centre 1020 Main Street
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 24
2-4PM Presentation for people with Type II diabetes including cooking demonstrations on improving gut health
7-9PM Presentation for people who have type I diabetes and Insulin Pump management
HOUSTON
Health centre event
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 28th
10a – 12pm – Learn how Type II diabetes can be prevented/ decrease your risk
All sessions at each location, include blood glucose testing, consultations with diabetes educators and information on prevention and management.