Today is World Diabetes Day (the diabetes-related festivities are going to keep happening all month long). The purpose of World Diabetes Day is to increase global awareness about diabetes, and in honor of today I found some very humorous (in a weird, twisted way) titles on today’s list of diabetes articles. Talk about stating the obvious:
Poor Diet in High School Raises later Risk of Diabetes
Sugary Drinks Raise Risk of Metabolic Syndrome in Women
Overweight Fathers Increase Risk of Obesity in Children
Chewing Gum Doesn’t Affect Weight Loss
Despite the complete overuse of this saying in American dialogue, I just have to say, “Really??” Today I’m thankful for diabetes educators who are out there pounding the pavement (well, the clinics anyway), teaching Americans that healthy habits will help prevent or manage diabetes. Hopefully we are getting the message across so that headlines like these will just be redundant and unnecessary.
Now for the big one: Insulin is not a cure. In 1922 people honestly thought insulin was the cure, but quickly realized that insulin is just a way to manage diabetes. The campaign slogan for World Diabetes Day 2011 is “Act on Diabetes. Now.” Yes, insulin is not a cure, and we are dependent on research scientists to find the cure. We are also dependent on those who donate funds to pay for the cure.
In the meantime, those of us who live with diabetes can act on diabetes now by taking care of ourselves: we can make healthy choices, take medications, be active, eat well, stay positive. This way the next obvious statement will be “I’m doing great, thank you!”