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Make a Lifestyle Change to Lose Weight and Type 2 Diabetes

A recent study found that people who make a lifestyle change can lose weight and reduce the symptoms of or even eradicate type 2 diabetes altogether.

The study, published in the September 27 issue of the medical journal "Archives of Internal Medicine", was taken with 5,145 overweight or obese people, who came in with an average age of 58.7 and also had type 2 diabetes.

Changing Diet and Physical Activity Levels

The study assigned around half this number to an intensive change of lifestyle that included changes to their diet and taking sufficient physical activity that would achieve a weight loss target of 7 percent in the first year.

There were also monthly support meetings and phone support for this group. This intervention in lifestyle was also designed to enable those taking part to maintain that weight reduction in subsequent years.

The other half of the participants were used as a control group assigned to a support group including diabetes education holding three group sessions per year where they would discuss topics such as diet, exercise and social support.

After the four year long study, it was seen that the participants taking part in the lifestyle change group lost 6.2 percent of their body weight on average. This was compared with just 0.9 percent for the group taking part in the diabetes support group.

There was also a greater level of improvement in fitness amongst the lifestyle change group, as well as improved blood glucose control, more stable and lower blood pressure and lower levels of the good form of HDL cholesterol.

The participants on the lifestyle change program showed improved control of their blood glucose levels along with a reduction in their risk factors for cardiovascular disease. These two factors are critical in preventing the several long-term complications which are known to be caused by diabetes.

Take Action to Improve Health

This just goes to prove that in order to improve your own health, you must take action of your own in the areas of diet and exercise. Failing to make changes where changes are needed to be made increase the risk of developing complications associated with type 2 diabetes and obesity in general.

But sitting around thinking about it or reading about it without actually DOing anything about it is simply not good enough. Fat loss and health improvements come to those who work for themselves towards their goals, because no one else can do it for you.

You can find more professional information at http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/complications_control/

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Posted on Wed, 29 Sep 2010 in News | 2 Comments