November 2009 HealthierYou Calendar

Diabetes Prevention

Key to the Matching Activity

• American Diabetes Month
• National Healthy Skin Month
• GERD Awareness Week (third week in November 2009)

Fact or Fiction

Just 30 minutes a day of moderate physical activity, coupled with a 5-10% reduction in body weight, can produce a 58% reduction in diabetes.

Fact: While diabetes occurs in people of all ages and races, some groups have a higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes than others. Being overweight is a risk factor that contributes to the development of type 2 diabetes.

The recently completed Diabetes Prevention Program study (DPP) conclusively showed that people with pre-diabetes can prevent the development of type 2 diabetes by making changes in their diet and increasing their level of physical activity. Just 30 minutes a day of moderate physical activity, coupled with a 5-10% reduction in body weight, produced a 58% reduction in diabetes.

Before people develop type 2 diabetes, they almost always have "pre-diabetes" - blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Recent research has shown that some long-term damage to the body, especially the heart and circulatory system, may already be occurring during pre-diabetes.

Resources:

• Learn about diabetes by visiting
• Tips for Teens with Diabetes
• Visit Tiny Bites Totals Big Calories to study your own metabolism
• Visit for educational videos and material visit
• The Weight Loss Maintenance Trial

NASA in Your Life

Diagnostic Instruments

NASA technology was used to create a compact laboratory instrument for hospitals and doctors’ offices that quickly analyzes blood, accomplishing in 30 seconds what once took 20 minutes.

For more information please go to www.sti.nasa.gov.

Down-To-Earth

Read all labels, not just the food labels.

Reading labels can tell you a lot about a product by learning about the product's ingredients and to determine whether it contains anything that might be hazardous to your health or the environment.

A label will also tell you how to contact the product's manufacturer with your questions and comments. Do you think their product is good? Could it be better? Have you decided to buy or not buy their product for environmental reasons? Let the manufacturer know what you think.

HealthierYou by Choice

Celebrate yourself, your spirit, your endurance, and your resilience on November 12th, The Chicken Soup for the Soul Day!

Mom was right after all...

Liquids, like soup, help counteract dehydration during illness. Hot soups produce steam that break up nasal congestion and keep nasal passages moist. Many recipes for chicken soup contain vegetables that are packed with vitamins and minerals. However, the most powerful effect of chicken soup may simply be the comfort of sitting down to a bowlful of memories; there's nothing more soothing than that.

For more information please visit:

• www.webmd.com
• holidayinsights.com