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Diabetes Prevention Week – Cally’s story

People from across Yorkshire and the Humber are being urged to eat healthily and be more active to help reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes during Diabetes Prevention Week starting today.
Cally, aged 49 from Grimsby has benefited from the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme; a free personalised tailored service for people at risk of type 2 diabetes. The programme provides advice on eating healthily, being more active and losing weight. A lack of exercise, poor diet and being overweight are all risk factors for developing the Type 2 diabetes.
Cally is now urging others in Yorkshire and the Humber to check whether they may be at risk of the disease and take action on improving their own health.
She said: “I think this programme is marvellous. It’s a strong message, but the major problem it faces is undoing generations of dietary thinking.  I’ve heard people saying it’s just another fad and arguing that the diet can’t work and that cholesterol will go up.  It’s tough to undo this thinking, but I think we’ve got to start somewhere.  I feel incredible lucky to have had this message presented to me now, as this programme has turned my life around.”
Nationally, diabetes and its complications cost over £6 billion every year to treat and one in six patients in hospital has diabetes. Around nine out of 10 people with diabetes have Type 2 diabetes which is closely linked to obesity and yet is largely preventable by making simple lifestyle changes around diet, activity levels and weight management.
Cally added: “The important thing I have learnt from the course is that this diabetes prevention programme is different from other diets like Weightwatchers or Slimming World and that I am in control of my own destiny.  I know the dangers of diabetes, and have been given the tools to help me live life from here onwards without worrying about the condition.”

 

GPs and other healthcare professionals in Yorkshire & the Humber are using Diabetes Prevention Week, which starts today, to urge residents to find out if they are at risk and take action to improve their future health.

Local activity also plans to raise awareness of high risk groups, which includes those from certain ethnic backgrounds including South Asian, Black African and Black Caribbean.

You can check to see if you are at risk of type 2 diabetes at diabetes.org.uk/risk.