Diabetes Prevention Program
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a chronic disease that causes blood sugar levels to rise higher than normal. Diabetes affects more than 29 million people. A condition called prediabetes occurs when blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. More than 84 million Americans have prediabetes and are at risk of developing diabetes. Diabetes has no cure, but prediabetes can be reversed.
Program Goals
- Lose 7% of your body weight
- Gradually increase your physical activity to 150 minutes per week
- Meet weekly for peer support and encouragement
Participants do this through:
- Healthy Eating – Eating smaller portions, reducing fat in your diet and discovering healthier foods can help prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes.
- Increasing Physical Activity – Moderate physical activity (walking, swimming, mowing the lawn) for as little as 30 minutes, five days a week, can help improve your blood pressure, raise your good cholesterol and prevent blood flow problems.
- Losing Weight – Reducing your body weight by as little as 7% can offer tremendous benefits for people at risk for diabetes.
The Good News
If you believe you are at risk for developing diabetes, there is something you can do about it. People with prediabetes who make the kinds of basic lifestyle changes the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program suggests have been shown to reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Important Documents
Some health plans have contracted with local YMCAs to cover the cost of the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program. Please contact your health plan to ask whether the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program is a covered benefit for you, and if so, which local YMCAs are in your health plan’s network and able to accept your health insurance as payment.