Victoria Zimmer, Registered Dietician - Huron Perth Diabetes Education Team (Bob Montgomery photo) Victoria Zimmer, Registered Dietician - Huron Perth Diabetes Education Team (Bob Montgomery photo)
Midwestern

Changes To Diet And Exercise Can Control Diabetes

A member of the Huron Perth Diabetes Education Team says the incidence of diabetes is increasing, particularly in North America.

However, registered dietician Victoria Zimmer says it usually can be controlled with improved diet and exercise.

She points out it's often a combination of diet and lack of exercise that leads to diabetes, but acknowledges it can be very difficult to change habits that are forty or 50 years old. Genetics can also be a factor with diabetes.

"People get used to eating a certain way and it's hard to change those habits when people have done it for 30, 40, or 50 years; whether it be exercise or food, so it's really a combination of the two and also strong family history," she says. "We see whole families, so it's also that kind of family dynamic as well."

Zimmer says there are several indicators of the early stages of diabetes, including what people describe as an unquenchable thirst, which leads to urinating more often, including getting up in the night when that wasn't an issue before.

Other indicators could be significant weight loss in a short period of time because blood sugars are running so high, increasingly blurry vision, re-occurring infections and wounds that won't heal.

Zimmer says the goal of Diabetes Day on April 24 was to raise awareness but also to send the message that diabetes is manageable.

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