The number of people living with diabetes is soaring in the U.S., as 18 states had at least a doubling in those with the illness since 1995, a government survey found.
Diabetics made up 6 percent or more of the population in all 50 states in 2010, an increase from just three states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico in 1995, according to the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rates are increasing in tandem with obesity, which has reached epidemic proportions as physical activity levels plunge and daily calorie counts soar, according to the CDC.
As I pointed out in my speech at the Ft. Walton Tea Party, if you're overweight fix that now.
Not tomorrow.
Now.
This is not just about money, it is about survival. Today we can treat a number of diseases that otherwise would kill, but at enormous cost. Diabetes is one of these diseases. Metformin, the "original" Type II diabetes medication that has been around for decades is now off patent, but it stops working over time.
Our new "wonderdrugs" are damned expensive and uncontrolled diabetes causes blindness and neural damage in the extremities (among other really bad effects), eventually culminating in the amputation of your feet (if it doesn't kill you outright first.)
Most Type II diabetics can have their blood sugar control greatly enhanced and in some cases it can be returned to normal levels entirely by returning to a healthy weight especially if you get the crap foods out of your diet at the same time.
The CDC findings confirm what doctors are seeing in their practices across the country, Vella said during a telephone interview. It’s critical that people work to remain as close as possible to their healthy body weight, which is one of the best ways to prevent development of the disease, he said.
It would be real nice if that same CDC would stop telling people to eat lots of high-glycemic carbohydrates, which materially complicate maintaining a healthy body weight -- especially if your blood sugar regulation is already compromised.
The essential point of my talk the other day, however, wasn't medical or dietary -- it was economic. Our government is not going to be able to continue to cover the cost of these ever-escalating treatments. Therefore, as time goes on if you choose to remain fat you're going to be faced with two options: be bankrupted or die.
And no, I'm not kidding.
That's what the math says is going to happen.
I did it, in no small part because I didn't want to develop diabetes, and the facts are that if you're fat you're at much higher risk of it happening, all other things being equal.
Stack the odds in your favor, live longer, live better and have a crack at not being bankrupted by avoidable illness at the same time.
