Guest speakers from Diabetes Foundation St. Maarten
During our weekly meeting on Tuesday November 10th, we had Lotty Peterson and Amanda Wever from the Diabetes Foundation of St. Maarten as guest speakers. Their presentation was about “Prediabetes”. Prediabetes means you have a higher-than-normal blood sugar level. It's not high enough to be considered type 2 diabetes yet, but without lifestyle changes, adults and children with prediabetes are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
 
If you have prediabetes, the long-term damage of diabetes — especially to your heart, blood vessels and kidneys — may already be starting. There's good news, however. Progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes is not inevitable.
 
We also did a Prediabetes Risk Test by answering several questions. If you scored 5 or higher, you are likely to have prediabetes and are at high risk for type 2 diabetes. Healthy lifestyle choices can help you prevent prediabetes and its progression to type 2 diabetes — even if diabetes runs in your family.
Try to: eat healthy foods, get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic physical activity a week, or about 30 minutes on most days of the week, lose excess weight, control your blood pressure and cholesterol, don’t smoke.
At the end of the presentation, Lotty and Amanda were presented with a token of appreciation for sharing valuable information with us.