Having to stop and think every time you go to put a bite of food in your mouth. Measuring your blood sugar levels, and tracking them over time. Exercising regularly to both help keep your blood glucose under control, and ratchet down the increased risk of heart attack and stroke that comes with a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes.
Living a healthy life with the disease does indeed take effort, but in recent years, researchers have developed new technologies that help make it easier, as well as medications that can significantly cut down on the chance of developing life-changing complications such as kidney failure, heart disease, and premature death.
You can find more details in my latest Good Times health feature: ‘Advances in Treating Type 2 Diabetes’.
Thank-you to all of the interviewees who were so generous with their time and expertise:
- Normand Boulé, PhD, a professor and associate dean graduate of Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport and Recreation at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
- Alan Casssels, communications director of the Therapeutics Initiative, which is part of the University of British Columbia’s Department of Anaesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
- Dr. Hertzel Gerstein, an endocrinologist and professor with McMaster University’s Faculty of Health Sciences and the Population Health Research Institute in Diabetes in Hamilton, Ont.
- Dr. Stewart Harris, professor and Diabetes Canada Chair in Diabetes Management, and Ian McWhinney Chair of Family Medicine Studies at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry in London, Ont.
- Jordan Rees, a PhD student at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport & Recreation.
- Mario Miceli, who does advocacy work with Diabetes Canada.
Photo by Diabetesmagazijn.nl on Unsplash