On the fourth Tuesday of each month, licensed Bend dietitian Lori Brizee hosts around a dozen people at her clinic’s teaching kitchen for evening discussions about diabetes management. Under Brizee’s guidance, the group learns about food preparation and healthy snacks, samples various whole grains and vegetables and generally talks about ways to manage diabetes through a healthful diet.
For each Eat for Life session, Brizee chooses a different food topic, but the underlying message remains the same month to month: “Through changes in lifestyle that involve exercise and diet, you can make a huge difference in controlling diabetes, reversing diabetes and even whether you develop diabetes in the first place.”
The last part of that statement – controlling whether you develop diabetes in the first place – has grown in importance as more people across the U.S. have been diagnosed with what’s called prediabetes, or having levels of blood glucose that, while not quite reaching diabetic levels, are higher than normal. The National Diabetes Education Program estimates that 79 million U.S. adults over 20 have prediabetes, putting them at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes as well as other serious conditions, such as heart disease.
“You won’t know if you have prediabetes unless your physician checks your fasting glucose levels (fasting blood glucose test, or FPG) and you have a hemoglobin A1C test (for average blood sugar levels),” Brizee said. “But there are certainly people who are at higher risk of prediabetes.”
For instance, having one parent with type 2 diabetes increases one’s chance of developing prediabetes by 30 percent, according to Brizee. If both parents have diabetes, the odds increase to 80 percent. Being overweight with just one parent or relative with diabetes puts one in a “very high risk” category, she said.
A positive message can be gleaned from these seemingly dire statistics, Brizee said. “We have really good research that says lifestyle change can protect you from actually developing diabetes, and the research is very strong.”
And herein lies the value of Central Oregon Nutrition Consultants’ monthly Eat for Life support group: the free sessions not only offer information for managing and reversing the effects of diabetes, it also exists to help those most at risk plot a course toward diabetes prevention, starting with a better diet.
The next Eat for Life diabetes support group will be held at Central Oregon Nutrition Consultants (516 SW 13th St., Ste. 101, Bend) on Tuesday, April 22, 6-7pm. Each month’s event is posted on the clinic’s Facebook page, facebook.com/eatwelloregon, where reservations can be made. Spots can also be reserved via email, lbrizee@centraloregonnutrition.com or by calling 541-306-6801.
Central Oregon Nutritional Consultants was founded by Lori S. Brizee, MS, RD, LD, CSP, in 2006 to provide healthful strategies for individuals with nutrition concerns related to food allergies/intolerance, eating disorders, obesity, weight management, chronic illness (e.g., diabetes, heart, kidney, liver and gestural intestinal disease) and simply the desire to achieve higher levels of health. Brizee provides nutritional services for both adults and children. www.CentralOregonNutrition.com.
