Tagbilaran City - This pandemic and subsequent lockdown have changed many people’s daily routine due to community restrictions and remote work arrangements. These measures keep Filipinos safe with lesser risk of contracting COVID-19 virus, however, experts said lack of exercise and decreased activity lead to other medical conditions like obesity, which may develop to Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

There are 3 main types of diabetes mainly type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes. About 90-95% of people with diabetes have type 2 where your body doesn’t use insulin well and can’t keep blood sugar at normal levels. There is no cure yet for diabetes so we have to make efforts to prevent these chronic, long-lasting health condition.

How can we prevent getting type 2 diabetes? Let’s go through it.

Most of the things that you need to do involve having a healthier lifestyle. An important part of diabetes prevention is losing weight. Losing a small amount of weight if you’re overweight and getting regular physical activity can lower your risk of developing this disease. Once you lose weight, it is important that you maintain and not gain it back.

Another thing that we can follow would be a healthy eating plan. Use Pinggang Pinoy as guide. Pinggang Pinoy is a food guide using a food plate model to show the recommended proportion by food groups in every meal, intended specifically for healthy Filipinos. This is a nutrition tool for preparing healthy food on a per meal basis.

Reducing the amount of calories you eat and drink each day greatly contributes to losing weight and keeping it off. Less fatty and sugary foods, limiting red meat, and avoid processed meat; choose nuts, beans, whole grains, or fish instead.

Also eat variety of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet and variety is as important as quantity. Remember that no single fruit or vegetable provides all the nutrients you need to be healthy. So, eat plenty everyday as instructed in Kumainment No 3 – Kumain ng prutas at gulat araw-araw. Follow Kumainment No 1 too – Kumain ng ibat-ibang pagkain.  

Smoking can also contribute to insulin resistance, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. Either you stop smoking or quit smoking. There are no other options.

Last but not the least is seeing your health care provider and check if you need a lifestyle change program especially if you are a high-risk individual and see if there’s anything you can do to prevent type 2 diabetes. // PNFP Arnold R. Bongcac, Jr., RN