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TAKING STEPS TO PREVENT DIABETES
Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects millions of people worldwide. Uncontrolled cases can cause blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and other serious conditions.
World Diabetes Day is the primary global awareness campaign focusing on Diabetes 
Mellitus and is held on 14 November each year. The theme for World Diabetes Day 2018 and 2019 is The Family and Diabetes – diabetes concerns every family. The two years of the campaign will aim to:
- Raise awareness of the impact that diabetes has on the family and support network of those affected.
- Promote the role of the family in the management, care, prevention and education of diabetes.
Diabetes can drive families into poverty. Managing diabetes effectively requires daily treatment, regular monitoring, a healthy diet and lifestyle and ongoing education.
Tips to avoid Diabetes
- Lose excess body fat- Being overweight is a big risk factor for diabetes.
- Follow a plant-based, low-calorie diet- Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Foods to avoid are those rich in trans fats (also called hydrogenated fat), saturated fat, and sugar.
- Minimize your intake of processed foods: One clear step you can take to improve
your health is to minimize your consumption of processed foods. They’re linked to all sorts of health problems, including heart disease, obesity and diabetes. - Don’t smoke- Smoking can contribute to insulin resistance, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. If you already smoke, try to quit.
- Drink water- Cut sugar-sweetened beverages out of your diet.
- Move your body- Physical inactivity raises the risk of diabetes. Perform daily exercises for at least 30 minutes.
- Reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease- Diabetes and cardiovascular disease have many risk factors in common, including obesity and physical inactivity.
- Sleep well- Chronic sleep deprivation and poor quality sleep increase the risk for diabetes and obesity.
- Keep medical appointments- Warning signs of type 2 diabetes are less dramatic than those of type 1 diabetes. That’s why it’s important to see your doctor regularly.
You can live with diabetes. It’s not the worst thing to have, but you have to manage yourself and have some self-control- Tony Rock
