Cookeville Leisure Services will host a workshop Wednesday to educate local citizens about prediabetes.
Healthcare Professional and Workshop Instructor Melissa Ptak said some 98 million adults have prediabetes nationwide. She said out of every ten adults, eight do not know they have the condition.
“It is more common in people who have a family history of diabetes or prediabetes,” Ptak said. “It is more common in people who carry a little more weight than usual. If you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol that also increases your risk.”
Ptak said the main goal of the workshop is to spread awareness as prediabetes often leads to type two diabetes which can cause various metabolic health issues. Ptak said the workshop will also help people swap to a healthier lifestyle to prevent the problem.
“It’s about trying to eat a healthier diet, reducing processed foods, getting more proteins and vegetables, and just moving more,” Ptak said. “Many of us may have sedentary jobs where we are sitting at a desk all day or not moving as much as we used to, or just how to incorporate more activity and exercise into your lifestyle as well.”
Ptak said with prediabetes becoming a big issue, we are starting to see young adults and teenagers have prediabetes.
Ptak said the best way to find out if you have prediabetes is by having annual health physicals.
“I know a lot of people tell me ‘Oh well I feel good so I feel like I don’t need to go to the doctor,'” Ptak said. “But going for your routine checkups where they can do your annual bloodwork and just kind of see overall how you are doing, keeping track of your weight, keeping track of your blood pressure, things like that helps us as clinicians to kind of queue and see you might be at risk or have a family history, so it is important to go for those annual exams so we can kind of be on the lookout for these types of things that increase your risk.”
The prediabetes workshop will be held on Wednesday from 5pm-6:30pm and on Saturday, May 3 from 1pm-2:30pm at the Cane Creek Recreation Center. The workshop fee is $20 and to register you can call the Cane Creek Recreation Center.
