In the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program, a trained Lifestyle Coach will introduce topics in a supportive, small group environment and encourage participants as they explore how healthy eating, physical activity and behavior changes can help reduce their risk for diabetes and benefit their overall health. To register your interest, contact the Y at 815-433-2395

As a participant, you’ll enjoy:

  • A safe space where you can feel comfortable sharing and learning in private.
  • Making new friends, by working as a group. You don’t have to figure this out alone.
  • The new energy and confidence that comes with losing weight and reducing your risk for diabetes.

PROGRAM GOALS

To help reduce your risk for diabetes, your goal in the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program is:

  • Reduce your body weight by 5-7%
  • Increase your physical activity to 150 minutes/week
  • Boost your energy and reduce your risk for diabetes
  • Improve your health for life!

You will do this by learning strategies for:

Healthy Eating

  • Eating smaller portions, reducing fat in your diet and discovering healthier food options has been shown to help prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes.
  • Increasing Physical Activity
  • Studies have repeatedly shown that moderate physical activity (walking, swimming, mowing the lawn) for as little as 30 minutes a day, five days a week can help improve your blood pressure, raise your good cholesterol and prevent blood flow problems.

Losing Weight

  • It has been shown that reducing your body weight by even a small amount (as little as 5 – 7 percent) can offer tremendous benefits for people at risk for diabetes.
  • Based on research funded by the National Institutes of Health, this program has been shown to reduce the number of new cases of Type 2 diabetes by as much as 58 percent in adults. The reduction was even greater, 71 percent, among adults aged 60 years or older.
  • Nearly 86 million American adults, that’s one in three, have prediabetes. People with prediabetes are likely to develop Type 2 diabetes within 10 years, unless they take action to prevent or delay the disease. Diabetes is a leading cause of heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease and nerve disease.