Throwing DARTs at diabetes

•         Total number of people: 23.6 million children and adults in the United States—7.8% of the population—have diabetes.

•         Diagnosed: 17.9 million people

•         Undiagnosed: 5.7 million people

•         Pre-diabetes: 57 million people

•         New Cases: 1.6 million diagnosed in people aged 20 years and older each year.

The major source of the epidemic of diabetes is the epidemic of obesity.  Although the rise in obesity rates has slowed in the US, it is rampant in developing world.  1.6 billion people world wide are overweight and 400 million are obese.  The good news is if people make the needed lifestyle change, then in the majority of cases diabetes is preventable.   The bad news is the effort to make a change is cumbersome.  People stick with a change for a short while and then go back into old established habits.  The medical community and researchers have discovered new trick: medications to treat the appetite, blast off fat, increase metabolism, stop the fat absorption, et cetera, but those measures are not sustainable unless the person truly and permanently invest into their lifestyle. 

The real pill we need is the DART pill – or, the “Do All the Right Things” pill. DART has many side-effects. Upon taking this pill, the user wakes up 6:30 in the morning and exercises for 30 minutes. Then, he or she eats a healthy breakfast with 5 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. Throughout the day , they walk as much as they can, eat a healthy, low-fat, and full of fruits and vegetables lunch and dinner (mostly home-made and fishy), drinks a glass of wine and lots of water, before squeezing in another half-hour round of exercise. They get in bed by 10:00 and are asleep by 10:30 PM, for a full 8 hours.  Oh, and don’t forget to take DART again.