Small Weight Loss Can Help Type 2 Diabetes

(WebMD)  Weight loss doesn't have to be dramatic to help the health of people with type 2 diabetes, a new study shows.

The study, called Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes), included 5,145 people with type 2 diabetes.

The key finding: Losing a modest amount of weight — about 8 percent — reaped big health rewards, including better blood sugar control and less need for diabetes and blood pressure drugs.

"We're encouraged, based on our experience with Look AHEAD, that many overweight individuals with type 2 diabetes are able to achieve and maintain 7 percent to 10 percent or greater weight loss over the course of one year," researcher Mark Espeland, PhD, tells WebMD.

Espeland works in the public health sciences division of Wake Forest University's medical school.

Weight Loss and Type 2 Diabetes

In type 2 diabetes, the body doesn't respond properly to insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar. Being overweight or obese makes people more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

Look AHEAD participants first weighed in, got checkups, and took exercise
tests. Then they were randomly split into two similar groups.

Participants in one group got an intensive lifestyle makeover to help them
lose at least 7 percent of their body weight in the study's first year. They attended dozens of group meetings, ate portion-controlled diets, and got help from behavioral psychologists and exercise specialists.

Their portion-controlled diets included liquid meal replacements or
structured meal plans. Those participants were encouraged to walk or get other physical activity at home.

For comparison, participants in the other group got standard care,
education, and support for their type 2 diabetes, with few group meetings and no specific diet or exercise plan.

Weight Loss Diabetes Results

In a year, participants in the intensive lifestyle program lost 8.6 percent of
their body weight, boosted their aerobic fitness by 21 percent, improved their blood sugar control, and cut back on their need for diabetes and blood pressure medications.

Those in the comparison group lost less than 1 percent of their body weight. But
they did upgrade their fitness somewhat, though not as much as those in the
lifestyle program.

"Many markers of health improved in both groups," Espeland tells WebMD.

Look AHEAD will continue to see if the short-term results hold up over time. "This is the primary reason for Look AHEAD," says Espeland.

Many Ways to Lose Weight

In the journal, the researchers note that the Slim-Fast Foods Company and
other firms — as well as many government and educational grants — support
Look AHEAD.

But liquid meal replacements weren't necessarily essential to the results.

"While we felt that liquid meal replacements were helpful for many
individuals to achieve and maintain weight loss, we viewed them as one of
several strategies that could be jointly used," Espeland tells WebMD.

"Our protocol was designed to enable individuals to meet study goals for
weight loss using a toolbox of approaches that were tailored to the individual's success. We cannot attribute our overall success to any single approach," says Espeland.

By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
B)2005-2006 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved

[erasmus6]

retmilspouse

"They act like it is just another day and eat to their hearts content."

Tell me about it! I live with one too.
My husband basically eats whatever he wants. His mother had to go on the needle because she abused her diet. He knows others who have diabetes and all have lost either one or both legs and one has gone blind also. You would think that would make him think twice about what he eats wouldn't you?

Also, you left a message for MichelleM99 about where she could possibly get help. I don't think she has got it, but I notice she has posted a comment on the article "Eat Some Chocolate, For Your Heart", so maybe you could repost it on there for her.

[retmilspouse]

Posted by LoneStartNow at 12:29 PM : Jul 03, 2007

Those comments are so very true. You hear people all the time complaining about not having enough funding for this disease or that, such as AIDS, heart disease, cancer and stem cell research etc etc etc. But here is a disease that is truly preventable but look at how it is viewed by most who have it. They act like its just any other day and eat to their hearts content. I know I live with one. My mother is 70 and overweight and has a amputated leg, past stroke, stints in her heart and other diabetic related issues and eats as if its any other day. After years and years of complaining it has done no good. I just want to beg everyone reading this section if you are one of these folks please if you dont want to do it for yourself do it for the others that will be left behind when you die from this disease.

[lonestartnow]

Our LoneStart Wellness Initiative has had great success in Texas rural and community hospitals in helping employees get their weight down and under control through our easy, behavior based program. The participants with type 2 diabetes have found that losing even a modest amount of weight and finding ways to become more physically active have helped them control their blood sugar. Participants without diabetes are hopeful that losing weight and becoming more active will help them keep from developing the disease. The National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) says losing weight and becoming more physically active can help prevent pre-diabetes from progressing to type 2 diabetes. These aren't just words. It's a terrible disease, but nutrition, weight loss and activity can certainly help control it--and even prevent.

[retmilspouse]

MichelleM99,
I have some information that I hope will be of some assistance to you and your family. Here are some organizations in the Seattle area that may help you. If they are not what you need they may be able to connect you to an organization better suited to your needs. Please follow up with these and get your family the help that you so desperately need. People who work with these types of services are well suited to direct you to the proper help that you need. Also some of these deliver nutritional meals and help you with personal shopping needs.

Ballard Food Bank Services
206-789-7800
email: [e-mail]

Camp Food Bank
206-812-4970

Immanuel Food Bank
206-622-1930

Emergency Feeding Services
206-329-0300

St. Vincent de Paul Society
206-767-9975

[retmilspouse]

Posted by MichelleM99 at 01:08 AM : Jul 01, 2007

I agree with erasmus6 that you need to move. I know Seattle is expensive and I have a realitive that lives there, but the prices you are quoting are really outrageous. Maybe the shop you are going to is ripping you off because of your disability. You need to get some help from any organization that helps the needy and medically challenged such as yourself. Look in your phone book or that computer you have and do a little research. I know that alot of religious organizations help and also deliver food to people like you. Your money is very limited so you need to make the best use of your time and spend it more wisely.

[michellem99-2009]

Seattle. We can't move. The food prices go up and down. We buy on sale. I can't get from to store due to handicaps. I have to walk to the supermarket near our apt. I was shocked as the week before an apple was 99 cents. I have lived in other places. I have the flyers on computer where we shop and we look at them. He had 5 heart attcks and so we do the best we can. Before he got on housing we had to move alot. And frankly it was hard for me as I need to be where I know the area. Most people don't realise how hard it is for persons with diabetes to lose wt. It is for my friend. Some meds don't help as they add to the problem by making them fat. Our drs are here and the VAMC is here for my friend,

[erasmus6]

beccalu

Good for you for losing the weight!
I know several people with type 2 diabetes and they just can't seem to lose weight. One of them is my husband and as soon as the thought of cutting back on food enters his head he starts eating twice as much! He is addicted to food!

[beccalu]

I have type 2 diabetes, and have had a very hard time losing weight for years and years . . . until 2 years ago this July. I weighed 390 lbs at my highest weight measured on a scale--it could have become higher. Today I weigh 247. My weight loss at first was very dramatic, with a loss of 90 pounds the first year. I spend around $175 a month for food. I took Metformin for a few months, but no longer require it to maintain a normal blood glucose level. I eat foods that are as low as possible on the glycemic index, focusing on those foods that are very fiber or vitamin rich. I also eat two tablespoons of coconut or olive oil with every meal, which has eliminated for me the constant ravenous hunger that I had for so many years. When my weight gets down under 180, I will reduce my intake of oils. I also have eliminated processed foods and sugars. My health has improved so much since two years ago! Getting in and out of chairs used to wear me out, and climbing steps a horrible ordeal. My blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol have all improved dramatically.

[erasmus6]

MichelleM99

$3.00 for 2 apples? $25.00 for stuff to make a salad? YIKES! I don't know where you live but I think it is time to move!

I just bought a bag with 17 Gala apples in it for $4.50. It would probably cost me $6.00 at the very most for stuff to make a really good salad.

[michellem99-2009]

I live with a type 2 diabetic and he does 2 different type of insulin. He has other health issues. He is trying to lose wt, but it sad when the food for a proper deit is so sky high that we must buy what we can afford. In the 60s you could eat right. 2 Apples $3.00. It is a rip, He wanted some veggies. To build a proper salid is over $25.00. I priced the parts for it. As a blind person I can only heat TV dinners and I get the less costly ones. I can only afford one meal a day. Greed and gas prices. We can't drive. He does his best. Yes he has blood sugar problems. We are on a fixed income. We live in our means.