Diabetes Alert Day 2011

It's well-known that I do not have Type 2 diabetes, but there is a risk of it in my family history.  I will probably  not also be the first person to tell you that you don't have to be obese or inactive to develop the disease.

I often think of my dad, whom I felt was always on the fence between pre-diabetes and Type 2.  My dad wasn't always a string bean of a guy, but I wouldn't have called him obese.  Maybe he had a little bit of a gut, but he had skinny arms and even skinnier legs.  For him, I think it was just bad genetics, maybe partnered with smoking.  Of course, my dad passed away from a far more awful pancreatic condition--pancreatic cancer.  Yet this is not my point.

My point is you can't really tell who has diabetes just by looking at them.  You can't make a judgment over whether you'll get diabetes by looking in a mirror.  If you think you may be at risk for Type 2, click on the banner below and do the risk test.  Heck, try it even if you don't think you're at risk.  Diabetes is awful enough as it is, so if you are fortunate enough to have the kind you can prevent or delay, work on preventing it or delaying it as soon as possible!



It may be nice if next year the ADA would consider making Type 1 a part of Diabetes Alert Day and start a campaign for parents, children, teenagers and adults to alert them of the signs and symptoms of Type 1. But as I said before--if you have the misfortune to be predisposed to a preventable condition, by all means--be proactive and work hard to prevent it!