Diabetes Viewpoints

Diabetes Nation

By Travis Grubbs

In case you have been hiding out in the jungles of South America, gas prices are at an all-time high. The continuing rise of gas prices dominates the news sources on television, radio, the internet, newspapers, etc. In my area, regular unleaded just passed four dollars a gallon. I frequently hear people complaining about being squeezed by high fuel prices, and how they are changing their driving habits in order to save gas and money. I also hear complaints about how high fuel prices are driving-up (no pun intended) grocery prices, and again I hear how people are changing their buying habits in order to cope with rising food costs.

Our society’s reaction to high gas prices is not just limited to consumers. The auto industry is now taking steps to reduce the production of “gas guzzlers” and increase the production of more economical vehicles. However, they did not do this out of the “goodness of their hearts,” but instead due to the lack of consumer demand for the un-economical vehicles. Employers, like mine, are giving their employees a break, and allowing them to save money on gas, by permitting them to work four ten hour days as opposed to five eight hour days.

I am encouraged by our society’s response to high fuel prices, and I often wonder how many people are willing to make lifestyle changes in order to deal with the health crisis that is encroaching on our country. In the past few weeks I have read articles (from the American Diabetes Association, dLife, etc.) reporting that in the U.S. nearly twenty-four million people, an increase of three million in the past two years, have been diagnosed with diabetes. The majority of these cases are type 2 diabetes. The number of children with obesity and type 2 diabetes are also on the rise.

It is estimated that in the U.S. fifty-seven million people have prediabetes, with alll of these being candidates for type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is now the seventh-leading cause of death in the U.S. The only good news is that the percentage of people who have diabetes, and do not know it, dropped from thirty percent to twenty-five percent. I am of the opinion that while more people are becoming more informed about diabetes, they continue to ignore the warnings and our “diabetes nation” continues to grow.

Our society continues to eat it self into doctor’s offices, hospitals, and an early grave. We see it all around us in restaurants, grocery stores, television, the internet, etc., etc., but we continue with our same old habits. The restaurant and fast food industry makes token gestures by offering “healthy alternatives / choices,” while still keeping the popular and un-healthy choices on their menus. And let’s not forget about sizes of those meals. When you go out to eat you not only get to eat great tasting food, but you get lots of it too! Yeah, you could ask for a to go box, but it might not warm-up as good as a “left-over.” The food industry is not going to help address our over weight society unless the consumers force them to address this issue.

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