Let's Talk In Person: Diabetes
Our guest speaker for the event was Hannah Morrow from Diabetes UK. Hannah and our guests had a discussion regarding the difference between Type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Hannah then did a quiz regarding the lifestyle of someone with diabetes.
The quiz highlighted the 'Do's and Dont's ' when it comes to diabetes, foods to avoid and which foods can potentially prevent Type 2 diabetes.
There was then a discussion on exercise, the impact of this and how it can prevent diabetes. This followed by Hannah discussing with the group the negative impact of diabetes and not looking after yourself. Issues that follow from people not managing their diabetes can include:
- Amputations
- Poor mental health
- Heart disease
There are 5 million people in the UK living with diabetes, costing the NHS a huge £10 billion year (10% of their budget is spent on diabetes care/resources/equipment)
Hannah briefly discussed with the group the relationship between insulin and food. Hannah gave the group advice on:
- Reading food labels in supermarkets
- General diet tips
- Avoiding processed foods
- Avoiding red meats
- Increase of certain fruits and veg.
- Buying full fat products rather than low fat as low fat contains more sugars.
The session closed with a Q&A session followed by free leaflets and handouts given to attendees which contained information on diabetes and healthy recipes. These leaflets were provided in both Hindi and Urdu alongside English.
The Q&A session highlighted a number of questions/issues from the group including:
- Clarifying what type 1 and type 2 diabetes are.
- Food and insulin and how this balances out. e.g if you don't eat, do you need insulin, what if you are ill/sick?
- More in depth advice on healthy foods
Overall, this was a really successful session which the group found useful and educational. We would like to thank our guest speaker Hannah for providing such an informative session, Clifton Park for hosting us and our attendees for giving us a morning of their time.
