10. Reach out to someone else with diabetes or prediabetes.
There are lots of ways to reach out to others to share your knowledge, experience, and resources, offer a sympathetic ear, or simply open the door to conversation. Even sharing the questions you have about your diabetes with others can be helpful; someone else who needs the answer may not have even thought to ask the question. Here are some ways to reach out:
• Invite some friends who have diabetes to your house for dinner to swap stories, recipes, recommendations, etc.
• Participate in an online discussion. Let others know what tools have been helpful for you.
• Talk to your relatives about their risk of diabetes. Having a close relative (such as a parent or sibling) with Type 2 diabetes puts a person at higher risk of developing it, too. If you have Type 2 diabetes, therefore, make sure your relatives know that they are at risk, too, but that there are ways to prevent it. One step that can help is to seek out a Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) at your local YMCA. Lots of Ys have them these days, so call your local Y to see if it has the program, what it costs, and whether financial aid is available to help pay for it.
Want to learn about additional small steps you can take in just minutes a day to improve your health? Read “Take Five for Better Health.”
