Cynthia Johnson didn’t always make health a priority.
“I was overweight, making all the wrong choices,” she says. “I knew I should be doing something, but I wasn’t motivated to do so.”
Then she visited her doctor and found out she had prediabetes, a condition that affects 1 in 3 American adults. Prediabetes means a person’s blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not yet high enough for type 2 diabetes. Her doctor told her it was time to start making some changes in her life, so Cynthia signed up for a CDC-led National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) lifestyle change program. The program offers support with her goals of losing weight, eating healthier, and exercising more. Now she’s lost weight and is feeling better than ever.
November is National Diabetes Month, so it’s the perfect time to try what Cynthia did and join a program that can help you prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. Change Your Life. Change Your Lifestyle. (CYL2), a CDC-recognized lifestyle change program, is a year-long program designed to help you make lasting lifestyle changes to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. In CYL2, like Cynthia, you’ll learn, laugh, share stories, try new things, and build new habits—all while lowering your risk of type 2 diabetes and improving your health.
Throughout the program, you will work with a trained lifestyle coach to learn:
- How to eat and prepare healthy dishes without giving up all the foods you love
- How to add physical activity to your life even if you don’t think you have time
- How to deal with stress
- How to maintain the changes you’ve made
“I enjoy the class – we’ve had a lot of laughs,” Cynthia says. “I’ve learned that I need to be in a group setting because we support each other. We help each other and everybody has a different perspective. Our class coach is amazing. She’s a positive person, a cheerleader, and she tells us that even though we make mistakes, they’re not permanent. We can learn from them and maybe make different choices in the future.”
About CYL2
There is no cost to you. CYL2 is conducted in partnership with the Black Women’s Health Imperative through a cooperative agreement with The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CYL2 meets for 1 year with weekly meetings for the first 4 months, and meetings twice a month for the following 8 months, to help maintain your healthy lifestyle changes. Call (334) 293-6502 to find out when classes are available and how you can join! You can also take the free diabetes risk test at http://bit.ly/2yFGDDM.
“After participating in this program, I’m more conscious of what I need to do to live better,” says Cynthia. “I’m doing this for me so that I can live a long and healthy life.”
You can have this kind of success too – your best life starts here. This November for National Diabetes Month commit to better health!
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