Prevent diabetes

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Nov 25, 2008

We of the Utah Partnership for Healthy Weight are heartbroken that one in three Utah children will develop diabetes if current trends continue. But we are hopeful because many of those children can prevent diabetes by taking easy steps that will also benefit our nation and environment.

These simple choices include using stairs rather than elevators, making short trips on foot rather than by vehicle, parking farther from building entrances, eating smaller portions and making water the beverage they drink most.

Choices like these not only improve the fuel taken in/fuel burned balance in our bodies but also reduce air pollution and the consumption of foreign oil.

During November, American Diabetes Month, all of us can begin to help ourselves with these and other simple steps that will promote a healthy future for Utahns.

Leon Hammond

executive director

Utah Partnership for Healthy Weight

Salt Lake City