November: Diabetes Awareness Month
Cynthia Took Control of Her Health: You Can Too
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.”
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. Cynthia signed up for a CDC-led National Diabetes Prevention Program lifestyle change program. The program offers support for 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. Join a program that can help you prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. 
You will get a full year of support designed to help you make lasting lifestyle changes to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. You will 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, and
- 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. 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.”
“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.”