Diabetes

On this page:

• What is Diabetes?
• You are at Risk
• Type 2 Diabetes: The Signs
• Be Active!
• What You Eat Matters
• Diabetes and Smoking Don't Mix
• Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative
  • Primary Prevention and Health Promotion
  • Screening and Treatment
  • Capacity Building and Training
  • Research, Surveillance, Evaluation, Monitoring
• Related Resources

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes happens when your body does not make or use insulin the right way. Insulin is important for your body to turn sugar from food into energy. There are three types of diabetes:

• Type 1 diabetes happens when the body doesn't make insulin;
• Type 2 diabetes happens when the body has trouble using the insulin it makes;
• Gestational diabetes where the body can't use insulin during pregnancy.

Aboriginal people are more likely to get type 2 diabetes - the most common kind - than other Canadians. Younger Aboriginal people are developing type 2 diabetes more than before.

Managing diabetes - through lifestyle and possibly medication - is a helpful way to slow or stop damage to your kidneys, poor circulation, heart disease or eye diseases.

Diabetes was not always a health issue for Aboriginal people. When Aboriginal people had a traditional lifestyle with lots of physical activity and traditional foods, fewer people had diabetes.

Living a healthier lifestyle can give Aboriginal people a way to prevent and delay diabetes, and can help those who have diabetes live healthier lives.

You are at Risk

Aboriginal people have a higher chance of developing type 2 diabetes.

Before, older people used to get diabetes, but now, Aboriginal people are getting it a lot younger because their traditional lifestyle has changed so fast.

The risk factors - do these apply to you?

• Getting older
• Overweight (especially in the stomach)
• Blood relative with diabetes - or your mother had gestational diabetes
• Have had a baby over 4 kg (9 lbs)
• Had gestational diabetes
• High cholesterol and/or high blood pressure
• Higher blood sugar than normal
• Darker patches of skin around your neck

If you answered yes to any of those risk factors, it does not mean you have diabetes. Talk to your local health care provider and get tested. Finding out early gives you a head start in living a healthy lifestyle.

What can I do to lower my risk?

• Eat healthy foods
• Be active
• Manage your stress

Type 2 Diabetes: The Signs

Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes. You can have diabetes without knowing it.

What should I look for?

• Being thirsty often
• Having to pee often
• Unusual weight gain or loss
• Getting tired often
• Blurry vision
• Getting infections often
• Cuts and bruises that won't heal
• Tingly or numb hands and feet
• Problems with erections

If you have any of these signs, see your local health care provider and get tested. Finding out early gives you a head start in living a healthy lifestyle.

Be Active!

Physical activity helps prevent, delay and manage the effects of type 2 diabetes.

If you have diabetes, being active helps:

• Achieve a healthy weight
• Manage blood sugar levels
• Reduce risk of complications like blindness and amputation
• Better circulation and less numbness in hands, feet, legs and arms
• Healing faster
• Lower blood pressure and cholesterol
• Lower the risk of heart attack and stroke
• Improve the quality of life and feeling better

Being active every day is a step towards better health and a healthy body weight.

 Canada's Physical Activity Guide recommends 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity daily for adults and 90 minutes a day for children and youth. You don't have to do it all at once; 10 minutes for adults and 5 minutes for children and youth adds up fast!

Some ideas to add more activity are to: go for walks with the neighbour, canoe with your friends, play street hockey with your kids. As long as you're up and moving, you're being active and getting healthier.

Build up your activity slowly.

Don't start too fast or too hard. Build your exercise up to about an hour a day. If you haven't been active lately, or if you have health conditions, talk to your health care provider before starting to exercise.

Staying active can lower your risk of developing diabetes. If you already have diabetes, being active can help you to lead a long and healthier life.

What You Eat Matters

Diabetes is a serious disease and what you eat can help prevent, manage or delay it. Healthy eating means eating the type and amount of food recommended in Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide - First Nations, Inuit and Métis.

Following the recommendations in the Food Guide will help you get the nutrition your body needs. It will also help lower your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease or being overweight.

What are some steps to eating healthy?

• Choose a variety of different foods from the four food groups
• Eat at least one dark green and orange vegetable a day
• Choose grain products such as rice, cereal and bannock that have less fat, sugar and salt
• Drink at least 2 cups of milk or fortified soy beverage per day
• Try having beans or lentils in place of meat
• Choose wild meat and fish when possible

Less salt, less sugar and less fat

• Enjoy grilled, boiled, stewed or baked foods which are lower in fat
• Limit fried foods like french fries and fried bannock
• Limit energy and sports drinks, pop, fruit flavoured drinks and sweet drinks made from powder
• Limit cakes, pastries, doughnuts and muffins
• Limit snacks high in fat and salt like potato chips and nachos
• Limit salt added to foods at the table
• Limit processed meats such as salami, bologna, and wieners which are higher in fat and salt (sodium)

It's all on the label

Reading the label at the grocery store will help you choose healthier foods for you and your family. Choose foods lower in sugar, fat and salt (sodium) for healthier choices.

Diabetes and Smoking Don't Mix

Aboriginal people have a long history of using tobacco in ceremonies and in prayer, but smoking cigarettes is not a traditional use of tobacco.

Smoking can cause a lot of health problems, but it's even worse if you have diabetes.

If you smoke and have diabetes, you may have:

• Higher risk of a heart attack or stroke
• Higher risk of nerve damage and kidney problems
• Higher blood sugars and high blood pressure
• More colds or infections
• Damaged blood vessels which can make it harder for you to heal
• Problems with erections

No matter how long you have been smoking, your health will start to improve when you quit. The Help on Quitting Smoking page provides practical tips on how to quit smoking.

There are many ways to quit smoking. Most of all you have to want to do it. Make a plan and don't give up!

To learn more about diabetes or to get help to stop smoking, visit your local health care provider.

Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative

Diabetes is a key public health concern for Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people are three to five times more likely to experience type 2 diabetes than non-Aboriginal Canadians. Health Canada's Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative (ADI) ($190 Million 2005-2010) aims to reduce the incidence and prevalence of diabetes among Aboriginal people and to improve the health status of First Nations and Inuit individuals, families and communities.

ADI currently delivers a range of primary prevention, screening and treatment programs and services to more than 600 communities throughout Canada in partnership with Tribal Councils, First Nations organizations, Inuit community groups and Provincial and Territorial governments.

ADI also supports Métis, off-reserve Aboriginal people and urban Inuit through the Métis, Off-reserve Aboriginal Urban Inuit Prevention Promotion (MOAUIPP) component. MOAUIPP consists of a national proposal-driven process that provides time-limited funding for diabetes prevention and health promotion projects. More than 60 MOAUIPP projects have been funded between 2005 and 2010.

According to an analysis of administrative records, approximately 3,900 activities were held in First Nation and Inuit communities over a two-year period (from 2005/06 to 2006/07). There were around 94,000 participants in the wider diabetes prevention and health promotion activities; over 13,000 people were screened for type 2 diabetes.

Through these activities, ADI supports a range of health promotion and prevention, screening and treatment services that are community-based and culturally appropriate. ADI consists of the following components:

• Primary Prevention and Health Promotion
• Screening and Treatment
• Capacity Building and Training
• Research, Surveillance, Evaluation, Monitoring

Primary Prevention and Health Promotion

Primary prevention and health promotion is the largest component within the ADI. Activities vary from one community to another, and include walking clubs, weight-loss groups and fitness classes, community kitchens and gardens, and a range of activities for children in schools. ADI working with local schools have developed healthy food policies. An important consequence has been the removal from many schools of vending machines that sell sugar-sweetened soft drinks and high-sugar, high-fat snacks to children.

Community-based initiatives include traditional activities such as berry picking, picnics, dancing, and games. These have important social benefits and also enable communities to preserve and share valuable traditional knowledge.

Some communities have chosen to invest in treadmills and stationary bicycles in order to increase options for physical activity; many, in order to meet growing demand, add new equipment to their fitness centre each year. Partnerships are of particular benefit to fitness activities - community members using school facilities outside school hours, for example, or community-based police officers and others acting as coaches.

Creativity is evident in community programming as health workers seek to engage more and more people in activities. The well-known formats of games and television programmes have been adapted to become effective educational tools. Visual aids, such as puppet shows, sketches and other interactive activities and materials, are used to demonstrate the benefits of healthy foods or the effects of diabetes. Cooking classes for all ages employ a range of approaches to highlight various health-promoting methods for preparing local foods.

Screening and Treatment

The ADI supports increased and regular screening for the early diagnosis of diabetes complications, and provides education and support for people living with diabetes and their family members. The goal is to increase diabetes self-management and establish links in order to improve the coordination and integration of services.

Currently, there are three mobile diabetes screening initiatives in place, in Northern British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba. In other regions, screening is carried out through local healthcare providers. Some communities have formed partnerships with neighbouring provincial healthcare services to increase screening opportunities. The Prince Albert Grand Council in Saskatchewan, for example, has a partnership with services in neighbouring regions that has resulted in improved testing for gestational diabetes.

Capacity Building and Training

This component under ADI includes regional training for healthcare providers and community diabetes prevention workers. By 2010, over 300 workers will be trained as community diabetes prevention workers, with education on culturally relevant health promotion. Community diabetes prevention workers act as a focal point for diabetes prevention activities and work in partnership with healthcare professionals and other members of their community.

The training program for community diabetes prevention workers has been offered in many regions with considerable success. The majority of students who begin the training complete it successfully and go on to take valuable newly acquired knowledge and skills into their communities.

Research, Surveillance, Evaluation, Monitoring

Within this component of the ADI, there are several priorities. These include the following:

• establishing partnerships with appropriate research agencies and organizations to jointly fund priority research;
• supporting the Canadian First Nations Diabetes Clinical Management Epidemiologic (CIRCLE) Study to determine the quality of diabetes healthcare in 19 First Nation communities;
• supporting evaluation studies and monitoring of programming at the local, regional and national levels.

In summary, the ADI encourages communities to address their own needs, building on their strengths and drawing on their traditions in order to help community members prevent diabetes where possible and offer support to help manage or delay the condition effectively when it occurs. First Nation and Inuit communities are innovative in their approaches to tackling diabetes, forming strong partnerships where needed, employing local knowledge and working together to reduce the burden of type 2 diabetes.

Related Resources

For more information about the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative, please contact the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative - Main Office. You can also contact the Regional Program Offices for information on regional programming.

For more information and links to resources on diabetes, visit the Public Health Agency of Canada  Diabetes Web page.

To help you become more active in your every day life, consult  Physical Activity Guides for children, youth, adults and older adults.

For information about eating well, check out Canada's Food Guide for First Nations, Inuit and Métis. You can also find general information on Health Canada's Food and Nutrition page.

The Reports and Publications section offers guides, fact sheets and reports on a variety of health-related topics. You can also use the online ordering system to explore and order printed material.