JACKSON, MISS– B.B. King has just gotten out of the hospital after dealing with complications from Type II Diabetes. News Mississippi spoke with an endocrinologist about how you can avoid the disease.
“Diabetes is when the pancreas slows down or insulin isn’t recognized by the body,” says Dr. Casey Arnold, with the Diabetes Center in Ocean Springs.
Type I Diabetes is not preventable. Type II, however, is not only preventable, but once diagnosed, some of the damage can be repaired by making lifestyle changes.
“It is hard work,” says Arnold, “eating healthy, getting 150 minutes of exercise a week, changing behaviors.”
Dr. Arnold says Type II is rampant in Mississippi because of culture and lifestyle choices.
“The family recipes are not healthy eating,” says Arnold, “there’s obesity and little exercise. Mississippi is a food-based culture.”
The good news, though, is that Type II is completely preventable with exercise and a healthy diet.
“It is preventable. Studies show it,” says Arnold. Arnold adds that in one study, when diet and exercise were applied, the occurrence of a Type II Diabetes diagnosis went down by seventy-one percent.
