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Obesity has reached truly epidemic proportions in the United States. In the last 10 years, obesity rates have increased by more than 60 percent among adults. The obesity epidemic impacts other diseases as well. For example, the incidence of Type 2 Diabetes, a major consequence of obesity, is on the rise.
Among U.S. adults, diagnosed diabetes increased 49 percent from 1990 to 2000.
And diabetes is far more prevalent in many of the students
we serve than in the general populace. Did you know that
Hispanics/Latinos are almost twice as likely to get diabetes
as white non-Hispanics? For those Latinos with African or
Indian heritage the risks are even higher. Of Hispanics
with diabetes, over 90% have Type 2 Diabetes.
The proper diet and exercise can be the key to a long, healthy life and are important preventive measures for reducing the risk of death or disability from chronic ailments such as diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, stroke and osteoporosis. However, for many of our students there is a large gap between recommended dietary patterns and what is actually consumed; and between minimum exercise recommendations and how much they actually exercise each week. Too frequently, our students, like many Americans, resort to fast food, junk food, or poor nutritional choices full of empty calories and few nutrients that lead to weight gain and poor health. And, like many Americans, our students are too tired after a long day of work to remember that exercise is a simple solution for stress, weight problems, depression, boredom, and helps condition the heart and lower cholesterol.
If you are an ESOL teacher with little or no medical background, you can still teach your students about the benefits of diet, exercise and early diagnosis for those most at risk for diabetes. Use this link to print the Diabetes Fact Sheet for your students. This reading is appropriate for LCP B (with teacher assistance) and above. http://healthliteracy.worlded.org/docs/elpaso/diabetesprint.htm.
Click link below for a printable lesson plan for using
this fact sheet. Save this lesson plan to your folder.
Click here to take an online test to see if you are at
risk for diabetes. This activity could be used as an internet
activity for students in LCP C - Low Intermediate or above
and is included in the Diabetes Fact Sheet lesson plan.
http://www.diabetes.org/risk-test.jsp
While our aim is teaching English to our adult ESOL Students, reading in their home language can actually improve their reading skills in English. Also, medical and nutritional information in students' home languages can help students with limited literacy or English language proficiency to better understand concepts that might truly be a matter of life and death, such as the link between obesity, poor eating habits, lack of exercise and diabetes. Click the links below for printable information in English and Haitian Creole or Spanish for use in your classrooms.
Bilingual Spanish/English Diabetes Literature
http://monarch.gsu.edu/WebRoot$/multiculturalhealth/
handouts/spanish/Diabetes_Handouts_Spanish.pdf
Bilingual Haitian Creole Diabetes Literature
http://monarch.gsu.edu/WebRoot$/multiculturalhealth/handouts/haitian-creole//Diabetes_Handout_Haitian_Creole.pdf
Information in Easy-to-Read Spanish
The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC) has
easy-to-read brochures
in Spanish at the following website: http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/ez.asp
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