DKICP offers program to prevent Diabetes

Making lifestyle changes is an important part of improving personal health and wellbeing. To provide help and support in doing that, two DKICP faculty members are offering a free year-long program to prediabetic island residents. DKICP assistant professors Aryn Meguro and Bryce Fukunaga, both certified lifestyle coaches through the American Association of Diabetes Educators, will facilitate the program and be assisted by several DKICP student pharmacists. All meetings will be held on the DKICP campus, in Hale Kihoʻihoʻi.

“This program was developed based on research done at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” says Meguro. “Its goal is to help people who are prediabetic, or those who think they might be, to learn how to choose healthier foods, better manage stress and to incorporate exercise into their lives. Often, people need help to do that, and that’s what we, as lifestyle coaches, can provide. Other program participants can also be important sources of support.”

The first six months of the program is more intense, explains Fukunaga. “We start with weekly in-person meetings to provide information and lay the groundwork for making lifestyle changes. Because weight loss is important in improving overall health of people with prediabetes, a program goal for participants is to lose five to seven percent of their body weight in that first six months. In the second half of the program, we transition to meeting monthly and helping participants learn how to maintain healthier habits.”

DKICP students will be on hand at each meeting to help with tracking participant progress through weigh-ins and providing information and resources.