Obesity
It is well known in medical literature that obesity causes many other health issues to develop and leads to overall poor general health status. Obesity is especially related to development of type two diabetes, which is a largely preventable health condition that afflicts millions of Americans. People who are obese account for over 80% of cases of type two diabetes and obese people are 80 times more likely to eventually develop type two diabetes (Diabetes.co.uk, 2019). According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODHP), about 39% of the population of America is obese which is part of the reason that this country has such high numbers of cases of diabetes diagnosed every year (2021). As a future nurse practitioner, my goal will be to keep my patients healthy and help them take control of their health. Obesity often leads to the development of type two diabetes, and because diabetes is such a common condition people do not often realize that it can be deadly. It is especially deadly in conjunction with other common chronic conditions arising from poor nutritional status such as hypertension. Unfortunately people often do not care about developing diabetes unless they realize how it could severely impact their life, so it would be important to me to educate my patients about the end stages of diabetes. As healthcare providers we know that patients with severe diabetes often end up with kidney failure on dialysis and even lose feet and legs because of poor blood circulation, but the general public is not aware of this. After educating my patients about how bad diabetes really is, I would educate them about nutritious health options and how to read nutrition labels and avoid large amounts of added sugars in their diet. Added sugars contribute to belly fat which also increases a person’s risk of developing type two diabetes (Diabetes.co.uk, 2019). It is important that providers give their patients the tools and education they need to make smart nutritional decisions.
