This year marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Insulin, a treatment that has saved the lives of millions of people worldwide.
To mark World Diabetes day 14th November, the LiveWell group have created some useful information on the Livewell Diabetes Awareness page.
Diabetes is a condition where the body’s ability to create Insulin is dramatically reduced or ceases altogether. This can have major deleterious affects on people, causing a range of conditions and if not managed properly can lead to serious ill-health or death. Insulin is released in the body to allow cells to absorb energy from the blood following the breakdown of our food.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is categorised into different types, the two most common being Type 1, accounting for just over 10% of cases and tends to appear at a younger age. This is where the body stops producing insulin completely; and Type 2, tends to affect people more as they get older, and is strongly linked with diet, lack of physical activity and any resultant increase in obesity. The insulin response is compromised to varying degrees, meaning your body is not functioning as it should be.
Type 2 Diabetes can happen to anyone and is heavily influenced by lifestyle factors; it is estimated that in Scotland alone there are over 300,000 people living with diabetes, and thousands of people that are undiagnosed or pre-diabetic.
Know your risk and take part in the LiveWell cooking challenge
You can check out the Diabetes UK website “Know your Risk tool” or take part in the LiveWell group’s Cooking challenge – Diabetes UK have loads of interesting recipes here for you to try – you don’t need to have a diagnosis!
Why not try one of the tasty healthy recipes they have in their food section? Afterall, healthy eating for diabetes can be healthy eating for everyone! They have over 500 recipes and a recipe finder search box.
How to enter
Once you’ve tried a recipe, take a picture of your culinary creations to enter into the LiveWell group’s prize draw.
Your name will then be entered to win a voucher for a soup/sandwich combo with hot drink at either Eglinton Café or the Portal in Irvine.
Can’t access these venues? Then a small healthy snack box can be made available for collection at one of our schools.
For your chance to enter, email your photos to: livewell@north-ayrshire.gov.uk