VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – You don’t have to fight it alone. That is one of the main messages that accompanies a new tool in the fight against diabetes, which is now available in Canada.
Curtis Duggan, with Blue Mesa Health, which developed the idea says it’s called a digital prevention program (DPP). The company has been successfully using it in the United States and has just introduced it in Canada. “It’s a science-based, clinically-proven behaviour-change program. The kind of program where a coach teaches you how to be healthy, teaches you about healthier eating habits, but makes it all remoted and digital,” explains Duggan.
He admits keeping up physical activity and always eating right can be hard without constant help or coaching. “We mail participants a wireless scale and Fitbit activity tracker. We give them a smartphone app to track their progress over a behaviour-change program and communicate with a remote health coach who is guiding this entire program,” says Duggan.
One-in-three Canadians will be pre-diabetic or diabetic by 2020, according to the company. The 16-week program aims to reduce a person’s risk of type 2 diabetes by 58 per cent.
You’re paired up digitally with a coach who ensures you are properly. “It’s about learning how to make healthier eating choices, how to get moderate amounts of physical activity throughout the week and how to sustain those behaviours over time,” says Duggan.
The goal of the program is also for participants to lose approximately five to seven per cent of their body weight.