During American Diabetes Month(R), the American Diabetes

ALEXANDRIA, VA--(Marketwired - Oct 28, 2014) - During American Diabetes Month® this November, the American Diabetes Association (Association) is continuing its efforts to Stop Diabetes ® by challenging Americans to live a healthier lifestyle through the America Gets Cooking (SM) to Stop Diabetes® campaign.

America Gets Cooking to Stop Diabetes, presented by Sun Life Financial, is designed to engage and empower the public to cook nutritious and delicious food and encourage them to be more active. Through a social media campaign and an interactive landing page on DiabetesForecast.org, the Association will share healthy cooking tips, diabetes and nutrition facts, recipes and more, as well as ideas on how to raise funds to help Stop Diabetes in communities across the country.

"The American Diabetes Association's goal for American Diabetes Month is to focus the nation's attention on the issues surrounding diabetes," said Marjorie Cypress, PhD, CNP, CDE, President, Health Care & Education, American Diabetes Association. "Diet and exercise are critical to preventing type 2 diabetes and prediabetes, and managing all types of diabetes. America Gets Cooking to Stop Diabetes will provide people with healthy ideas they can put into action so we can move closer to stopping diabetes."

Weekly engagement activities throughout the month, in both English and Spanish, will include:

• Get Moving Mondays - After the weekend, people are not as excited about getting up and going on a Monday. Get Moving Mondays will provide some easy tips to help Americans get moving and keep up an active lifestyle all week long.
• Tasty Tip Tuesdays - Many people are afraid of losing the taste when they make a recipe healthier. Every Tuesday, the Association will provide ideas about how to substitute certain ingredients for healthier options, without losing the taste.
• What's Cooking Wednesdays - With Thanksgiving kicking-off the holiday season, keeping on track with eating healthy is very important. Each Wednesday, the Association will ask the public to vote for their favorite seasonal foods and flavors. The winning picks will then be used to create special recipes. On November 24 ^th , America's most popular healthy holiday meal will be unveiled to inspire celebrations. There will also be a demonstration cooking video, featuring Robyn Webb, MS, Food Editor of Diabetes Forecast , cooking up healthy holiday classics like herb-roasted turkey and pumpkin pie.
• Get Together Thursdays or Any Day! - This engagement will offer ways for the public to implement healthy cooking activities into their daily lives through "Do-it-Yourself Fundraisers" called "Cook to Stop Diabetes." These fundraisers will be fun parties that can incorporate healthy recipes for family and friends and will also raise money for the fight to Stop Diabetes.
• Fact Check Friday - Each Friday, a question will be posted to test the public's knowledge about nutrition and diabetes.
• Weekend Challenge to Stop Diabetes - Why not take the weekend and use it as an opportunity to get active and help raise funds to Stop Diabetes? The Weekend Challenge to Stop Diabetes will provide fun fundraising activities for people to engage in and use their 48 hours to participate, or if they are too busy, then do 48 hours to donate!

Additional National Supporters of American Diabetes Month include Pfizer, Janssen, Walgreens and Catherines®.

During American Diabetes Month, visit the Association's interactive web page at www.diabetesforecast.org/ADM . To learn more, you can also call 1-800-DIABETES or visit us on Facebook ( http://facebook.com/AmericanDiabetesAssociation ) and Twitter ( https://twitter.com/AmDiabetesAssn ). The official hashtags for this campaign are #DiabetesMonth and #AmericaGetsCooking .

American Diabetes Month Facts and Figures

Prevalence

• Nearly 30 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes.
• Another 86 million Americans have prediabetes and are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
• Recent estimates project that as many as one in three American adults will have diabetes in 2050 unless we take steps to Stop Diabetes.

The Toll on Health

• People with diabetes are nearly twice as likely to be hospitalized with a heart attack as people without diabetes.
• Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure.
• Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults.
• The rate of amputation for people with diabetes is 10 times higher than for people without diabetes.
• About 60-70 percent of people with diabetes have mild to severe forms of nerve damage that could result in pain in the feet or hands, slowed digestion, sexual dysfunction and other nerve problems.

Cost of Diabetes

• The American Diabetes Association estimates that the total national cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States is $245 billion.
  • Direct medical costs reach $176 billion and the average medical expenditure among people with diabetes is 2.3 times higher than those without the disease.
  • Indirect costs amount to $69 billion (disability, work loss, premature mortality).
• One in 10 health care dollars is spent treating diabetes and its complications.
• One in five health care dollars is spent caring for people with diabetes.

About American Diabetes Month November is American Diabetes Month, a time to communicate the seriousness of diabetes and the importance of diabetes prevention and control. For years, the American Diabetes Association has used this month as an opportunity to raise awareness of the disease and its serious complications.

About the Stop Diabetes® Movement Stop Diabetes is the American Diabetes Association's movement to end the devastating toll that diabetes takes on the lives of millions of individuals across our nation. Its goal is to inspire and mobilize the general public, volunteers, donors, corporations and the scientific and medical communities to rally around our cause and our call to "share, act, learn and give." Through these actions, millions will have the chance to get involved and help raise awareness, promote healthy living and raise money to fund educational outreach, advocacy efforts and critical research that will ultimately stop diabetes once and for all.

About the American Diabetes Association The American Diabetes Association is leading the fight to Stop Diabetes and its deadly consequences and fighting for those affected by diabetes. The Association funds research to prevent, cure and manage diabetes; delivers services to hundreds of communities; provides objective and credible information; and gives voice to those denied their rights because of diabetes. Founded in 1940, our mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. For more information please call the American Diabetes Association at 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383) or visit www.diabetes.org . Information from both these sources is available in English and Spanish .