For Immediate Release
Diet, Behavioral Eating Experts Hope to Lower Pre-Diabetes Trend in State with a Program of Balanced, Mindful Eating and Exercise
ROSWELL, Ga. – October 9, 2009 –Nutrition and wellness coaching company Inlighten announced today that it will launch the first of a series of health seminars targeting the growing pre-diabetic population in Georgia.
The program will provide common-sense and healthful meal-planning guidelines to help people manage their weight and reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Program participants also will receive a home-based exercise program from Inlighten’s on-staff exercise physiologist.
“Anyone can lose weight with our plan but it follows the guidelines for pre-diabetes, insulin resistance, PCOS, metabolic syndrome and syndrome X. By losing just 10 percent of your body weight many can successfully lower blood pressure, blood glucose, and cholesterol.,” says Inlighten Co-founder Gelsie Lessig, RD, LD, a nutrition expert for more than four decades.
In the United States, at least 65 million adult Americans, or three in 10 people, currently have pre-diabetes, a condition marked by elevated blood sugar that is not yet in the diabetic range.
In 2007, approximately 700,000 Georgians, aged 18 years and older, or 10 percent of the state’s adult population, had been diagnosed with diabetes. For every two persons with diabetes who have been
diagnosed, another has not yet been diagnosed.
While Inlighten clients share a common desire to lose weight, the company’s founders decided to focus on the pre-diabetic population in their first 2010 seminar because of the extent of the epidemic, fueled by the country’s sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits.
“The diet industry is getting richer and people are getting heavier. There is something wrong with this picture,” notes Inlighten Co-founder Beverly Bird, Psy.D., LPC, a behavioral health expert specializing in emotional eating issues. “Our program is the vehicle to permanent weight loss because we address all three disciplines to effect permanent change—the food plan, the psychological component, and physical activity. All three have equal merit. You cannot be successful at achieving permanent weight loss without addressing all three. That is what sets us apart from all other weight loss programs,” Bird says.
Most contemporary diets fail because they don’t address the whole person, ignoring the psychological factor. With its comprehensive three-prong approach to weight loss, Inlighten equips people with the basics of eating well, becoming fit and achieving permanent weight loss. Seminar participants will learn key elements from all three disciplines, and will be encouraged to eat the foods they like to avoid feeling deprived. The program does not include supplements or pre-packaged food.
Inlighten plans to offer additional in-person and web-based health seminars throughout 2010 and beyond.To learn more about other Inlighten programs, visit www.inlightenme.com or call 678-717-8951.
