Change of Lifestyle After Diabetes

Do you ever notice how most of us think and talk about changing a bad habit—such as smoking or watching television instead of getting active in the evening—but never actually make the change? We beat ourselves up about things like this all the time. We talk about having no willpower or motivation and call ourselves lazy But do you know what? We should stop being so hard on ourselves. Why? Because we all change different behaviors at various rates.

In the first stage of change—precontemplation—we're not even thinking about changing. For example, we may not be aware that our chances of developing diabetes are high. Often, at this stage, we say to ourselves, "I don't have it problem." We see no reason to change, so we continue to avoid the issue. We often rationalize our behavior or blame others. We might make statements such as, "You're the problem, not me," or "I can't change."

To move forward to the next stage, we need to become aware of the facts on why it's important to change, to learn the benefits of change, and to acknowledge that new behaviors make our lives feel different. For example, if we don't know how exercise prevents diabetes or if we don't know all the benefits we get from exercise, we may be less likely to consider fitting exercise into our schedule. Also, at first, we may feel awkward doing a new exercise or exercising at all, which may make us less apt to keep doing it. Any new habit can feel uncomfortable at first; but with time, it does become second nature.

Contemplation is the next step in the change process. Contemplators are seriously thinking about making a change in the next six months. At this point, we're still rationalizing the costs of a new habit, but at least we're starting to think that there could be benefits to doing things differently Yet the rule of thumb is still "when in doubt, don't change."

If we listen to ourselves, we might hear: "I'll start when the time is right" or "Let me think about it" or "I'd like to, but.. " We're still waiting for that magic moment to occur before beginning. In order to keep the momentum moving forward, we need to reinforce the positive benefits we'll experience and imagine how good we'll feel once we've made the changes.

Once we've contemplated change, decided that the positive Outcomes outweigh the negatives, and decided to move forward, we're in the preparation stage—the midpoint of the process. We're intending to develop new habits in the next thirty days. We may have made some changes in the past but I have not been successful at maintaining them. Often, we know what we want to do but aren't sure how to start.

At this stage, change at least feels doable. We might be saying to ourselves, "I'm ready to start" or "I will do this . . ." or I low do I go about changing ?" When we've reached this stage, our plan helps us keep going forward, the lack of a plan sends us spiraling backward to contemplation. Here, it's important to continue to seek out information, to get support from others, to reinforce the positive benefits of change, and to set realistic goals.

When we're actively exercising, eating nutritious foods, or taking steps to manage stress, we are in action stage. We have found the motivation, the commitment, the time and the energy to put our health first. Change really starts to feel comfortable. At this point, we might be saying to ourselves, "I'm doing it" or "I know I can do it." To keep up the action, we need to continue to develop new skills, to build our self-confidence in doing the new behavior, and to reward ourselves for the changes we're making.

After six months of actively practicing a new behavior, we reach the next stage of change—maintenance. Once we achieve the desired behavior, we initially find that maintaining the new behavior takes a conscious effort. With repetition over time, we don't notice the effort—the behavior feels very natural. When we no longer need to think about the behavior at all, we have truly acquired a habit.

But change is a process. It takes time before a new behavior becomes a habit. Even in maintenance, we can expect minor setbacks—they are inevitable. The key is to pick up where we left off and to continue our new, healthier habits.

Now that you understand the process of behavior change, you might want to think about where you're at with the key lifestyle habits that can help you prevent diabetes, such as, managing your weight or increasing your level of physical activity If you're interested, make a list of the behavior changes you want to make (for example, start exercising, eat less fat, manage stress) on a sheet of paper, and next to the behavior change, write the stage of change in which you think you are for that behavior.

As you begin to outline the action steps you'll take to prevent diabetes, refer back to this list. When developing a health plan, it's best to focus on those behaviors you're still contemplating changing or preparing to change. Your goal is to eventually move into action for those behaviors. Once you do, you'll be one step closer to preventing diabetes.

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