Report from the American Association of Diabetes Educators Conference
Posted By: Bruce Daggy, Ph.D.
This month I and others from the Research and Development Team at Nutrisystem attended the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) annual conference in Las Vegas, NV. AADE and Nutrisystem are two organization of similar age – about 40 years – with a shared determination to make a difference in the lives of people who have, or are at risk of, diabetes. AADE represents nearly 13,000 diabetes educators across the country.
Diabetes educators have a variety of backgrounds. Many are registered nurses or dietitians; some are nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physicians, or pharmacists. They are well equipped to address the questions and concerns of a newly diagnosed patient, or a patient who has recently developed new complications from the disease.
Nutrisystem is proud to be a member of AADE’s Industry Allies Council. For the second consecutive year, we staffed a booth at their annual conference. The exhibition is an opportunity for our technical staff to answer AADE members’ questions about Nutrisystem® D®, our structured meal program for people with diabetes. I was joined by two of our registered dietitians, Mary Gregg and Meghan Nichols, in having these conversations.
We heard from many diabetes educators that they had patients who had done well on the Nutrisystem D program, and that the information we presented would help them make informed decisions as to when to recommend the program. We have long held the belief the Nutrisystem D can be an effective tool for diabetes educators for helping their patients get started on a healthy diet. It was gratifying to hear that so many of these professionals were already using Nutrisystem D in their practice or were planning to do so after learning about our program.
One of the more shocking things I learned at the conference was that only 29% of patients with diabetes ever see a diabetes educator. If you or someone you know could use the help of a diabetes educator but don’t know where to turn, the AADE’s website includes a Find a Diabetes Educator tool: http://www.diabeteseducator.org/ find
Program works. I lost 111 lbs. over a year ago and still haven’t gained any of the weight back. A great healthy way to loss weight and keep it off. I like being able to wear clothes from the year before, not having to buy all new clothes.