Dr. Ronesh Sinha, an internal medicine physician with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, serves as director of Sutter Health’s Metabolic Wellness Program, which teaches program participants via a series of webinars to use a continuous glucose monitor to prevent, control and possibly reverse diabetes and heart disease, and promote weight loss.
Sinha said many aspects of the current health system center on addressing a health concern as soon as it’s deemed an actual problem, but prevention and monitoring are crucial, especially when it comes to heart disease and diabetes.
The program accepts people of all backgrounds, including many at-risk South Asians. Sinha noted that while many of the people who were coming in seemed otherwise healthy BMI-wise, they had existing conditions that put them at risk of serious conditions.
“Many Asians, for example, men and females, they have conditions like fatty liver, and these are all symbolic of something called ‘insulin resistance,’” he said. “The problem with the traditional health care system is we wait until that turns into some sort of significant condition, like Type 2 diabetes, you know, heart disease, fatty liver, etc. We don’t really catch these things early.”
And the problem does not just affect South Asians – it crosses cultural boundaries.
A 2022 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study estimated that more than 220,000 people under age 20 may be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes by 2060.
The recent rise in early diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to Sinha, is most likely due to stress or an overwhelmingly sedentary lifestyle exacerbated by the pandemic and poor nutrition.
More specifically, excessive amounts of carbohydrates in the diet can lead to spikes, dips and overall high glucose levels.
The way some program participants see how glucose affects their blood sugar levels, Sinha said, can encourage them to be more aware of what they consume and consider how it affects them.
“So then when people start sharing those numbers, we have content that teaches them how to keep their glucose more stable throughout the day,” he added. “So their mood and energy stays stable as well, and that has a really big impact on overall health as well.”
The eight-week program is open to adults in California, regardless of insurance.
To enroll in the program and for more information, visit tinyurl.com/metabolicwellness.
