A group of six team members in Housing & Hospitality (H&H) recently completed the department’s year-long Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) and more than a dozen others have joined the latest cohort this winter.
Designed for those at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, this support-based program, which is facilitated by Carole Bartolotto, a registered dietitian who serves as H&H’s nutrition education coordinator, offers health and nutrition education and coaching to help prevent diabetes. The goal is for participants to lose 5 to 7 percent of their body weight overall and exercise a minimum of 150 minutes per week.
The most recent graduating cohort collectively dropped 102.2 pounds of body weight. Among them is Robert Esparza, a food service worker at The Study at Hedrick, who lost 33 pounds. Esparza’s overall 10% weight loss, coupled with regular physical activity, reduced his chances of developing diabetes by 58%, said Bartolotto.
In addition, Ken Crosby, who works in H&H’s maintenance department and lives with diabetes, lost 33 pounds and lowered his A1C from 11.2% to 6.7%. A1C represents one’s average blood sugar levels over the past three months. A normal A1C level is below 5.7%, a level of 5.7% to 6.4% indicates prediabetes and a level of 6.5% or more indicates diabetes.
“The program provided me with ways to lower my blood sugar levels and make me more aware of how to keep my numbers where they need to be,” said Crosby. “I enjoyed my time in DPP and am grateful that I was involved.”
Although this particular department-sponsored offering is specific to H&H, UCLA Recreation offers a campus-wide Diabetes Prevention Program in which, like the H&H version of DPP, participants track their progress through weigh-ins and report the amount of exercise they are completing each week.
Classes are administered in small group settings and focus on nutrition, exercise and healthy habits. This and a variety of other no-cost and low-cost health and wellness programs and drop-in in-person and virtual fitness classes for employees are among a variety of perks and benefits that UCLA employees enjoy as members of the Bruin community.
DPP was brought to H&H several years ago after Peter Angelis, assistant vice chancellor for UCLA Housing and Hospitality, learned about America’s diabetes epidemic and the success of those participating in the campus program.
“It was mind-blowing to me,” said Angelis, noting that he was especially struck by the fact that diabetes affects approximately one in three adults in the United States.
