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When Hae-Yung Yim was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last October at the age of 55, it was a shock. Blessed with a robust metabolism, she always felt fortunate to be able to eat as much as she wanted of her favourite foods, including the bread, pasta and rice she loves, without gaining weight.

Both of her parents have the disease, so Ms. Yim knew she had genetic risk factors. But as they were both diagnosed much later in life, around age 70, she believed it was something she wouldn’t have to think about for years. When she saw her doctor because of kidney pain, a blood test revealed that she had type 2 diabetes and had to make immediate changes to the ways she ate and lived.

Initially, Ms. Yim believed that type 2 diabetes meant that she’d only have to watch her blood sugar, exercise more and avoid sweets. Through conversations with her doctor, she learned that staying healthy with diabetes can be complex and she would have to do more to maintain her health. In fact, one of the major concerns for people with type 2 diabetes is that they are also at much higher risk for early heart disease, as many as 15 years earlier than for those without diabetes.

“Men with diabetes are twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease than men without diabetes, and it’s even worse for women, who are four times as likely,” says Dr. Shelley Zieroth, a heart failure cardiologist in Winnipeg and past president of the Canadian Heart Failure Society. About 80 per cent of people with type 2 diabetes die of cardiovascular disease.

While a healthy, whole-food diet (staying away from processed and refined foods) and 150 minutes of exercise per week is essential for overall diabetes management, evidence is mounting that some medications that help control blood sugars also provide additional heart health protection. Doctors may prescribe SLGT2i/GLP1ra drugs with cardiovascular benefit for patients with some risk factors.

Dr. Zieroth recommends Diabetes Canada’s ABCDES tool as a valuable reference for a “whole-body health” approach to minimizing the risk of all the complications associated with the disease. While it is designed as a quick checklist for health professionals, it also provides a great conversation guide for those with the disease when seeing their doctors.

“Information is powerful,” she says. “Patients should have those important conversations with their physicians about ways they can lower their risks.”

Ms. Yim agrees that information is power when it comes to health, and encourages others to see their doctor for screening. “I have been thinking a lot about how many people have diabetes now and don’t know it – I think a lot of people have put off screenings and regular checkups because of the pandemic.”

It’s natural to avoid potentially bad news and to feel badly about the things we might have done differently, but that viewpoint isn’t good for our health, she adds. “I’ve learned to focus on the future instead – on what I can do now to have a healthy life in the years ahead.”

Advertising feature produced by Randall Anthony Communications with Diabetes Canada. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.