Managing diabetes, from a healthy diet that includes tasty foods to lowering the risk of heart attack and stroke, is the focus of an American Diabetes Association education program this summer.

Free weekly workshops will be held 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays from July 20 to Aug. 17 at Good Shepherd Baptist Church, 1127 N. 28th St. in Church Hill.

People with diabetes or who are pre-diabetic and their families are invited to attend, along with church and community groups.

The workshops are designed to increase awareness about Type 2 diabetes and will cover prevention, management and treatment, nutrition, physical activity, risk control for heart disease, heart attack and stroke, complications that can arise and working with health care providers to control A1C levels.

There are 30 million people in the United States living with diabetes, and according to the Virginia Center for Diabetes Prevention and Education, Virginia has more than 531,000 adults diagnosed with the disease. Nearly 313,000 have the disease but are not yet diagnosed, the center reports.

Information: Contact Bedford Thaxton at bthanxton@diabetes.org or (804) 225-8038, ext. 3280.