You Can Prevent or Delay Type 2 Diabetes!
Type 2 diabetes, how badly do you want to prevent or delay ? Does the thought of someday sticking your self with needles scare you. Have you been told that you are at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes? This blog is for you! I would like to thank Diabetes Canada, this is where I did most of my research.
What is Diabetes?
What is diabetes? It is the when the body does not make insulin or lacks the ability to use insulin properly. Insulin is a hormone that is made by the pancreas. Insulin regulates the sugar (glucose) in the blood. The sugar gives the cells energy so is very important. Too little and the cells starve, too much can cause problems in the organs, blood vessels and nerves.
An eye opener for me was a friend had to have three toes removed from what started out as toenail fungus. That scared the hell out of me. My toes are not the prettiest but I would like to keep them.
What is the Difference between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes people are unable to produce insulin. Their body attacks the pancreas, Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. It accounts for 10% of diabetics. These people need insulin.
Type 2 is where the body cannot properly use insulin. Being accountable for 90% of cases. usually type 2 develops in adults. Sometimes this type of diabetes can be helped by mindful eating and regular exercise. Keeping weight down and exercising can help somewhat but supervision from the doctor is key, medications may keep things in control.
Talk to Your Doctor or a Registered Dietitian
Because everyone is different, you should talk to your doctor or registered dietitian. Your doctor may refer you to an endocrinologist. This is a specialist who works with glands and the hormones they make. Many of these glands control metabolism and how the body converts sugar to energy. To the specialist, it may be obvious what changes need to be made. Changes would include a healthy breakfast rather than just the two cups of coffee you now drink. For some people who do eat a good breakfast, the dietitian may recommend more protein, cutting back on that giant glass of orange juice, and tweaks like that. Listen to them, they are the experts. I work in a grocery store, we have a dietitian at our store who is available, she will even demonstrate how to decipher food labels and go shopping at the store with you.
What are Carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates provide fuel for the body. They can be broken down into two types, simple and complex. It takes longer to break down the complex carbs than simple ones. The simple carbs are sodas, candy bars, table syrup, fruit and things like that. Complex carbs are found in pasta, peas and potatoes.The simple carbs will cause a spike in energy but will also cause a quick drop.
Complex carbs present themselves in longer chains and take longer to digest, therefore cause a more even level of energy. This is more desirable as far as the body is concerned.
Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes
- Here are most of the symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes,
- thirst
- peeing alot
- weight gain or loss (unexplained)
- very tired
- blurred vision
- frequent infections
- cuts and brusies that are slow to heal
- tingling or numbness in hands and feet
- diabetes ketoacidosis, where your body burns fat instead of sugar, the biggest thing I notice is the fruity smelling breath, this is common to people on Keto diets, if you are not on this Keto diet.
Who is at Risk?
- Who is at risk?
- Those over 40
- Parent or sibling with diabetes
- certain ethnic backgrounds
- have high blood pressure
- have high levels of cholesterol
- High BMI- mostly around stomach area(BMI-Body Mass Index) Check out this link for the BMI calculator.The explaination for your result are there as well.
- have sleep apnea ( although losing 10% of weight in overweight people can help greatly with sleep apnea)
Now for the tough part: Exercise
How does Exercise help diabetes? You don’t need to be diabetic to enjoy the benefits of exercise! There are two kinds of exercise that we will talk about. The first is aerobic, any exercise that increases your breathing and heart rate are aerobic. These include brisk walking, biking, swimming (I don’t include jogging here because the thought of jogging makes my bones ache). The Diabetes Canada suggests 150 minutes a week of aerobic exercise.
The second type of exercise is weight resistance. This type of exercise involves repetitive exercises using weights, resistance bands or your own body weight.
As always, speak to your healthcare provider before attempting things out of your comfort zone. Remember to set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-related) Please refer to my blog on Goal Setting, just follow the ink.
All this stuff is easy for me to write but to actually loose weight, to actually stay away from sweets is really, really tough. I don’t mean to scare the pants off you but I wanted you to be aware.