Dieting and Diabetes
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Diabetes and being overweight go hand in hand. Too much weight for an individual brings a slew of complications and predisposition for serious diseases including diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. It is not absolutely clear whether being overweight is a cause or result of being diabetic. However, experts do know that reducing body weight greatly increases an individual’s chance of delaying or preventing diabetes. In cases where there has been a diagnosis, losing weight can make the difference in medication dosage and diabetes management. It is up to the individual, however, as to how much control over the disease he or she wants to have.
Diabetes is a serious disease that affects over 20 million people in the United States alone. Of those diagnosed, the majority of diabetics have Type II. Type II diabetes refers to the body’s resistance to insulin. Whether the body simply ignores the amount of insulin produced by the pancreas, or insufficient amounts are made by the pancreas, natural metabolic processes are unable to reduce blood glucose levels. When a body cannot convert the glucose to energy for the cell to use, it stores it as fat. This contributes to the weight problem.
At the same time, being overweight aggravates the diabetic condition. Gaining too much weight for one’s height and frame can predispose him for diabetes. Consuming too much food as well as eating foods rich in simple carbohydrates or highly processed fats leads to an increase in weight. More importantly this lifestyle leads to a pattern of hills and valleys in respect to blood glucose levels. Each time the sugar levels are elevated, the body reacts by overproducing insulin to lower them. As levels drop quickly, adrenaline is released to reestablish balance in the system. This pattern continues until cells are less sensitive to insulin. At this point the body cannot effectively reduce blood sugar levels on its own anymore. The result is Type II diabetes.
The prognosis for diabetes does not have to be a grave one. The most convincing data to fight diabetes and obesity is to lose weight. Individuals who educate themselves on matters of nutrition and exercise stand the best chance of avoiding the disease, lowering blood pressure and living a more fruitful life. By choosing foods that will provide health benefits and raise blood sugar levels gradually, a person can restore the natural metabolic process that balances itself properly. Changing what foods are consumed can also reduce weight by reducing the amount of calories eaten.
Get active. Find activities that you enjoy and get out there and do them. Don’t make those activities passive activities either. Even if it’s just going out to play shuffleboard everyday get out there and play. Enjoy your time in the sun. Pick flowers with the little ones. Take up golf. Do whatever it takes to get up and moving each and every day in order to remember why you want to live forever in the first place.
The same thing goes for exercise. Today, there are many more activities to choose from when making healthy lifestyle changes. Any activity that brings enjoyment makes a difference. Some would argue that yoga isn’t active enough to generate weight loss. On the contrary, yoga is proven to reduce stress levels, that alone can reduce the amount of fat that a body stores. Whatever activity a person chooses, it should be appropriate for that person’s abilities. If you don’t enjoy yourself, why would you want to do it again? The body and all of its processes are complex in design, but basic in principle. If there is one thing that science has been certain in discovering it’s that all of the systems are intertwined. What we do, see and eat affects us in ways we would never have imagined. Taking responsibility and action to prevent or manage diabetes is a step in common sense. Why exist when you can live?
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