Are You the Diabete’s Dog or Master?
Which came first, diabetes or being overweight? Does it really matter once you've been diagnosed? Almost 90% of people diagnosed with Type II diabetes are overweight. Many don't realize how much being soft can cost. Type II diabetes, once known as adult onset diabetes, is the most common form of affecting millions of people in the United States alone. According to the American Diabetes Association, over 20 million people have been diagnosed. Type II refers to insulin resistance. The body's cells simply ignore the insulin released by the pancreas. Sometimes the pancreas doesn't produce enough. Either way, blood glucose levels aren't effectively reduced and the result is damage.
Among those that suffer from Type 2 diabetes almost 40% have high blood pressure, which is another condition that is believed to be exacerbated by excess weight. Being overweight might also lead to a condition known as insulin resistance in which the body no longer responds to the insulin that is needed to assist the body in using sugar and glucose as fuel on a cellular level.
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.
Fight it standing up. Don't sit down and let Diabetes control you. Stand up and take control of your body back. This is a fight to the finish and if you let it, diabetes will be your end. If you fight it standing up, lose the weight, get out there and exercise, listen to the doctor's orders and follow them. Find the strength within you to battle this disease head on. You'll be amazed at what happens when you decide to stand up and fight for your health.
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.
Watch what you eat. Garbage in, garbage out, right? You have strict dietary requirements once you've been diagnosed with diabetes. This means that you absolutely must follow your dietary restrictions. Learn to live within those limits in order to live and enjoy life to the fullest you can. The amazing thing is that there are all kinds of foods available that are friendly to those with diabetes that weren't around just a few short years ago. It is quite possible to live and eat quite nicely with diabetes if you stick to your plan. The most important thing about dieting with diabetes is that you never lose sight of how crucial it is to do so.