Formerly known as non-insulin dependent diabetes, type 2 diabetes is a condition where the blood-sugar levels are high. It affects around 250 million people worldwide, mostly in affluent countries where people eat more highly processed and refined food and exercise less. In short, it is a disease of overconsumption. Type 2 diabetes used to be known as adult onset diabetes until recently when adolescents and even young children have been diagnosed in no small part due to appalling diets. The good news is that if caught early enough, type 2 diabetes can be reversed with diet alone.
On the face of it, having high blood-sugar levels doesn’t sound too serious, however, the body is a finely tuned machine. Or should be. The amount of sugar that circulates in the blood (also known as blood glucose) is kept closely within strict limits. Levels too low can cause hypoglycaemia (hypo=low; glyc=sugar; aemia=blood) and can result in a coma. Levels too high can cause hyperglycaemia (hyper=high; glyc=sugar; aemia=blood) and can result in a coma also. A lose–lose situation. If diabetes is not treated, high blood sugar will eventually harm both the large and small blood vessels, resulting in a host of complications including leg ulcers, impotence, gangrene, cataracts, blindness and/or kidney damage.
Blood sugars rise after meals as glucose is absorbed from the food we eat. All carbohydrates – pasta or pineapple – are made up of glucose molecules held together by chemical bonds. In response to the rise in blood glucose, the hormone, insulin, is released by the pancreas. Insulin encourages glucose into cells. Cells use glucose to create energy for cell business, whether it be toe-cell business or brain-cell business. At any moment in time, the amount of glucose circulating in the bloodstream of the average person is a meagre 5 g – or the equivalent of one teaspoon of sugar. The hormones that manage blood-sugar levels work constantly to maintain the status quo.
There are two forms of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is often first diagnosed in those under 20 years old. In this case, the cells that produce insulin in the pancreas are destroyed and these diabetics require lifelong insulin injections. Type 2 diabetes is more common, affecting more than 90 per cent of cases. It occurs mostly after 40 years of age. Unlike type 1, type 2 diabetes manifests as an insulin resistance, where cells resist insulin’s invitation to accept glucose. This results in high blood-glucose levels. Treatment is via diet or tablets. If left to progress, ultimately, the insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas give up the ghost, as in diabetes type I, and these people will also need to rely on injected insulin. Type 2 diabetes is predominantly a lifestyle disease brought about by poor eating and exercise habits. If dealt with early enough, it can be reversed.
People who have the apple-shaped distribution of fat around the tummy, rather than the pear-shaped distribution around the hips, are more at risk of developing diabetes. It is as much about the circumference as the shape of the fruit. For women, you have an increased risk of diabetes (and heart disease) if your waist is larger than 80 cm, and a greatly increased risk if it is over 88 cm. For men, your increased risk is when your waist measures more than 94 cm, and greatly increased risk is over 102 cm. A tape measure may seem a low-tech approach to predicting this serious illness, however, this simple and inexpensive method accurately predicts the amount of visceral fat, or fat in and around the liver. This is evil fat. Formerly, fat was considered to be a benign, and slightly annoying, body tissue that hung around making us look bad. However, some fat, including the visceral variety, is active. In a bad way. It produces inflammatory substances that create insulin resistance, resulting in diabetes. Losing weight is much more important than for just aesthetic reasons.
Diabetes can be a life-threatening condition. If you are taking insulin or tablets for diabetes, it is vital that your doctor is made aware of any changes you are considering to your diet or if you wish to use natural remedies. It is also important to have your blood-sugar levels monitored daily.
