Diabetes has been around for centuries. There are
presently sixteen millions diabetics in America, but eight million do
not know that they have the disease. Today, diabetes is in third place
as the cause of mortality, behind cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
Diabetes is caused by a disruption in insulin production in the
body. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas when the level of
blood sugar, glucose, increases – after a meal, most commonly. With the
help of insulin, glucose moves from the blood into the cells. The
cellular components turn the glucose into energy. When glucose does not
enter cells, it stays in the blood and is filtered by kidneys which
later eliminate it from the bloodstream.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when insulin in the body
does not work as it should. Main symptoms of diabetes include excessive
thirst, excessive urination, excessive appetite, fatigue, blurred
vision, frequent and slow-healing infections including bladder, vaginal
and skin. In men, diabetes may be accompanied by such symptoms as
erectile dysfunction.
In order to timely recognize diabetes, everyone should be familiar
with the different types of diabetes as well as with main symptoms of
diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is a life-threatening condition which is less
common. Those suffering with this type of diabetes need complete insulin
replacement because the body does not make sufficient amounts of this
essential hormone.
The most common type of diabetes is type 2 diabetes, or
non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. 90 f all diabetes cases in the
US are diagnosed as Type 2.
There is also gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy
due to specific hormonal changes in the body of the expectant mother.
Diabetes is often accompanied by obesity and high cholesterol and is
a disease that often runs in families, so if one of your family members
has it, you have a higher risk of developing diabetes too. Lack of
activity, a diet rich in fats and processed products and obesity
significantly increase your risk for diabetes.
Diabetes can be prevented and controlled by amending your diet. When
we eat a product that is rich in sugar, the pancreas starts to produce
more insulin to turn the sugar into energy. Saturated fat is transformed
by the liver into sugar, which triggers the same response of pancreas –
more insulin, more energy.
When the body doesn’t use this energy, it stores it as fat in the
liver, on the stomach and hips. The more sugar and fat we eat, the more
“storage space” our body requires.
However, when you switch to eating vegetables, cereals and other
fiber-rich products cooked or seasoned with olive or grape seed oil, the
pancreas does not need to produce any extra insulin. As a result, fat
is not deposited in the body and the blood sugar levels remain stable.
By avoiding sweet and fat-rich foods, blood sugar levels remains
balanced which can delay the onset of diabetes and for those already
diagnosed as diabetic can help them manage the condition.
