Brief Overview Of Diabetes And Diet
Kathryn Whittaker
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% of 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.
About The Author: Kathryn writes articles on a number of
different topics. For more information on Diabetes please visit
http://www.understandingdiabetes.info and for additional
articles on Diabetes
http://www.understandingdiabetes.info/understandingdiabetes-articles/
<< ------------------End of Free Reprint Article --------------- >>
Find More Free Articles
See Also:
All Free Articles About Health & Wellbeing
All Free Articles About Natural Health & Natural Healing
Index of All Free Reprint Articles
