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Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity

Obesity and diabetes have both been proven to be increasing at an alarming rate. The National Institutes of Health say that more than 65% of American adults are overweight or obese. This is frightening as it has been climbing steadily for the past few years. Obesity increases risk of serious health problems such as heart disease, stroke, some types of cancer and the subject of this article…diabetes. Type 2 diabetes has also been increasing in correlation to the increasing obesity rate. Over 21 million people in America now have type 2 diabetes mellitus and another 54 million diagnosed with pre-diabetes (elevated blood glucose levels but not to level as type 2 diabetes mellitus). Throughout the world it is estimated that more than 1.1 billion people are overweight and 312 million of them are considered obese. This overweight trend has also been having it’s affect on children with over 25% of children being considered obese.

Two main causes or risk factors of type 2 diabetes are heredity and obesity. There is not too much we can do to avoid genetic inheritance but with work we can go a lot to reduce our weight through a healthy diet and exercise program. The progression from pre-diabetes can happen really quickly.

With almost 90% of type 2 diabetics being overweight we must look at obesity as a major influence in this figureNinety per cent of type 2 diabetics are overweight we must explore how obesity affects our body. Insulin resistance develops when the following events occur: free fatty acids circulate through your blood stream, your liver then begins to produce large quantities of glucose and the beta cells located in your pancreas fail to produce the insulin properly. Eventually it causes your bells to become less sensitive to insulin. There is a circle of events that coincide with the cells becoming insulin resistance which are: being overweight increases the risk of insulin resistance and insulin resistance causes the body to store more fat and weight gain results It doesn’t really matter which came first obesity or diabetes but the actual fact is when weight is loss you will definitely see an improvement in insulin sensitivity. It is often found weight loss cures this whole diabetes scenario. Weight loss, abstinence and dieting can help reverse insulin resistance.

Some of the changes all diabetics should be making can include eating less and reduction of energy intake. Diabetics, especially those who are overweight are more apt to have their health decline if they refuse to keep active and that is what has been said…spend more time with outdoor physical activity. Reduce caloric intake by eating such things as leafy green vegetables.

Most dieticians will inform you when they help out with a diet sheet that it is not a matter of stuffing more food in but eating in moderation. and eating more of such things as: greens, moderate quantities of low GL carbohydrates, a small portion of protein and very limited a mounts of fats, sugars and alcohol.

Your diet should be reduced in calories/kilojoules but also balanced to meet your nutrient requirements, taking into account what you need to control your blood sugar levels, blood pressure and triglyceride levels. Diabetics should plan out a regular exercise gears up your cells for activity. To get the energy you need, your body uses insulin to bring sugar and fat into your cells where they are burned as fuel. An increase in insulin activity reduces your blood sugar levels and when that level is lower your body produces less insulin and becomes more responsive to both sugar and insulin. When you increase your physical activity you increase insulin sensitivity which is the opposite of insulin resistance.

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