Now many people who develop prediabetes or Type 2 diabetes fail to understand that it is possible to reverse this disease with the right information, persistence and the correct attitude.
Let’s explore its symptoms, its causes risk factors, and how to fightback.
What is Diabetes?
Let us first understand this condition. Diabetes mellitus refers to a group of diseases that affect how your body uses blood sugar (glucose). Glucose is vital to your health because it is an important source of energy for the cells, which make up your muscles and tissues.
This includes your brain, which it needs as its main source of fuel. The underlying cause of diabetes varies by type. Nevertheless, regardless of what type of diabetes you have, it can lead to excess sugar in your blood. This excess sugar in our blood can lead to serious health problems.
Chronic diabetes conditions include type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Potentially reversible diabetes conditions include prediabetes. This is when your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes. There are also conditions known as gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy but may resolve after the baby is delivered.
I want to discuss how prediabetes and how some Type 2 sufferers can reverse and beat this crippling disease. Let’s first check out the symptoms.
The symptoms to look out for
Diabetes symptoms as a whole vary depending on how much your blood sugar is elevated. Some people, especially those with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, may not experience symptoms initially. In type 1 diabetes, symptoms tend to come on quickly and be more severe.
Some of the signs and symptoms of type 1 and type 2 diabetes are:
- Increased thirst
- Frequent urination
- Extreme hunger
- Unexplained weight loss
- Presence of ketones in the urine (ketones are a by-product of the breakdown of muscle and fat that happens when there’s not enough available insulin)
- Fatigue
- Irritability
- Blurred vision
- Slow-healing sores
- Frequent infections, such as gums or skin infections and vaginal infections
Let’s first understand how glucose is normally processed in the body.
How insulin works
Insulin is a hormone that comes from the pancreas gland, which is situated behind and below the stomach.
- The pancreas secretes insulin into the bloodstream.
- The insulin circulates, enabling sugar to enter your cells.
- Insulin lowers the amount of sugar in your bloodstream.
- As your blood sugar level drops, so does the secretion of insulin from your pancreas.
The role of glucose
Glucose, sugar is a source of energy for the cells that make up muscles and other tissues.
- Glucose comes from two major sources: food and your liver.
- Sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream, where it enters cells with the help of insulin.
- Your liver stores and makes glucose.
- When your glucose levels are low, such as when you haven’t eaten in a while, the liver breaks down stored glycogen into glucose to keep your glucose level within a normal range.
So, it’s important that whenever you are experiencing a few or many of the symptoms shown above over a period of time then it’s important to book an appointment with your GP.
Causes of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes
In a prediabetes state, you can easily lead to type 2 diabetes, which is the next stage. Once in this type 2 diabetes state, your cells become resistant to the action of insulin. This means your pancreas is unable to make enough insulin to overcome this resistance. So, instead of moving into your cells where it’s needed for energy, sugar builds up in your bloodstream leaving you with some of the symptoms mentioned earlier.
Exactly why this happens is uncertain, although it’s believed that genetic and environmental factors play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes too. Being overweight is strongly linked to the development of type 2 diabetes, but not everyone with type 2 is overweight.
Risk factors for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes
Researchers don’t fully understand why some people develop prediabetes and type 2 diabetes and others don’t. It’s clear that certain factors increase the risk, however, including:
- Weight: The more fat tissue you have, the more resistant your cells become to insulin.
- Inactivity: The less active you are, the greater your risk. Physical activity helps you control your weight, uses up glucose as energy, and makes your cells more sensitive to insulin.
- Family history: Your risk increases if a parent or sibling has type 2 diabetes.
- Race: Although it’s unclear why, people of certain races — including black people, Hispanics, American Indians, and Asian-Americans — are at higher risk.
- Age: Your risk increases as you get older. This may be because you tend to exercise less, lose muscle mass and gain weight as you age. But type 2 diabetes is also increasing among children, adolescents, and younger adults.
- Gestational diabetes: If you developed gestational diabetes when you were pregnant, your risk of developing prediabetes and type 2 diabetes later increases. If you gave birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds (4 kilograms), you’re also at risk of type 2 diabetes.
- Polycystic ovary syndrome: For women, having polycystic ovary syndrome — a common condition characterized by irregular menstrual periods, excess hair growth, and obesity — increases the risk of diabetes.
- High blood pressure: Having blood pressure over 140/90 millimetres of mercury (mm Hg) is linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
- Abnormal cholesterol and triglyceride levels: If you have low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good,” cholesterol, your risk of type 2 diabetes is higher. Triglycerides are another type of fat carried in the blood. People with high levels of triglycerides have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Your doctor can let you know what your cholesterol and triglyceride levels are. So, it’s crucial that you book your appointment with your GP to get your levels checked.
Exercise the tool that can help you manage type 2 Diabetes
According to Diabetes.co.uk in the UK, the number of people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK has risen from 1.4 million to 3.5 million. If you take into account the number of people likely to be living with undiagnosed diabetes, the number of people living with diabetes in the UK is over 4 million.
This represents 6% of the UK population or 1 in every 16 people having diabetes (diagnosed and undiagnosed) forecasts show that Diabetes is prevalence in the UK and it is estimated to rise to 5 million by 2025. (diabetes.co.org 15 Jan 2019)
Type 2 diabetes in particular has been growing at a particularly high rate and is now one of the world’s most common long-term health conditions.
In order to remedy this growing crisis professionals are looking at exercise and lifestyle change as a long-term treatment for this condition; this also includes having a healthy meal plan, which will help maintain your blood glucose level via food, medicinal drugs, or insulin.
If you have always lived healthy and had an active life, you will be more than able to better manage your diabetes and maintain your blood glucose stage in the precise range. Hence, controlling your blood glucose degree is crucial to stop developing any lengthy period complications such as nerve pain and kidney disease.
If you have not exercised for a while then it is advisable to speak with your doctor, as people diagnosed with diabetes type 2 are usually overweight but not exclusively, so an assessment to pinpoint your present state of health is beneficial. Once you have seen your doctor, then you can seek to begin a lifestyle and fitness program.
7 Steps towards beating type 2 diabetes
So, once you have got your doctor’s results confirming your condition and you now have a fair understanding that blood sugar and insulin resistance is the blame for this world epidemic then you must take control of your health.
Let’s take a seven-step approach to help us back towards a healthy non-diabetic state.
1. Increase Your Fibre
Seek to include both soluble and insoluble fibre in your daily diet. Berries, nuts, vegetables, and chia seeds are a great way to slip in the fibre daily. Aim to include 40 to 50 grams of fibre in your daily regimen for every 1,000 calories you eat. You may want to start tracking the foods you eat each day until you are a good judge of how much fibre and carbohydrates you are eating.
2. Reduce Your Net Carbs
A low-net carbohydrate diet reduces the stress on your body, reduces inflammation, and reduces the amount of insulin required to use the energy from the food you eat. You’ll want to reduce the number of net carbs you eat to 50 grams per day. However, you’ll be measuring the net carbs.
This number is calculated by taking the grams of carbs you’ve eaten and subtracting the number of grams of fibre. In this way, a high-fibre diet also helps you to lower the amount of insulin you need to utilize your food for fuel.
3. High-Quality Fats
When you reduce your carbohydrates, what are you going to replace them with? Your best alternative is high-quality, healthy fats necessary for heart health, feeding your brain to modulate genetic regulation and prevent cancer.
Healthy fats include:
- Avocados
- Coconut Oil
- Palm Oil, Olives & olive oil
- Grass-Fed Meat
- Organic pastured eggs
- Organic butter from grass-fed milk
- Organic raw nuts
- Organic pastured eggs
4. Exercise
Short-term and long-term exercise doesn’t appear to have any effect on the amount of leptin secreted in your body. However, exercise has a significant impact on the resistance your body builds up to the hormone leptin. The more you exercise, the more your cells are sensitive to leptin. As your body becomes sensitive to leptin, it reduces your potential resistance to insulin and therefore your risk of diabetes.
5. Hydration
When you become dehydrated, your liver will secrete a hormone that increases your blood sugar. As you hydrate, blood sugar levels lower naturally.
Stay well hydrated by monitoring the colour of your urine during the day. The colour should be light yellow. Sometimes your first indication your body requires more water is the sensation of being hungry. Drink a large glass of water first and wait 20 minutes to determine if you’re hungry or you were thirsty.
6. Reduce Your Stress
When you become stressed, your body secretes cortisol and glucagon, both of which affect your blood sugar levels. Control your stress levels using exercise, meditation, yoga, prayer, or relaxation techniques. These techniques may reduce your stress and correct insulin secretion problems. Combined with strategies that reduce your insulin resistance, you may help to prevent diabetes.
7. Sleep
Enough quality sleep is necessary to feel good and experience good health. Poor sleeping habits may reduce insulin sensitivity and promote weight gain.
These seven steps are just a template towards better health if you are experiencing some or many of the symptoms mentioned earlier or have had it confirmed that you are a prediabetic or a type 2 diabetic patient. Time-restricted eating is also a very useful approach that helps facilitates weight loss and reduces your risk of chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes.
Getting enough regular exercise is also beneficial, If the idea of doing 30 minutes 3-5 times a week is too difficult, you may cut up the exercising into shorter periods, say 10 minutes here and there, aiming for at least half-hour at that given the day. Ensure that you do activities that you enjoy. Aerobic sporting options could include:
- Dancing and Zumba
- Jogging/Running
- Walking
- Swimming
- Biking
Nevertheless, do not stall there—try to persevere and aim towards 40,50, and 60 minutes once the enjoyment and your fitness level increases.
Strength and stretching are also essential components of giving you that complete wellness look and feel so ensure to seek advice and support from a fitness professional or a friend who knows what they are doing. Having a person else working out with you does make it more enjoyable plus you can motivate one another.
So, in summary, it’s important to first seek advice from your GP to monitor your blood sugar levels and your symptoms. Then start keeping a food diary when you begin the seven steps of advice, which is above.
After 6-8 weeks of sticking to my recommendations, you should then request another blood test to see the difference. Also, note the changes in how you are feeling and if any of the symptoms have deviated or have stopped.
