All this current brouhaha about Paula Deen’s not revealing for three years that she had manifested Type-2 Diabetes takes the focus off you, the person who controls your destiny. Here’s a reality check on how your body works and what you can do to facilitate good health.
How does your body process sugar and fat?
According to The American Diabetes Association, when you eat food, your body breaks down all the sugars and starches into glucose, which is the basic fuel of your body. The role of insulin is to transport your glucose from your blood into your cells. Under stresses and strains of various sorts, your glucose begins to build up in your blood.
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What leads the glucose to build up in your blood?
There are several factors that cause the body to become insulin resistant which is the state that leads to glucose build-up in your blood. Factors that are not in your control:
- Age. As you get older, your risk for Type-2 diabetes goes up.
- Family History. If your mother, father or siblings have Type-2 Diabetes your risk is elevated.
Factors that are in your control:
- Do you maintain a proper exercise regimen, or are you mostly sedentary?
- Are you the proper weight for your height, or are you overweight to obese?
- Is your blood pressure normal or high? How do you deal with your negative emotions?
- Is your “good “(HDL) cholesterol high and your “bad” (LDL) cholesterol low? Are you overloading on sugar and saturated and trans-fats or are you eating an amount of these substances that doesn’t negatively impact your cholesterol levels?
How does your body become insulin resistant?
With insulin resistance your muscle and fat cells begin to lose their ability to absorb insulin properly. As this condition of poorer insulin absorption develops, your pancreas hears the clarion call to make more insulin. Your pancreas, doing its job, keeps pumping out more and more insulin. When your pancreas can no longer produce enough insulin to offset your muscle and fat cells’ resistance, your blood glucose levels rise to the point where you have manifested Type-2 Diabetes.
If we were educated about our body’s workings from a young age, we would understand how our lifestyle choices affect our health. Sadly, in our medical system, we learn more about our bodies after we have manifested some dis/ease.
Your body wants to be your best friend; it’s valiantly working to keep you up and running, but it has to battle against rising age and genetics. If you are working against yourself by regularly abusing your body (see factors in your control), you are putting a continuing strain on your body that can cause it to eventually break-down.
The causes of cancer are confounding; the causes of heart disease are easier to pinpoint. Type-2 Diabetes is preventable. Are you up for the task?
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