Education for Diabetes

This weeks Food for Life TV episode, Tackling the Diabetes Epidemic, is the first of a four-part series during Diabetes Awareness Month. Dr. Barnard discusses the causes of type 2 diabetes and the current diabetes epidemic. He also outlines a healthy plant-based menu that will help you prevent and reverse type 2 diabetes.

Think there is no way to cure diabetes? Think again! In this weeks UltraWellness blog, Dr. Mark Hyman explains how rebalance the 7 key systems in your body can help you rebalance your insulin levels and resolve your health problems.

Natural health expert Dr. Joseph Mercola talks about preventing and reversing diabetes. To know more about diabetes, visit articles.mercola.com

With people becoming significantly more overweight lately in our society, and the rising obesity levels reaching consistently all time highs the type 2 diabetes epidemic seems to be growing out of control. The rates of diabetes diagnosis is reaching record new levels at an alarming rate, and is only expected to get worse. Between 2001 and 2002, the number of Americans diagnosed as having diabetes went from 5.5 percent to an alarming 6.5 percent, all within a single year.

Overall, approx 20 million Americans have been diagnosed with some form of diabetes, and another 5 million Americans have diabetes now and don’t know it, or havent been diagnosed as yet. Plus another 12 million are pre-diabetic (on their way to developing type 2 diabetes because of their lifestyle and impaired glucose levels) A new study estimated that the number of Americans living with diabetes will double over the next 25 years, tripling the cost of associated health care to 336 billion dollars; and this is assuming the ‘proportion of people’ in the population with diabetes does not change, said the researchers.

Not knowing you have diabetes is the worst case because the risks to your health associated with untreated diabetes puts you at a risk of life limiting complications, such as (but not limited to) blindness, amputations kidney failure, heart attack, stroke, and ultimately death. The interesting thing is, that type 2 diabetes is almost entirely preventable. Doctors tell you to eat less, eat better and exercise, but most don’t heed of the good advice. In fact the numbers show just how many Americans are currently overweight.

Perhaps what gives people the false sense of security is that on a whole, people are now living much longer, with average life expectancies now nudging 80. However, unless we get a handle on how to best control this global type 2 diabetes epidemic, then the average life expectancy will expectedly peak and we will probably then start to see a downwards spiral.

The Western world overall are a gluttonous society, which since the easy advent of fast and ready, highly processed foods, has resulted in the epidemic we are all experiencing in our societies today. Some people may shrug the diabetes epidemic off, and say that it doesn’t affect them, but unfortunately that is a short sighted view, for regardless of whether or not, you do, or are likely to suffer from diabetes, now or in the future, it remains a fact that it will be all taxpayers who end up contributing to the health costs of treating diabetics, which in turn pushes the cost of health insurance up for everybody.

Diabetes now affects more of the young middle-aged population in developing countries between the ages of 40 and 59, but is also now having a major impact on the health of the young kids (under 15) that have forgotten what it’s like to be active and involved in regular exercise, instead choosing a sedentary lifestyle, with a highly calorific, high Glycemic Index, takeaway food diet.

As responsible people in charge of our own lives, we need to make the effort to eat better, and live better so as to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes, or if we’ve already been diagnosed, we need to ensure we don’t become part of the statistics by looking after our own health and wellbeing by ensuring we maintain effective type 2 diabetes control.

Most people you ask associate the Type 2 diabetes disease to older adults, but not anymore. Investigators from the University of Washington in Seattle now report that very young adults and even children are getting the disease in record numbers.

Their study shows that Type 2 diabetes may be affecting as many as 39,000 adolescents between ages 12 and 19. Even more alarming is that another 2.5 million kids are known to be suffering from impaired fasting blood sugar levels, considered a prelude to contracting the disease.

This study is based on blood sugar testing performed in about 1,500 teens without a diagnosis of diabetes. About 11 percent were found to have high fasting blood sugar levels. The researchers used that figure to estimate the incidence of diabetes and impaired fasting blood sugar levels in the general population of teens.

So the big question is why so many children are and young adults getting Type 2 diabetes what was once previously considered an adult disease? Arlan L. Rosenbloom, M.D., from the Children’s Medical Services Center in Gainesville, Fla., attributes the increased risk to the growing obesity epidemic among young people and calls for greater public health efforts to combat the situation.

He goes on to say that “It is to be hoped that the recognition of the public health time bomb reflected in the report will lead to a pervasive societal effort to prevent obesity, a daunting task of such magnitude that enormous community and governmental commitments will be required”.

What you need to realize is that as parents of children who are in the early stages of acquiring Type 2 diabetes can set examples for their children by cutting down on all the fast foods and eating foods with little of no nutrition for the body. You are eating yourself to death!

As a parent you need to lead the way and lose weight using low fat foods, exercise and practice a healthier lifestyle, then teach your children to do the same. In today’s hectic high pressure world everyone is going to slip and eat some fast food, but you shouldn’t eat fast foods all the time.

Remember that movie filmed awhile back called “Super Size Me”? This movie shows why are Americans so fat? Super Size Me is a tongue in-cheek look at the legal, financial and physical costs of America’s hunger for fast food.

Ominously, 37% of American children and adolescents are carrying too much fat and 2 out of every three adults are overweight or obese which leads to Type 2 diabetes. Is it our fault for lacking self-control, or are the fast-food corporations to blame? I think both are to blame. If we only knew what lies down the road after we eat all that fast food. It will slowly and surely lead to a lifetime of regret and treatment for the incurable disease called Type 2 diabetes.

People are at greater risk of developing pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes if they: are age 45 or older have a family history of diabetes are overweight are inactive (exercise less than three times a week) are members of a high-risk ethnic population (eg, African American, Hispanic/Latino American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian American, Pacific Islander) have high blood pressure: 140/90 mm/Hg or higher have an HDL cholesterol less than 35 mg/dL or a triglyceride level 250 mg/dL or higher have had diabetes that developed during pregnancy (gestational diabetes) or have given birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds have polycystic ovary syndrome, a metabolic disorder that affects the female reproductive system have acanthosis nigricans (dark, thickened skin around neck or armpits) have a history of disease of the blood vessels to the heart, brain, or legs have had higher-than-normal blood glucose levels on previous testing.

Do you suffer from type 2 diabetes? Are you overweight, exhausted, and feeling 20 years older than you actually are as a result? Are you tired of measuring your blood sugar and taking medication all the time? You may not believe diabetes is reversible, but in todays UltraWellness blog Dr. Mark Hyman is going to explain how you can reverse it using a comprehensive diet and lifestyle program.

Like most of us, you have likely been taught that type 2 diabetes is a result of too much blood sugar and too little insulin. In this weeks UltraWellness blog, Dr. Mark Hyman shatters that myth and explains what the real causes for diabesity are.

Sian Welby discusses with Dr Chris Steele the symptoms of diabetes. Type 1 Diabetes is most prevalent in young people, whereas Type 2 is more likely to be found in older people. Type 2 represents 90% of all cases. Symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes: Symptoms can come on very rapidly, and include intense thirst, need to pass urine frequently, weight loss, and recurrent infections. For Type 2 Diabetes, on average a sufferer will ahve the disease for 7 years before it is diagnosed. Symptoms come on more slowly, and include thirst, tiredness, need to pass urine, disurbance to vision. It is a serious disease that can lead to blindness, amputation, heart disease, kindey failure, erectile disfunction and other problems. It is easy to be tested, and this can even be done yourself at home with a testing kit from your pharmacist. Who should get tested People over 40 The overweight If you ahve family memebers who are diabetic. People of Asian and afro-carribean origin should be tested in their twenties. 80% of diabetics are overweight.

According the American Diabetes Association (ADA), there are 15.7 million Americans who have diabetes. This disease is the main cause of blindness in people between the ages of twenty and seventy and is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S.

If this disease is not properly managed, diabetes can cause kidney disease, hypertension, heart disease, edema, neuropathy, and infections of the mouth, feet, skin, lungs and genitalia. The skin infections do not heal properly and can even lead to amputation of extremities.

Type 2 diabetes has become the most common form of disease affecting 90-95 percent of the people who have diabetes. For people who have type II diabetes, not enough insulin is manufactured by the pancreas. Another problem is that the cells can become insulin resistant. When this happens, glucose accumulates in the blood instead of entering the cells.

Type 2 diabetes usually develops later in life; however, the disease is now becoming more common in people in their thirties and even late twenties.

The most common risk factors among those who develop this condition include diet, weight, race, age, lack of exercise and genetics. The most common ethnic groups to have type 2 diabetes are Latinos, American Indians, African-Americans, and American Asians.

The real danger of diabetes is the complications associated from inconsistent insulin levels and elevated blood glucose. One dangerous complication is diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), or another dangerous condition known as hyperosmolar syndrome. DKA happens when insulin levels are so low that the body starts metabolizing stored fat to use as fuel. When the fat breaks down, a byproduct is released that is known as ketones which cause the body to become too acidic.

Ketoacidosis is typically seen in those with type 1 diabetes, but can happen to those with type 2 as well. The symptoms can include nausea, sweet breath, having a hard time breathing and confusion which can lead to a coma.

Hyperosmolar syndrome is a result of elevated blood sugars accompanied with dehydration. This condition is more common in those with type 2 diabetes who also take steroid medications. Hyperosmolar syndrome can also be a result of a stress from another illness. Symptoms can include confusion, tiredness, and in the most severe cases, coma. Often, in older adults, type 2 diabetes is not discovered until the symptoms of hypersmolar syndrome are reported to a doctor.

If you have recently been diagnosed with diabetes, you probably have a lot of questions and may even have a hard time grasping the severity and the responsibilities that come with this condition. It must now become a priority to take care of your body. If you are overweight, it is time to drop those extra pounds. You will also need to cut back on sugars, eat more fiber, and limit fours and white rice and to start a regular exercise regime.

You will also want to make an appointment with an optometrist make sure that your eyes are in good shape. Other important things that you can do are monitor the health of your feet for sores and losing feeling in the toes.