Dieting and Diabetes

By Julia Hanf

Diabetes and being overweight go hand in hand. Too much weight for an individual brings a slew of complications and predisposition for serious diseases including diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. It is not absolutely clear whether being overweight is a cause or result of being diabetic. However, experts do know that reducing body weight greatly increases an individual's chance of delaying or preventing diabetes. In cases where there has been a diagnosis, losing weight can make the difference in medication dosage and diabetes management. It is up to the individual, however, as to how much control over the disease he or she wants to have.

Diabetes is a serious disease that affects over 20 million people in the United States alone. Of those diagnosed, the majority of diabetics have Type II. Type II diabetes refers to the body's resistance to insulin. Whether the body simply ignores the amount of insulin produced by the pancreas, or insufficient amounts are made by the pancreas, natural metabolic processes are unable to reduce blood glucose levels. When a body cannot convert the glucose to energy for the cell to use, it stores it as fat. This contributes to the weight problem.

There are some things you can do to help yourself out if you have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes or labeled at risk for this devastating condition. First of all, take off the pounds. I know this is much easier said than done. Dieting is never easy and rarely fun for the average person. However, if you do not begin to take drastic steps toward procuring the best possible health for yourself you may not be able to enjoy the quality of life you had planned for your golden years. Let your condition be your motivation and make plans to enjoy watching your grandchildren and great grandchildren graduate college.

Fight it standing up. Don't sit down and let Diabetes control you. Stand up and take control of your body back. This is a fight to the finish and if you let it, diabetes will be your end. If you fight it standing up, lose the weight, get out there and exercise, listen to the doctor's orders and follow them. Find the strength within you to battle this disease head on. You'll be amazed at what happens when you decide to stand up and fight for your health.

Nutrition doesn't have to be resented. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing event either. Education and moderation are the key to understanding nutrition, weight loss and maintenance. By learning how different foods are used in the body, we can actually transform them into efficient fuel burning machines. Eating the right portion size may be hard at first. Cutting just of the typical serving means eating less. Over time, all of the little changes add up.

The same thing goes for exercise. Today, there are many more activities to choose from when making healthy lifestyle changes. Any activity that brings enjoyment makes a difference. Some would argue that yoga isn't active enough to generate weight loss. On the contrary, yoga is proven to reduce stress levels, that alone can reduce the amount of fat that a body stores. Whatever activity a person chooses, it should be appropriate for that person's abilities. If you don't enjoy yourself, why would you want to do it again? The body and all of its processes are complex in design, but basic in principle. If there is one thing that science has been certain in discovering it's that all of the systems are intertwined. What we do, see and eat affects us in ways we would never have imagined. Taking responsibility and action to prevent or manage diabetes is a step in common sense. Why exist when you can live?