How to Avoid Type 2 Diabetes

How does one avoid Diabetes, are there foods one can eat to keep away diabetes, what should one do to prevent diabetes if it runs in one's family, how does one avoid diabetes in children? All these questions and more shall be answered in the following article.

Diabetes Milletus or diabetes for short is a disease that affects millions of people all around the world. In America, 29.1 million people suffer from diabetes, 8.1 million of whom don't even know they have it. Each year in the U.S it causes up to 70,000 deaths, contributes to thousands more and is a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure and heart disease.

In 2007 in the United States, over $116 billion was spent on diabetes treatment and an additional $58 billion lost due to reduced productivity. By 2012 these numbers had risen to $176 billion for direct medical costs and $69 billion for indirect cost like disability, work loss and premature death. Fast forward to 2015 and it is no gainsaying that the situation must quite clearly be worse.

In the United Kingdom, about 3.8 million people have diabetes with the situation no better in countries like China (92 million Chinese adults), India (62 million adults). Globally, at present growth rates, it is estimated that the number of people diagnosed with diabetes will rise from 285 million in 2010 to 439 million by the year 2030. Truly then, one might say that diabetes is a disease of epidemic proportions.

But what exactly is diabetes? To answer this question it is important to first know how the body works.

The body needs energy to function properly. A rich source of this is carbohydrates which the body converts to glucose - a simple sugar form it can readily use. Ordinarily when glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream in this way, the hormone insulin is equally released and it functions to enable the glucose pass into the cells for energy production.

Unfortunately under certain circumstances, the body is unable to make enough of this insulin or to where it does make enough, properly use it. This is what is known as diabetes. There are two types. Type 1-caused by the auto-immune response of the immune system attacking the pancreas and destroying the insulin making cells of the organ. It makes up about 5-10% of diagnosed diabetes cases.

Type 2, in which though the pancreas still makes insulin, the body has lost sensitivity to it and no longer responds to it properly (makes up about 90% diagnosed diabetes cases). The result of both types is that glucose can't get into the cells normally. As such blood sugar level rises and if left untreated leads to medical complications. Accordingly, it is imperative as with most diseases that one, looks towards prevention rather than cure.

Prevention.

As far as Type 1 diabetes goes, the prevailing wisdom is that it can't be prevented. In fact, for now, it can't even be predicted who will or won't get it. Evidence however suggests that there may be a genetic predisposition to it. A genetic predisposition to the disease though is not ordinarily enough to trigger it. What triggers it in most cases is an external factor- a virus for example, as in the case of a child.

Having said this, research does show that breastfeeding, avoiding early introduction of solid foods and other factors might play a role in lowering the risk of developing the disease.

That is for type 1. For Type 2 though, prognosis for prevention is rosier. Since Type 2 is predisposed on the body losing its sensitivity to insulin, there are several steps one can take to prevent this from happening or where it does happen, to even reverse it. These follow;

First, eat a healthy balanced diet.

A healthy balanced diet would comprise the 5 major food groups eaten in the appropriate portions or servings.

To help guide citizens on what constitutes this, the UK government devised the Eat Well plate which is the national food guide designed to help UK citizens have a healthy balanced diet. It is based on the basic five food groups and the guide stipulates the percentage of a person's plate that should be made up of each food group.

Thus Fruits and vegetables-33%, Bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and other starchy foods-33%, Milk and other dairy products-15%, Meat, fish, egg, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein-12% and foods and drinks high in fat or sugar-7%. It is noteworthy that the second group though should be whole grain-that is whole wheat bread, brown rice etc. and not refined grains like white bread and white rice.

In America, it is the MyPlate nutrition guide provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The guide was revised by the American Diabetic Association in such a way as to make non-starchy vegetables like spinach and cabbage constitute about 50% of the plate, grains and starchy foods like whole grain bread and rice 25%, and protein such as chicken and fish constitute the other 25%.

Eat more Fiber containing food and whole grains

What is common to both the UK's Eat Well Plate and the United States MyPlate nutrition guide though is the emphasis on fiber and whole grains. High in fiber foods include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds. Examples of grains on the other hand are whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta and brown rice.

Both these- whole grains and fiber, lower your risk of developing diabetes by improving your blood sugar control. In fact research shows that substituting whole grains for even some refined carbohydrate products -white bread or rice could lower diabetes risk by as much as 36%.

In Nurses Health Studies 1 and II a study spanning over 18 years and looking at the health and dietary habits of 160,000 women, it was found that women who averaged two to three servings of whole grains a day were 30% less likely to have developed Type 2 diabetes than those who rarely ate whole grains. It was found that the bran and fiber in whole grains slows down the digestive processes by making it harder for digestive enzymes to break down the starches into glucose, resulting thereby in slow increases in blood sugar (low glycemic index) and less strain on the pancreas.

In addition to its diabetes fighting qualities, fiber lowers the risk of heart disease and also promotes weight loss by making you feel full.

Avoid highly refined grain products like white bread

In contrast to whole grain food, white rice, white bread, mashed potatoes, donuts etc. cause sustained increase in blood sugar and insulin levels. This is what is meant when they are said to have a high glycemic load. This resulting load leads to increased insulin output and conversely increases the chance of developing diabetes.

Skip Sugary drinks like soda

It has also been advised that skipping sugary drinks like soda etc. and going for the alternative water, coffee or tea is also a good diabetes prevention measure. Sugary drinks not only lead to increased weight but evidence suggest also increase chronic inflammation, high triglycerides and insulin resistance whilst decreasing "good" (HDL) cholesterol, these being all risk factors for diabetes. In fact a synthesis of eight studies made, found that for every additional 12 ounce serving of sugary beverage that people drank each day, their risk of type 2 diabetes rose 25 percent.



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