What causes diabetes
For some people, food is like a double edged sword. It is something that every person must have in order to live, but for some people, the food they eat can cause problems in their bodies. Diabetics have a particular problem when they eat the wrong food—but there are two types of diabetes, and depending on which you have you may have to take shots or a pill. Each type of diabetes has its own origin, and understanding that will help you understand what causes diabetes.
Your body is a complex tool that has some very specific needs and ways of working. This system works to help you use energy derived from food effectively and to store it for future use. When you eat sugars and carbohydrates, they come into your body and get converted into glucose. When they are turned into glucose, they are ready to be stored in your body until you actually begin to need it.
Once you need the sugar, the glucose must be absorbed by your cells. Normally, your pancreas would create something called insulin which can help the glucose move into and be absorbed by the cells. When you have type one diabetes, also called insulin dependent diabetes, your pancreas is unable to create insulin. This means your body is unable to absorb your glucose and your cells can begin to die off. With type one diabetes, you must inject insulin on a daily basis to help your body make up for the deficient pancreas.
Each day with type one diabetes is a dance with control. You must monitor your blood sugar by pricking your fingers and putting a drop of blood into a tester. This tester will let you know if you need insulin. Depending on what you eat, you may need more insulin on any particular day than you do on another. You must be very regimented about eating at the right time of day and eating the right foods.
The next type of diabetes is called type two diabetes. What causes diabetes type two is usually obesity and sedentary lifestyle. That is what makes type two diabetes so challenging. It is generally preventable if you exercise and keep your weight in check.
With type two diabetes, your pancreas is completely functional and has no problem creating insulin. With type two diabetes your cells become immune to the insulin so even though you have insulin to help to help you absorb the glucose, your cells are completely unable to absorb it. This situation is extremely dangerous because the stored glucose in your system, if it doesn’t get absorbed, can cause blindness, neuropathy, and other illnesses.
When you lose weight through diet, you lose some of the glucose that has built up in your blood stream. This reduces your risk of diabetes related illnesses. Another step to help the situation is to build more muscle through exercise. Why? Well, muscle and fat both have things called receptors. These receptors are like grooves that are waiting to be filled by insulin. Muscle has more fat receptors than fat does, so when you increase your muscle through exercise, you increase the amount of insulin receptors you have, which gives all that stored glucose somewhere to go.
If you suspect you might have either type one or type two diabetes, it is important that you see your primary care physician immediately. He or she will either prescribe insulin or a type two diabetes medication like glucophage. He or she will determine if you have diabetes by taking a blood sugar reading after you’ve fasted for 12 hours.
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