BY CHERYL M. LUIS
WHEN we hear a person has diabetes, we often think that this person eats too many sweets and it has a lump of high blood sugar. That is not the real cause of diabetes. The real cause is excess insulin, not excess blood sugar. In other words, high blood sugar is a symptom, but not the root cause.
What is Insulin?
Insulin is a hormone that is responsible for allowing glucose in the blood to enter cells, providing them with the energy to function. For insulin to work, our tissues have to be sensitive to its action; otherwise, tissues become resistant and insulin struggles to clear out sugar from the blood.
As insulin resistance sets in, the first organ to stop responding to insulin is the liver, followed by the muscles and eventually fat. That’s why fat and overweight people most likely have diabetes.
What is Insulin Resistance?
But what happens when fat finally become resistant to insulin? For instance, what if a lot of sugar is outside of a fat cell but can’t get inside to be stored as fat?
The sugar will remain in the blood. This causes your blood sugar to begin rising – AKA prediabetes and diabetes. Having pre-diabetes and diabetes itself came from the same root problem.
Eating a diet with lower carbohydrates, have an exercise, and staying fit can prevent having diabetes. Limit your carb intake like cereal, bread, rice, pasta, and potatoes so you won’t provoke insulin resistance.
Remember; as long as your insulin level is elevated, you can’t burn fat and will likely struggle to lose weight. What’s a good insulin level? Although less than nine is reasonable, the lower number the better. Any doctor can order this test and it should be done fasting.
If your insulin level is high, you’ll have to reduce your intake of carbohydrates. If you want to keep track, shoot for less than 100 grams daily. Below are approximate carbohydrate grams for a few common foods.
Foods like butter, coconut oil, avocado, and the fat in nuts and meats have ZERO effects on insulin level and weight in general. You may be surprised to learn that protein raises insulin; so, if you’re a carbavore and eat a lot of sugar/starch, your body is probably very efficient at converting excess protein to sugar.
Diabetes prevention
To prevent diabetes, you should maintain healthy body weight. Stay fit and active with exercise, having regular physical activity helps maintain a healthy weight and builds muscle.
You should also eat fresh and healthy foods and lastly try to get enough sleep.
Cheryl M. Luis is the wife of George N. True II. Like her husband, she advocates health and lifestyle writing and vows to continue “Health Frontiers” as her husband’s legacy./PN
