In 2018, 34.2 million people or 10% of our population had a diagnosis of diabetes. 88 million Americans over the age of 18 carry the diagnosis of prediabetes. In 2017, Diabetes was ranked as the 7th leading cause of death in the United States. We spend 329 Billion dollars on diabetes in 1 year for health care management. This disease is a huge burden to our society and a leading comorbidity leading to decreased immune function, and susceptibility to other diseases. Type 1 diabetes is a congenital disease which begins very early in life. Type 2 diabetes develops when the body becomes resistant to insulin or when the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin. So as far as this disease is concerned, Type 2 is generally recognized as the type that we can change and influence with environmental health. Exactly why this happens is unknown, although genetics and environmental factors, such as being overweight and inactive, seem to be contributing factors. Uncontrolled diabetes has many serious consequences, including heart disease, kidney disease, blindness, limb death and other complications.
As far as nutrition is concerned there are foods that we should avoid that can be hard for the body to process especially if you have diabetes. Importantly, eating certain foods can raise your blood sugar levels and promote inflammation, which may increase your risk of disease. Examples of bad carbohydrates are: baked goods made with highly processed white flour, sweets, candies, and any foods with added sugar, white breads and cereals. Bad grains include: white bread, bagels, tortillas, cakes, muffins, and other baked goods containing white flour, white rice, white pasta, cereals, crackers, and pretzels that contain added sugar and no whole grains. These grains and carbohydrates should be avoided because they have dramatic spikes in blood sugar when consumed and this will be hard for the body to absorb completely.
Exercise can be another helpful route to avoid developing diabetes or to help manage this disease if you already have it. Exercise increases blood flow in the body which will help to move nutrients around the body more effectively. When we exercise we also increase detoxification which will help take stress off the kidneys which are going to take more stress with diabetes. By staying active this also increases the ability of our individual cells to absorb nutrients such as sugars, which will decrease our resting blood sugars and help with the overall process of these in the body.
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