Diabetes is a condition that affects how the body uses carbohydrates for energy. It is diagnosed when the concentration of glucose in the blood is abnormally high (more than 126mg/dL).

Role of insulin

The body’s main source of energy comes from carbohydrates, which are turned into glucose in the body. For glucose in the bloodstream to be able to enter into body cells, the hormone insulin, produced by the pancreas, is required.

Sometimes, the body cannot make enough insulin or use the insulin it does make effectively - this is known as insulin resistance - which causes blood glucose levels to rise. The reason why insulin resistance develops are becoming more defined.? It is now known that genetics, diet, and level of physical activity are all involved.

Insufficient insulin action and the resulting high blood-glucose levels can lead to diabetes. Most of the treatments for diabetes are aimed at restoring and maintaining normal blood-glucose levels.

How common is diabetes?

One of the most common chronic diseases in North America, diabetes affects about 17 million adults in the US, and is on the rise, most likely as a result of increased rates of obesity. In addition, more than 20 million adults in the US have reduced glucose tolerance and/or insulin resistance, and may have mildly elevated blood sugar levels, which is known as prediabetes.

Control your child’s eating

Children who snack on fatty foods, such as chips, and have a low level of activity are at risk of becoming overweight and developing diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes

This accounts for 5-10 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes, and is the form that is more likely to affect children and people under 30 years of age. Type 1 diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent diabetes, is due to the destruction of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, thus causing insulin deficiency. It can be treated with injections of synthetic insulin.

Without sufficient insulin, people with type 1 diabetes may develop weight loss, excessive thirst and hunger, frequent need to urinate, lack of energy, nausea, vomiting, and dehydration. If it is untreated or poorly controlled type 1 diabetes can also lead to ketoacidosis.

Type 2 diabetes

The development of type 2 diabetes, or noninsulin-dependent diabetes, is strongly related to lifestyle factors. Increasing the amount of exercise you do, losing weight if necessary and maintaining a healthy weight, increasing your fiber intake, and cutting down on your fat intake (particularly saturated fats), have been shown to delay or prevent the development of type 2 diabetes in susceptible people.

Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90-95 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes, and is the type that usually occurs in adults over age 40 who are often overweight. It is now increasingly common in overweight adolescents, too.

People with type 2 diabetes do not need insulin injections because the pancreas continues to secrete insulin. Symptoms develop slowly and are not usually obvious. Some people may simply feel tired, but when blood-glucose levels are very high symptoms similar to type 1 diabetes can develop. Eventually about 40 percent of people who have type 2 diabetes will require insulin to maintain adequate control of their blood-glucose levels.

Gestational diabetes

This type of diabetes occurs in some women during pregnancy due to an increase in hormones, some of which may have anti-insulin properties. Women who are diagnosed with elevated blood sugar levels in pregnancy can usually control the problem with diet and exercise, although some may have to take insulin.

Jargon buster

When the body’s tissues cannot take up glucose from the blood, fat is broken down for energy instead. The breakdown of fat produces chemicals called ketone bodies, or ketones. When these build up to high levels, a ketoacidosis occurs. The symptoms of ketoacidosis include abdominal pain, rapid deep respiration, fruity breath odor, weakness, fatigue, confusion, stupor, and shock. It can lead to severe dehydration, coma, or even death.

If you are a diabetic, that doesn’t mean you have to take only bland food. Consult your doctor and take his or her guidance and first try to know what suits your body and what does not suit your body. You need to follow a healthy diet and supply suitable and required nutrients to your body. Diabetic patients have to avoid certain kinds of food and this article will help you in getting some idea about the diet of the diabetic patients. I strongly suggest you to follow a diet under the guidance of an expert nutritionist.

The dishes that are high in fat, salt, sugar and other over processed foods are to be avoided by the diabetics. This is suggested because such food items contain poly-saturated fats which cannot be burned just by exercising. And as a result of this, your arteries will get affected and this can cause heart problems.

This does not mean that you have to cut down the fat completely; there will be certain fats that are in fact necessary to the body. Only thing you have to know what kinds of fat are suitable for you body and what are not. Let me discuss this with an example- consider the processed foods that we find in most of the fast food restaurants, these are not healthy. As another side of the coin, omega-3 fatty acids that are found in fish are very good for diabetes. Also these fatty-acids will help reduce your risk of getting heart attacks. So all you really need to do is to prepare your diet plan very carefully.

Another important thing that diabetics should consider is the intake of carbohydrates. The extra carbohydrates, if present in the body will be converted to sugars such as glucose. This will not help your condition of being a diabetic, instead make the condition worse.

A particular myth that a diabetic should avoid tasty foods is widely popular. Fortunately, if you are suffering from diabetes, you can still take tasty foods but they should be under control.

In conclusion, diabetics should not eat more than anything that the body requires. A healthy diet is one that suits your body and will make you not only health, but also happy.

Once you are diagnosed with diabetes there are some important steps that you need to take to start dealing with the disease. These are some of the things that I have learned from some very good professionals along the way.

Diabetes can be crippling to the mind, you have to deal with different emotions from day to day. There can be anger, depression and just the feeling of being overwhelmed. Just remember you are not alone and you can deal with these things. Changing your lifestyle is very important, and there are steps to help you do that. It is up to you and you only to take charge of your health.

The first step you must take is finding a good doctor and create a good relationship. A good doctor will be one of your greatest assets. They will be the one that knows your situation best, they will be the one who remain responsible for your overall health needs.

The second thing you will have too do is take charge of your life. You are the one that is dealing with this disease. There are many things you will have to change in your life. You are the one that knows how you feel and you know what it takes to make you feel better. So you be in control, and make sure you communicate how you feel.

The next thing that you will have to do, is once you are in control you know what you have to do to make these changes. One of the important things that you have learned by now is the importance of exercise. Exercise improves the bodies ability to use glucose and insulin, this is a big key in dealing with type 2 diabetes. So get started on a successful exercise program.

The fourth thing we have to do is learn to manage our diet. We have all now learned by now about how important the change in our diet is. Changing our diet is going to be probably the biggest challenge for most of us. It is essential for us that have diabetes to modify our diets to keep our glucose levels where they should be.

The fifth step we will have to take is dealing with our attitude. This may be one of the most difficult to master. We can all feel down and depressed trying to cope with this disease day in and day out. There are many things that someone has to deal with and think about that most people don’t have to deal with everyday, this can be very overwhelming in it’s self. The best thing to do is let your doctor know these feelings that you are dealing with so they can help you. Remember we are not alone in this and it is important that they know everything you are going through, they can be a greatest help. Whether it be medication or just moral support they know our situation and can be our beat asset. Do not punish yourself thinking about diabetes, look at it as an opportunity to taking better care of your health.

Learning that I had diabetes was devastating. But learning to deal with it was another thing entirely. I really did not understand what diabetes really was though. I had seen it of course but I was unsure what it meant to have it. I had seen it around me and it was in my family, but I did not know what someone had to deal with every day having to live with this disease.

After first coming to grips with it, I knew I had to learn more about it and how I was going to deal with it. I knew that it was a dangerous disease and that it could be a crippling disease and that it could even be a killer. It can be the mother of all diseases in the world, but I was determined to learn more about it.

So exactly what is diabetes? Well it is where the body is incapable of producing enough insulin to do what it is suppose to do. The main job of insulin is to break down sugar in the bloodstream. Their our two types yet various levels that are considered. Diabetes includes Diabetes Insipidus and Mellitus, they are usually more commonly referred to as type I and type ll.

The Insipidus form is where your body is incapable of producing enough insulin to do what is required for it to do. This type can be treated, usually being treated with medications, exercise, and a strict diet. These treatments usually keep this type of diabetes in control. Mellitus is a different story, there are five different forms of this type. Each one of these types result in total disruption to the system, The body can not function normally under these types, the body can not act normally and take care of it naturally. When this happens, this form of the disease requires that a person to take insulin shots as a treatment.

Most people that usually come face to face with this dreaded disease, the first thing that sets in is fear. We most often do not think about diabetes until we know someone that is affected by it. This is when most people will start to question the disease. The biggest and most often asked question, is how would I know if I have diabetes or not. Well the answer is there are a lot of signs to look for.

First and foremost, someone should take a look at your family history, diabetes can and often times is hereditary. If you know someone in your immediate family, if you think you have the signs for diabetes you need to be tested. Other symptoms differ from individual to individual.

Some of the most common signs are normal ones such as a thirst that is unable to be quenched, and frequent urination. There also can be pains or weakness that are not normally present in your normal everyday life.

My first experience with the disease was some of the typical symptoms like the being thirsty all the time. I ignored this by dismissing it as stress from work and being dehydrated. That was my first big no-no, all that I did was make things worst by downing sports drinks which we all know is mainly sugar. My next symptom was a strange one to me, that was my legs felt like they weighed a ton. I could hardly walk, let alone trying to jump which I tried to do and could not understand. Needless to say this one really scared me, I thought there was something really major was wrong. Well there was something major, it was this disease.

I give you my story to give you an idea of some of the things that you should always be on the lookout for if you are concerned about diabetes. This is something I deal with everyday like a lot of other people. But I live well and i have learned to take care of myself. I hope I can be of help to someone. I will follow up with more on this disease, because it has become very important to me.