What exactly causes diabetes type II, and what happens when your blood glucose levels rise too fast?
My mom had told me diabetes was caused by eating too much sugar, but I found out it was a myth! So, what exactly causes it? What’s the role of food with a lot of carbs?
And the insulin — what happens when the pancreas produces too much?
I would like answers from people who actually know about this, not from people who think they know but are not sure.
If you believe the media, and what most people around you think, then Type 2 diabetes is caused by eating too much sugar, eating too much junk food, living a bad lifestyle, being a couch potato. You will also hear lots of information about how you can ‘prevent’ diabetes by losing a little weight and taking regular exercise.
Guess what? Most of that is rubbish. I learnt that the hard way. Last year I was diagnosed with diabetes. I hadn’t touched sugar in 15 years, and was not a great fan of any refined carbohydrates. I was known among my friends for eating a healthy, varied diet. I don’t have a car; my only form of transport is walking and I do that a lot. I used to be overweight but over the past years had lost 25% of my body weight, and kept it off. I was 129 pounds/BMI 23.9 when diagnosed.
Ever since then I’ve been reading all I can about the condition, and I realized (and this is backed up by my doctors) that the only thing I did ‘wrong’ was to have chosen the wrong grandparents. Oops! How could I prevent diabetes by choosing better grandparents?
I recently read a really good summary of what medical science knows (and doesn’t know) about diabetes. It’s by the chief medical officer of the American Diabetes Association and you can find it here:
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/15/with-diabetes-dont-focus-on-blame/