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Diabetes Watch: Common Mistakes to Avoid
Are you one of the 17 million people in the United States with diabetes? Then you are aware that it is critical for you to be monitoring for your blood sugar and have continuous treatment. Keeping your blood sugar as close to normal as possible is the ...
Diabetes--What You Need to Know About This Hidden Danger
Diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal. Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose (sugar) for our bodies to burn to create energy. The pancreas, an organ that lies near the stomach, produces a hormone called insulin to ...
How To Play The Diabetes Game" - A Review
There are hundreds of self-help eBooks published every year. I must admit, when I decided to take a look at yet another book about diabetes and diet, I expected to find the same old stuff rehashed into a new form. I was delightfully surprised. The author, ...
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There are three basic units the body uses for energy:
1. Fats
2. Proteins
3. Carbohydrates
All three can be converted to blood glucose. However, while fats and proteins are converted slowly, carbohydrates are converted quickly causing quick spikes in the body's blood sugar levels. These spikes in blood sugar levels cause the pancreas to create and release insulin until the blood sugar level returns to normal.
Meanwhile, insulin, a hormone produced in the pancreas that lowers our blood's glucose levels is released into the blood as soon as the body detects that blood sugar levels have risen above its optimal level.
Insulin is a very efficient hormone that runs the body's fuel storage systems. If there is excess sugar or fat in the blood insulin will signal the body to store it in the body's fat cells. Insulin also tells these cells not to release their stored fat, making that fat unavailable for use by the body as energy.
Since this stored fat cannot be released for use as energy, insulin very effectively prevents weight loss. The higher the body's insulin levels, the more effectively it prevents fat cells from releasing their stores, and the harder it becomes to lose weight. According to many authorities, over the long term, high insulin levels can lead to insulin resistance and cause serious health problems like the ones listed below:
1. Raised insulin levels and insulin resistance
2. Lower metabolism leading to weight gain
3. An increase in fatty tissue and reduction in muscle tissue
4. Accelerated aging
5. Increased food allergies and intolerances
6. Overworked immune system
7. Increased risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer
Carbohydrates, especially simple carbs like sugar and starch, are quickly turned into sucrose by the body entering the blood stream quicker thereby causing the release of large amounts of insulin. The fewer carbs are eaten, the less insulin is produced by the body, and the fewer calories are stored as fat. Less fat storage equals less weight gain and fewer carbs eaten equals less insulin in the blood and the body using its fat stores for fuel.
The premise behind every low-carb diet plan is that a body that produces less insulin burns more fat than a body that produces lots of insulin. Some plans encourage a period of extremely low carbohydrate intake so that the body will enter a state of ketosis and more quickly burn fat stores - These are usually called induction periods.
About the Author
Beverley Brooke, Editor of Health & Finesse - Free health, diet and fitness articles and weekly newsletter
http://www.healthandfinesse.com
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Diabetes Dramatically on the Rise Among TeenagersSeattle Post Intelligencer (blog)Nearly a quarter of American children and adolescents is developing type 2 diabetes or has already the disease, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), published in the journal Pediatrics.and more » |
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