Diabetes Blood Type 2

Preventing and Reverting type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is growing to become a common disease amongst people who struggle to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle. It is a disease that causes your blood glucose (sugar) levels to be higher than normal, meaning your body is not using insulin properly. Insulin works to keep your blood glucose level normal and healthy, if it fails to do this, it is called insulin resistance. This essentially means that the pancreas cannot continue to produce extra insulin to keep the blood glucose levels healthy.

 

Type 2 diabetes can be caused through multiple reasons, however, the most important is simply, lifestyle. An unhealthy lifestyle can be detrimental to a person’s physical and mental wellbeing. From a lack of exercise to the problem of obesity, these issues can strengthen the chances of type 2 diabetes being a large component in someone’s everyday life. A lack of exercise is a substantial contributing factor towards the cause of type 2 diabetes.

A limited amount of physical activity in a person’s daily routine means that muscle cells lose their sensitivity to insulin, which controls blood glucose levels. So, not only does it increase the risks of type 2 diabetes, it’s also detrimental to the physical and mental health of someone. This can affect someone’s mental well being, which can eventually lead to a lack of motivation, happiness and confidence.

To combat the bad habit of having a limited amount of physical activity in your daily routine, there are a few easy solutions to make this doable, as well as preventing type 2 diabetes. Joining a gym or scheduling workouts in advance will ensure that you are receiving the right amount of physical activity to guarantee that your muscle cells stay receptive to insulin. Another way to stay active is to participate in sporting activities. This is a less strenuous, and perhaps more enjoyable way of keeping fit. Not only does it allow the body to receive its daily intake of exercise, but it can open doors to many social opportunities.

Blood Example

Although a lack of exercise is one of the leading causes of type 2 diabetes, an unhealthy diet is the fundamental cause of the disease. Unhealthy meal choices, for example, foods with high levels of carbohydrates, sugar and calories, which are missing the fundamental fibres, nutrients and minerals work to raise the chances of type 2 diabetes. In this day and age, unhealthy, high carbohydrate and calorie dense foods have become easily available as they are often inexpensive and quick to order. Although these foods hold a certain amount of convenience, and generally taste quite good, they are processed, artificial, and harmful to the body.

When these high carbohydrate and calorie dense foods are eaten, the digestive system breaks down the carbohydrates into sugar, which then enters the blood. This causes the pancreas to produce more insulin to keep up with the high levels of blood glucose levels. As mentioned before, over time the pancreas will be unable to continue to produce high levels of insulin. This consequently, will result in a higher chance of type 2 diabetes, which will develop over time. For people who wish to prevent type 2 diabetes, or who already have the disease and wish to reverse it, a solution includes the low-carb meal plan. Essentially, a daily routine that involves the intake of meals with low levels of carbohydrate will improve blood glucose levels in the short term.

The low-carb meal plan will also work to achieve weight loss in the long term, as well as reduce the risk of heart disease. Although the low-carb meal plan is beneficial and can help prevent and revert type 2 diabetes, it can also be harmful if initiated while treating your type 2 diabetes with insulin. Following the low-carb meal programme can

put you at risk of hypoglycaemia, which is essentially when blood glucose levels are too low. To ensure that this does not happen, please make it a necessity to consult your GP before beginning the low-carb meal plan. They will help you regarding the adjustments of your insulin intake, which will reduce the risks of low blood glucose levels. There are many low-carb meal plans that you can follow online, however, it is always useful to do your own research on foods with low carbohydrate levels. It’s important for your health to remain educated and aware of what your body is intaking. This will help to prevent the risks of type 2 diabetes, and overall improve your physical and mental health.

To become aware regarding how well you are controlling your diabetes, the HbA1c test is a very important blood test. The HbA1c essentially indicates blood glucose levels from the past two to three months. It measures the amount of glucose that is being carried by the red blood cells in the body and is the most common way that type 2 diabetes is diagnosed. To undergo this HbA1c test, a blood sample is taken from the patient’s arm, and is the used to produce a reading which will determine whether your blood glucose levels indicate pre diabetes or a diagnosis of diabetes. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the

following diagnostic guidelines for diabetes are:

  • HbA1c below 42 mmol/mol (6.0%): Non-diabetic
  • HbA1c between 42 and 47 mmol/mol (6.0-6.4%): Impaired glucose regulation (IGR) or Pre diabetes
  • HbA1c of 48 mmol/mol (6.5%) or over: Type 2 diabetes If your HbA1c test returns a reading of 6.0-6.4%, that  indicates pre diabetes. Your GP should advise certain  lifestyle changes that can help prevent the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Dr Donna Robinson is a UK qualified, trained and experienced doctor. She has been a resident of Thailand for over 25 years and is one of the few foreign doctors to hold a Thai Medical Licence. www.medconsultasia.com

 

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Dr. Donna Robinson
The owner of MedConsult, Dr. Donna Robinson, is a UK qualified, trained and experienced doctor. Dr Donna has been a resident in Thailand for over 26 years and is one of a select few western doctors in Thailand with a Thai Medical Licence. As this requires fluency in Thai language, Dr Donna is able to offer our clients premier medical care while overcoming potential communication problems.
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