I was recently diagnosed with type two diabetes and it's bad enough to need insulin, which seems to be changing most aspects of my life.
I bought into the idea that my diabetes was brought on by not keeping fit and allowing myself to be overweight. But something happened when I went to a class about diabetes that I didn't expect. There were people there that were in damn great shape that have type two diabetes too. About half the class weren't over weight. It got me thinking, what if we have it backwards, being overweight seems like it could be a symptom of diabetes not the cause. My reasoning goes like this, when I was prediabetic my body started loosing the ability to process sugar, so my bodies tissues were being starved. Consequently I eat more, not because I'm "stomach hungry" but because I'm "tissue hungry."
I admit this is just a guess on my part, and I'd love to hear from people that know more about this than I do. I just know that when I turned thirty I had a 29 inch waste and weighed 160 pounds, so even at only 5' 9" I still seemed to be tall to many at the time, or so they told me.
If my hypothesis has any merit perhaps we could do a little less fat shaming when people start to gain weight and investigate how they're handling sugars so we can get earlier diagnosis and stop being so primitive about a serious medical condition.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.As someone diagnosed with type ONE diabetes 35 years ago I struggle to sympathise. Lifestyle changes can do wonders for you but no matter what I try I still require daily doses of insulin. It is a constant battle for us with this condition and no end in sight.
Technology has helped but these things are priced very high and not available to everyone in this for-profit-healthcare nation.
Just research the price of insulin and you will know how fucked we are.
Good luck to you. I believe you have options so be thankful for that!
Deanervin
Level 6
Aug 11, 2018
0
Diabetes is a very individual journey. The things that affect my blood sugar may or may not affect yours. What made me diabetic in the first place is probably different from what made you diabetic.
So, that said, best thing to do is a food and meter diary. Once you've kept track of what you're eating and what it does to your glucose you can cut the things that make your readings high.
For me those things are potatoes, bananas, grapes and orange juice. Fast food fries might as well be called poison sticks. A small order of fast food fries would make my fasting reading go up and stay up for a full 3 days. There are other foods that make my glucose go up but those four are the worst.
At one point I was even on insulin. I left my husband and ended up in a building with two wicked sets of stairs. I lost a good 20 pounds doing stair laps and got off insulin. I wore that pair of shoes totally out and haven't been able to find another pair or I would still be doing laps up and down the stairs. I have lost another 10 since I quit doing the stair laps but it comes off a lot slower. But I am diabetic and I will not wear shoes that make my feet unhappy.
sewchick57
Level 7
Aug 10, 2018
0
It's been suggested if you are a VietNam era Veteran,the defoliant A/O(Agent Orange),used as a weed killer on most bases, may have caused your diabetic condition,the drift zones may be up to 500 feet depending on wind conditions.
Mike1947
Level 7
Aug 10, 2018
0
It's been theorized A/O exposure may affect five(5) generations,so will it skip a generation and affect even more,after Grandpa's unknowing exposure?
Some good ideas there. I'm type 2 diabetic and I think this happened because the doctors finally put a name on it for me. I eat and drink what I want but I do take their medicine. Metformin so far. No insulin and I don't measure anything. Pre-diabetic is like "pre-thunder storm" or maybe "pre- house fire." Let's try "pre-heart attack." I'm a creature of habit who has had this condition for over 5 years. Medicine is making great strides in many directions but I'm hard to convince for just as many reasons. I didn't go to my doctor with a complaint that led to this. Blood work eventually led to this. I'm a man who just doesn't believe that doctor's can see you for 15 minutes once every 6 months and know what ailes you. That means my doctor sees me a half hour every year and maybe 4 or more people are involved in my blood work.
BTW, I'm like a 250 lb. gorilla and used to work out with weights all the time. I admit my diet has never been adjusted to compensate for working out less today, and that I do have a big waist. I wear 44 inch pants. My waist needs to be 10 inches smaller.
DenoPenno
Level 9
Aug 10, 2018
0
Was similar for me. I was pre-diabetic for 10+ years, then failed to fast before the screening that declared me type II. Also a bigger guy, taking metformin. I try to shun carbs in favor of protein and get the best results when I can stick to that.
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