November is Diabetes Awareness Month… What you need to know!

So it’s your birthday and here comes the cake. You blow out the candles (harder to do than last year) and lick some of the icing (yum). You tell yourself that you are only going to have a small piece but it tastes so good you find yourself craving for more. 400 calories later you still want more. As you started to chew the first bite your body was already breaking down the carbohydrates to glucose and fructose, the major basic sugars. The sugars are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream resulting in a condition called hyperglycemia. The accelerated spike is largely due to the lack of fiber in the highly processed flour used to prepare the cake. Fiber helps to slow the absorption of sugars in the intestines allowing the body to adjust to the rise in blood sugar more naturally. Your body responds to the rise in blood glucose by releasing insulin from the pancreas. 

Too much glucose in the blood is toxic to the body just as too little deprives the body of needed fuel to the brain, muscles, intestines, and other organs. Insulin helps maintain the right level by allowing the liver and other organs to absorb the sugar where it can be burned as fuel or stored as fat like a battery storing electrical power. When the system is overwhelmed by the excessive surge of sugar and insulin, the liver has to release some of the excess into the blood stream. The fat or triglyceride ends up being stored as visceral or belly fat. The glucose released by the liver creates a vicious cycle by stimulating the pancreas to release more insulin putting more stress on the liver. Over time the pancreas wears out and the liver becomes insensitive to the insulin resulting in a condition called “metabolic syndrome.” This in turn leads to Type 2 Diabetes.

Fructose, unlike glucose, does not stimulate production of insulin. In the liver fructose is converted triglycerides which are deposited in the belly leading to obesity. Fructose increases our hunger, and deprives us of energy. This creates a vicious cycle of sugar intake leading to fat deposition leading to insulin resistance with increased craving for sugar accompanied by less energy to burn the calories. In the end this can lead to massive obesity.

Between 1975 and 2005 the incidence of Type 2 Diabetes has increased over sevenfold. Interestingly this corresponds perfectly with the development of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in 1971. By the 1980s HFCS was the most common sweetener in the U.S.  Humans are clearly not designed for the lifestyle of today. The combination of inactivity and a diet high in refined carbohydrates is largely responsible for this deadly epidemic. Type 2 Diabetes is deadly because it leads to cardiovascular disease, increasing the risk of death by heart attack or stroke.

So how do we prevent it?

1. Avoiding fructose especially HFCS may be the most important step. 
2. Adding fiber to your diet and limiting the amount of processed carbohydrates allows the body to absorb the sugar more slowly preventing the spike in insulin that overloads the liver. 
3. Exercise has been shown to make the liver and other organs more sensitive to insulin while simultaneously lessening the amount of visceral fat. 

Remember: 

We can treat the symptoms of Diabetes but there is no cure. That is why it is so important to prevent the condition from developing in the first place!