What is Diabetes?

There are actually three types of diabetes. Type 1 is something your usually born with, and is classified as not producing enough insulin. Sense your pancreas is not able to produce insulin, you need to take it as an injection. Type 2 is classified as producing too much insulin, and the cells becoming resistant to the point that insulin can no longer do its job. Scientists actually classify type 3 diabetes as Alzheimer’s. A big cause of Alzheimer’s is insulin resistance in the brain. If the brain can’t utilize glucose as a fuel, it can’t function properly.

Why Does Type 2 Diabetes Develop?

The reason type 2 diabetes develops is do to access glucose intake overtime to the point where the insulin receptor cites become resistant to insulin. The reason this happens is because insulin is the bodies major fat storing hormone, and stores glucose in to the cells. Over time, the cells become resistant to access insulin do to the access glucose intake. When the cells are resistant, insulin can’t do its job. When insulin can’t do its job, your going to have glucose floating around in your bloodstream instead of glycogen in the muscles and liver. Glucose in the bloodstream unchecked will tare everything up, which is why you see the horrific side effects with type 2 diabetes. Also, this access glucose will be stored as fat if there’s no room left in the liver or muscles, where glucose is actually stored.

How to Prevent and Reverse Diabetes

Sleep-

Sleep is a cornerstone for preventing and reversing diabetes. The reason for this is how sleep impacts insulin sensitivity. There is research showing that one night of sleep deprivation can make you as insulin resistant as a type 2 diabetic. This is temporary of course; it will return to normal if you get enough sleep. There is also research showing how 24 hours of sleep deprivation can impair glucose uptake to the brain by 14%.

Nutrition-

The main foods that cause diabetes are vegetable oil and ultra processed carbohydrates. Vegetable oils cause diabetes because of the access inflammation. About 100 years ago, we had 2-3% polyunsaturated fat that made up our body. Now, the average American has up to 30% polyunsaturated fat do to these vegetables. We use these to create our cell membranes. When your body fat gets burned with all this extra polyunsaturated fat, it damages the mitochondria. Ultra processed carbohydrates are things like cookies, candies, cakes, soda, and access sugar. Also, the more natural carbs can cause them as well if over done. These should be avoided if you already have diabetes. The glycemic index is the degrees that a particular food spikes your blood sugar. Fat doesn’t raise blood sugar, protein does a little, but carbs do a lot. All carbs turn in to sugar in the bloodstream. The higher the number on the glycemic index, the more your blood sugar spikes. This is also a general thing because everyone responds differently to different foods. An example is a slice of whole wheat bread is very high because they contain fast absorbing carbs like amylopectin A. For diabetes, you want to lower your overall glycemic load, which is your carbohydrate intake. The less carbs you have, the less your blood sugar will spike. We also want to avoid vegetable oils.

Exercise-

Strength training is critical to reverse diabetes. The more muscle you have, the better you will able to tolerate glucose because that’s where it’s primarily stored. Also, muscle is expensive to carry around, which means that you burn more calories while doing nothing. Focusing on your big muscle groups like glutes, chest, and shoulders will serve you well when it comes to fat loss. Doing squats, deadlifts, bench press, and bent over rows are great for this. Exercise has also been proven to improve insulin sensitivity. The more insulin sensitive you are, the better you can tolerate glucose.