{"id":3437,"date":"2020-11-05T17:38:36","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T01:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.myshapa.com\/?p=3437"},"modified":"2022-08-19T10:23:55","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T10:23:55","slug":"understanding-type-2-diabetes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/home.myshapa.com\/understanding-type-2-diabetes\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Type 2 Diabetes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Just over 1 in 10 Americans have diabetes, and approximately 1 in 3 have prediabetes. When you think of diabetes, you may think of sugar-free candies and insulin injections. But what is <\/em>diabetes? In this article I\u2019m going to explain what type 2 diabetes is (type 1 is autoimmune and cannot be prevented), who is most at risk for type 2 diabetes, and the complications that can develop if it\u2019s not managed properly. Understanding Type 2 diabetes is the first step towards prevention or management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is Diabetes?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Diabetes is a disease in which there is too much sugar (glucose) hanging out in the blood. Your cells need glucose to function – it\u2019s their primary source of energy (cells functioning = you functioning). To make sure the glucose in your food ends up in your cells, an organ in your body called the pancreas produces a hormone called insulin. Insulin \u201cunlocks\u201d cells so that they can let in glucose. The more glucose in the blood, the more insulin the body needs to produce to make sure cells get their energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When someone has type 2 diabetes, their cells will either not respond well enough to insulin, often as a result of too much fat in the cell, and\/or their pancreas does not produce enough insulin. Both scenarios result in the cells not taking up enough sugar in the blood. (And remember, cells functioning = you functioning.) This is a double whammy for cell function, as too much glucose in the blood also damages blood vessels. Understanding the insulin-glucose relationship is key to understanding type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fun Fact: \u201cGlucose\u201d doesn\u2019t necessarily mean \u201csugar\u201d <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m especially passionate about diabetes education and understanding diabetes because type 2 diabetes runs strongly in my family. It’s one of the main reasons I took an interest in nutrition from such a young age. Yet in all my research, I\u2019ve never once seen an article about diabetes make the distinction between \u201cglucose\u201d and \u201csugar.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an important difference to understand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick science lesson: Sucrose (we know this as table sugar) is made up of two different molecules: glucose and fructose. When you eat sugar, glucose travels to your blood, while fructose goes to your liver to be metabolized. The liver turns excess fructose into fat called triglycerides. Many people trying to avoid type 2 diabetes, or people who already have it and are trying to manage it, do their best to avoid foods that contain sugar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, many foods that do not contain a gram of \u201csugar\u201d can still be full of glucose. Refined starches such as bagels, white bread, breakfast cereals, pretzels, potato chips, white rice, white pasta, etc. are essentially long chains of glucose molecules. Without the fiber in whole food starches such as sprouted grain bread and quinoa, refined starches are broken down quickly. This means their glucose dumps into your bloodstream before your insulin can say, \u201cWait up, guys!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out this post<\/a> for some of my favorite complex carbohydrate options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding Risk Factors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The risk factors of developing type 2 diabetes include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n