Everyone has heard of Type 2 diabetes, and even more so in recent years as it has become one of the most common diseases known to mankind. In fact, Type 2 diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions and many people are unaware they even have the disease.
But while most have heard of Type 2 diabetes, many do not necessarily understand it in-depth or what it does to the body of those people diagnosed with it.
In layman’s terms, it’s a disease wherein the body falls short in regulating the right quantity of glucose or sugar in the bloodstream. When the blood sugar level rises, the pancreas makes insulin and releases it into the bloodstream. In Type 2 diabetes, the pancreas either fails to produce ample insulin or the insulin produced is unable to do its job. Naturally, each of these can cause unpredictable changes in blood sugar levels.
Most of what we eat is broken down into a sugar form which acts as the main energy source to invigorate your body for daily activities. This form of fuel is called glucose. It’s carried throughout your body via the bloodstream.
It’s up to the insulin to transfer the sugar (glucose) from the bloodstream to the muscles and cells for use as energy. But for Type 2 diabetics, their sugar remains in the bloodstream either because of one of two reasons:
either the amount of insulin generated by the pancreas is too low, causing the failure of assisting the transfer of glucose from the bloodstream to the cells; or
the cells simply don’t respond to the insulin as they should.
This results in having too much sugar built up in the bloodstream.
Diabetes can be separated into one of two categories:
Type 1 Diabetes. It’s a form of diabetes wherein the pancreas produces little to no insulin. Something has damaged the ability of the pancreas to produce insulin. When this happens, it’s impossible to regulate the blood sugar levels. Type 1 affects children and teenagers to young adults and requires insulin from an outside source… typically by injection in order to regulate blood sugar, often for the rest of their lives.
Type 2 Diabetes. In this instance, most people with this form of the disease still produce insulin, the problem is their cells resist it. Insulin tries to take sugar into the cells, but the cells just do not respond… it’s like the doors are jammed shut and will not open to allow insulin to transport sugar into the cells. In response your body then makes more and more insulin in an attempt to overcome the resistance. When the body’s insulin supply cannot overcome the resistance, the sugar simply builds up in your blood.
Type 2 diabetes is referred to as “insulin resistance diabetes.” Insulin resistance, prediabetes, and Type 2 diabetes are linked because your muscles, fat, and liver are not using insulin as intended. This situation is especially common where visceral fat (abdominal fat) exists. Obese or overweight people are more likely to end up with this condition although you don’t catch Type 2 diabetes. The roots of this type of diabetes are in your DNA, which is why your chances of avoiding it is compromised by poor lifestyle decisions.
Mindful Eating and Yoga to Lower Blood Sugar Levels in Gestational Diabetes
When diabetes develops during pregnancy, one medical goal is to keep blood sugar levels down to within the normal range. Nurses in Thailand looked at the practice of mindful eating and yoga on pregnant women diagnosed with Gestational diabetes, to discover whether preventing overeating and controlling blood sugar levels could be improved.
Their study, reported on in February 2014 in the journal Applied Nursing Research, randomly divided women with Gestational diabetes into groups. One group received the usual care, while the other group was instructed in mindful eating and yoga. The second group had measurably lower blood sugar and HbA1c levels than the control group.
From these results, it was concluded mindful eating and yoga might aid in controlling blood sugar levels in Gestational diabetes.
Mindful eating was invented as a way to eliminate binge eating and is based upon Buddhist ideas of being aware of all that is around you in a given moment. Mindfulness has been used to:
- combat stress,
- high blood pressure, and
- indigestion.
It has long been known people who eat slowly tend to have fewer problems with being overweight or obese, than faster eaters. It takes about 20 minutes from the time you eat until your brain gets the signal you have eaten. If you eat too fast there is a tendency to keep eating after you have had enough food as the brain has not had time to get the word your stomach is full. Mother had the right idea when she told you to slow down and chew your food thoroughly.
When studying mindful eating, students might take 20 minutes to eat a tangerine or 3 raisins, thinking about the food and what they are sensing the whole time.
Try preparing a small meal and sitting down to eat without the computer, television, or telephone. Make up your mind to spend 20 minutes or more at the table without distractions. Think about each bite of food, and try to picture its journey from a ray of sunshine warming the seeds, the soil, and the water, through the plant’s growth, harvest, going to market, coming home with you, being washed, prepared and placed upon your plate. Take time to enjoy the color, aroma, texture, and flavor of each morsel of food.
Eating with chopsticks or a knife and fork can slow you down if they are not your usual utensils. Eating with your second favorite hand instead of your favorite one can also cause you to be less dextrous and need more time to eat.
Stress while eating is thought to cause digestive problems as the body prepares for fight or flight. This could explain cravings caused by the malabsorption of necessary nutrients. Try to clear your mind of stressful thoughts while at the table. When you want a snack to be aware of why you want it. Are you actually hungry, bored, or even angry?
Type 2 diabetes is no longer a condition you must just live with. It need not slowly and inevitably get worse. Now is the time to take control of the disease… and take back your life.