Diabetes is more common than you think, one in ten of the UK population over 40 is living with preventable type 2 diabetes, this equates to 3.4m people ! The modern day diet has no doubt contributed greatly to the increase in cases with the convenience & availability of fast food, snacks and ready meals.
Diabetes is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. Blood glucose is your main source of energy and comes from the food you eat. Insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas, helps glucose from food enter your cells to be used for energy. The imbalance of insulin to blood sugar prevents the cells from receiving blood glucose and the surplus remains in your blood system.
The chance of developing type 2 diabetes if your overweight or obese (BMI 30 or greater) is between 80 to 85%.
Excess weight around your abdomen (tummy) can contribute to the development of diabetes
Insulin is less effective when the abdominal fat cells release "pro inflammatory" chemicals.
If your blood pressure is higher you are also more at risk
Type 2 diabetes increases the older you get, men are slightly more at risk than women. It also increases if you have a close family member with diabetes and if you’re from a black or South Asian background. These are risk factors, unfortunately, people can’t do anything about.
Every week, diabetes leads to more than 169 amputations, 680 strokes, 530 heart attacks, 2000 cases of heart failure.
The NHS spends over £10 billion annually - 10% of its budget on this one condition.. One in six hospital beds are reported to be occupied by a diabetes patient.
Prevention is a change in lifestyle, being more active by exercising both cardio & strength training and as usual a healthy diet.
"When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change our selves" - Viktor E. Frankl.
Summary
It seems to be a no brainer, to try and prevent this condition. Sleep, diet and exercise are probably key, however, so is balance - long days at work under stressful conditions can lead to bad food choices (lacking in poor nutrition) and lack of exercise which creates a natural bad downward spiral.
Brett's view: Horrible to see people get this condition when it's so preventable, our lifestyle is leading us towards this with more daily stress and yummy snacks. The statistics are very worrying and the NHS is going to be overwhelmed with cases. It would be fantastic if we could help to prevent people getting this condition..
David's view: My BMI is higher than it should be and my fat percentage is 26%, so I can quite easily see why people take comfort in sugary snacks, your working hard, long hours and all you need is a sugar rush to keep you going. Sometimes it's just out of boredom, other times you just need that pick up. I try to substitute the biscuits with a natural snack- I love chocolate chip cookies but they aren't really my friend ! My new go to is nuts and raisins.