Self Improvement
Weight Loss And Diabetes
About 90% of people with diabetes suffer from Type 2 Diabetes or what is known as “obesity-related diabetes mellitus.” Additionally, statistics show that nine out of ten people diagnosed with diabetes are overweight.
Controlling diabetes may have a lot to do with
controlling your weight. Since a person’s metabolism is directly related
with the maintenance of normal levels of blood glucose in your body,
managing your diabetes through weight loss and exercise may be effective
as a treatment option. In fact, several experts advice weight loss and
exercise as a method of managing diabetes.
Why
Lose Weight and Exercise?
Ever heard of “cardiometabolic risk?” It
simply means that if you have several metabolic problems at once –
overweight, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure –
you have a higher risk of developing serious complications like heart
disease. Losing weight and exercising regularly will help improve these
conditions and lower down your cardiometabolic risk of developing other
more serious conditions.
Fat and Obesity
Obesity is more
likely to occur in people with diabetes. In fact, researchers believe
that being obese or overweight is a leading risk factor for diabetes,
particularly type 2 diabetes. You will know whether you have a healthy
weight or not by measuring your body mass index or BMI.
Being
overweight means having a BMI of 25. On the other hand, if you have a
BMI of 30, the condition is no longer mere overweight but obesity.
Either way, this means that you have a higher risk of developing type 2
diabetes as well as other cardiometabolic conditions.
In addition
to your weight, another important risk factor that you might want to
look into is the location of your fat deposits. Researchers have
observed that if a person’s fats are deposited in the middle of his
torso or around the middle (“apple-shaped” figure) this raises his risk
for heart disease and other related conditions.
High Blood
Pressure
Just as obesity and type 2 diabetes are closely related,
these conditions also go hand-in-hand with high blood pressure. Also
known as hypertension, high blood pressure can increase your chances of
developing heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease.
Out of all
persons with diabetes, 40% of them have high blood pressure, leading to
stroke.
High Cholesterol
Your body needs sources of energy in
order to perform its regular functions and these sources of energy
include glucose and fats (lipids). When you have too much glucose in
your blood, your body will automatically store these as fats in your
body so that when you need them in the future, your body will release
the hormone adrenaline which will in turn stimulate the release of
glucose from these fat molecules.
Now, some of these fats are
turned into cholesterol, both HDL (or the good cholesterol) and LDL (or
the bad cholesterol). If you have higher LDL levels in your blood but
lower good cholesterol levels, then your risk of getting of stroke is
higher as well.
All three conditions are related through one
common denominator – your weight. By controlling this aspect of your
body’s health, then you have a better fighting chance against diabetes
and live a fuller life.