Diabetes Awareness: What to know

Before you decide to just skip this post because who wants to read about diabetes… I’ll try to keep it short! It’s a very important topic to be aware of. Heart disease is still the number one cause of death in the US. What is one leading risk factor for heart disease? You guessed it. Diabetes. If you have diabetes you are twice as likely to have heart disease or a stroke (5th leading cause of death) and at a much younger age. So, what is diabetes? According to the CDC: Diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels are too high. Your body breaks down most of the food you eat into glucose and releases it into your bloodstream. When your blood sugar goes up, it signals your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin acts like a key to let the blood sugar into your body’s cells for use as energy. Your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use it as well as it should. Without insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream. This can also lead to kidney disease, heart disease, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is now being referred to as type 3 diabetes. Unregulated blood sugar levels are affecting the brain and causing some cases of Alzheimer’s disease. What affects blood sugar levels? Mostly diet. High blood sugar and high sugar intake create plaque buildup in the brain. Currently, type 1 diabetes is not preventable. I’ll be referring to type 2 diabetes in the remainder of this post. This type of diabetes can be prevented or reversed with proper management and steps taken to change lifestyle habits. According to the CDC, more than 130 million adults are living with diabetes or prediabetes in the US. And this is just adults! “From 2001 to 2017, the number of people under age 20 living with type 1 diabetes increased by 45%, and the number living with type 2 diabetes grew by 95%.” More than 75% of children with type 2 diabetes have a close relative who also has it. This is not because it’s in their DNA, it’s because lifestyle habits are contagious among family members (and friends). Many people are living with undiagnosed diabetes. Symptoms are often hidden for years! How often do you wait until you have a symptom to go to the doctor? That’s typically what we do, right? The general practice in our society is to wait until there is a problem and then attempt to “fix” it. I want to challenge you to think about prevention. Why wait? Take action before it’s too late. Take care of yourself now so you won’t even get to the point of the symptoms. Most government websites I searched about this topic were quite vague in their recommendations but did state that lifestyle changes can prevent diabetes. These are the trusted sites people will go to for information and they are not providing much that is actually helpful. Diet really is the number one lifestyle aspect you need to focus on to prevent diabetes. Exercise is also extremely important. The Standard American Diet of mostly ultra- processed food and excess sugar is a huge issue and cause of diabetes. I won’t go into the many issues of government guidelines :) but I always recommend doing your own research. Doctors receive so little education in nutrition, less than 20 hours total in all years of medical school. Doctors are typically not concerned with prevention. They are diagnosing and treating illness and disease, which is obviously important. However, we need more education and support in nutrition and habits and how our lifestyle can cause diseases and health issues in the future. This is where the role of a health coach comes in. Anyone can search information and figure out what they need to do.. so then why don’t they do it? My job is to find the disconnect and provide transformation through implementation. Knowledge alone will not change you, it’s your actions that will change you. Daily actions, habits, choices. It can be difficult making changes on your own, it won’t always be easy, but I can guarantee that changing your health for the better will always be worth it. Not only for yourself, for your loved ones. -CS

Read more about sugar including tips on how to limit your intake here.

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