Eyes wide shut on diabetes?

23rd May 2008

Eyes wide shut on diabetes?

I covered a story this week on a popular seniors gathering group and spoke with a man there I’ll call Bob. Bob is the door greeter for the bunch and wears a pin that says “I give hugs,” which he gives freely and not just to pretty girls. He’s the kind of gregarious guy who’ll tell you he’s “never met a stranger” and within minutes, you know it’s true.

I saw Bob a few months ago on a story, but before that, the first and last time I saw him was nearly a year ago before my husband and I eloped. Bob didn’t remember my name, but he recognized me by sight and remembered that I was engaged and asked about our wedding. He even remembered minute details about me, like the fact that I have a brood of cats and like to garden.

All of which is ironic considering that Bob is nearly blind from type 2 diabetes.

I ate with Bob and his wife at the luncheon and he explained to me how it is he knows and recognizes so many people despite his handicap. Bob can only see about five-feet in front of his face and even then he makes out mostly shapes. He recognizes people by their voice and their walk. He had surgery on one eye last week, but he said the procedure was unsuccessful. I should add that Bob has a bit of a gut as do most of the senior men in the group, but is far from morbidly obese.

I asked Bob if he knew what led to him developing the disease. Was it his lifestyle and diet as so many people claim of diabetes? Does he have a family history? Both of Bob’s siblings have diabetes, he told me. One sister even nearly went into kidney failure recently. All developed the disease later in life, sometime after their 60s. And even though Bob says he manages his diabetes with diet, sadly, doctors have told him his vision will continue to decline until he is completely blind.

“They don’t know what does or doesn’t cause it,” said Bob of his diagnosis. “But I’ve seen a lot of skinny people on dialysis machines.”

In a previous post on diabetes and obesity, La di da made the great point that:

T2D is held up as some kind of terrifying spectre, when, although it greatly increases your risks of certain health problems, is very manageable and not some life-destroying thing to spend your days worrying about. Certain authorities make it sound on par with inhaling lungfuls of asbestos.

I absolutely agree with her, but after seeing how diabetes has affected Bob’s quality of life, I can also now see why there is so much attention on the disease. Still, I have to ask: is the emphasis today constructive or potentially harmful?

Type 2 diabetes is the prime weapon of choice in the arsenal of the anti-obesity establishment, who fear-monger the disease to promote their own weight-based agendas. But it’s important to remember that although diet and lifestyle may play a role in the development of diabetes, there are many forces at play, including those of a genetic nature. When we reduce diabetes to a disease contracted primarily by fat people as the result of their assumed lifestyle choices, we not only wrongfully stigmatize a large (no pun intended) and diverse group of people, but we also risk inculcating a false sense of fear among thin people who think their BMIs and lifestyle protect them from the disease.

If a blind man can see this, why can’t the medical establishment?

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Fat Bias, Health/Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On May 23rd, 2008, Meowser

said:

The pancreas seems to be one of those body parts nobody really understands yet. But it is true that perhaps a third of type 2 diabetics aren’t even fat. If “lose weight” is the glibly proffered “first line of treatment,” what are the thin people who are susceptible to it supposed to be doing?

posted on May 23rd, 2008 at 8:21 pm

2 On May 23rd, 2008, Misha

I think the ability to lay down extra fat in either existing or new fat cells is actually protective against diabetes but everyone has some upper limit, that is how much sugar they can store as fat before they can’t store anymore and then they get diabetes (i.e., uncontrolled high blood sugar that the body can’t fix)

The problem in diabetes is with blood sugar regulation not fat. If you have too much sugar in the blood (due to a biological or genetic defect that leads to that condition) the body looks for ways to fix it. The easiest way is store it in muscles (glycogen) or in the body’s fat stores but once those are full that’s it, you’re going to have to spill it into the urine at that point to get rid of the stuff; by that point you actuall have diabetes.

I believe the ability to store excess sugar as fat actually postpones the onset of diabetes in genetically prone individuals. People who can’t get fat but have the genetic predisposition to diabetes probably get the disease sooner than someone with the same predisposition who is capable of storing lots of body fat. My nephew is like this, he is a very skinny kid with very unstable (prone to be quite high) blood sugar; his mother had gestational diabetes when pregnant with him, which may have put him at higher risk. I don’t know what the basic defect is that makes the blood sugar run too high for some people but the ability to get fat probably delays the onset of diabetes by taking excess glucose out of the bloodstream.

I am genetically prone to diabetes myself and had got to the “pre-diabetes” stage of impaired fasting glucose last year (at age 40 and about a size 12). I now manage it by eating very little carbohydrates in my diet, it’s the only thing that works for me. I no longer care at all about weight loss or gain, I just don’t want to get sick. After changing the way I eat suddenly my fasting glucose is no longer over 6.6 the way it was last year and my A1C level has returned to to normal range.

I get really mad when people think being fat causes diabetes, it’s just not true. There are people with and without diabetes at every body size imaginable. If being fat caused diabetes then only fat people would have it; if being thin protected against diabetes then thin people would never get it.

I’m sure there are lots of people who will think I’m totally crazy for my ideas but I just wanted to share my opinion.

Regarding Meowser’s comment, I think that both thin people (and fat people) who are prone to diabetes should avoid sugar in all forms except non-starchy vegetables or fruits that are low in sugar, that is what has worked for me anyway

posted on May 23rd, 2008 at 9:38 pm

3 On May 23rd, 2008, Phledge

I see Meowser’s comment, and raise her an “also, the recommended treatment–lose weight–may carry its own metabolic implications, the understanding of which is meager if present because duh who could improve on ‘calories in, calories out?’” If type 2 diabetes has a strong genetic component (upwards of 90% twin concordance) then is it not reprehensible to assume an ineffectual approach and not focus on how the genes make the disease? What if diabetes causes teh fat? Wouldn’t that be interesting?

posted on May 23rd, 2008 at 9:46 pm

4 On May 23rd, 2008, La di Da

And just a note to anyone reading that comment I made - I certainly don’t mean to dismiss anyone’s diabetes-related disability or health problems as “not that bad”; obviously I can’t know exactly what someone dealing with such is going through. I do however have a close family member with type 1 diabetes, they’ve had it since they were a toddler, and I understand the problems that even having well-controlled diabetes can cause and the precautions one must take. It’s just that these problems shouldn’t be a cause for terror or having to wrap oneself up in cotton wool and so on. I find it ironic? - frustrating? - that current communication on type 2 diabetes is based largely on scaremongering and fat-phobia, when if you look at the information given to children and young people who have just been diagnosed with type 1 (and their parents), it’s a lot more positive and focusing on the fact that your life hasn’t ended just because your pancreas has malfunctioned, and seems to be a great deal more supportive. People diagnosed with type 2 seem to have to work a lot harder to find any kind of support that isn’t based on “lose weight at any cost” and “lifestyle shaming”: it’s your fault you’re fat and therefore your fault you got diabetes, here, have a gastric bypass. And fat people are under pressure to be a “good fatty” and agree that “I did this to myself” and comply with weight loss as a first line treatment. This fear and shaming is their punishment for being fat; you don’t deserve real support and accurate information about your health condition because of your weight (and all that stereotypically implies). Which also, as Meowser pointed out, also leaves slim type 2 diabetics in the dark and often quite stunned that they got a “fat disease”.

posted on May 23rd, 2008 at 11:44 pm

5 On May 23rd, 2008, Elizabeth Twist

Two of my relatives have developed type 2 diabetes and subsequently not only gained a lot of weight, but had a heck of a time trying to slow down the process. Losing weight for them is out of the question. I think that Phledge’s speculation is not so far off the truth for some sufferers of this disease.

posted on May 23rd, 2008 at 11:53 pm

6 On May 24th, 2008, sleepless

Was that “a false sense of fear” or “a false sense of security”? I would have thought the latter, for the thin (in that they think they’re ok). Unless you’re talking about a false fear of fat amongst the thin?

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 1:19 am

7 On May 24th, 2008, Andrea

I will tell you this: Diabetes is preventable.

Please do not preach this defeatist behaviour to people. I was on the road of getting diabetes, I was so close actually! If I wouldn’t have gotten a Glucose Tollerance Test I would have probably ended up diabetic.

Through lifestyle changes: changed my diet completely, lost about 30 lbs, started moving more and my blood sugar levels went back to absoloutely normal and I couldn’t be more grateful to God for this. My Endocrinologist told me that if I continued with my old lifestlye I would have been a diabetic in 6 months time (which is about now). There are a lot of risk factors for Diabetes but the main main one is obesity & sedentarism. I still have a lot of genetic risk of developing it but if I continue to lose weight, continue eating healthy and moving around, I might never get diabetes. So, there is hope out there.

I know that this blog is all about fat acceptance and stuff and I respect your opinion but I’m simply giving my personal experience on this particular issue.

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 6:22 am

8 On May 24th, 2008, Linda

While there is a strong genetic connection in diabetes, diet, weight and exercise also play a role. It is not “ineffectual” to lose weight, exercise and eat well. In my family, fat people tend to get diabetes in their 40s, and skinny people get it in their 60s and 70s. I don’t think I’ll dodge the bullet entirely, but since diabetes is a progressive disease, it’s good to put it off 10 or 20 years. That’s 10-20 years less to develop neuropathy, heart disease, kidney disease, etc.

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 7:46 am

9 On May 24th, 2008, Junebug

I really like where Phledge is going with this. There is diabetes in both sides of my family, in both larger and smaller relatives. My cousin is essentially Stacey from the Baby-sitter’s club-blonde, skinny, beautiful both inside and out, but has had T2D from adolescence. Why does someone who does eat well and exercise develop diabetes in their youth? Genetics has to have a stronger connection in this case, which cause me to respectfully disagree with both Linda and Andrea. Both have given examples of their experiences based on their own personal cases. We must remember that everyone is different and we must take things in a case-by-case basis. By generalizing and saying “yes, but losing weight will save you…” or “you’re going to have T2D because you’re fat…”, you are making assumptions that might not be accurate about the person in question.

As for me, there is a chance that I might develop T2D, I might not. The genetic possibility is strong, but who knows?

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 8:23 am

10 On May 24th, 2008, Robotitron

Things that are missing from a large-scale conversation about Type 2 diabetes:

The prevalence of high fructose corn syrup in most every packaged food. This also comes with a conversation about farm subsidies, food shortages — oh, the list goes on and on.

Many communities not having access to fresh food. On the south side of Chicago last year, there was ONE small grocery store for forty blocks. One. If you don’t have a car, how are you supposed to get a week’s worth of groceries for your family back home on the bus? It is simpler and probably cheaper to go to the corner store or fast food restaurant.

The shift in the late 70s/early 80s to a low fat, high processed carbohydrate diet. I think that any insistence on ONE TRUE DIET (as in way of eating, not weight loss) for a large population is idiotic. Some people do well eating less fat. Some people, especially those who have a genetic predisposition to insulin resistance, need to eat a high protein diet. I count myself as an example of this. I have PCOS, but I was raised, pretty much, on a low fat diet. I grew up in the 80s and 90s and that’s what everyone was told to do. I am sure that I would weigh less now if I hadn’t eaten that way, gained weight, and gone on numerous crash diets.

Doctors need to quit using “lose weight” as shorthand for encouraging better habits. This is one place I see HAES as being incredibly helpful. If someone is encouraged to exercise and eat the kind of food that makes them feel better — as I do when I eat lots of protein vs. stuff with higher carbohydrate counts — they will do that. If they’re chained to a scale, trying to get that number down, the whole exercise becomes a burden.

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 9:37 am

11 On May 24th, 2008, attrice

For me it almost always comes down to the same set of problems: Making health a moral issue. Oversimplifying the interplay of genes and lifestyle (and also assuming that it works the same way for everyone.) And assuming that if lifestyle changes don’t work for someone, then it must be their fault.

Honestly, ime, the second one is something that most of the people I know in healthcare and certainly everyone I know in research seems to understand so I don’t know why it’s never really communicated to the public. Or maybe it is and people are just so damn ready to blame everything on fat that they don’t hear it.

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 9:51 am

12 On May 24th, 2008, Karen H.

I agree with Andrea & Linda. While I’d wish for everyone to accept themselves and others, I don’t advocate being miserable, developing an ED, or risking death to be thin. But why is adjusting your diet and lifestyle to avoid diabetes any different than doing so with other diseases like celiac or for allergies? There are many things in life we do to lower risks - obeying traffic laws, wearing lifejackets on wildwater rafting trips to name a few - why is eating so different? Yes, there are thin people with diabetes and fat people with low blood pressure, but if you can lower your risk in a healthy happy way, why not do so if you choose?

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 10:44 am

13 On May 24th, 2008, G.G.

I think weight isn’t the controlling factor in the development of Type II diabetes, but the type of diet may well be (and I’m not a scientist by any means, which I acknowledge freely), and how a person’s genetic makeup course plays a huge role.

My parents both have had major health problems. My Dad’s significantly more overweight that my mother, but he’s never had blood sugar issues. My Mom’s in the overweight category, BMI-wise, but she was recently diagnosed as pre-diabetic (to the point she had to start medication). They both changed the types of food they eat recently (getting away from processed stuff, refined carbohydrates, etc.) and started some mild exercising, and it’s had a dramatic effect on the results of all of their medical tests–they’ve been taken off various medications, or the dosages have been reduced, and they’re feeling much better. I honestly don’t think their weight was the reason their health was getting worse–but when they started eating better quality foods and added some exercise, things got better. I think the weight wasn’t the cause of their problems so much as it was a symptom of larger issues (like maybe the development of metabolic syndrome) related to the overprocessed low-nutrient typical American diet–and how their bodies responded to their food choices (old and new) was a matter of genetics–but in both, the improved choices had beneficial consequences.

But again, I’m not a scientist, and this is anecdotal, and quite possibly pure drivel.

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 11:33 am

14 On May 24th, 2008, Meowser

Andrea, my understanding is that diet and exercise habits can certainly help ameliorate diabetes or delay onset, especially in the early stages, but shaming and blaming diabetics for their fat still has no place. And nobody actually knows which dietary habits would prevent type 2 diabetes for everyone with a genetic tendency to insulin resistance (I have heard everything from “low fat vegan diet” to “lots of animal protein and greens and not much of anything else,” and of course they can’t both be correct for everyone).

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 11:46 am

15 On May 24th, 2008, wellroundedtype2

Thank you so much for bringing up these issues.

This is my area of expertise and I’m also a member of the type 2 club, so, I can’t help but “weigh in” (while little one watches an episode of “Go Diego Go” — how else would I have time to comment?).

As Phledge said, “what if diabetes causes fat” (paraphasing) I think that’s close to how I would put it.

In part, the problem with communication is that there are many paths that lead to diabetes, and a strong family history is one of them. The interaction of what we do (exercise and food-wise), our stress levels, aging, our genes, our immune system all appear to play a role. I’ve met older slender type 2s that are indeed pissed of to have this — they “ate right,” exercised, never gained weight and ended up with diabetes anyhow.

Not every case of diabetes (and for now, no cases of type 1 or some other forms of diabetes) is preventable. But for some people, tweaking their diet, and if they are not currently physically active, finding a way to work activity into their lives, can help prevent the onset or delay the onset of type 2.

What I would say about it is this: If you are on a path that appears to have type 2 diabetes down the road, can you tweak your life to make some changes? Maybe your job is stressful and you can’t fit in exercise. Maybe you are eating to cope with the stress. Address what you can, not because it’s bad to be fat, nor is it your fault that you may have type 2 diabetes in the future, but because you are a valuable person worth taking care of.

If you have diabetes, work through as much of your feelings about it as you can so you can be in a place of doing what you need to to ward off complications, if you can. Some people seem to have diabetes that is a lot harder to control than others, so try not to compare. People with type 1 diabetes can certainly tell you that not all calories are equal — some carbs and fats seem to raise blood sugar levels and keep them up there in a way that makes it “not worth it” in their estimation to eat them.

There is a bigger picture when it comes to diabetes and also cardiovascular disease, and it’s fairly complex. There’s also a balance between what people can or want to do, and what is needed to prevent or delay complications from diabetes. It’s a matter of trying to protect the inner workings of the body, the large and small blood vessles, which extra sugar and certain lipid and hormone levels in the blood damage. It’s not all about diet and exercise and weight, how we feel emotionally and how we are treated by others also plays a role.

This is really turning into a post more than a comment. I’m going to think about what I would say are the top 10 things that people who are in favor of fat acceptance can do to prevent or delay the complications of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

If someone has diabetes, or complications of diabetes, I think compassion is the appropriate response, not blame. We all make choices that lead to certain outcomes, combined with the resources we have at our disposal (including our genes and socioeconomic status). Is the goal to get to the end of your life with a perfectly preserved body — if so, what do you win? I believe the goal is to navigate your life with the most grace you can muster, given life is hard, and to treat people well along the way, while protecting yourself, and those who can’t protect themselves, from harm. Protecting our bodies from harm is part of the equation, but we have to balance that with our circumstances and resources.

Where does losing weight (or not gaining weight) fit into this? Some people find it’s a useful focus for helping them make changes. Others find it an oppressive focus. There are many people out there making money by exploiting fears about fatness. I think we have a right to reject the focus on weight while asserting our right to treat our bodies well by finding movement we enjoy (or can tolerate) and finding a way of eating that works for us. We may also work with health professionals to use medications if we need to — when it comes to preventing complications from diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, I think it’s an important consideration, not a sign of weakness or failure.

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

16 On May 24th, 2008, Rachel

Andrea: Diabetes may have been preventable for YOU, but it isn’t for everyone. Even the most healthy thin people with the most healthy lifestyles can contract the disease. Making a blanket statement such as yours - that it is preventable via diet and exercise - is exactly the stereotype that hurts these kinds of people most.

I don’t mean to sound defeatist, but in the light of the overwhelming genetic evidence of diabetes - you cannot, no matter how horrible your diet is, develop the disease unless you have a genetic predisposition to it - it’s also futile to continue banging the same drum, when that drum has been shown to be out of tune. I think we need to ask ourselves what our goal is here: Is it to further prevent diabetes, or is it to shame and stigmatize the people who do develop the disease?

And I’m concerned with the conflation here of eating well and thinness, because the two don’t always go hand-in-hand. Karen: I absolutely promote healthy lifestyles and diets and I do think many of the types of foods we (as a nation) eat probably contribute to diabetes. But while one can help to prevent or manage diabetes with a healthy diet, that healthy diet won’t make one thin.

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 12:45 pm

17 On May 24th, 2008, Rachel

La di da: I didn’t mean to use you as an example, but your comment in the previous post was so great, I couldn’t have said it better myself and decided to quote you instead. I know a few people with type 2 diabetes and the disease barely affects their quality of life outside of watching their carb and sugar intake. Bob is the first person with type 2 diabetes I have met whose quality of life is severely impacted by the disease. And yet the disease is made out to be like a death sentence.

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 12:55 pm

18 On May 24th, 2008, wellroundedtype2

Also, for more information on diabetes and vision, here’s a useful link:
National Diabetes Education Program

Regular eye exams for people with diabetes can help detect problems early. For most people with diabetes, a yearly exam is recommended. Part of the problem is that people who have diabetes may go for years without knowing it, and it’s only when they already have complications, such as vision problems, that they find out they have diabetes. And getting a handle on blood sugar and lipid levels early on is what can prevent complications in many people — but it requires knowing you have diabetes.

The idea that fatness=type 2 diabetes in part has to do with this desire to find people who have diabetes so that complications can be prevented. This gets warped by reporters who don’t have a good handle on the medicine or science I applaud Rachel for wanting to understand this better. Most reporters don’t have her personal experience with weight and eating disorders, nor her hard work in her academic field.

This is also connected to good medical care — care that doesn’t make you feel like you never want to come back because you’ve been treated disrespectfully. (See First Do No Harm.) (Thank God, or your higher power of choice, for providers-to-be like Phledge.) If you avoid going to the doctor (for lack of resources or previous poor treatment), you will have a hard time getting diagnosed with diabetes, or getting the treatment you need.

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 12:56 pm

19 On May 24th, 2008, AnnaAnastasia

My grandmother had T2 diabetes. During her last 30s and her 40s, she ignored that she had it. However, for the last 25 years of her life, she watched her diet and took her insulin perfectly. She became blind in her late 60s and lost two legs in her 70s, shortly before she died at 75.

Her son, my uncle, was also a T2 beginning in his 40s. He religiously kept his A1C below 6.0 (which used to be the gold standard of blood sugar control) through diet. He had chronic wounds on his leg, which was eventually amputated. He died at 50 years old while his amputation was being cared for in the hospital.

Her other son has jogged and played sports for years. He eats anything and everything in sight, but he pays attention to doctor recommendations as much as possible. He doesn’t have wound problems or eye problems, but he’s definitely T2. He’s in his mid-60s.

Her oldest son is a T2 in his late 70s. No complications, but he eats whatever he wants and never exercises.

My mother, her daughter, is T2. She had gestational diabetes in her 20s, and she’s had T2 since her mid-40s. She watches her diet, but she doesn’t obsess. She used to exercise on a treadmill until she got tired of it. She was on oral meds for the diabetes, but they made her feel horrible, so she stopped them. She’s in her late 50s and has no complications. Throughout all the changes, her A1C has stayed in the 6-7 range (pretty good).

Oh also - son 1 was fat then thin; son 2 is not thin, but he’s muscular; son 3 is fat; and my mom is moderately fat.

My grandmother was blamed by everyone (including me) for what she had “done to herself” by ignoring her diabetes. After seeing her children, I’m ashamed of myself for assuming anything.

You tell me - how does this disease work again? Given my genetics, I’ve got about 10-15 years before I develop it. And given that my family has been a mini-laboratory for T2 and hasn’t figured out a damn thing, I think perhaps its causes and outcomes may be much more out of control than we think.

PS - My husband has been a T1 since his teens. He’s avoided all the eye problems, but he sometimes has slow wound healing. He also has strange neurological symptoms (periodic eye paralysis, Bell’s palsy, etc.) And oh yeah - he doesn’t exercise, only watches his diet loosely, and he’s fat. So…WTF?

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

20 On May 24th, 2008, wellroundedtype2

In my last comment, I didn’t mean to only blame reporters — there are many others out there trying to make it seem like everyone who is fat has or will have diabetes.

And Rachel, when you said “And yet the disease is made out to be like a death sentence” — it can be devastating and deadly if it’s not under control — even when the person with diabetes and everyone else is doing the best they can.

For some people, being told they have prediabetes provides a window of opportunity for making changes (great examples of this upthread). For others, it’s one more thing they can’t adjust to (that would have been me when I was told I was “borderline” when I was around 23 years old). If you can avoid getting diabetes, it’s a great idea. Not everyone is equally at risk.

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

21 On May 24th, 2008, wellroundedtype2

AnnaAnastasia — I think some of what you see in your family has to do with better health care for people with diabetes and more advancements in understanding and treating diabetes.
Some people (I’m in this group so far) don’t have to do a whole lot to control their diabetes. But diabetes intersects with so many other things going on — hormones, emotions, blood fats, other meds, and these can have an impact on blood sugar control.
Blaming people with diabetes for their complications is not a helpful strategy. I think it only serves to distance people from their fears about disability, ill health, and death.

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

22 On May 24th, 2008, wellroundedtype2

Sorry to comment again, but I just want to add this:
Smoking/tobacco use and diabetes are a disasterous combination when it comes to complications and heart attacks and stroke.
It’s not a matter of blame, but rather, making sure that people get the help they need in order to quit, as many times as it takes, as long as they want to keep trying.
Can you tell I have some passion in this area? I wish I had more time to post about this on my own blog…
Thank you again, Rachel, for sparking this discussion. It’s so important!

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

23 On May 24th, 2008, Stef

A lot of advances in diabetes treatment have occurred over the past 10-20 years. Tight glucose control for diabetics has only been possible in the past 20-25 years, due to the invention of the glucose meter. Prior to that, there was no way to monitor your glucose day to day, other than to use a urine test, which would only tell you if it was very high, not if it was kind of high.

So if a person’s, say, grandparent had complications from diabetes, that might have been due to the lack of treatment options for part of their life, and not due to lifestyle.

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 8:23 pm

24 On May 24th, 2008, Rio

AnnaAnastasia: I had a S.O. who was a type 1, and he had those weird neurological symptoms, including seizures–until he gave up drinking diet soda. The problems disappeared within a few weeks once he cut that out of his diet.

posted on May 24th, 2008 at 11:30 pm

25 On May 26th, 2008, Andrea

Well, believe me, I did some extensive research and saw a lot of specialists when I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes.

Basically, this is what I have learnt:

Things that will avoid developing Type 2 Diabetes or delay it severely:

1. Lose between 5-10% of your body weight and maintain loss (if overweight/obese).
2. Stop smoking (if smoker)
3. Add some sort of exercise to your life (30 mins a day will do, walking is fine)
4. Eat pleny of fruit & vegetables (5 portions a day)
5. Stop eating refined carbohydrates - swap all white carbs for brown ones. Avoid high sugar and fatty foods.

I have lately relaxed a bit with my diet and noticed that my blood sugar has quickly started spking up again which is why I have to start being more careful. This was the main reason I decided to lose weight. Although my appearance did bother me, I just really really did not want to have diabetes being only 20 years old. That is why I had to make some adjustments to my lifestyle. I too have genetic tendency of developing this disease from both sides of the family (although my grandmothers developed it in their 60’s - both overweight). I was also premature and a smoker/sedentary/obese. So I guess that maybe it would be understandable why someone in my situation would try to do every possible thing to not get diabetes since I have risk from pretty much everywhere else you can imagine.

Yes Rachel it is true that genetics do play a huge role in T2D but a bad diet and sedentarism will only increase the risk.

Anyway, I hope this helps some people.

posted on May 26th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

26 On May 26th, 2008, Andrea

Sorry I am really not trying to hate or bash anyone. I am just trying to help. This is what I have found useful for me and maybe it can be useful for other people too. I do not hate people with diabetes! I just simply don’t want to be a diabetic. Does that make snese?

posted on May 26th, 2008 at 1:34 pm

27 On May 26th, 2008, Rachel

Andrea - I’m confused. You said you noticed your blood sugar rising as the result of your “relaxed” diet, and yet your solution was to lose weight? Shouldn’t you have reevaluated your diet instead? Why the automatic jump to weight loss? This is what I take issue with: the assumption that eating healthy will result in weight loss. Eating healthy will improve health, but it doesn’t always equate to weight loss or thinness. Shouldn’t our emphasis then be on eating healthier, full stop?

posted on May 26th, 2008 at 3:18 pm

28 On May 26th, 2008, Andrea

It wasn’t only to lose weight, yes that was a part of it too. But I did change my diet and stopped eating so much crap. I exercise more, count calories and in my personal experience, that has resulted in weight loss.

People’s bodies work differently. Everything doesn’t work for everyone. Some people have allergies or intolerances. Some people don’t lose weight by eating healthy. I’m not saying you need to lose weight to stop it but according to specialists, losing weight is one way of delaying/stopping it. I have, personally decided to lose weight and for me, it has worked.

I hope I’ve made it clearer now.

posted on May 26th, 2008 at 4:39 pm

29 On May 26th, 2008, wellroundedtype2

What’s really confusing about prediabetes and diabetes and weight loss is that it might be that losing weight is part of the picture, but restricting the amount of food that one eats may be an even bigger contributor.
The behaviors that can help with lowering blood sugar (exercise, eating less) may lead some people to lose weight, while others might not lose weight doing the same exact things. It’s likely that a series of underlying factors contribute to weight gain AND the path to diabetes, so making some changes could reverse some of the underlying factors so weight loss that seemed impossible before becomes possible.

I think Andrea found something that worked for her, and her weight went down as a result. The 5-10% weight loss that is advocated to prevent or delay the onset of diabetes might be managable for some people by making some changes that feel good to them, and are sustainable. Is this dieting? Who in the world am I to judge or make that determination?

posted on May 26th, 2008 at 6:06 pm

30 On May 26th, 2008, Rachel

Wellrounded: I agree. Perhaps Andrea was above her body’s setpoint weight range and shifting to a more healthy diet helped her lose weight. Perhaps moving away from processed foods and sugar caused her to lose weight. In any case, I think our emphasis ought to always be on eating right for health’s sake, not in pursuit of weight-loss.

posted on May 26th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

31 On June 1st, 2008, Even a thin person can get diabetes » The-F-Word.org said: