Diabetes - Are You A Risk Taker?

 

Diabetes – Are You A Risk Taker?

Diabetes, the ominous disease that looms over many.

Are you a risk taker when it comes to your health? I have to admit, I know a lot of people who suffer with this disease. But, I didn’t really understand it’s complexities until I started researching it. My mother in law has it, her brother died from complications of it. My dad is borderline as are his sisters. What are my chances?

By the way, I want to thank my friends right now, for asking me to research this for them…it may help them avoid going down this road…and me, too!

The American Diabetes Association published some statistics that made my hair stand on end. 23.6 million children and adults in the U.S. have diabetes. That is 7.8% of the population!

What is Diabetes? Diabetes is a disease that is caused from insulin production, the lack thereof, and/or both.

There are different types

  • Type 1 is insulin dependent or childhood onset. This comes on when the body’s immune system destroys other cells that make the body’s insulin hormone. This hormone is what regulates the body’s sugar levels.
  • Type 2 is non-insulin dependent or adult onset. This comes when the body doesn’t use the insulin properly. It is also the most prevalent type of diabetes .
  • Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy and is an intolerance to insulin.

Risk factors include…

  • Type 1 factors can include but are not limited to autoimmune deficiencies, environmental factors and genetics
  • Type 2 factors can include older aged sufferers, family history, obesity, lack of exercise, ethnicity, gestational diabetes, and impaired metabolism
  • Gestational factors are higher in African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians. Obesity and family history play big in this sector, too.

Now we know what diabetes is and the risks associated with it. Let’s look at what can happen if it’s not handled properly.

Diabetes can lead to blindness, kidney damage, heart disease, amputation, high blood pressure and more. Serious complications that can be avoided.

To manage diabetes you must be aware of what type you have, what you must do to control your type and what you should not do, as well.

Can you lead a normal life with diabetes? Yes you can, but it will take effort on your part.

Education is key... The high cost of letting your health go is reflected in the $174 billion spent in direct costs in 2007. Of that $116 billion was direct medical cost and the remaining $58 billion went to disability, work loss and death benefits. I think this is an astounding price to pay for lack of taking care of ourselves. Can you afford to be lazy?

If you continue eating junk food, continue remaining a couch potato…then you will suffer the consequences, diabetes. I seriously don’t think you want this for yourself or a member of your family, do you? I know I don’t.

What can I do?

Educate yourself, learn how to eat right. Get the exercise your body needs to operate properly.

If you are already a diabetic, monitor your sugar levels regularly. Continue to eat right, get up, move…take your insulin on time. Ask for the support of your family. When it comes to healthy living it takes the whole family, one person can not do it alone.

What did we do?

When my father-in-law passed away and we started visiting mother-in-law more regularly, we found she wasn’t eating right. She didn’t take vitamins or any type of supplement. Her hair was falling out and her sugar levels were all over the place.

It took a few months for us to get a handle on her health. We had walked into a hornets nest not knowing anything about how to care for someone with diabetes.

We found that by adding good supplements into her daily regimen her sugar levels were more consistent. By adding antioxidants to her diet her hair started re-growing and got thicker, it even stopped falling out.

She started sleeping better, her skin improved. She was able to go out back and pick fruit again. Her appetite returned and she stopped having headaches, even her arthritis improved.

So, it’s our choice, yours and mine. Be a risk taker and choose diabetes…

or educate ourselves and walk through the doors that are open to improve our health, today!

 

Turning Back the Clock,
Carla J Gardiner

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