Diabetes

The above infographic is a nice explanation of the symptoms, complications, and prevention of diabetes. What is diabetes? It is when your pancreas either does not produce enough insulin or your body may be resistant to the insulin or a combination of the two. This is called type II diabetes. When you eat food your body breaks it down and one of the components sugar (glucose) which is what you use for energy. The insulin helps the glucose get into your cells. In diabetes this is not working properly and leads to high blood sugar and results in the above symptoms and complications. Another type of diabetes in type I and this is when your pancreas does not work properly, meaning your body does not make insulin. These people are a much smaller percent of the population and tends to happen at a younger age. They require life long insulin therapy. In type II diabetes there is some hope to reverse it through proper diet and exercise. Otherwise there are also oral medications that can be taken. It is a complicated topic and my book talks about diabetes as well a detailed nutrition section. Under the resources tab I give links to other health websites and books that may be helpful and where you can also get more information. Understanding the disease process can help you control it.