Obesity is a chronic disease. Obese people are more likely to develop diabetes than the average person. Eighty percent of people with diabetes have obesity and overweight problems. When you are overweight, your body will produce more insulin to control blood sugar. However, when the pancreas cannot secrete enough insulin, blood sugar will be out of control, leading to diabetes.
There are four major types of diabetes
Type 1 diabetes: The cause is completely different from type 2 diabetes. It can be said to be an autoimmune disease. The immune system attacks pancreatic cells, so the pancreas is almost unable to secrete insulin. In order to maintain blood sugar balance, insulin must be injected every day. It is usually diagnosed in children or adolescents.
Type 2 diabetes: At present, more than 90% of Taiwanese diabetic patients have type 2 diabetes, which is caused by the body being damaged by excessive blood sugar. As age increases, the chance of developing the disease increases. It usually occurs in adults, but now it is trending among younger people. Fortunately, this condition can be reversed by changing diet and lifestyle habits.
Type 3 diabetes: also called diabetes of the brain. Insulin resistance causes abnormal proteins to appear in the brain, replacing normal brain cells and causing Alzheimer's disease. That is, the brain cannot respond to insulin, causing high blood sugar in the brain and causing cognitive decline. There is also gestational diabetes, which refers to the phenomenon of high blood sugar during pregnancy despite no history of diabetes before pregnancy.
Most diabetics belong to type 2, which is the type we discuss most often.
The energy source needed by our body’s cells is mainly glucose, but the process of cells receiving and utilizing glucose is very complicated. The glucose in the blood is not directly used by the cells when it flows near the cells. Whether it can enter the cells depends on the insulin secreted by the pancreas. "Insulin" can be said to be the most important substance in cell metabolism. Its task is to transport glucose in the blood to muscle cells, fat cells and liver cells as the fuel required by these cells.
Normal and healthy cells are very sensitive to insulin. However, if we eat a lot of sugar and the cells continue to absorb glucose, the cells will be exposed to high concentrations of insulin. In order to adapt, the body will have to reduce the insulin receptors on the surface, and the cells will become less sensitive to insulin, causing insulin resistance. In other words, the body ignores the insulin signal and is unable to absorb glucose from the blood. The pancreas has to secrete more insulin to allow cells to absorb glucose. In this vicious cycle, type 2 diabetes develops.
Similarly, obesity can also cause insulin resistance. When the body is insensitive to insulin, the body will want to make more insulin to process blood sugar and help blood sugar enter cells. On the other hand, insulin, known as the "obesity hormone", not only makes it easier to form fat, but also increases appetite, making people less likely to feel full and eating more food. This process slowly makes the body move into a vicious cycle: getting fat → insulin resistance → hungry → eating more → getting fat → worsening of insulin resistance. If it continues, it will gradually evolve into diabetes!
Diabetes is not terrible. What is terrible is the lethality caused by high blood sugar. In patients with diabetes, blood sugar will rise because the body cannot transport glucose to the cells as an energy source. Blood sugar that is too high can cause many problems. Excessive sugar is like a piece of broken glass, flowing throughout the body causing damage, destroying endothelial cells in blood vessels, and then destroying organ function. Therefore, it will cause many complications, and will gradually worsen, causing complete loss of organ function. In addition to causing inflammation to get out of control, high blood sugar can lead to infection, eye disease, nerve damage, cardiovascular disease, and even Alzheimer's disease.
During this process, insulin cannot control blood sugar because it cannot send glucose into cells; at the same time, it is also a hormone that promotes fat formation and promotes inflammation. Once the insulin concentration increases, other hormones will also be affected and imbalanced, and the body will fall into further chaos and be unable to restore normal metabolism. In the later stages of diabetes, because the pancreatic cells have failed, there is no way to produce enough insulin to control blood sugar, and the body cannot effectively use the energy it eats. Instead, the patient will start to lose weight, so at this time, insulin must be administered to control it!
Diabetes affects weight control and blood sugar balance. If you have diabetes and sit still for a long time, the tissues and organs in your body will gradually deteriorate, and even the brain will not be immune. Once the brain degenerates, atrophies, and cannot function normally, the center of the brain that controls appetite and weight will become abnormal, causing people to eat more food. The higher the blood sugar, the more fat will be on the body. Such a vicious cycle will make the brain dysfunction more serious.
So, the top priority is to lose weight! Insulin sensitivity can be improved through diet control and moderate exercise. In other words, as long as you change your living habits and eliminate fat, you can not only improve insulin sensitivity, but also reduce the risk of diabetes! Fortunately, there is now medical evidence that diabetes can be reversed if you actively lose weight in the early stages of diabetes!
