Alternative Health Options For Diabetes Sufferers
If we are healthy it is our body’s job to break down the proteins, carbohydrates and fats we eat and then use them as the building blocks of our bodies. Carbohydrates typically found in bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and cereals are first digested and converted into simple sugars in the intestines and from there move from the intestines into the bloodstream. These simple sugars are our body’s first choice for energy production.
Glucose is the basic fuel the body uses for energy. Before our bodies can use it it must be transported across the cell membrane where it can be used to feed and fuel our cells. Insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas, and more specifically by the islets of Langerhans which are scattered throughout the pancreas, stimulates our body’s cells to absorb sugar, thus removing it from the blood stream.
When our bodies cannot properly use glucose and keeps it in the blood we are diagnosed as having diabetes. Diabetes is a disease which disrupts the mechanism by which the body controls blood sugar. The build-up of sugar in the blood can cause the cells of our bodies to be starved for glucose and can lead to damage of the eyes, kidneys, nerves and heart.
There are two types of diabetes that you can be diagnosed with: insulin dependent, or Type 1 diabetes, and non-insulin dependent, or Type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes may be better known as juvenile or childhood-onset diabetes. With Type 1 diabetes the pancreas cannot make the insulin needed by the body to process glucose. Those who are diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes may be able to use natural therapies which can help the body be more receptive to insulin however they still require regular injections of insulin to maintain health.
On the other hand, the bodies of individuals with Type 2 or Adult-onset diabetes produce varying amounts of insulin; but more often than not, the ability of their body’s cells to absorb sugar is diminished. One of the problems that make this disease so dangerous is that while there are “classic” warning signs that often accompany diabetes, i.e., excessive thirst, excessive hunger, excessive urination, excessive tiredness, and unexplained weight loss, many people with type 2 diabetes may never experience any of these symptoms.
February 21 2011 | Diabetes: All About Type 2 Diabetes | Comments Off