Gibby! said:
!
I could use some advice on obesity! Like "Get away from the computer you fat b*****d!"
!
Anyway, thats cool of you.
What are the first indicators of diabetes (besides obesitiy!)? It runs in the family, diabetes, not obesity! Three family members diagnosed in the last year, they had no clue really went in and doc said "Yup, you got diabetes!".
First you have to understand what diabetes is. Most people don't.
Type II Diabetes (which is the one you are referring to) is a multifactorial disease so it has a genetic component and an environmental component. So while it may run in your family, the good thing is you can prevent getting it if you control your environment (eating and exercising). Type I diabetes is different. Type one is a pathological problem. Your pancreas can't produce enough insulin. It doesn't have enough beta cells on your pacreas to produce insulin. Type I diabetes used to be thought of as a genetic disease, now people think it might be due to a virus. Scary huh....anyway
Type II is what any normal person can have. It deals with insulin insensitivity. Glucose is the body's version of sugar. When you eat carbs and sugar, your body breaks it down to glucose. Problem is you can't have too much glucose in your blood. So your body makes insulin. Insulin is a hormone that takes the excess glucose in your blood and stores it. The problem is when you consume too much glucose either through carbs and sugar over time, your body becomes insulin insensitive. In other words, you keep exhausting your insulin by eating all these foods so your insulin isn't so quick to react to the excess glucose like it was in the past. Excess glucose in the blood is basically diabetes; it's what causes all hell to break loose. Your body's blood has a sensitive balance of glucose so it can't have too much or too little. This is why exercising is great. It helps burn excess glucose in your blood so insulin isn't being asked to store it. Also, by consuming less calories, you are not exhausting your insulin. This is why if you lose weight, you can pretty much be free Type II Diabetes.
To answer your question
1. Abdominal fat. You might be a thin person overall but you might be carrying some fat in your midsection. Are you one of those people that's thin everywhere else but your waist and upper torso?
2. Constant Urination- do you piss a lot?
3. Thirst and Extreme Hunger- do you get up in the middle of the night to drink water. Do you have extreme hunger pangs? Do you get thirsty a lot?
4. Loss of sensation in your feet. Can you feel your toes?
5. Fungus- check your genital area. Diabetics tend to have candidiasis (type of fungus) grow between the thighs. It will be a discolored purple looking stain. The reason why fungus is grown there is because it's feeding off the excess glucose in your blood. don't panic if you have it because many people forget to wash there and it's a common hygeine problem. However, diabetics will get fungal rashes in uncommon places like their forehead. It will just appear out of nowhere.
My Advice
1. See your physician(preferably an Internal Medicine doctor or if you have a PPO, try and see an endocrinologist since diabetes is their specialty). I prefer an Internist {Internal Medicine doc) over a Family Practice doc but that's just me. Both will be fine. Have your blood drawn. Find out what your blood sugar levels are. I would see a physician about this because he will administer the proper test. He will give you a fasting blood glucose test to determine your blood sugar level. The healthy range is between 80-120.
2. Start exercising- this alone can save your life. 4 times per week and cardio for 30 minutes
3. Reduce your alcohol consumption
4. Reduce your intake of fast burning cabs like white pasta, white rice, sugar etc. and try whole wheat pasta, whole wheat tortillas etc. I personally like whole wheat pasta and bread more than white pasta and white bread because it has more flavor. The reason why they are called fast burning carbs is because your body can break down white pasta versus whole wheat pasta faster and thus cause a spike your blood glucose levels. The whole wheat pasta takes longer to break down and thus your body won't have those spikes in blood sugar levels and thus cause a spike in insulin levels.
5. Spread your meals out throughout the day. Try 5 meals. 6 is too much and tough to folllow.
