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As part of the series My Journey With Diabetes Type 2 the following information is provided as a resource to encourage insight and understanding of the way insulin works in the body. The object is for you to benefit from the extensive research that I have done as a result of being afflicted with diabetes. Armed with such knowledge, we can all be better equipped to take charge of our health.

Insulin and Sugar metabolism

When your body notices that the sugar levels is elevated, it is a sign that you have more sugar than you need right now, your body is not burning it, and therefore it is accumulating in your blood. So insulin is released to take the sugar and store it.How does it store it? Glycogen!

Your body stores very little glycogen at any one time. All the glycogen stored in your liver and muscles would not last you through one active day. Once you have filled up your glycogen stores, that sugar is stored as saturated fat.

So the idea of medical professionals recommending a high complex-carbohydrate diet is absolutely a mistake. A high complex-carbohydrate diet is nothing more than a high glucose diet, or a high sugar diet.

Your body is just going to store it as saturated fat, and the body does this quite readily. Your body”s principal way of getting rid of sugar, because it is toxic, is to burn it. The sugar your body can’t burn will be rid of by storing it as glycogen, and when those glycogen reserves are full, sugar gets stored as fat.

Insulin has different roles in the body. Most of us are aware of that insulin is needed to lower blood glucose levels, but not much more beyond that. The diabetic, or potential diabetic, which applies to just about everyone, needs to be well informed so as to adequately combat this potentially deadly disease.

The following information provides what I hope will prove to be a helpful overview.

Insulin resistance

When your cells are exposed to (sustained high levels of insulin) they get a little bit more resistant to it, so the pancreas just puts out more insulin. Cells become more insulin resistant because they are trying to protect themselves from the toxic effects of high insulin. They down regulate their receptor activity and number of receptors so that they don’t have to be subjected to all that stimuli all the time.

Different cells respond to insulin differently. Some cells are more resistant than others, as some cells are incapable of becoming very resistant. The liver becomes resistant first, followed by the muscle tissue and lastly the fats. As all these major tissues become insulin resistant your pancreas is putting out more and more insulin to compensate.

The medical professions’ answer is usually to flood the body with more insulin. Based on the above information it is clear that is not dealing with the problem of insulin sensitivity. Instead, giving more insulin is simply treating the symptom.

Sometimes, insulin treatment becomes necessary as a last resort when the beta cells of the pancreas no longer produce enough insulin. At that point the type 2 diabetic becomes an insulin dependent type 1 diabetic.

Fortunately, even at that point I have seen others make dramatic improvement and even be able to come off insulin treatment by making substantial lifestyle changes in diet and exercise. The alternative is  a slippery slope of diabetes complications that are responsible as the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S.

The Culprit

Excessive intake of all carbohydrates, especially the high-glycemic type, is the primary culprit in the development of insulin resistance.

Type2 diabetes occurs when the body no longer responds to insulin. As a result, levels of insulin in the blood become elevated and overtime, can raise the risk for kidney failure and blindness, as well as heart disease.

Fortunately insulin is the variable most influenced by a healthy diet and exercise. A low grain, no sugar diet is one of the most effective ways to lower one’s insulin levels.

This is especially effective when combined with an aerobic  exercise program which increases the heart rate to about 75% of its maximum and maintains it there for 45 minutes, 5 times a week.

Whatever else you do, I encourage you to start taking charge of your health. Diabetes remains one condition which we have the ability to prevent, mange, or to reverse by  simple  but meaningful lifestyle changes. My intention is to ultimately provide all the resources that you will need to accomplish just that.

Has this blog proved to be enlightening to you? Your comments and questions are invited.

Wishing you good health,

Patrick