November is recognized as National Diabetes Month and brings much needed awareness and education to all of the difficulties of living with this disease.
With approximately 3 million Americans with Type 1 diabetes and approximately 30 million Americans currently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, it’s apparent that an unfortunate number of people are affected by this disease.
Whether a person has diabetes or has a family member who suffers with it, bringing awareness could greatly help decrease the chances of more people developing it in the future, by properly managing a healthy lifestyle now, rather than later.
Prevent Type II Diabetes
- Don’t obsess about losing weight; instead, start obsessing about increasing your muscle mass. Muscle metabolizes glucose differently than fat does and fat produces hormones that make you resistant to insulin. By increasing your muscle mass relative to your fat mass, you can address all of these problems simultaneously.
- Eat Smart! Learn what the healthiest foods for you to eat. Avoid animal protein, soy, and foods that are high is the amino acid tyrosine. Excess tyrosine contributes to something called carbamylation. Carbamylation leads to toxic end products that make diabetes worse.
- Make diet and exercise changes NOW! If you need to start exercising and eating fresh fruits and veggies, do it now! Don’t put it off until you are forced to do because of a decline in health.
What Causes Diabetes
There are some rumors floating around about what causes Diabetes, such as “eating too much sugar will make you a diabetic”, or “does psoriasis cause diabetes?” While there isn’t one particular thing that causes it, there are some health issues that are related and that can increase your chance of developing diabetes later on.
Doctors have found in studies that patients who suffer from Psoriasis have a 56% chance of developing diabetes. That is an extremely alarming rate, so this why raising awareness is so important! While psoriasis isn’t the cause of diabetes it has a very strong link to it.
Managing Your Diabetes
There is a lot to learn to effectively manage your diabetes. Diabetics must know how to diet, what other health problems can develop such as heart and kidney problems as well as how to properly care for your skin.
It is now recommended as a precaution for patients with psoriasis, especially severe cases to have yearly blood test to check for diabetes. WebMD offers detailed information about the specific problems associated with this skin condition as well as the link to diabetes.
