Diabetes Prevention

Diabetes Prevention

Diabetes is a disease that afflicts millions of Americans each and every year. For many of them diabetes has been with them for their entire lives, they have never known what life is like without it, others however develop diabetes as they grow older. "Diabetes is a caused by lowered levels of insulin which helps regulate the uptake of glucose into most cells from the blood" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes, 2006). There are 3 main types of diabetes that occur in human beings, they are Type 1 which is childhood diabetes, Type 2 which is adult onset diabetes, and Type 3 which is Gestational diabetes which occurs during pregnancies (American Diabetes Association, 2006). Diabetes in the case of Type 1 has no way of being prevented since little is known about how it develops in young children, however in the cases of Type 2 and Type 3 there are certain ways to help prevent these diseases from occurring in a person.

Type 2 diabetes is by far the most common form that diabetes takes, since it is not caused by a genetic defect, but from the way a person lives their lives. Type 2 diabetes is known as adult onset diabetes since it is not found in children like Type 1 and it is not found until a person reaches adulthood. The main problems that Type 2 cause is that the pancreas may not produce enough insulin, which as stated above causes your body not to be able have glucose reach a person's cells and it can make it so that even if the glucose reaches these cells, fat, muscle, and liver cells cannot make use of it effectively (http://www.webmd.com/content/article/101/106224, 2004). If Type 2 diabetes remains untreated it can ultimately lead to kidney failure, limb amputation, blindness and adults with Type 2 diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease at some point in their lives (http://www.webmd.com/content/article/101/106224, 2004). Diabetes is a very dangerous disease with many serious side effects, and it can affect just about anyone if they do not make the right choices in how they live their life.

Almost any adult person can be stricken with diabetes at any time during their adult lives, but there are ways that they can prevent the disease from afflicting them especially if they meet certain conditions that make them a high risk to develop the disease. The conditions that make someone more susceptible to contracting Type 2 diabetes are, "if they are overweight, over the age of 45, have an immediate family member with the disease, if they are African American, American Indian, Asian American, Hispanic American/Latino, or Pacific Islander, have a blood pressure of 140/90 or higher, their HDL cholesterol is 35 or lower, if their triglyceride level is 250 or more, and if they are fairly inactive, and exercise fewer than three times a week" (http://www.webmd.com/content/article/101/106224, 2004). Any of these symptoms can combine to make a person more susceptible to contracting Type 2 diabetes. In looking for ways to prevent diabetes the first thing a person can start with is to maintain a good healthy diet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes, 2006). A healthy diet consists of a good balance of fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and meats, while cutting down on the intake of fatty foods like chips, pizza, and candy. Also people who consume large amounts of foods that are loaded with sugars and chocolates are also more susceptible to diabetes. The best way to help prevent Type 2 diabetes is to start cutting out these bad foods at a young age and to begin eating a diet of healthier foods which will ultimately help to keep a persons body healthy and help to keep insulin levels normal and make sure that the glucose is effectively broken down and transferred into the blood stream where it can reach the body's cells (American Diabetes Association, 2006). Another thing that will go a long way to helping prevent Type 2 diabetes is by doing regular exercise. Regular exercise involves 30 minutes a day 5 days a week of physical movement, and it doesn't even need to be very tiring