Understanding Diabetes
Diabetes is often explained as a condition diagnosed through a simple blood test. Doctors usually determine whether you have “insulin resistance” or “Type 2 diabetes” based on fasting blood sugar levels or a glucose tolerance test. But the reality is, it’s not that simple. To understand what’s really going on in your body, we need to look beyond the numbers and grasp the bigger picture.
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is when your body can no longer properly manage blood sugar levels, meaning that a system that used to work efficiently starts breaking down. This isn’t something that happens overnight—it’s a process that takes years, and is the result of various factors such as diet, lifestyle, and stress. So when the doctor says, “You have postprandial (after-meal) high blood sugar,” it’s important to know this didn’t just start today.
How Does Your Body Manage Blood Sugar?
Blood sugar, as you know, comes from the food we eat. But a high-carbohydrate diet can push blood sugar levels to excessive levels. If you were to use a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), you’d likely be shocked by how quickly blood sugar spikes after a typical modern meal. In earlier times, humans had to walk kilometers to find berries or hunt for hours to get a piece of meat. Nowadays, high-carb, processed foods are everywhere and easily accessible.
To deal with blood sugar, the body has an almost perfect system:
- You eat, and blood sugar levels rise.
- The pancreas releases a hormone called insulin when it detects this sugar in the blood.
- Insulin helps transport the sugar to cells, where it’s used to produce energy.
This is a clear and simple process—until the system starts to break down due to constant high blood sugar levels.
Think of Insulin as the Body’s “Sugar Police”
Imagine insulin as a police officer in a blue uniform patrolling your bloodstream, tasked with escorting sugar to your cells. If your blood sugar is constantly high due to frequent consumption of high-carb foods, this “police force” has to work overtime. Insulin knocks on the doors of your cells, saying, “Here’s more sugar, let it in.” But your cells, already overwhelmed with sugar, respond, “We’re full, we can’t take any more.” In response, your body produces even more insulin to force the sugar in. This is what we call insulin resistance—your cells are literally resisting insulin’s efforts to bring in more sugar.
What Happens When the System Fails
Over time, this constant strain wears down the pancreas. It produces so much insulin that it becomes exhausted. On top of that, having too much insulin in your bloodstream is harmful. The body, specifically your primal brain, recognizes that too much insulin is dangerous, so it eventually makes the decision to stop producing it. The immune system then destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.
This is what leads to Type 1 diabetes—your pancreas can no longer produce insulin, and you must rely on external insulin to manage blood sugar levels. No matter how much you take care of yourself after reaching this stage, the body can’t regenerate those beta cells. It’s a one-way street.
Before reaching Type 1, many people experience Type 2 diabetes, where the pancreas is still producing insulin, but it’s not enough to overcome the resistance of the cells. If you don’t change your lifestyle—through diet and exercise—this condition can progress to Type 1 diabetes. And once you reach Type 1, there’s no turning back.
Preventing Diabetes: The Power of Lifestyle Changes
Most doctors don’t have the time to explain this long and complex process. Instead, they quickly diagnose insulin resistance or Type 2 diabetes and prescribe medication. But understanding how the body’s system breaks down is crucial to finding the motivation to make lasting lifestyle changes.
By reducing your carbohydrate intake, increasing physical activity, and supporting your metabolism, you can stop the progression of diabetes and even reverse some of its effects. The key is understanding that diabetes isn’t just about test results—it’s about how you manage your health every day.
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