health on the menu
TAKING CHARGE OF DIABETES
Diabetes is one of the biggest health challenges we face this century and is currently considered to be an epidemic. In Australia, one person develops diabetes every five minutes – that’s about 280 people a day. Currently, it’s estimated that around 1.7 million Australians have diabetes.
Worryingly, many of these people are unaware of their condition, and this dramatically increases their risk of suffering negative health consequences.
If you have been diagnosed, that’s a good thing! You can now do all you can, with the help of your healthcare team, to optimally manage the condition and minimise your risk of complications. That is what this book is all about – helping you to lose weight and take charge of your diabetes.
WHAT IS DIABETES?
Diabetes is a condition that affects the body’s ability to get glucose out of the blood and into cells around the body, where it is converted into energy to fuel our various body functions. The hormone responsible for this is insulin, which is produced in the pancreas.
When blood glucose levels rise, after eating a sandwich for example, insulin levels also rise and the hormone acts like a key to unlock the transport mechanisms on cells, which allow them to take up glucose.
With diabetes, the body fails to produce enough insulin, or produces defective insulin and, as a result, glucose cannot get up into cells, causing blood glucose levels to continue to rise. Eventually, some of this glucose ‘spills over’ into urine in the kidneys, triggering an excessive amount of urine to be excreted. This is one of the symptoms to watch out for – finding that you are having to go to the loo frequently and drinking lots due to being almost constantly thirsty.
Since glucose isn’t being used to fuel cells, the body cannot function as it should. This leads to other common side effects
