Type 2 Diabetes - What Happens When Diabetics Don't Change Their Lifestyle?

If you have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, you know all too well how important it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Not only does your lifestyle directly affect your diabetes, but ignoring such advice directly impacts so many other diseases and complications that are a result of diabetes running amok. Yet, there are still those who have Type 2 diabetes and make the decision not to make these changes. What happens to them?

The individuals who make the conscious decision to remain in the lifestyle that helped to bring about Type 2 diabetes do so because they choose to. But if they were fully aware of the consequences of this decision, perhaps more of them would change their mind and adapt a better way of life. It might be tempting to imagine that simply popping a few pills or taking insulin injections will take care of your problem. But Type 2 diabetes is a disease for which medication alone is not enough.

The management of your diabetes needs to be supported by:

a good diet,enough exercise, andproper medications.

When a Type 2 diabetic ignores a healthier lifestyle, they risk a multitude of complications. To begin with, they can experience episodes of low blood sugar: although this is rare for people with Type 2 diabetes who are not taking hypoglycemic drugs or insulin. High blood sugar is the greatest single danger for people with Type 2 diabetes.

When blood sugars are not stable, the organs of the body most likely to be damaged by diabetes are those that do not require the presence of insulin to metabolize blood sugar.

Organs that can be damaged:

eyeskidneysnervesblood vessels

Organs generally not damaged:

Several eye disorders are possible. Glaucoma, cataracts and retinopathy are common conditions that come from diabetes raging out of control. Left untreated, some of these can inflict permanent harm to your vision and even produce total blindness.

Large blood vessel complications can affect the brain, heart, legs, and feet in people with diabetes. Small blood vessel disease can lead to problems with the eyes, skin, kidneys, and nerves, and can slow-down healing.

Vascular problems are usually related to atherosclerosis, a hardening of the arteries resulting from a buildup of deposits along blood vessel walls. This also impedes blood flow. While this can destroy tissue, it also limits oxygen flow. One of the areas receiving less oxygen is an area that you always want to be well-oxygenated: the brain. Without proper oxygen, the brain experiences dizziness, lethargy, and an inability to reason and think clearly. Memory is also dramatically affected.

Restricted blood flow puts additional work on the heart, too. Now, it has to compensate for partially blocked vessels by pumping harder. This means an unnecessary strain being placed on it. This situation can cause a heart attack.

Let's not forget the kidneys. The body's filtering system has to overcome all of the extra glucose passing through it. Instead of releasing the normal amount in the urine, now it doesn't have the ability to keep up with the excess volume of sugar. The kidneys become damaged because of it and the individual has to be placed on dialysis permanently until a transplant can be arranged.

Another area where the extra sugar will attack is the nerves. All over the body, the sugar that is supposed to be burned for fuel is overwhelming the body. There is too much of it and it has to go somewhere. So it ends up in the bloodstream, coursing its way through the body and attacking nerves everywhere. These nerves will eventually fold under the constant barrage and become permanently damaged. This results in numbness, tingling and pain.

But the damage is not over yet. Even your hearing isn't spared damage. Tiny hairs in the inner ear are not able to process the sugar and you start to develop hearing loss. Your hair also begins to fall out. Your skin on your arms and legs thickens and glazes over. Your nails become brittle and sometimes yellowish. You develop bad breath and you experience severe gum disease and periodontal disease.

Not enough? Men suffer impotence, women develop yeast infections and urinary tract infections, while both increase their risk of heart disease, stroke and some cancers.

If that isn't enough reasons to keep your Type 2 diabetes under control, nothing will convince you.

To discover answers to questions you may be asking yourself about Type 2 Diabetes, click on this link... Natural Diabetes Treatments

Diabetes - Why and How It Happens

Weight loss has both positive and negative connotations in relation to good health. It could mean that a person is working to control weight for better health or, in the extreme, is suffering with anorexia nervosa. There is also the quick unexpected weight loss - along with other symptoms that may mean diabetes or other illnesses. Therefore, it is so important for everyone to be aware and knowledgeable about their health. Also, it is important to recognize and investigate an unexpected weight loss. Because a sudden unexpected weight loss may signal the onset of diabetes.

Just what is diabetes and how does it cause weight loss?

Medical experts believe that diabetes is an autoimmune disease and that the body's own immune system invades the pancreatic cells that produce insulin. This disease may be genetic and run in families. Native Americans, African Americans and Hispanic Americans are more likely than other ethnicities to develop this disease. Sometimes viral infections may also be the culprit.

As we age, there is a more significant risk of developing diabetes. This is true after age 45 and even greater when we reach 65. However, diabetes can occur at any age starting in childhood.

Diabetes occurs when blood sugar levels are very high. Symptoms and causes can include various illnesses, including urinary tract infections, nausea, vomiting, weight loss, and frequent urination. When frequent urination occurs, this could lead to dehydration. This, in turn, could cause weight loss as well. On the other hand, diabetes could be caused by obesity. The symptoms vary so widely that a person may have diabetes without even being aware of it.

The weight loss caused by dehydration is a dangerous manifestation of the disease and could lead to kidney failure, heart disease, even blindness.

Some times diabetics cannot process the calories they ingest and they will lose weight no matter how much they consume. Along with the dehydration they will lose sugar and potassium which will also lead to weight loss. This weight loss is not healthy, even though the person may be obese.

In order to avoid becoming diabetic or to control diabetes, a high fat diet must be avoided and we must control our weight. Eating a regular balanced diet should become a habit and eating from each food group is a must. This diet should include fish or other lean meats, plenty of fresh vegetables and some fruit, whole grains and non-fat dairy products. Sugar, too much fruit and too many processed foods need to be avoided.

Various researchers have concluded, after many studies, that regular consumption of high fat fish and/or fish oil supplements should be an integral part of a healthy diet for diabetics. A fish oil supplement apparently has a favorable effect on insulin resistance. Additionally, fish oil supplements can induce a considerable decrease in triglyceride concentration in the blood without detrimentally affection blood glucose control. All this information is important for diabetics.

If you are diabetic, always check with your primary health care provider before you consider adding fish oil supplements to your diet.

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