Diabetes is a disastrous problem that affects kidneys, blood vessels, intestines and every other organ in the body. It is a condition in which the body is unable to produce or properly use insulin. Insulin, a hormone that is necessary for converting starches, sugar and other food into energy. The cause of diabetes is unknown and there is no known cure. It can early on also be controlled and managed through proper diet. And you should know, effective management may be achieved under a doctor's care.
It was estimated that there were 20.8 million children and adults who are afflicted with the disease. That is just about 7% of the population. Of that figure, 14.6 million people had been diagnosed, but 6.2 million people were thought to have diabetes but it had not been discovered yet. In addition, just about fifty four million folks are pre-diabetic with 1 1/2 million new disease found in people older than 20, showing up annually.
Diabetes is the most common cause of kidney disease. In fact, hypertension and diabetes are the two primary causes of kidney disease. This causes an estimated 70 percent of kidney failure with diabetes accounting of 44 percent of kidney failure cases. The early stages of kidney disease have no symptoms . It injures your body and by the time it is finally detected, the disease is so far advanced that it quite often is too far to prevent failure of the kidneys. Once your kidneys fail, you have two options: kidney transplant or dialysis. If you do not receive one of these, you will die.
How Diabetes causes Kidney Disease
When the kidneys are working properly, the glomeruli (tiny filters that are in the kidneys) keep all proteins inside of your body. Protein is essential for a variety of operations within your body and are required to keep you healthy. Diabetes creates too high of a concentration of glucose in the blood which damages the glomeruli. The result is that they can no longer keep the protein in the body and it seeps into the urine from the kidneys.
When kidneys are damaged they no longer function efficiently and do not cleanse our waste as they should. When this occurs, the waste and fluids build up in the blood instead of being expelled in the urine. The longer this happens, the worse the damage becomes until the kidneys eventually cease to function.
The Progression of Renal Disease
It can require years for diabetic kidney disease to develop. Some diabetics experience hyper filtration in the first few years of their having diabetes. This means that the glomeruli actually function at a much higher capacity than normal. Once damage starts, however, it continues. As a person develops kidney disease, they will have a blood protein named albumin that finally starts to leak into the urine in small amounts. At this time, the glomeruli are really functioning normally.
The progression of the disease leads to more protein leaking into the urine and the glomeruli begin to progressively fail as the filtering begins to drop. Waste is retained in the serum causing the filtration failure. As a result, the kidneys stop functioning.
How to Prevent Kidney Problems if you have Diabetes
Having diabetes, you can often prevent kidney problems. Use these steps to keep your kidneys healthy: * Control your diabetes by eating the right foods and a good exercise regimen * Take your medicine as prescribed * Have your physician test your blood and urine routinely for kidney problems * If testing shows that you do have kidney problems, ask your doctor about medications like ARBs (angiotensin II receptor blockers) and ACE inhibitors that can help keep your kidneys healthy.
A diagnosis of diabetes does not have to result in kidney disease. As long as you stay on top of your condition, manage it well and follow your provider's orders, there is no reason that you can't live a long, healthy, happy life - without kidney disease.
Many still thinks that table sugar or anything with it, for example soft drinks is the worst kind of food for diabetic person. There are, however others as bad or worse than table sugar. I was surprised when the doctor of my uncle (who is diagnose with diabetes) said that watermelon is one such example watermelon is my favorite fruit I'm glad that I don't have diabetes, I can eat all watermelon I like.
The doctor also said that what is important is to adjust the diet of a diabetic person to mange the weight because there is a close relationship between the incidence of diabetes and greater body weight. The doctor also said that diabetic people has to look closely at the glycemic index (GI) of the carbohydrates in the food they eat. It is important for people who are diabetic, to keep the blood sugar under control. The glycemic index of food in each 50g of carbohydrates is a measure of the food's ability to elevate blood sugar in the two or three hours after eating. Some are broken down more quickly in the intestine than the others, causing the blood sugar level to rise rapidly, and sometimes to dangerous levels. These carbohydrates have a high GI. Carbohydrates that are low in GI enter the bloodstream slowly and are the preferred type. They provide sustained energy and help maintain stable blood sugar levels. However he also said that do not eat this food too much, too much of anything is unhealthy. Eating an excess low GI food could cause an increase in body weight. Also stick to a low fat diet and exercise regularly.
Below are list of foods categorized according to glycemic index (GI):
Foods High in GI
white rice
raisins
white bread
watermelon
honey
cheerios
cornflakes
cooked carrots
cane maple and corn syrup
baked potato
glucose
Foods with Moderate GI
whole wheat bread
apple juices
bananas
sweet potato
brown rice
corn
popcorn
grapes
oatmeal
spaghetti/noodles
orange and orange juices
Foods with Low GI
barley
grapefruit
kidney beans
lentils
green peas
milk and milk products
pears
yogurt
plums
figs
peanuts
peaches
apples
People in the provinces are said to live longer than people in the city. Socio-economic and cultural factors aside, some theories credit the health advantages of a rural lifestyle, less stressful. Others say it's the food, home cooked vegetables, fish and meat, fresh from the backyard, market, or sea. Bot don't ignore one other aspect, sleep. Rural people normally get a full eight hour of sleep every night. Sleep affects various aspects of our health, including:
- Cognitive performance - Sleep helps organize memories, solidify learning, and improve concentration. Lack of sleep impairs alertness and affects judgment, reaction time, and recall.
- Mood and mental well being - Lack of sleep has been linked to anger, anxiety, sadness, and mental exhaustion.
- Hormones and metabolism - Important hormones are secreted based on person's sleep pattern. These hormones are affects growth, regulate energy and control metabolic and endocrine functions.
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Image via WikipediaDiabetes mellitus, or the sugar and sweets disease. Every time we eat or drink, glucose ( a form of sugar in foods) levels in the blood rise. This in itself, isn't bad since your pancreas, produces hormone called insulin, Insulin enables glucose to enter the body's cells which, in turn use the sugar as an energy source. Without the insulin your elevated blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) will persist and cause serious health complications. Diabetes mellitus has two types, The insulin dependent type (Type 1) is the less common but more severe form. It usually appears in young people under the age of 35 and most commonly between the ages 10 and 16. The insulin producing cells of the pancreas are destroyed, probably as a result of an immune response to a viral infection and insulin production ceases almost completely. Without regular injections of insulin, the sufferer lapses into a comma and dies. The more common non insulin dependent type of diabetes or (Type 2), on the other hand, starts slowly and develops mainly on people over 40 and who are overweight. Nine out of ten diabetics suffer from non insulin dependent type. It is a silent disease and is always discovered accidentally during a routine medical examination or only after complications develop. Insulin is produced but not enough to meet the body's needs. Often the body develop resistance to insulin.
Ask yourself these questions to know if you have sugar problems:
- Do you pee a lot?
- Are you always thirsty and always hungry?
- Are you losing weight?
- Do you have vaginal itchiness?
- Is a member of your family diabetic?
- Are you overweight?
- Do your children have large birth weight?
Here's what to do, have a healthy diet. Lower your intake of saturated fats or fat from animal sources. Eat more fiber. Type 2 diabetes is a preventable disease, and can be avoided by eating and living healthy.
Exercise, Do so for for at least 30 minutes, five to seven times a week, If you're on the heavy side, lose weight. Studies have shown that losing five to 10 percent of your weight and eating healthy can swing the probability of you not developing diabetes by as much as 58 percent.
