April 7th marks World Health Day, and the theme of this year is to beat diabetes! 422 million people have diabetes around the world. That’s almost four times the number of people living with diabetes than in 1980! Most of them live in developing countries, and factors driving this dramatic rise include overweight and obesity. We need to step up prevention and treatment of the disease so that together, we can beat diabetes.
There are several different types of diabetes, but there is increasing rises in the incidence of Type II diabetes, or lifestyle diabetes! This means that you can take steps in your own life that can help reduce your risk of developing the disease. Type II diabetes is when the pancreas does produce insulin, but not enough, or the insulin that is produced, doesn’t work properly, meaning excess sugar is left within the bloodstream causing the disease.
Here are Global Health Promotion’s top tips to help you beat type II diabetes:
There is a clear link between obesity and increased risk of developing type II diabetes. 80% of individuals with type II diabetes are obese. Visceral fat or central obesity is also an important factor, the active tissue surrounding the body produces hundreds of molecules which can have adverse effects on the liver, pancreas and muscle. If you’re pancreas is unable to function, then diabetes is inevitable as it can no longer produce insulin. Watching your weight will decrease your risk of developing type II diabetes greatly! By just losing 5-10kg you can receive the following benefits:
–A 25% reduction in premature death
– A 30% reduction in the risk of dying from Diabetes
– A 40% reduction in the risk of dying from cancer
– Decreases in blood pressure
– 50% fall in fasting blood glucose levels
The next best thing you can do is ensure you live an active lifestyle; not only can this help control your weight but physical activity actually increases your body’s response to insulin meaning it encourages your muscles to activate insulin and the uptake of glucose from your blood.
So by simply eating a healthy, balanced diet to manage your weight and participating in regular physical activity you can reduce your risk of developing the condition.
If you are concerned about diabetes or your risk of developing the disease then get in touch now to find out all about our nutrition and exercise plans that you can utilise to help manage your risk.