Hi all, i’m trying to educate myself on the cause of type 2 diabetes. After speaking to a few people on forum as i had concerns i myself could be diabetic i’ve learned it’s not all about just eating sweets and chocolate which was very naive of me to think however i think the media and internet have cruelly painted this unfair and untrue picture! So if you feel comfortable saying so id appreciate to hear what peoples personal causes and experiences were thank you.
Type 2 Looking to educate myself!- what causes diabetes type 2 ?
- Thread starter jennahaywar
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MrsA2
Expert
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- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
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- Diet only
A good book is The Diabetes Code by Jason Fung.
Easier to access, and shorter, are his videos on you tube
Current theories include:
Modern, carb heavy , processed foods
Genes
Weight gain
Metabolic dysfunction
... all in varying proportions according to who you belive or follow
Easier to access, and shorter, are his videos on you tube
Current theories include:
Modern, carb heavy , processed foods
Genes
Weight gain
Metabolic dysfunction
... all in varying proportions according to who you belive or follow
I think there is a definite genetic component to it, my father and my brother and my grandfather all had type 2 and I have it of course.
Mine seemed to trigger when I put weight on back in the day, now I am lighter my levels are significantly better but of course, my carbs are lower. But there are studies showing those who lose weight can reverse type 2. So perhaps. But there are many larger people who don’t develop diabetes.
some also believe weight gain is a side effect rather than a cause. I have no idea as to be honest, I ate really poorly
Lamont D
Oracle
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- Type of diabetes
- Reactive hypoglycemia
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- I do not have diabetes
There are many causes of type two and every ones journey to being diagnosed is different.
The one that surprised me, which I have researched a great deal, is to do with hyperinsulinaemia.
I have had hyperinsulinaemia and for me, I had a number of symptoms and derived other issues from how my body was found to compensate carbs.
I believe that because of dietary intake in my very young years was the start, and it still confounds me, because it limits my food choices. I never got the fresh fruit and vegetables for one reason or another, not that I didn't eat because, the food that I did like, I had a healthy appetite, I was always skinny and under weight, but if I didn't like what was on offer, I just didn't eat. There was only school dinners that I enjoyed and of course the chippy.
I knew from a young age, I was lactose intolerant, so I probably didn't get much good fats, protein was mainly meat. And too many spuds.
I worked shifts most of my adult life and having food at different times over a period of time and the amount, was always a problem. Lots of bread and processed meat.
Convenient food became the norm.
Move on to twenty years ago and my first health problems, but I had always had problems with digestion and shortly after I found out why.
My blood panel tests results were up from normal, what would be classed as prediabetes now.
So I was put on a so called healthy diet. With complex carbs of course.
I was on this diet and others for about ten years. I was actually misdiagnosed T2 in 2009.
So what was happening to me?
I was diagnosed with heliocobacter pylori and cured with antibiotics, I theorized that this was the trigger to my condition now.
Because of the carbs in my diet, and my body/brain relationship with my response to carbs and sugars changed.
The carbs can and do cause a number of issues if your response is imbalanced. The primary problem is high spikes because I personally have a weak insulin response, this causes inflammation and because of the high spikes, insulin resistance is a result of the imbalance. The imbalance of hormones and alpha and beta cells, do have an effect on how your energy is created if depending on carb for your energy.
Insulin resistance may turn into high circulating insulin levels, and as a result of that, high blood sugar levels are pushed up. You have a lot of useless insulin and your pancreas will create more depending on high blood spikes.
Hyperinsulinaemia is too much insulin. The insulin response, the insulin resistance, high circulating insulin, your blood glucose levels going higher, because you can't get the energy levels. All this creates a viscous circle of symptoms and uncontrolled blood glucose levels.
In this case, that is why a lower carb diet will work, because the blood glucose levels are not pushed up every time we eat, so that the insulin is not required.
Diabetes drugs that provide a better insulin response and help the imbalance correct itself over time.
The viscous circle I have described in plain language, is prone to put weight on, ask any diabetic if they inject too much insulin, the effect of too much insulin.
Because of the eat well plate and the other diet plans that didn't work, at diagnosis, my weight was approaching nearly eighteen stone. I was huge! This was because of the amount of insulin in my blood, being useless and being stored as fat.
So when you start low carb, your body has to take time to adjust to getting its energy from another source, which is ketones, which are the body's natural resource of energy. This is why after a few weeks you notice that symptoms are eased and even though you might even be eating more, the weight is starting to fall off, and your eating fat, which satiated you enough, so you don't feel hungry.
In this type two diabetes, the high hba1c levels, are always above normal levels, this is usually treated with drugs. But the cause is too much useless insulin, so that you are getting the wrong dietary advice and possibly the wrong treatment from our surgeries and our leaders.
If I had been given an insulin levels test, a c-peptide test, my life would have been a lot better and a better understanding of what was going on.
I was very ill and if it wasn't for my specialist, I don't think that I would be here now.
All my organs had issues mainly fat and function tests.
I have a rare condition, my pancreas creates too much insulin when I have carbs.
When I don't have carbs, my body is happier!
The difference in types from type two diabetes, should be investigated and tailored the treatment accordingly. A healthy low carb diet is a necessity to treatment, and dietary education about the benefits of low carb for those like me who have an intolerance to them and getting the right balance for you.
I have been in Keto for most of my years since diagnosis.
And my health is really good for an old man like me.
Keep safe.
My understanding (and very basic look at a very complex process, as we are dealing with the endocrine system) is that chronic hyperinsulinemia leads to insulin resistance and than T2D. How long it takes for insulin resistance to occur depends on your personal fat threshold. When you can no longer store glucose as fat, that is when you become diabetic. Some people never reach that threshold and for others it is very low, hence the wide variety of type 2 body types.
ontherun
Member
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- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
I can go through a long list of relatives and not one has suffered from diabetes of any kind. Type 2 as far as I can tell in the short time since diagnosis, is that it's prominently down to lifestyle (Not all but most) and modern living. That said, I'm fit, healthy, very active, train regularly and not overweight by any means. I did drink a lot of beer over a weekend and regularly eat copious amounts of pasta and bread however which appears to have been my downfall. Once I cut down on these, my BG went down to normal levels very quickly. I was 56 mmol/mol or 9 mmol/L when diagnosed recently with no symptoms, so not the highest number but high enough.
OTR
