Non Diabetics & Monitors

I've always said, what isn't good for a diabetic, isn't good for a non-diabetic person.

The cause of type 1 is still very much unknown - hereditary, genetics etc. they believe play a part. But many others like me have no history of diabetes in the family (even type 2). I believe even type 1 is very much to do with diet and the stress on the pancreas (these days we don't realize how much sugar and food we eat - especially due to this high calorie-sugar processed stuff).

Why do some people eat whatever they want and not become diabetic? the human body is very complex and how each ones body reacts to certain foods will not be the same for others. Some people are more prone through evolution etc.

Muneeb said:

I've always said, what isn't good for a diabetic, isn't good for a non-diabetic person.

The cause of type 1 is still very much unknown - hereditary, genetics etc. they believe play a part. But many others like me have no history of diabetes in the family (even type 2). I believe even type 1 is very much to do with diet and the stress on the pancreas (these days we don't realize how much sugar and food we eat - especially due to this high calorie-sugar processed stuff).

Why do some people eat whatever they want and not become diabetic? the human body is very complex and how each ones body reacts to certain foods will not be the same for others. Some people are more prone through evolution etc.

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Some people never get diabetes no matter what they eat because they have a bulletproof pancreas that’s able to constantly keep pumping out elevated levels of insulin. It’s why many people become obese but not diabetic - because the insulin makes them fat but their pancreas is always able to keep blood glucose in check. Or so one theory goes. I’m sure it isn’t that simple, or even necessarily true.

Regarding type 1, I have read some research suggesting that it, like many other autoimmune conditions, might possibly be attributed, partially at least, to leaky gut syndrome. Apparently leaky gut is very common in people consuming lots of refined sugars and grains. Toxins enter the bloodstream through the gut lining, and the body kind of goes a bit haywire attacking them. Again this is only a theory, and I’m unsure how it would be explained in very young children.

On the wider topic of non-diabetics using glucose meters, whether or not they should, I would think many are discovering the glucose load effects of foods they had previously been told were good for them in large quantities. If the trend continues, expect mainstream media to start being flooded with articles proclaiming “glucose meters linked to cancer, researchers say”

If you are truly non-diabetic then wouldn't your BG 2 hours after a meal be the same as before the meal, telling you nothing?

Mr_Pot said:

If you are truly non-diabetic then wouldn't your BG 2 hours after a meal be the same as before the meal, telling you nothing?

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I think it’s normal for blood glucose to rise after eating. Diabetic or otherwise. A non-diabetic would see a smaller rise and a faster return to baseline.

But I suspect the reason non-diabetics may be using meters is to either confirm or disconfirm metabolic issues, and thus a flatline reading would be to their benefit? Not that I’m advocating anyone should buy a meter without adequate cause. A much better strategy, for everyone, is to just eat real food provided by nature

I just feel sorry for those who have been diagnosed with T2 but cannot afford the expense of regular monitoring. I feel the same way about T1 and CGMs. It must be nice to have a choice.

I do wonder sometimes about some newcomers to this forum. The ones that are non-diabetic but for no particular reason start testing themselves and arrive here with normal BS levels convinced they are diabetic because they have the odd high reading an hour or so after a carb laden meal. It does happen.

It is difficult because I was not diagnosed with diabetes when I first starting reading the forum in 2011 and I'm still not mainly thanks to the forum.

Alison Campbell said:

It is difficult because I was not diagnosed with diabetes when I first starting reading the forum in 2011 and I'm still not mainly thanks to the forum.

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Yeah it’s a tricky call. On the one hand no one wants people to be paranoid and anxious, but on the other hand is it really a bad thing if more people are becoming aware of the dangers? Difficult call to make. After all, diabetes is hardly a rare condition anymore. We’re in the midst of a snowballing epidemic, so perhaps it can’t hurt if some people are really cautious? I certainly wouldn’t encourage a non-diabetic to buy a glucose meter, but I also wouldn’t judge anyone who thought they may have a reason to.

I started to eat low carb back in the early 1970s and it took all this time and a succession of disastrous diets for me to be diagnosed as diabetic. I still wonder if I had been encouraged to eat low carb rather than the reverse, if I would ever have got as bad as I was two years ago.

Ponchu said:

How wise!

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Not wise, but with my family history, I was lucky enough to recognise the symptoms very early.

Mr_Pot said:

If you are truly non-diabetic then wouldn't your BG 2 hours after a meal be the same as before the meal, telling you nothing?

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Possibly but if it weren't then you could see that something maybe amiss? Catch it before even pre diabetic?

When one considers the fact that, people, whose readings are firmly in the pre diabetic threshold still have complications, I believe its wise that people should be proactive about this condition.
A T2DM diagnosis is merely indicative that a persons BG levels has crossed the line into the diagnostic criteria.
Long before this, we are talking decades sometimes, the metabolic dysregulation has been doing its damage and destroying organs whether with, or without reaching that threshold for a formal T2DM diagnosis.
That is the nature of the twin destructive beasts known as hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance.

For those with a disposition toward the condition, its the high insulin levels associated with IR or Hyperinsulinemia, that drives most of the pathology associated with the condition.

I am of the belief that people should not wait for a formal diagnosis, which as far as I'm concerned is some nebulous criteria, that changes from one country to another, and or from one year to another, to inform their decision to take action and look after themselves.
I strongly believe we whose metabolic dysregulations decided to manifest itself with T2DM are a lucky few.
There are those whose metabolic dysregulation showed up as:
High Blood Pressure with its attendant catastrophic consequences
Strokes from all manner of disseminated arterial disease
Cardiovascular disease and its life limiting characteristics.
And these folks never had a chance to know what was going on, before it was detected at their autopsy.