Type 2 Diabetes - It is NOT your fault!

Fault implies moral fault yet if dia=obesity incidence is increasing so dramatically then it implies that we are greedier and more slothful than our forebears, which I doubt. However whilst the orthodox belief is that excess fat and hence diabetes, is caused by 'eating too much and exercising too little' , it puts the onus on the individual. Then if that individual fails, kinder people will say they have a psychological problem with food (emotional eating) or will fat shame

Jim Lahey said:

Yeah it certainly appears to be multifaceted. Particularly in females. There’s little doubt that we evolved to become insulin resistant in autumn in order to prepare us for winter. It’s thought that this is why fructose causes leptin resistance and liver fat simultaneously - so that we continue eating fruit while it’s still available. In turn causing insulin resistance that assists us to become fat so that we can store the energy ready for a winter of food scarcity. Which as you correctly point out, now never arrives in the land of plenty.

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Females in pregnancy and teenagers are insulin resistant. Both conditions in which growth signals the need to build up supplies. Squirrels do the same and whales but is is functional and seasonal obesity to enable continuation of their species.
Low carbers or ketonauts also get physiological IR so that glucose is spared for the brain,
I think the term insulin resistant implies a fault as does the accompanying analogy of the gummed up lock and key whereas the body is doing what is meant to do and this only becomes pathological in the context of a diet high in processed carbs and especially fructose.
However whilst there has always been obesity in history as well as gluttons and sloths, the increased prevalence of it these days implies that our morale fibre is lacking in comparison to our forebears and I don't believe that. Therefore it must come down to environment.
I wonder if Henry VIII was the first person who died of diabetes? Obesity and a non healing leg ulcer...I would not want to go back in time to be the person to taste his pee though!

Listlad said:

The way I see it is that the modern western diet is driven from two directions and not one. In other words it is both supply pushed and demand pulled. It might make us feel better but we surely cannot shove all of the blame onto someone else?

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Blame. as I said earlier, should not come into the equation. It serves no purpose and may add to a weakening of resolve.
T2 is not our fault but once in the know it is our responsibility.

`Picture this.

You hear of an acquaintance who has one or two of these conditions:
Kidney failure - on dialysis
Heart failure or heart attack
OA and desperately needing new hip/knee
Dementia or Altzheimer's Disease
Liver failure needing transplant
Gastroparesis
Blindness or severe loss of sight
Hearing loss
Cancer

Who, in their right mind, would attach blame? But add in obesity or Type 2 Diabetes to each of those conditions and all of a sudden people are allowed to point the finger, to make assumptions about the sufferer's lifestyle choices and to apportion blame.

To stigmatise people with T2 is bad enough, to stigmatise ourselves by apportioning blame is ten times worse.

Listlad said:

surely cannot shove all of the blame onto someone else?

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That was my point really. On this forum we are just a subset of the diabetic population. If we go back to the thread about the couple on Eat Well for Less, their 5 a day was 5 chocolate bars and they didn't seem to eat any fruit and very little veg, I don't think they could blame the Eatwell Guide for their condition.

I look at it like this, a person without diabetes can be massively overweight/not exercise/eat absolute rubbish and so on and NOBODY would describe them as 'here's a person clearly making healthy lifestyle choices because they have avoided diabetes'. Conversely, why then are those who MAY be described as following the exact same 'lifestyle' who do get diabetes described as bringing it on themselves? It makes no sense, I strongly believe it all starts with a deficiency in the body or a flaw, in other words DNA or at least a propensity towards an impaired glucose response. Of course, as others have said once you are aware of your deficiency it would be madness not to do all you could about it.

I believe each and every one has a unique body which responds differently to everything eaten also lifestyles. T2 or any other condition is a result of some particular fault in ones organ/body. Since the same diet or lifestyle does not affect everyone in the same way. Of course, once the fault is detected it is our responsibility to make sure we do everything required to take care of in that particular condition to avoid further damage.

Mike D said:

I don't miss fruit at all ....

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Interestingly, since cutting out most fruits apart from some berries, I no longer suffer from chronic constipation....

Mike D said:

I don't miss fruit at all ....

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I do because I used to love fruit but life would be boring if we all the same.

VMK said:

Interestingly, since cutting out most fruits apart from some berries, I no longer suffer from chronic constipation....

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It’s the other way around for me.

KK123 said:

I look at it like this, a person without diabetes can be massively overweight/not exercise/eat absolute rubbish and so on and NOBODY would describe them as 'here's a person clearly making healthy lifestyle choices because they have avoided diabetes'. Conversely, why then are those who MAY be described as following the exact same 'lifestyle' who do get diabetes described as bringing it on themselves? It makes no sense, I strongly believe it all starts with a deficiency in the body or a flaw, in other words DNA or at least a propensity towards an impaired glucose response. Of course, as others have said once you are aware of your deficiency it would be madness not to do all you could about it.

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I agree but then tend to think that in some cases when abusing our bodies some can get away with it more than others. I first came across this with skin exposure to diesel. We are all prone to skin reaction when exposed to diesel for example but some will react sooner or more strongly than others. I tend to think of type 2 diabetes in a similar kind of way.

Listlad said:

It’s the other way around for me.

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I do eat loads of veg and nuts though.....

This does not apply to anyone else just to me!
My T2 is my completely my own fault; I knew I was in extreme risk of getting it as my mother had it and my lifestyle for past couple years was almost intentionally self-destructive. I half consciously tried to eat myself to death and skipped being tested. I had big life changes and insane amount of stress, due to stress I did not sleep much, to be able to function at work I consumed insane amounts of sugar. And I was in denial and skipped testing, which I usually do once a year. I was constantly thinking: I need to get my health back. I actually started eating better and sleeping more, planned increasing exercise but too late. I try not to play the blame game, I just need to accept consequences of my own choices. My mom had T2 I knew the risk and carried it with me all my life. I took huge risks in my personal, financial and work life. And all those actually paid off, or so I though now turns out those kind of cost me my health. But not really those are just excuses choice was mine I could have found time and strength to eat, sleep and exercise. I just did not have the motivation.
I try not blame my job, which btw, I took to improve my health as it was 6km form my home so I could cycle to work, which I used to do. Also I though the job would have health inspection for new employees where I could conveniently and free get my blood sugar tested. They never had the health inspection , I waited for it 9 months until I got tested with really horrible values and already had started to show symptoms of complications.
That is my regret: why the **** did I not find the backbone to get tested back then when I was thinking about it. I was planning it as I was planning of starting to cycle to work. I now been working there a year, guess have I even once cycled to work ? No, but it is not all to me being lazy. Not sleeping well, I needed every second sleep I could get in the morning. Also I have Chronic sinusitis meaning I have frequent fever and inflammation. So like in Matrix "Things happened and they could not have happened any other way", except me getting tested 9 months earlier before started showing symptoms of T2 complications.

Sorry for the vent but I helps a lot. I do not want to pour this out on my friends and loved ones it would hurt them they would not understand. To you I am just another stranger with T2 and many of you might even understand my situation. I was diagnosed couple months ago and since then I (though) I was doing everything right and that it would save me from complications like EVERYONE that I know who has T2 and lived with it seemingly effortlessly for decades. I was actually fine with the diagnosis, that is what I been waiting and fearing it for my whole life as my mother had it all my life. It was like criminal getting caught, there was a level of relief for not having to fear it anymore. I have had pretty much all my life to mentally prepare living with T2; having to eat right, stay thin, exercise, take few meds regularly, check sugar levels = easy peasy. And then came the complications for which I was completely unprepared for. It shattered my world. I did not expect much from rest of my life, just to be able to function in society until 65, then at pension gradually losing mobility alongside others of my age. Now I do not know if can make to walk in my 50's (I'm 47) let alone to pension age. If my kidneys are now also going I might not even see my 50's.

That's life: even when you are prepared that it punches in the face, it instead kicks you in the balls and then hits you in the face.

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Read this article "Pure white and deadly", or even better youtube Dr Robert lustig sugar: the bitter truth .

ianf0ster said:

So don't be ashamed or feel guilty - instead feel angry about the terrible advice being officially given to us since the late 1970's !

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So what do pre 1970’s type2 diabetics attribute their diagnosis to?

DCUKMod said:

There have always been many reasons why T2 develops, and some of those, like increasing insulin resistance, due to other co-morbidities, like PCOS, and other hormonal challenges, pancreatic insufficiency, or steroid induced T2 (before they thought of giving it the natty name of T3c) have been around a long time.

Additionally, as I understand matters the open-mindedness (and of course greater knowledge) leading to diagnoses of LADA, MODY and such just didn't exist, or was very specialised indeed. It strikes me that whilst we still have many people diagnosed with diabetes attributed with the wrong type, it would have been much more prevalent then.

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Many factors / reasons. Including over indulgence.

Many people don't develop T2D until they are old and may well die from other causes before being diagnosed. Many people don't have any serious symptoms. Routine measurement of HbA1c, which I believe is relatively recent, must have increased the number of people being diagnosed.

I was diagnosed with T2D at 54 and it was all my own fault.

I never look for excuses.

Mr_Pot said:

Many people don't develop T2D until they are old and may well die from other causes before being diagnosed. Many people don't have any serious symptoms. Routine measurement of HbA1c, which I believe is relatively recent, must have increased the number of people being diagnosed.

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I think you are spot on there Mr Pot. It's only in the last few years that (over here) they started those well men & women clinics that do the hba1c tests. That must have picked up an absolute stack of people who otherwise would never have known they had a glucose impairment/diabetes, or 'high blood pressure' or 'high cholesterol' etc. I know it's generally a good thing but it can also place many in the 'You're unhealthy, here are some pills' category when they might never have gone on to suffer in any way. Not so much for diabetes but blood pressure and especially cholesterol. How many people get into their late 40s without cholesterol that's higher than the magic 4? x