High Blood Sugar and Diabetes

High Blood Sugar and Diabetes

High blood sugar and diabetes are almost always related. High blood sugar (glucose) is a simple way of describing a condition known as hyperglycemia. It is a characteristic found in type 2 diabetes patients and is infrequently experienced in those who have not yet developed diabetes, as well as prediabetics. Read What is Hypoglycemia

Type 2 diabetes was once referred to as adult-onset diabetes or non-insulin-dependent diabetes. This chronic condition is entirely treatable and often reversible by eating right, exercising regularly, drinking lots of water, getting plenty of rest, and managing a healthy body weight.

While type 2 diabetes is more common in adults than children, childhood obesity currently being experienced in modern nations around the world has unfortunately seen the condition diagnosed in children as young as 8 or 10 years of age. Here is what happens in a person diagnosed with type 2 diabetes because of sustained high blood glucose levels.

Insulin resistance is a cornerstone of type 2 diabetes. Your body could be producing insulin in healthy quantities, but it does not know how to use insulin to regulate your blood glucose level. More correctly, the body is insulin resistant. Our bodies are supposed to release insulin infrequently in response to occasional high-sugar intake.

Too often, our bodies are subjected to near-continual intake of high-GI foods. This causes insulin to be ever-present, and the body becomes resistant to its effects. When this happens, your pancreas simply creates more insulin. Your body figures that if you pound your system with excess insulin, eventually, there will be plenty to regulate a healthy blood sugar level.

Sometimes, in the beginning, this process works. However, eventually, your body becomes more and more insulin-resistant, your pancreas cannot keep up with this overproduction, and your blood glucose levels rise. As mentioned earlier, high blood glucose is called hyperglycemia. Diabetics and non-diabetics alike develop high blood sugar levels when they eat excessive amounts of simple carbohydrates and/or lead a sedentary lifestyle. An excellent discussion of high blood sugar provided by the Mayo Clinic can be found here. High blood sugar, also called hyperglycemia,

Mental and physical stress, as well as illnesses as common as colds and flus, can also raise your glucose to an unhealthy level. Some people naturally have what is called "The Dawn Phenomenon". This is a rush of hormones that trigger high glucose levels in the morning, usually around 4 AM to 5 AM.

If you are diagnosed with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes, your doctor will always prescribe exercise. Physical activity burns the glucose that your body uses as fuel, so sometimes, frequent exercise is enough to regulate a healthy glucose level.

If you have a job that keeps you sitting most of the time, or you otherwise enjoy little physical activity, make sure you find some way to get at least 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of medium to intense aerobic movement into your weekly schedule.

Your doctor or perhaps a dietitian will additionally look at the foods you eat and may ask you to start keeping a food journal. This is because some foods, such as baked goods, processed foods, refined sugar and other simple carbohydrates, can lead to dramatic blood glucose spikes.

Filtering these types of foods out of your diet and replacing them with complex carbohydrates found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and berries can help curb the high blood sugar level that is a common and defining symptom of type 2 diabetes.

Did you enjoy reading this post?

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. If you did, please use the buttons below to share it with family and friends who may benefit from the information.

What do you think? Do you agree or not?

If you have any questions or opinions you'd like to share, please feel free to leave a comment below.