DIABETES is primarily a disease of relative caloric excess problem.

[bic_cherry]

DIABETES is in essence a chronic relative caloric excess problem:

DIABETES is in essence a chronic relative caloric excess problem: marked by high glucose levels, insulin resistance caused by high visceral fat (fully saturated adipose cells) due to relatively insufficient activity (exercise) resulting in excessive caloric accumulation (visceral fat etc).

(Just like traffic jams are harmful to Singapore).

Both fat cells and muscle cells are instructed by hormone insulin to absorb glucose from blood. However, fat cells and undeveloped (atrophied+ fat saturated) muscle tissues have limited glucose absorption capability either due to fat saturation or else poor function (muscle volume lack due to lack of regular aerobic and weight bearing exercise) respectively.

Marathon runners consume pure glucose during competitions as an instant energy source but all Olympic standard Marathon runners have minimal visceral fat (and ostensibly no insulin resistance) due to their high metabolism lifestyle in running long distance in training everyday.

Due to the ready availability of high caloric food in Singapore and the encouragement to eat more ("cashless" payment options), Singaporeans need to exercise more to build more muscle volume and function to increase their calorie burning capacity vz increasing both their resting as well as maximum metabolic rate, as well as reduction of visceral fat so that glucose produced from food can be absorbed by muscles and unsaturated adipose (fat) cells.

Singapore has done well to make our roads free from traffic jams by limiting the car population with limited COEs, scrapping cars with expired COEs so that roads are optimally used. Calories too can be controlled vz effective supply and demand adjustments: more non-digestible vegetable matter, complex foods: unprocessed natural fat and protein can lengthen the duration of digestion (satiety) and thus reduce between meal hunger pangs whilst increased exercise and measurable volumetric increase in muscle mass can increase baseline metabolic rate to allow unsaturated adipose cells to do their rightful job in responding to insulin and absorb glucose from blood.

A high glucose level due to supply + demand imbalances is like a road jam-packed with cars causing road damage (excessive start-stop vehicle motions) and environmental damage due to air pollution due to excessive vehicle volume and travel duration).

Diabetes is a disease of chronic caloric excess and sedentary life resulting in fully saturated adipose Cells and atrophied fat saturated muscle tissue: insensate to insulin due to physical limits in caloric storage being exceeded/ reached resulting in insulin resistance and consequent blood glucose excess which is self-destructive and in the long run, the cause of many diabetes related complications like blindness, cancer, kidney failure, impotence, heart failure, amputations, frequent infections and stroke (/dementia).

 

[zhihau]

Re: DIABETES is in essence a chronic relative caloric excess problem:

It's not as simple as input vs output kind of thing. Here's an analogy.

You pump petrol in a car and it drives the car engine, the car moves. Just as it's like our bodies, the food we eat fuels our activities. The car is made up of many small parts which are subjected to wear and tear and may break down. Our bodies are made up of many cells, each cell having many chemical pathways and influence surrounding cells by biochemical signaling. The downstream cascade may go haywire.

The choice of petrol can be high octane or low octane, the car can still break down for some funny reasons, just as how we get diabetes despite our high calorie or low calorie diets. It's more of understanding the process of pancreas producing and secreting insulin and glucagon and how these processes help moderate blood glucose levels.

Genetic disposition, stress levels, diseases can all have a hand in causing diabetes. Pinning the blame squarely on the diet is not correct and very irresponsible.

 

[bic_cherry]

Re: DIABETES is in essence a chronic relative caloric excess problem:

It's not as simple as input vs output kind of thing. Here's an analogy.

You pump petrol in a car and it drives the car engine, the car moves. Just as it's like our bodies, the food we eat fuels our activities. The car is made up of many small parts which are subjected to wear and tear and may break down. Our bodies are made up of many cells, each cell having many chemical pathways and influence surrounding cells by biochemical signaling. The downstream cascade may go haywire.

The choice of petrol can be high octane or low octane, the car can still break down for some funny reasons, just as how we get diabetes despite our high calorie or low calorie diets. It's more of understanding the process of pancreas producing and secreting insulin and glucagon and how these processes help moderate blood glucose levels.

Genetic disposition, stress levels, diseases can all have a hand in causing diabetes. Pinning the blame squarely on the diet is not correct and very irresponsible.

Of course it is primarily a CALORIC input and output issue. Every fat(adipose) and muscle cell has a finite limit where caloric content is concerned and any further increase would mandate creation of more fat cells since muscle mass is unlikely to increase without strength training or aerobic exercise .

Thus the resistance to insulin due to already energy saturated cells.

With insufficient demand for energy expenditure due to sedentary lifestyles, the pancreas has no choice but to go into overdrive to lower blood glucose levels because high blood glucose is TOXIC to cells (inflammation of blood vessels is what causes heart attacks (atherosclerosis), blindness, kidney failure, amputation etc). High insulin levels can also promote cancer because insulin and human growth hormone have similar origins/function.

Finally, the system breaks down, firstly due to high blood glucose causing damage to the pancreas itself amongst others, secondarily due to overworked pancreas, fatigued to the point of failure due to the insulin production overdrive.

Thus, diabetes is indeed a disease caused by caloric consumption being in excess of caloric expenditure resulting in all the excess energy accumulation in the body causing damage everywhere inside (just like how u damage a lithium battery when u charge it to ABOVE capacity).

For those economically inclined, diabetes is simply a failure of caloric economics with the excess calories causing havoc being too much to properly be absorbed by cells already at their maximum caloric storage limit.

 

[zhihau]

Re: DIABETES is in essence a chronic relative caloric excess problem:

Explain type 1 diabetes.

 

[bic_cherry]

Re: DIABETES is in essence a chronic relative caloric excess problem:

Explain type 1 diabetes.

Oki, sorry about not being specific. Like LHL war against Diabetes, it refers specifically to type 2 diabetes which is a lifestyle disease and the cause for a vast majority of diabetic patients in the world.

Type 1 diabetes is due to autoimmune cells attacking the pancreas and usually happens in early life (teenage period etc) and difficult to prevent.

The methods for preventing type 2 diabetes are well established, but require much discipline and lifestyle change.

 

[zhihau]

Re: DIABETES is in essence a chronic relative caloric excess problem:

No worries. At least your clarifications will help folks whom are unsure of diabetes to have a clearer picture of this disease.

 

[bic_cherry]

Re: DIABETES is in essence a chronic relative caloric excess problem:

In many cases diabetes can be mostly reversed if the person sticks to a healthy diet and does not eat too much in one sitting, eating small meals throughout the day.
But usually, the whole reason someone got diabetes in the first place was that they couldn't help eating unhealthy amounts of sugars and refined carbohydrates.
Doctors will not tell you this, but if you hold to a very strict diet, after 2 or 3 years 80% of your diabetes symptoms will go away for 80% of people who have diabetes, and we're not talking about using insulin here.
It's important to eat vegetables, fat, and protein together at the same time with any carbohydrate (in other words a complete meal), as this helps slow down the breakdown of carbohydrates to a regulated level.

But a lot of people want an easy fix, some magical pill that can cure it all, and for those people there is insulin. To compound matters, a lot of people with diabetes are lazy because the blood sugar problems make things very difficult for them. Oh, did I mention physical activity every day is also important because it helps get the metabolism going? So you can see the self reinforcing cycle.

Whilst insulin would doubtlessly help reduce the excessive level of destructive (inflammation causing) glucose in blood, i feel that it is just kicking the can down the road if no attempt is made in changing the economics of energy consumption and utilization in a person.

Muscles as i understand have 4 times the glucose absorption capacity as compared to liver (based on average body glycogen stores (80% in muscle, 20% in liver)).

Insulin supplementation vz regular insulin injections can somewhat overcome insulin resistance by brute force, only perhaps to force adipose cells to divide to try to contain the excess calories as more fat but surely there is a limit since each gram of fat can only contain 9kCal of energy and no more...

More insulin also means more propensity for weight gain which makes the patient much less likely to want to exercise since it might be PAINFUL to do so because the bones, mucsles and joints may not be trained or strong enough to carry the ever increasing fat mass. Medical personnel may also discourage insured patients from exercising since the more medical problems created means more medical consultations and services rendered and thus more $$$ claims/profits to be made from the insurance company.

Where insulin becomes just an opportunity to avoid focus on increasing metabolism to allow glucose absorption the physiological insulin level way (by well trained active muscle cells (not already fat/glycogen saturated)), then insulin treatment becomes part of the distraction(/problem) rather than a part of the comprehensive solution.

 

[bic_cherry]

kaze wrote: But usually, the whole reason someone got diabetes in the first place was that they couldn't help eating unhealthy amounts of sugars and refined carbohydrates.

Yeah, like fer instance...
... I just finished a personal pan pizza...
... with a banana-nut, chocolate chip cookie.

I think its not the sugars that are the root cause but the balance.

Marathon runners always gulp the pure glucose stuff down (energy gels, isotonic drinks etc) during their marathon run for instant energy boost but this is warranted due to their intense energy expenditure during the marathon run but their blood glucose doesn't rise to unhealthy levels because the muscles readily absorb the excess glucose which is rapidly burned off intra run or else used to replace exhausted glycogen stores.... it is the couch potatoes who are tripped up by all the processed, hidden sugars mainly because being simple sugars, they are digested and absorbed in no time at all and before the couch potato has time to count calories consumed, he is hungry once more. So as compared to someone with a balanced diet containing non-digestible plant fibre, unprocessed proteins, fat and complex carbohydrates , the couch potato actually consumes many more calories per day because they are digested and absorbed at lightning speed and he still ends up feeling hungry all the time.

 

[zhihau]

You forgot something, the brain uses up a whole load of blood glucose when in use. Sinkies need to use more of their brains to help offset the high carbo intake :p:p:p