Are you safe from Type 2 Diabetes? Don’t bet on it.

Over 40% of normal weight people are already insulin-resistant, heading towards Type 2 Diabetes, even some marathon runners!

You might be Thin Outside, Fat Inside – a TOFI. This means you are carrying fat around your internal organs (viscera), and within your liver and pancreas.

That visceral fat releases inflammatory compounds, damaging your blood vessels, even before your blood sugar levels get permanently high, driving more insulin resistance and fat deposits.

So, what is insulin resistance?

Insulin resistance occurs when your cells are so full of glucose and fat droplets, they become deaf to the shouts from insulin to take in more. Type 2 Diabetes means you cannot push the spare glucose into your liver, muscles or fat cells fast enough.

The excess, sticky glucose sloshes about in your bloodstream, gumming up your red blood cells and blood vessel walls.  This leads to more inflammation and damage – in your kidneys, retina and coronary arteries, plus other metabolic symptoms. These include high blood pressure, high blood fats, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease and kidney disease.

The biggest culprit driving liver fat is fructose, found in fizzy drinks, fruit juices, sugar, sauces and processed foods.  Alcohol is another key driver, but fructose means that even children are getting fatty liver disease and Type 2 diabetes these days.  It’s not just the calories – 150 more calories a day won’t make you diabetic, but 150 calories of a soft drink, increases your risk seven fold.

Diabetes Type 2 should really be called carbohydrate intolerance.

What to do?

Cut right back on sugary foods, fizzy drinks and fruit juice.  Eat whole fruit instead, but I’m not talking bananas! Go for apples, oranges, apricots and berries.

Reduce your need to make insulin by avoiding bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and processed food. 

Eat more veggies instead.

Exercise!  Even walking burns off the glucose in your cells, making them more insulin sensitive again.

Look up guidance from the Public Health Collaboration (www.phcuk.org)

Always discuss following these suggestions your GP or Diabetes nurse, especially if you are already have Type 2 diabetes. Your GP may need to reduce your medications and maybe take you off them altogether.

The good news is, it is possible for you to put your Type 2 Diabetes into permanent remission.

You can contact me for more help, too.