Controlling Diabetes Mellitus Type 2
Getting control of Type 2 Diabetes
Diabetes mellitus type 2 is a disease that can’t be spread from person to person. It is a major public health concern. It is hard to treat because it takes a lot of resources to deal with. Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 have high levels of glucose and sugar in their blood, and the hormone insulin, which is supposed to take the sugars out of the blood, doesn’t work right (American Diabetes Association, 2003). People with this disease are likely to get nephropathy, peripheral vascular diseases, heart diseases, go blind, and eventually die. The goal of this paper is to look at how diet and exercise are used to treat Diabetes Mellitus Type 2.
The most important things that affect how common Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 is are genes and the environment. Even so, recent research has shown that this condition is caused by bad diets and not getting enough exercise (Asif, 2014). Diabetes can be prevented and treated in a lot of ways that have to do with what people eat. In the past, nutritionists mostly focused on cutting back on refined sugars and starchy foods (Musenge Michelo, Mudenda, & Manankov, 2015). If you eat less carbs, you might eat more proteins and fats, which is usually not healthy.
Modern approaches focus on cutting down on the amount of fat a person eats. The more fat a person eats, the harder it is for insulin to get glucose into the cells of the body (Asif, 2014). Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 can also be controlled by limiting the amount of dairy, meat, and oils you eat and encouraging you to eat more fruits, vegetables, beans, and grains.
Fruits are an important part of a healthy diet. They provide the body with the growth factors it needs to stay healthy. Minerals, isothiocyanates, carotenoids, flavonoids, and dietary fibers are all found in fruits (Asif, 2014). The best way to prevent Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 is to eat fruits with insoluble fiber. Fruity diets slow down the absorption of glucose in the small intestines, which helps control the rise of glucose in the blood after a meal.
A balanced diet should have more fruits and vegetables and less meat and dairy. Animal products are high in fat, which is linked to insulin resistance, which makes it more likely that Type 2 Diabetes will spread (Hartley, May, Loveman, Colquitt, & Rees, 2016). It is also linked to heart disease, kidney failure, and some types of cancer, among other health problems. Animal products don’t have the fibers that are important for keeping glucose levels in the blood at a healthy level. So, it’s important to control how much chicken, red meat, dairy, eggs, and fish people eat. Every day, each person should try to eat a meal with about 40 grams of fiber. Also, whole grains should be an important part of the meals and make up 10 grams per meal (Hartley et al., 2016). Millet, oats, whole wheat, and barley are all types of whole grains.
A diet high in vegetable oils may be better for your health than one high in animal fats. Even though this is true, it is still best to limit how much of these foods you eat. Vegetable oils have a lot of calories, which can be bad for the health of the people who eat them (Tuval, Shmueli, & Boehm, 2018). A gram of oil or fat has about 9 calories, which is a lot compared to the 4 calories in a gram of carbohydrates. Also, you should stay away from fried food, avocados, olives, peanut butter, and toppings that are high in oil. So, each serving of food should have between 2 and 3 grams of fat.
Another important thing to think about in a diet is a food’s glycemic index. The index lists foods that have the potential to raise blood sugar levels by a lot. So, people can make smart choices about meal plans that have less of an effect on their blood sugar (Pi-Sunyer, 2002). Sugar, foods made with wheat flour, potatoes, and cold cereals like rye, pumpernickel, bran cereals, pasta, sweet potatoes, lentils, and grape-nuts all have a high glycemic index.
Salt is a very important part of keeping blood pressure in check. Diabetes is often found in people who have high blood pressure. Sacks, Arnold, Bakris, Bruns, and Kirkman (2011) say that it is important to cut down on the amount of salt you use when cooking and in recipes. It’s also a good idea to season food with herbs that don’t contain salt, like garlic, spices, and lemon juice, which brings out the saltiness of food. Processed foods, like canned foods, pretzels, and fries, that have a lot of salt in them should be avoided. Also, you should talk to your doctor before you start using salt substitutes.
The amount of alcohol and caffeine in a diet needs to be watched. People should limit themselves to no more than two drinks per day. Also, people with health problems like high triglycerides, high blood pressure, or liver problems should not drink much alcohol. If you’re going to drink, do it when you’re full or mix your drinks with water. This is because alcohol can cause low blood sugar (Musenge Michelo, Mudenda, & Manankov, 2015). Also, drinking less alcohol helps people lose weight and allows their blood pressure to go down (Wilding, 2014). The same rules apply to caffeine, which means that you shouldn’t drink more than 4 cups of caffeinated drinks per day.
Physical activity is important in treatment of Diabetes Mellitus type 2. It helps the body use glucose, which lowers the amount of glucose in the blood. These kinds of activities help people lose weight and keep their blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check. Diabetic patient benefit from regular physical activity in that there is decreased need for insulin (Umeh, 2017). Furthermore, physical excercises improve the ratio of Low density Lipoprotein (LDL) to High-Density Lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) as well as reduce blood triglycerides.
A healthy lifestyle that adopts a healthy diet plan and physical activity is effective in management of Diabetes Mellitus type 2. As a result, it is important to take up such measures especially for those who are at a higher risk of contracting the disease.
References
American Diabetes Association. (2003). Evidence-Based Nutrition Principles and Recommendations for the Treatment and Prevention of Diabetes and Related Complications. Diabetes Care, 26(Supplement 1), S51-S61. doi:10.2337/diacare.26.2007.s51
Asif, M. (2014). The prevention and control the type-2 diabetes by changing lifestyle and dietary pattern. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 3(1), 1. doi:10.4103/2277-9531.127541
Grylls, W. K., McKenzie, J. E., Horwath, C. C., & Mann, J. I. (2003). Lifestyle factors associated with glycaemic control and body mass index in older adults with diabetes. European journal of clinical nutrition, 57(11), 1386.
Hartley, L., May, M. D., Loveman, E., Colquitt, J. L., & Rees, K. (2015). Dietary fibre for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. Musenge, E. M., Michelo, C., Mudenda, B., & Manankov, A. (2016). Glycaemic control and associated self-management behaviours in diabetic outpatients: A hospital based observation study in Lusaka, Zambia. Journal of diabetes research, 2016.
Pi-Sunyer, F. X. (2002, July 1). Glycemic index and disease | The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition | Oxford Academic [Video file]. Retrieved from http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/76/1/290S.long Sacks, D. B., Arnold, M., Bakris, G. L., Bruns, D. E., & Kirkman, M. S. (2011). Guidelines and Recommendations for Laboratory Analysis in the Diagnosis and Management of Diabetes Mellitus [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3114322/
Simon-Tuval, T., Shmueli, A., & Harman-Boehm, I. (2018). Adherence of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus to medications: the role of risk preferences. Current medical research and opinion, 34(2), 345-351.
Umeh, K. (2017). Personal care plans and glycaemic control: the role of body mass index and physical activity. – PubMed – NCBI [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28541105
Wilding, J. P. (2014). The importance of weight management in type 2 diabetes mellitus [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4238418/
Comments 1. Better work
2. Pay more attention to referencing. You only use Alex et al. () when there are more than five authors or the second + citation for five authors
3. Check the academic choice of words and keep improving
