Diabetes is often listed under the category of lifestyle diseases. This is because though the genetic predisposition may be present in many, the actual onset of the symptoms is highly influenced by an individual’s lifestyle.
What is lifestyle? It is the primarily the activities in your daily routine – physical exercise, stress, fitness and food choices. One of the best indicators of someone’s lifestyle is his/her body weight. Body weight needs to be closely watched, especially when it is over the advised standard.
30% of cases of diabetes mellitus are due to lifestyle factors, obesity being the most important one.
What does it mean to be overweight?
Technically, excess weight could be a result of either wrong food choices or insufficient physical exercise.
High calories, frequent snacking, oily rich items, junk food, fried foods, sweets, binge eating, eating out frequently; they are all partners in crime. Sometimes, you may not even realize how you end up eating more than the day’s share of intake required. Sometimes, you realize but you choose to ignore. You justify a little indulgence. You get a sudden bout of kindness towards yourself and you end up eating things that make you fat.
However, when it comes to exercise, you are again kind to yourself. You justify, you give excuses and you play victim to schedule.
It is easy to eat that pack of chips, it can be finished in a minute. But to match that energy, you need to run on the treadmill for several more minutes. How often do you compensate for the indulgence?
Many such days put together increase body weight. This further lowers your metabolism and makes you sluggish. It is a dangerous cycle which, in turn, activates the unhealthy processes in the body. Result? Diabetes.
Being overweight puts additional stress on body in numerous ways, including your body’s ability to maintain proper blood glucose levels. Overweight and obesity can make body develop resistance to insulin. People suffering with diabetes already will need to take even more insulin to get sugar into your cells. And if you are not a diabetic, the prolonged effects of the insulin resistance can eventually lead to the disease.
The onset of diabetes can be delayed, to a large extent, with the right weight management.
Benefits of weight loss
Maintaining an ideal body weight ensures abeyance of diabetes for a long time.
Nisha Gupta comes with a strong family history of diabetes mellitus. Both her parents had been diagnosed with this disease. There are other family members on either side of the family with the same diagnosis. She has been pampered since childhood, was a chubby girl and enjoys eating out often. As an active 35 year old businesswoman, she enjoys socializing with a lot of people. Nisha’s schedule is quite hectic and leaves little time for her own self. She got a wake-up call when her elder brother was also diagnosed to have diabetes recently.
This is when Nisha decided to put her health on the top of her priority list. At 85 kilograms, she is 25 kgs over her ideal body weight. Determined to bring a change to her lifestyle, she has added regular exercise to her daily routine. Nisha makes time for exercise daily, no matter what. She watches what’s on her plate and eats a balanced diet. She is sure this will help her in decreasing the risk of diabetes and continue living a healthy life for many more years.
We all need to do this. Is it easy for Nisha? No. it is not.
She struggles with temptations. A foodie, she finds it extremely difficult to say no to her favorite chocolates. However, she is wise enough to know that a moment of weakness will cancel out all the benefits earned from the morning run.
She has had to compromise a bit on her socializing and business meetings. But this is what discipline is all about. It is tough in the beginning. Once discipline becomes a way of life, things begin to get smooth.
Losing weight in time will ensure the diabetes gene shall remain dormant for a much longer period. You will experience a happy healthy life for several years.
Even those who are suffering from diabetes have benefitted immensely from weight loss. It keeps the blood sugar level in control and prevents any further complications. So, go run for it!
