You At Your Best

by KAreN rice NorTHWeST ArKANSAS DemocrAT-GAzeTTe Diabetes is a disorder in which the body cannot properly store and use the energy found in food. Insulin, which is produced in your pancreas, helps your cells use glucose to fuel your body. If you have diabetes, your body either doesn't make enough insulin and/or doesn't use insulin well, so that too much glucose stays in your blood. Over time, this can cause serious health problems like heart disease, stroke, amputation, kidney disease, blindness and even death. type 1 diabetes accounts for 5% of all diabetes diagnosis. It is an autoimmune disease in which the body wrongly identifies and then attacks pancreatic cells, which causes little to no insulin production. It is often referred to as juvenile diabetes because it is usually diagnosed in children and young people. Those with type 1 diabetes usually must rely on insulin shots to remain healthy. type 2 diabetes is the more common form of diabetes. With type 2, the pancreas may still produce insulin, but not enough to meet the demands of the body. Insulin resistance occurs in some cases because a consistent high blood-glucose level causes cells to be overexposed to insulin and then makes cells less responsive or immune to its effects. Gestational diabetes occurs in pregnant women and usually goes away after the baby is born. However, it can increase the risk of later developing type 2 diabetes, for both mother and child Prediabetes is the precursor to type 2 diabetes. More than 1 in 3 American adults have prediabetes, and 90% don't know it. Prediabetes means that your blood sugar is high, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. But if you don't change your diet or habits, prediabetes will develop into diabetes. Although there is no cure for it, healthy lifestyle changes can really make a difference in your odds of developing type 2 diabetes, or helping to control it. You don't have to become a statistic. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that more than 90 percent of cases of type 2 diabetes can be prevented by lifestyle changes. And even if you already have the disease, changing your habits can help. Destined for diabetes? SPeciAL To NorTHWeST ArKANSAS DemocrAT-GAzeTTe People carefully counting carbohydrates as part of managing their diabetes, or those who simply desire to lose weight, may have come across the term "net carbs" on food packaging. The phrase started to draw attention as the popularity of the Atkins Nutritional approach and other low-carb diets grew. According to these plans, calculating net carbs involves taking the total carbohydrate value and subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols, if applicable. Net carbs show the grams of carbohydrates that will impact blood sugar levels, according to Atkins. Foods that are low in net carbs purportedly do not have a significant impact on blood sugar, and therefore may be less likely to interfere with weight loss. However, according to the medical consultants at Diabetes Forecast magazine, the equation used to calculate net carbs is not entirely accurate, and some of the fiber and alcohol is, in fact, absorbed by the body. They say that half of the grams in sugar alcohols are metabolized to glucose. It's also important to note that "net carbs" is not a nutritional definition recognized by either the Food and Drug Administration or the American Diabetes Association. It is particularly important for people who are on intensive insulin management to look beyond net carbs and carefully read the nutritional facts and ingredients lists on product packaging to calculate information for themselves. For those who do not have strict dietary requirements, using net carbs as a way to gauge the body's carbohydrate response can be a handy tool. Net effect The scoop on net carbs Lifestyle changes can lower your risk 8 | YOU AT YOUR BEST | nwAdg.cOm/YOUATYOURBEST nOvEmBER - ThE diABETES iSSUE | SATURdAY, OcTOBER 26, 2019

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