Are Most Diabetics Fat and Lazy?
Do people start off fat and then develop diabetes? Or are they predisposed to getting this shitty disease in the first place. I’m just sitting here at my desk looking at all the diabetes supplements and prescriptions I take everyday and it amazes me that I’m taking these to treat a disease that I might have avoided in the first place.
I remember being a teenager with no thoughts of diabetes or monitoring my carb intake. Hell I remember going out to football games and drinking a mouthful of maple syrup or sugar right before leaving. It was like when Rocky drank the raw eggs for breakfast before working out. I thought I was giving myself energy. All I really was doing was upping my blood sugar and making my pancreas work hard to inject insulin in my blood to deal with all those simple sugars. Now I have to give myself a byetta injection before I eat. And to carry that thing around with me is a pain in the ass! Just in case I happen to go out to eat before going home or if I eat breakfast at work instead of at home.
I have to plan my supplements and medication around eating cause I’m fat, diabetic and lazy!
This is a picture taken by my 5 year old son cause he thought it was funny that Daddy goes right to sleep sometimes after eating dinner at night. Even my son knows when I’m hyperglycemic yet occasionally I eat too much of the wrong thing and this happens.
This post is a bit more personal than most I write. I know there are a lot of people out there worse off than me.
I need to get involved more like Bernard Farrell and are active in the diabetes fund raising community and also has been Type 1 for 35 years.
Or Amy Tenderich who is enjoying reading, cooking, aerobics, hiking, swimming, wine, weekend getaways, her kids and she’s (nearly) fitter than ever.
Gloria taught me how getting a yearly flu shot can benefit me from a possible weaker immune system.
Also check out Gina Capone’s diabetes chat where you can meet other people just like me and realize I’m not alone in this struggle.
So let me hear from you. Comment below. Are you over weight and diabetic? Are you doing something with your diabetes or sitting on your ass like I have been?
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Comments
Hi Ken,
My father has type II diabetes and lost his vision 2 years ago. Unfortunately members of my family are all predisposed to have the disease. That’s one of the reasons why I got involved in importing and distributing natural products from the Andes and Amazon Rainforest. Diabetes really freaks me out and I already started the fight against it.
I encourage you to do research about an Andean root called Yacon. Personally I’ve been taking the herbal supplement version and combining it with Yacon Syrup. So far it’s been working well for me because carbohydrates are stored as fructose polymers (FOS) and is great for my low glycemic diet.
There are two other natural supplements I know of that target diabetes too: Purple Corn (the beverage version is called Purple Corn Drink or Chicha Morada) and Stonebreaker (Chacapiedra). This is the link for our blog: http://www.GlobalFusion.us/blog. Please let me know what you find out.
Kind regards,
Augusto
Yes type 2. thx Bernard for the comment. I kind of blew up there yesterday. Some days are hard then others.
The weight does it. Think. Appetite is a function of low blood sugar : your problem is … ? What is breaking that is the fact that carbs, starches and pop - even low cal sweeteners - all raise appetite.
Your bod - and mine - are processing more water and malfunctioning because impeded bloodflow is starving parts of you of nutrients. I notice my feet blotched - and am vastly not amused.
You may want to try this place out : it could help and I could use an article for review
http://www.patientslikeme.com/
p.s. My system was knocked out of kilter by shock of surgery and quitting smoking. It has taken two years to get things straight enough to start losing weight again after blowing up as a result of forced indolence : and man, was I lethargic !
There is more to type 2 diabetes than being “fat and lazy”. I got type 2 when I went through menopause - the decreasing estrogen raised my blood sugars. I have lost weight (10 pounds) increased my activity but to no affect to the blood sugar.
My grandfather and uncle, both very trim men, became type 2 diabetics as they aged.
I believe there is much more to this than weight. I am in the medical field and see many studies that attempt to link diet to healthy outcomes. Most of the studies fail.
I do believe that we are alot less active on a daily level than we were 50 years ago; we also have almost limitless access to empty calories than that time as well. But I think genetics plays a much greater part in one’s health than is currently known.
Lillith
I’m 16 with Diabetes, i’m not fat, infact i’m quite fit.
And i’d hurl abuse at you if you wrote this ignorant article and you weren’t diabetic.
Hey, the article is hardly ignorant. My grandma died from a complication of type 2 diabetes and good for you that you’re doing something about it with all the medicine and supplements. My grandma skipped on her medicines, went overboard with carbo and didn’t even try to lose weight. I’ve heard diabetis can run in the family as well, so I’m taking precautions. I take flax seed daily as a dietary supplement. Rich in fiber and lignans, this one’s good for the prevention of type II diabetes.
Dez- That article stemmed not from Ken’s ignorance of the disease (and it would be ignorant if written by an uninformed/uneducated non-diabetic).
That article came from the depression that goes hand in hand with any chronic illness. Only with Type 2 - quite often we ‘enable’ ourselves leading up to the diagnosis. Then we repeatedly punish ourselves (well some of us do) especially if we have a known genetic predisposition. We knew Grandpa, Aunt Harriet, Uncle Ed, Aunt Philly all had diabetes and we didn’t pay attention to what lie ahead of us unless it was on a plate about to pass us by. Pass the gravy!
Nevermind that half our relative had diabetes - we just put on the old feed bag like we had since birth and scooted up to the table with the rest of them.
Self-inflicted in many cases. But, granted, NOT ALL.
Still whether you are fit or fat, diabetic or not. Whether or not you do something about it is a conscious choice - you CHOOSE to eat things you shouldn’t or you don’t; you CHOOSE to exercise or you don’t. What we’re not thinking about is we’re CHOOSING our sight or the darkness; CHOOSING to keep our appendages or not. CHOOSING to live or to die. One bite at a time. One step at a time.
If you are discouraged - tell your doctor - there is medication for depression - it’s a disease just like diabetes. Think of your quality of life and the quality of life you bring to your family - it’s far greater than you would ever imagine!
I fight wanting carbs all the time and I’m tired alot. It’s from the disease and yes I get depressed and wonder if I should take something for that too. It is getting to the point that taking care of my health is a full time job.
Pretty good article… I just moved to start a new job and my blood sugars have been all over the place over the last 6 mos… struggling to bring it back to a more manageable level… and yes, I also take a bunch of supplements… fenugreek and Gymnema Sylvestre in my case…. they seem to be helping but we’ll see…
Okay I went on Byetta September 27 (is that date going to be etched in my mind forever?) I had a blood test for other reasons but when the results came back my A1c was 8.6 - out of control (lots of stress, menopause, bipolar, whatever - I think the main thing was stress - the results of we cannot control) ANYWAY we also had to drop Avandia and Starlix along the way and I only take 5mcg 2x daily - 90 days later I had another A1c after just 90 days of Byetta - my lipids were all good (Tiglycerides were down 170 points lower for first time in 10 years) and my A1c was a beautiful 5.3
I’ve learned how my body operates with Byetta and what I need to do to avoid any side affects AT ALL - it just takes a little patience and paying attention to your body.
As an afterthought I also lost 20+ lbs and went from a size 16 jeans to a size 10 - the weight loss seems to have stopped but who knows what will happen when I start exercising. I wanted to give Byetta a shot at me with NO changes in my habits for the first 90 days and I did. Blood sugar did not go up when I had to travel home recently for my 81 yr old father’s cancerous kidney removal so even the stress affect is somewhat in check.
I am one thrilled Byetta customer and my doctor is too.
I’m like a walking Byetta commercial. I ask complete strangers (even in the airports when I traveled) if they know anyone who has Type 2 Diabetes and if they do - I go into my Byetta sales talk 
I’m living proof and isn’t that what it’s all about? LIVING!!!
Ken
Can I just point out that you’re talking about Type 2 diabetes? Because while there MAY be argument that Type 2 can be caused by dietary choices, this is definitely not the case for those of us blessed with Type 1 diabetes.
Now to get back to your question. I think that predisposition must be part of the equation for both types of diabetes. My immune system was predisposed to knocking out my islet cells and so I got diabetes when I was 15. Your system was predisposed to not handling insulin well and your metabolism probably makes it easier for you to gain weight. That means you’ve got to work a LOT HARDER to maintain it at a lower level. Which is truly a pain.
Most of us have barely enough time to get through an average day, never mind adding the need to take extra meds AND count calories/carbs AND take regular exercise. No wonder this is such hard work.
Hey, you and I should take up going for a walk together. It would do us both good. Maybe some lunchtime?