A day of epiphanies
What I learned in Diabetes School* today:
- I have 13 genes which made it possible for me to eventually be diagnosed with diabetes. If you haven't inherited those 13 genes, you're not in danger no matter what you eat or how you live. If you have inherited those genes, you can put the outbreak of the disease off until later, (with luck and skill) even until you reach a nice old age.
- A combination of things came together the year I was diagnosed with diabetes. In no particular order, those things were: a collection of fat around my middle, high levels of stress (job-related, I'm certain), too little exercise. If you have the 13 genes and two or more of those other things, you might be on your way to the D-train.
- That collection of fat around my middle? Turns out that the real culprit in a Type 2 diabetic's body isn't the fat you can see - it's the fat behind the middle-of-the-body fat. It's the unseen (except by surgeons) fat that cushions the intestines and the guts. THAT fat misuses the hormones that should be making my body use the insulin it produces in healthy ways.
- That collection of fat nesting in the region of my guts? Turns out that my body WANTS to help me get rid of it. And when I do get out and exercise, that's the fat that disappears first. But I quit exercising because I don't lose any weight. I don't drop the dress sizes I'm hoping to drop. It doesn't seem worth it.
- Armed with new this information, I'll be making sure I get a good amount of walking in every single day. I won't see any benefits from it in how my clothes fit, but that gut fat will be burning away and I'll be able to see it in the reduced blood sugar measurements I'm going to be getting.
Diabetes School is a three-day course offered by a department of the hospital here in Malmö Sweden where they specialize in the research of diabetes.
- I have 13 genes which made it possible for me to eventually be diagnosed with diabetes. If you haven't inherited those 13 genes, you're not in danger no matter what you eat or how you live. If you have inherited those genes, you can put the outbreak of the disease off until later, (with luck and skill) even until you reach a nice old age.
- A combination of things came together the year I was diagnosed with diabetes. In no particular order, those things were: a collection of fat around my middle, high levels of stress (job-related, I'm certain), too little exercise. If you have the 13 genes and two or more of those other things, you might be on your way to the D-train.
- That collection of fat around my middle? Turns out that the real culprit in a Type 2 diabetic's body isn't the fat you can see - it's the fat behind the middle-of-the-body fat. It's the unseen (except by surgeons) fat that cushions the intestines and the guts. THAT fat misuses the hormones that should be making my body use the insulin it produces in healthy ways.
- That collection of fat nesting in the region of my guts? Turns out that my body WANTS to help me get rid of it. And when I do get out and exercise, that's the fat that disappears first. But I quit exercising because I don't lose any weight. I don't drop the dress sizes I'm hoping to drop. It doesn't seem worth it.
- Armed with new this information, I'll be making sure I get a good amount of walking in every single day. I won't see any benefits from it in how my clothes fit, but that gut fat will be burning away and I'll be able to see it in the reduced blood sugar measurements I'm going to be getting.
Diabetes School is a three-day course offered by a department of the hospital here in Malmö Sweden where they specialize in the research of diabetes.