Diabetes is a chronic, progressive disease that affects many Australians every year.
Join us while we explore the three different types of Diabetes, effective methods to prevent and manage diabetes and how a Ketogenic (low carbohydrate) diet can support people with diabetes to live healthy lives.
What is diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when a person's pancreas is no longer able to make insulin or when the body is not making good use of the insulin the pancreas produces.
Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas, which allows you to breakdown carbohydrates from your diet to produce energy, it also enables your body to store glucose for later use as energy. It also prevents your blood sugar levels from getting too low (hypoglycaemia) or too high (hyperglycaemia), by transporting sugar into the cells of your body.
3 different types of diabetes
There are three types of Diabetes:
Type 1 Diabetes
This type of diabetes is usually caused by an auto-immune reaction. People with type 1 diabetes usually develops in children or young adults and people with type 1 diabetes produce little to no insulin naturally. Type 1 Diabetes requires daily insulin injections to control the levels of glucose in their blood.
Type 2 Diabetes
Approx. 90% of all cases of diabetes is Type 2 Diabetes. Type 2 diabetics is characterised by insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. Type 2 Diabetes can be diagnosed at any age and may remain undetected for many years.
Type 2 Diabetes is often associated with people who are overweight or obese, and have metabolic syndrome, which in itself can cause insulin resistance and lead to high blood glucose levels. As Type 2 Diabetics can still release insulin, they are able to treat and even reverse their condition by reseting their metabolism and balancing blood sugars through a low-carb or Ketogenic diet.
Gestational Diabetes
Gestational Diabetes is a diabetic condition which can occur during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes develops in one in 25 pregnancies worldwide. Gestational Diabetes will usually disappear after pregnancy, however, women with Gestational Diabetes and their children are at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
Risk factors to look out for
There are many risk factors for type 2 diabetes. These include:
- Overweight
- Family history of diabetes
- Unhealthy diet
- Physical inactivity
- High blood pressure
- Age
- History of Gestational Diabetes
- Poor nutrition during pregnancy
- Impaired glucose tolerance
- Ethnicity
Complete the Australian Diabetic risk assessment tool to check your risk factor of diabetes.
How to prevent diabetes
The good news is that type 2 diabetes is preventable.
The two most common factors found in people who develop type 2 diabetes are: consumption of unhealthy food and an sedentary lifestyle.
With regular activity and dietary changes, type 2 diabetes can be prevented.
Exercise daily
In today's age of technology and sedentary workplaces, children and adults are becoming less active and living more sedentary lifestyles.
There is a range of benefits from exercising just 30 mins a day, such as walking, swimming, running and research has shown that even small spurts of high intensity interval training are time-efficient exercise strategy to improve cardiorespiratory and metabolic health, without necessarily going to the gym.
Daily exercise has many health benefits, not just in the prevention of diabetes, it can also assist in:
- Improving digestion
- Weight loss
- Stabilizing mood
- Reducing stress
- Improving memory
- Increasing productivity
- Tapping into creativity
- Improving your heart health