Wednesday, June 8, 2011

We Are All At Risk Of The Modern Day Villain - Diabetes

Hard to believe but the average person consumes 2-3 pounds of sugar each week. But it is really not surprising when you consider that highly refined sugar in many forms is being added to most processed foods. Everything from bread to peanut butter and ketch-up along with the usual sweet baked goods get a good dose of sugar.

Back in the early 1900's we used to only consume 5 pound of sugar each per year but now our annual consumption is around 135 pounds and it is having a devastating affect on our health. A recurring constant influx of sugar into the bloodstream keeps upsetting the body's blood-sugar balance. This triggers the release of the hormone insulin, which the body uses to keep blood-sugar at a stable and safe level.

When we eat food our body converts carbohydrates into sugar (glucose) which is our main source of energy. It is transported in our blood stream to muscle cells to be used for energy. With our sedentary and largely inactive lifestyles our un-toned muscles require little energy so they refuse to allow the glucose into the cells (glucose resistance).

Then it circulates together with high levels of insulin around the body with no-where to go getting into places it should not be damaging organs, tissues and cells as it is a strong chemical brew. Our blood sugar levels are critical for good health and can affect how hungry we feel, how energetic we are, if we store body fat or burn it for energy.

Sometimes after we eat something with sugar in it the resulting insulin surge causes too much blood sugar to be transported out of our blood leaving us with too low blood sugar levels. This leaves us feeling fatigued and hungry and we are then driven to eat something with a high sugar content. When we do the cycle continues and we have wildly fluctuating blood sugar and hormone levels

If this continues over a period of time we are setting ourselves up for the disease that is now epidemic in our world - diabetes. One in four of us has pre-diabetes and does not even know it. One in three of us will actually get full blown diabetes. This is serious as it is the fourth leading cause of death world-wide and climbing.

You can reduce this risk by 1) toning up your muscular system with strength training exercise so a higher amount of sugar gets taken up and used from the blood and 2) by ditching as many processed foods as possible and replacing them with natural whole foods that you cook from scratch. That way you know there is no hidden sugar in them so you have greater control over what goes into your body.

Strength training exercise is the most potent diabetes defense available to us. It also decreases dangerous abdominal body fat. This is the stuff inside your gut that causes the biggest health risks and increases insulin resistance along with your disease risk.

The damage that leads to this nasty disease does not happen overnight. It can take many years to develop but when it does there is no fixing the damage that has occurred. A proper strength training program improves your body's ability to control blood sugar on many levels and it is something that we can all easily do and will help prevent or even treat diabetes if you already have it.

A few simple lifestyle changes such as improved eating and a program of proper exercise is your very best protection against this modern day villain. Keeping better control your blood sugar levels is the number one best thing you can do to guard your good health.

If you feel that overeating or eating the wrong types of foods might be a problem for you, and you would like to put an end to it and get on the fat loss fast track, grab my free 35-page report that shows you how to Outsmart Your Hunger. You can download it right now from here healthy eating

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carolyn_Hansen

Carolyn Hansen - EzineArticles Expert Author

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