Lifestyle supports medicine…not the other way around!
What does this mean? Medicine was never meant to prop up our bodies while we make unhealthy choices. Medicines are not a “cure all,” but are tools used to control symptoms and decrease the risk for complications. We can’t do whatever we want, when we want, and how we want, and expect to stay healthy. We all know people who say “I eat anything I want; I just give myself more insulin.” Likewise, we all know someone who smokes, that blood pressure medications, cardiac medications, is on oxygen and has had open heart surgery but continues to smoke. The smoker’s symptoms are being managed with medication but the smokers’ health will continue to decline regardless of additional medicine or other health care provided. Changing lifestyle, quitting smoking, will make the difference. The same holds true for diabetes. The idea that because we are taking medicine we can continue to make unhealthy choices just doesn’t hold true, not for anyone.
Insulin Resistance
If you have type 2 diabetes you likely have some degree of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when your body doesn’t use insulin properly. Insulin is a hormone that allows the food we eat to enter the cells where it can be used for energy. Each cell in your body is a microscopic you. Just like you, each cell needs food, water and oxygen to survive. Our mouth delivers food to our stomach, our lungs deliver oxygen to our bodies and insulin delivers food to our cells. Without insulin glucose stays in the blood stream and our cells starve. When insulin resistance begins your pancreas makes extra insulin in response to the high blood sugar, and it will keep producing more and more insulin until it can’t keep up. Your pancreas works really hard in this insulin resistant state. Over time the pancreas fails to keep up and blood sugars continue to rise. Every time we eat too many carbohydrates, spiking our blood sugar, our pancreas will go into overtime trying to produce enough insulin to bring down our blood sugar. The problem is the cells of the body are resistant to insulin so the pancreas is wearing itself out in a battle that can’t be won. Even when insulin is given subcutaneously with a pen or syringe, insulin resistance continues as the problem. Health care providers can prescribe increasing doses of insulin but again, the problem is not with the insulin, the problem is with the body’s inability to use the insulin.
So, how to we decrease insulin resistance so our medications can work better and our blood sugars decrease?
There are medications that work to help the cells become more sensitive to insulin. However, the best way to decrease insulin resistance is with:
- Healthy eating (staying within a meal plan) which includes limiting calories and carbohydrates and adding vegetables and fiber.
- Physical activity (becoming more active.) Physical activity takes glucose from the blood and puts it in the muscles and it also stimulates the cells, making them more insulin sensitive.
- Weight loss can increase insulin sensitivity making the insulin we take and the insulin we make more effective.
By making the necessary life style changes we can support medicines in doing their job effectively, gain better control of our blood pressure and blood sugars, and ultimately, staying healthy.