Carol Guber's Type 2 Diabetes Life Plan Take Charge, Take Care and Feel Better Than Ever

CHAPTER 1 What Is Diabetes? Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disorder characterized by elevated levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood. You are most likely reading this book because you have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, suspect you might have it, or know that a loved one has it. You are not alone. There are somewhere between 16 and 20 million people in the United States afflicted with diabetes, according to Dr. Gerald Bernstein, former president of the American Diabetes Association, although the official count has not been updated in several years. About one third of those millions are undiagnosed. The very fact that you picked up this book and are aware of the problem of diabetes means that you are on the road to controlling it. And it can be controlled. Type 2 diabetes is so intertwined with lifestyle that it is almost impossible to discuss it without talking about the management of what you eat and the kind of exercise you get. Educate yourself and then you can use your diagnosis as an opportunity to wake up to the needs of your body, as well as your mind and spirit. Throughout the book, you'll be given useful information to understand the physical processes that occur with diabetes. People differ in the ways they deal with health issues--which one describes you? Some people are naturally curious about what is happening to their bodies. They visit their doctor every year and stay current with the latest medical news. And then there are people who are so busy with daily life that they don't often think about their health unless some medical problem hits them directly. These are the people who only go to the doctor if they are dragged, and rarely take a sick day even if they have the flu and a 103 temperature! Well, to both types of people, this is your book. For the first kind, you will hopefully be interested in what is happening to your body and eagerly pursue the advice set forth within these pages. To the second set of people, this is, now more than ever before, the time when you must take notice of what is going on inside of you, so you can keep that engine running smoothly. Your first step in dealing positively with this disease is to learn something about it. With this knowledge, diabetes is no longer a mystery that you can't explain to your loved ones. The information in this chapter will assist you in understanding the steps that you need to take to live well with this disease. Real Lessons on Nutrients and Diabetes Educating yourself about diabetes can require time and effort, but understanding it can provide you with the self-management to take control of blood sugars. Diabetes is a complex disease that affects your body on a variety of levels. The scientific community is always at work gathering data on causes, risk factors, and prevention. Take the time here to read about the processes that occur in your body when you are healthy and when you have diabetes. I have broken the information down into easy steps to follow so you can learn about how your body reacts to the food you consume--the type and amount of nutrients affects your everyday life by affecting your mood, your weight, your energy, and, now, your diabetes. How Food Becomes Energy Getting sufficient energy for the body from the food we eat is a daily pursuit--and for the senses, a pleasure. But how does the body convert food into energy? How does the cereal we eat for breakfast provide us with the power we need to function during the day, or at least until lunch? After a meal, the body digests the food we eat. The goal of digestion is to break food down into the smallest components so that the nutrients can be released and absorbed. This is a process that begins in the mouth as we chew and ends in the small intestine with the absorption of foods' nutrients into the blood. Carbohydrates are one of the most important nutrients; they are released into the bloGuber, Carol is the author of 'Carol Guber's Type 2 Diabetes Life Plan Take Charge, Take Care and Feel Better Than Ever' with ISBN 9780767905268 and ISBN 0767905261.