We still don’t know exactly why people develop type 2 diabetes, but we do know that both genes and lifestyle put you at risk for the disease. The analogy that’s sometimes used to describe type 2 diabetes risk is, “Genes load the gun, but lifestyle pulls the trigger.” While your genes may set the stage for type 2 diabetes, it is the lifestyle you choose and the foods you eat that actually put the disease in motion.
Some of the biggest lifestyle risk factors for type 2 diabetes are:
• Obesity – that extra weight around your waistline. However, not everyone who is overweight will develop diabetes.
• Lack of Exercise –
• Poor Diet – especially a diet that is high in refined carbohydrates and high in animal fats or refined vegetable fats.
• Stress and Lack of Sleep – these factors raise levels of stress hormones in the body, which influence insulin resistance and increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Diet, Obesity, and Type 2 Diabetes
Diet is one of the biggest factors responsible for diabetes development. The American diet has changed radically over the last half-century. Fifty years ago, Americans ate breakfast, dinner, and a light supper. They did not snack. Mothers warned their children not to eat between meals.
Today, the average American eats 580 calories a day in snacks alone. Many people consume far more calories than that. They’ll skip breakfast, or eat something quick and easy, such as coffee with a pastry or donut. By mid-morning they’re starving, so they’ll have a snack. That snack is often followed by another snack, then lunch, then more snacks, and dinner, which is followed by a bedtime snack. Eating several times a day and snacking in between meals is very hard on the pancreas. It never gets a rest. A stressed pancreas is a major factor in type 2 diabetes.
The location of where we eat has also changed. Families no longer gather around the dining room table. Instead, we now eat in front of the TV, computer, or on the go in our cars. When our attention is focused elsewhere, such as on the television or computer, we lose the ability to tell when we’re full, and it becomes very easy to overeat.
We’re not only eating more often, but we’re also eating the wrong foods. Our diet includes more sugars and refined carbohydrates. Fifty years ago, high fructose corn syrup was rarely a part of our diet. Today, about 130 of our daily calories come from this sweetener. When you dump a lot of sugar into the blood at once, the pancreas has to respond quickly. The demand for rapid insulin production which occurs when eating a diet high in sugar or refined carbohydrates is exceptionally hard on the pancreas.
Meanwhile, we’ve also added more fat to our diet —and like the carbohydrates, the fats we add are primarily refined fats without the naturally occurring fiber and antioxidants. Plants pack their fats in a fiber matrix with multiple phytochemicals which prevent the fats from going rancid or oxidizing. (Seeds are an example of this process and because of nature’s careful packing will often last for years.) These plant chemicals or pytochemicals are called antioxidants and are very beneficial to the animals including humans that eat them.
When we consume refined fats that do not have these natural fibers and antioxidants with them our bodies experience much higher levels of inflammation. This increased level of inflammation increases our risk for diabetes and many other diseases including cancer and heart disease. Additionally, like with refined carbohydrates, when we eat refined fats we tend to overeat because we are missing the fullness that comes with the fiber and natural plant chemicals. Obesity results and with it the incidence of type 2 diabetes rises. Sixty-eight percent of American adults are overweight and half of those are so overweight that they are called obese meaning they have a BMI over 30 which usually means that they are at least 50 pounds over their ideal body weight.
Belly fat in particular increases diabetes risk. Increased fat stored around the abdominal organs raise inflammation levels and makes it difficult for insulin to move sugar out of the blood and into the cells. If you are gaining weight around the middle, then you need more insulin than usual to keep your blood sugar normal. This increased need for insulin stresses your pancreas and moves you closer to getting diabetes. If you are male and your waistline is over 36 inches, or you are female and your waistline is over 34 inches, you are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
For every inch you add to your waistline, your risk goes up. Later, we will look at three specific components of diet that play roles in diabetes development—sugars, carbohydrates, and fats.