How to Lose Weight to Control Your Diabetes

Diabetes is essentially a metabolic disorder of the body that affects how our bodies use the food we eat and turn it into energy. When we eat, most of the food is turned into glucose. Glucose is a form of sugar. Glucose is taken to your body’s cells, where it is used as energy. Another chemical, insulin, is required to actually get the glucose molecules into the cells.

Diabetics either product too little insulin or no insulin, or their cells are resistant to insulin. Either way, the sugar to cell energy process is disrupted.

There are basically two types of diabetes, Type I and Type II. Type I is essentially an autoimmune disease, where the body actually attacks the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. Type II diabetes is adult onset diabetes. This form of diabetes is caused by overweight and physical inactivity, among other causes. Type II diabetes accounts for 90% to 95% of diabetes cases. It’s this type of diabetes that is most affected by weight loss.

So, if you want to get control of your diabetes, losing weight should be a central concern. The only issue is how to lose weight.

A weight loss diet for diabetics needs to be low in carbohydrates, low fat, and probably somewhat calorie restrictive. Many doctors recommend protein intake to be at 40% of your total calorie intake. Although, if you have kidney problems, or other problems, you should consult with a doctor before eating this much protein per day.

Exercise should be a big component of any weight loss effort. Aerobic exercises strengthen the cardiovascular system and also help burn calories. Strength training, which builds muscle, might even be more important, however. Muscle burns three times as many calories as fat. If you have more muscle, you will naturally burn more calories during the day. This will impact your weight loss efforts much more than the calories you burn in a 30 minute walk.

The bottom line is this: if you can get yourself on a whole foods diet and start really exercising, you can lose weight. If you’re a Type II diabetic, there’s a very strong chance that losing weight will help your diabetic condition, if not cure it altogether.

Adult onset diabetes is really part of a larger pattern called metabolic syndrome. This includes diabetes, high blood pressure, and coronary artery disease. Oddly enough, these three go hand in hand. Decrease our chances for one, and you start to cure the others. Losing weight and getting yourself on a good diet might really be all you need to regain your health.