Obesity and Diabetes

If you are overweight or obese you have a much higher chance of developing diabetes.  Obesity and diabetes are closely linked in that overweight people are at high risk of developing Type II Diabetes, a condition caused by a combination of your pancreas failing to produce enough quantity of the hormone insulin and/or the body’s cells developing a resistance to the insulin produced.  Diabetes is a potentially deadly disease and the increased chance of developing diabetes is one of the top reasons to reduce your body weight if you are overweight or obese.  The good news is that you can safely and effectively bring down your body weight through a medically supervised program that includes measurements, meal replacement, lifestyle interventions, consultations with a doctor and sometimes even medications.

The Importance of Insulin

People with diabetes have trouble producing insulin or using insulin at a cellular level.  The hormone insulin plays an important role in the human body.  It helps us to manage the sugar we eat in our diets by moving this sugar to our cells so we can use it as energy.  Without insulin, the sugar we eat stays in our bloodstream.  Sugar can be toxic and too much sugar in our blood for too long can have serious health consequences including nerve damage in our feet, heart, eyes, brain and kidneys.  As a result, people who live with diabetes are at increased risk of:

  • Blindness
  • Amputation 
  • Impotence in men 
  • Reduced sexual desire
  • Kidney Failure
  • Fatigue
  • Depression
  • Heart Failure
  • Stroke
  • Pregnancy Complications

How Being Overweight or Obese Can Cause Type II Diabetes

There is a direct relationship between having excess weight on your body and type II diabetes. The most common way to find out if you have excess weight on your body is to use body mass index (or BMI)  measurements.  BMI is calculated by taking your body weight in kilograms and dividing it by your height in meters squared. The resulting numbers are then separated into five different categories:

  • Underweight (< 18.5)
  • Healthy weight (18.5 – 24.9)
  • Overweight (25 – 29.9)
  • Obese (30 – 39.9)
  • Morbidly obese (> 40)

If you fall into one of the categories of being overweight, obese or morbidly obese then you have an increased risk of diabetes.  Why?  Because when your body has excess weight your cells become resistant to insulin meaning that the sugar you eat stays in your blood and does not make it into the cells.  If the excess weight you are carrying is fat rather than muscle, then the situation may be even more dire since studies have shown that fat cells may be even more insulin resistant in people with diabetes than other types of body cells.

“If you fall into one of the categories of being overweight, obese or morbidly obese then you have an increased risk of diabetes.”

Type II Diabetes and Diet

If you are a type II diabetic (meaning that you are living with type II diabetes), your doctor will tell you that you need to change your diet to remain as healthy as possible.  One of the reasons why this is important is because a healthy diet can bring down your weight and improve your insulin response.

Over time, diabetics who habitually eat and drink too much run the risks that come from being overweight, obese, or morbidly obese with the condition. 

What and how much you eat every day is the most important factor in whether you can maintain a healthy weight needed to improve your insulin response.  People who eat smaller portions and have lower levels of fat and sugar in their diets will find it much easier to maintain a healthy weight than those who eat too much and indulge in highly processed fatty and sugary foods and drinks. 

Type II Diabetes and Exercise

Studies have shown that regular physical activity is key to maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding type II diabetes. If you exercise regularly you are more likely to be leaner.  Since muscle cells have more insulin receptors than fat cells, you can decrease the insulin resistance caused by type II diabetes simply by being leaner. Exercise also helps the insulin hormone to do its job, lowering blood sugar levels and avoiding some of the consequences of insulin resistance such as nerve damage.

Dr. Amir’s Weight Loss and Metabolism Center

Type II diabetes is a serious life-threatening disease that is more likely to strike if you are currently overweight or obese. At Dr. Amir’s Weight Loss and Metabolism Center we specialize in medically supervised weight loss that protects your health of the patient while reducing your weight towards the “healthy” range on the BMI scale.

We use weight loss technology, lifestyle interventions and, if medically necessary, prescription medications to help reduce your weight and then maintain your weight loss. If you, or someone you love, is struggling with obesity or with maintaining a healthy weight, reach out to us today for an initial consultation by clicking here.  

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