Ever asked yourself "how do you get type 2 diabetes"? Many people do. Both people who want to prevent it as people who already have it.
There are various causes for developing type 2 diabetes. Many of them are easily prevented.
In this article you will learn the 7 most common causes that can cause major complications.
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How do you get type 2 diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease that is now very common on a global scale. Unfortunately everyone knows at least someone with this nasty disease. Although we all know someone with type 2 diabetes, we rarely know how that person got it.
So... how do you get diabetes?
It is very good that you are asking yourself this question. Because when you know the causes of diabetes, you can prevent or cure this disease. Because, as you will see, you don't get this disease out of the blue.
You have to do to same things year after year to get diabetes. The tricky thing is that a lot of people don't exactly know what they are doing wrong and therefore do not know why they have developed this nasty disease. But I will help you with that. I will answer the "how do I get diabetes" question ones and for all.
Content of this article
You can develop type 2 diabetes in different ways. In this article I will describe 7 causes of diabetes.
This way you can adjust your lifestyle so you do not develop type 2 diabetes.
#1 Eating fast sugars
Fast sugars are not exactly the sugars that you want to eat. And yet there are many people who eat them every day.
Fast sugars are sugars that (as the word suggests) are quickly absorbed by the body. And the golden rule is:
Sugars/carbs that are absorbed slowly by the body are better than sugars/carbs that are absorbed quickly.
Why is that?
Sugars that are slowly absorbed into the blood from the intestines cause lower sugar peaks. And lower sugar peaks ensure a lower release of insulin. In this way your cells remain insulin-sensitive.
So what goes wrong in type 2 diabetics?
By eating too many fast sugars for a long time, there is a too high release of insulin. This makes the cells in your body insensitive to this hormone. In other words, the sugars can no longer be properly absorbed from the blood stream.
These fast sugars are mainly found in products such as:
Do not eat these products too often otherwise it is very likely that you will develop type 2 diabetes.
#2 Too little exercise
Exercise: something that most people don't like.
But it is no wonder that thousands of campaigns are being conducted to get people moving. And this also appears to be an important point for not getting diabetes.
How do you get diabetes apart from eating unhealthy food?
By not exercising.
And I'm not even talking about being in the gym 24/7 to prevent diabetes. Even walking for half an hour every day is enough to increase your insulin sensitivity.
For people with a sedentary occupation, it is especially important to keep moving. These people generally sit without any movement during the day, making moving around even more important. It can help to just cycle a bit or to walk to work.
Can't walk or cycle to work?
Is this not an option? Then choose a sport to do. This way you can increase your insulin sensitivity and reduce the risk of diabetes. There is no sport that is 'the best'. The sport that you can do the most often and that you will stick with is the best option FOR YOU.
#3 Drinking sugary drinks
What always amazes me is when I am at the cashier of a supermarket and I see the large amounts of soft drinks that people buy. Deep down inside I always hope that people realize that this is not healthy.
Soft drinks and juices are one of the worst products you can drink for your health.
They are literally full of sugars. And I'm talking about FAST unhealthy sugars.
These drinks actually do not contain anything healthy. Apart from the fact that they contain water.
Water and tea are really better sources to replenish the water in your body.
And now I hear you thinking: "What about healthy fruit juices?"
These healthy fruit juices are also not as healthy as they seem. They contain some vitamins but other than that they only contain sugars or even added sugars, something that your body doesn't know what to do with. Especially not as a (pre) diabetes patient. So it is best to avoid all drinks that taste sweet. Think of:
Even freshly squeezed orange juice is not recommended for drinking. This is because during the squeezing all healthy fibers remain behind in the skin. Only the sugars and vitamin C are squeezed out.
And if there is something you don't have to worry about, it's a vitamin C deficiency. Nowadays it's impossible to get a deficiency.
Be sensible and drink: water, tea and coffee. Especially when you are a diabetes patient.
#4 Not enough fibers
What is an other way to get diabetes? By eating too little fibers.
You can split fibers into soluble fibers, insoluble fibers and resistant fibers (resistant starch). All are very good for our body.
Soluble means that these fibers can be dissolved in water. The soluble fibers can then be further processed by the good intestinal bacteria. This is also called fermentation.
Everyone needs to eat more fibers for optimal health
These fibers serve as food for the good intestinal bacteria and thus keep your intestinal flora in a good condition.
The consumption of soluble fibers help you to keep your blood sugar levels under control.
The soluble fibers dissolve, as the word suggests, in water.
What subsequently is created is a gel-like suspension. The nutrients that you have eaten during this meal are covered by a gel-like layer. This ensures that carbs are more slowly absorbed into the blood so you get fewer sugar spikes.
And resistant starch is a type of fiber that leaves your body undigested. Apart from the fact that your good intestinal bacteria can eat from it. And when these good intestinal bacteria are properly nourished, it has a positive effect on your body.
Additional information
Several studies have shown that "resistant starch" increases insulin sensitivity. In addition, this insoluble fiber is very effective in lowering blood sugar levels after a meal.
#5 Eating too many carbs
Carbs and sugars are the culprit of many diseases. Also of type 2 diabetes.
People in western countries eat a lot of carbs. Basically every meal is a carb-rich meal.
Almost 60% of the average western diet consists of carbs. For the people who don't know if that is a lot or little:
A healthy diet consists for about 30% of carbs and sugars. Especially if you want to prevent type 2 diabetes.
How do you get diabetes? With a diet that consists for 60% (or more) of carbs!
The less carbs & sugars, the lower the risk of diabetes
When your body is bombarded with sugars and carbs all day long, the body must also continuously deliver insulin.
Your pancreas must work overtime. You insuline levels will constantly be very high.
And that is exactly the problem!
Your body will have to produce more insulin each time to transport the same amount of sugars to the body's cells:
In other words, your body becomes insulin-insensitive (insulin-resistant).
It is therefore wise to reduce the amount of carbs and sugars in your diet. Especially if you are already a type 2 patient.
The ideal diet consists of about 30% carbs. Try replacing your bread with a salad and leave the potatoes during dinner and try to eat more vegetables/meat.
#6 How do you get diabetes from being overweight?
You can hardly develop type 2 diabetes if you eat healthy. And if you do not eat healthy, the chance of being overweight is much bigger. That is why the chance of getting diabetes is also much bigger when you are overweight.
People who are overweight have often gotten this due to an unhealthy lifestyle. With an unhealthy lifestyle, people often eat poorly and do little exercise.
Research shows that western people with moderate obesity are twice as likely to have diabetes than people with a normal weight.
And it's not that hard to imagine why if you really think about it.
Obesity is almost always the cause of eating calorie dense processed junk that is bad for you body.
This causes you to become more insulin resistant and gain weight.
Of course, not all overweight people develop type 2 diabetes.
Thin people can develop type 2 diabetes too.
We all know someone who is slim and gets away with eating everything that they like (weight wise). This will eventually also develop into type 2 diabetes. With an unhealthy lifestyle you will always end up with your back against a wall.
#7 Taking certain medication
The risk of type 2 diabetes is increased by certain medication. This is something most people don't think of. The risk of diabetes can directly and indirectly be increased due to certain pills.
Directly: Certain medications cause a reduction in insulin sensitivity, which increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Here, the medication has an immediate influence cells of your body that regulate the sugar transport.
An example of these drugs are corticosteroids or anti-inflammatory drugs.
Prednison and prednisolon are examples of such medication.
You also have medication that indirectly increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. These are, for example, pills that cause weight gain and indirectly also increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. Lithium is for example given for bipolar disorder.
A side effect of this medicine is thirst. When you start drinking sugar-rich soft drinks, this can lead to weight gain. In addition, the sugars in soft drinks make you less sensitive to insulin.
If you choose the right diet for this last group of medicines, the consequences are much less severe and you do not increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. So choose the right products.
Check your medication
In both cases it is good to discuss with your pharmacist and/or doctor whether there are alternatives. It is annoying to suddenly develop diabetes through the medicine for a certain disease (like bipolar disorder).
The Diabetes-free Secret
Choosing the right products sounds like something that is easy. But if this were really the case then you would not have developed type 2 diabetes in the first place. You have now luckily received an answer to the question "how do you get diabetes?".
But did you also know that reversing type 2 diabetes is possible?
I will explain that in the free Diabetes-free Secret e-book.
Here you will learn exactly what caused type 2 diabetes and what you can do to reverse it. In addition, you will finally become familiar with the confusing world of diabetes mellitus and learn what diabetes medication does to you.
It is certainly possible to go illness free through life. But this is not a free ride for you. If you want this, you must take action now.
Below you can download "Diabetes-free Secret" for free
Greetings,
Marloes Schuurman
P.s: how do you think you get diabetes? What is the best thing you can do against type 2 diabetes? Leave a comment below