The Head of the National Diabetes Management and Research Center, Dr. Yacoba Atiase, has advised people to desist from quaffing too much alcohol and stop engaging in other sedentary lifestyles that are likely to predispose them to type 2 diabetes.
Dr. Yacoba Atiase, added that people who do not eat well or are involved in sedentary lifestyles are prone to type 2 diabetes, advising people to be conscious about their lifestyles.
Speaking to Bernard Avle on Citi FM/Citi TV’s Effective Living Series, Dr. Atiase observed that “Some of the lifestyles that can predispose you to type 2 diabetes is being sedentary, often we don’t eat right, we have high carbohydrates meals, very high in fat, we don’t eat fruits and vegetables these are important to prevent type 2 diabetes, poor sleep, too much alcohol drinking can all predispose you to type 2 diabetes. With lifestyle changes, you can get out of pre-diabetes, if you are exercising, being physically active, can decrease your progression from pre-diabetes to type 2 diabetes”.
The Head of the National Diabetes Management and Research Center, Dr. Yacoba Atiase, further advised diabetics to consume lots of foods that contain just a quarter of carbohydrates to increase their insulin levels.
According to her, consuming lots of fruits and vegetables with small quantity of carbohydrates enable people living with diabetes to have their insulins boosted.
Dr. Atiase, explained that “quarter of your foods must contain carbohydrates and half of the foods should be vegetables and a bit of fruits, then the other quarter being protein and fats, to increase your insulins. The sugar or glucose in our body is the body’s fuel that is what we run on, without glucose the body cannot function properly, you must choose unrefined carbohydrates as much as possible”.
She emphasised that type 2 diabetes patients hardly experience the symptoms, indicating that the symptoms do not show unless a test is conducted.
“Every part of the body needs insulin, when you don’t have insulin then your sugar remains high then there’s high blood sugar. Because there’s a defect in insulin, either you don’t have insulin at all or you don’t have enough insulin, or it just doesn’t work properly. With type 1 diabetes, there isn’t much to prevent, but type 2 can be prevented. Don’t wait till it’s blown out of the way, get tested,” she advised.
According to her, diabetes is not caused by eating lots of sugar, explaining that people who complain of the symptoms “may be having problems with your insulin, sugar doesn’t directly cause diabetes”.
She explained that type 1 is largely hereditary, stressing that, “8-10% of diabetes is type 1 and about 90% is type 2 “type 2 diabetes is largely caused by lifestyles, type 2 is a cardiovascular disease. Without the sugar in the body, the body can’t function”.