Walking is fun, the more you walk, the more other people walk!

KS: My Native American ancestors have passed the so-called "thrifty gene" on to me. Thank you. Yes, diet and exercise has placed my diabetes into remission. But things aren't that simple. It is a daily battle that I fight...as so many people fight, and daily so.

Type II includes those persons, usually aged, whose pancreas no longer exudes insulin in predictable amounts, and whose livers do not release glucose as appropriate.

Type II doesn't mean "fat and lazy." It can be a genetic predisposition and/or age based.

Now for the good news: I can survive on very little food. I'll bet that my weekly grocery bill is far less than yours.

thanks for that tidbit. Age really is the huge factor as is genetics. I have been an athlete most of my life, not fat or lazy and still fighting my blood glucose numbers.

Diabeties can be caused by more then age or a sedentary life. I have seen people get it after surgey and they return to an active lifestyle. Sometimes a surgery just sets off a change in the body.

There are many reasons why the body will stop producing insulin so don't always blame it on the lazy.

"Unless we develop better programs for detecting people with elevated blood sugar and helping them to improve their diet and physical activity and control their weight, diabetes will inevitably continue to impose a major burden on health systems around the world," Danaei added in a joint statement.

Watch for more directives from the Department of Health and Human Resources or FDA on controlling sugar additives, more directives from the Department of Education requiring our kids to take Health Care Courses (Grades 1-12) as a graduation requirement, Mrs. Obama "Get Active America" campaign (after she gets back from her overseas sightseeing trip), or Mr. Geithner agreeing to give more money to the World Health Organization via the IMF for World re-distribution.

Funny, according to the Center for Disease Creation and Promotion website, GTF Chromium is a CURE for adult onset type II Diabetes. Funny how big pharma wont' tell anyone how to get healthy unless they can make a buck.

GTF Chromium has to come from whole foods, not man made. 300 micrograms per day (100 mcg in morning, noon and one at night). Don't take it all at once. This type of diabetes is a side effect of being Chromium deficient according to the CDC.

Big pharma and the FDA suck. To be healthy, you have to look for the non-FDA approved things in life. Seriously....

KSConni--for those of you with an inclination to tell other people what to do, try keeping your mouth shut.

You want me to get away from the computer, dear? Exactly how am I going to earn a living if I don't sit at the computer between 12 and 14 hours a day (yes, that's what my jobs--I have three part-time jobs--require)? You want me to "walk" and "get off drugs"--well, thank you, my dear. How delightful that you know something that the doctors do not.

Walking is not going to "cure" diabetes any more than losing weight will. Bariatric surgery does "cure" diabetes--even before one loses weight. What this means, sweetie, is that diabetes is caused by things OTHER than weight and inactivity, though being overweight and inactive are associated with it (they are a symptom, sweetheart, not the cause).

Yes, it is very likely that there is some sort of issue with the food that is available to us that is causing people to develop diabetes--and that the issue is more common among those whose ancestors were not exposed to European-style foods (I assure you that people in the Pacific Islands love to walk--many do not even own cars).

Lord, but isn't it delightful when the ignorant decide to share their "words of wisdom" with the rest of us?

"Lord, but isn't it delightful when the ignorant decide to share their "words of wisdom" with the rest of us?"

you mean like the people quoted in this article?

Small portions, have few healthy snacks during he day---Food bills for diabetics are higher, because it requires buying highly overpriced vegetables, fruits, and protein, such as lean meat, poultry, fish. No junk food.

Great Willpower, lose weight, exercise.----stress will raise glucose numbers, and so will getting the flu, and other illnesses. Have an Endocrinologist as your Specialist in treating Diabetes. Very important. Vist nutritionist to get good diet, and tips.

Take care of yourselves, many diabetics (strong genetics) in our family---The bad kind is called "Brittle Diabetes"; it is never under control.

Good luck to all out there--It's better to prevent, or delay this disease from coming on---many complications if not controlled. Educate oneself before the onset. It's worth the effort.

"Global sales of the medicines totaled $35 billion last year and could rise to as much as $48 billion by 2015"

Says it all...it's a business folks...

I'm completely fed up with the judgemental crap you morons dish out about type 2 diabetes. I didn't get type 2 from being a couch potato. I study martial arts, am physically active not not obese. By the time I was diagnosed at age 54, I had blood sugar regulation issues dating back to at least age 15 when I was hypoglycemic, very thin and could cycle 200/300 miles a day. My biological father had type 2 and his before him. It's a genetic propensity first and formost with environmental and lifestyle triggers. Otherwise, all the obese couch potatoes would have type 2 instead of the very small minority who actually do. Obesity being a risk factor does not mean it causes type 2 diabetes, it only means that obesity corollates with type 2 diabetes meaning a very large number of type 2 diabetics are obese. Many type 2 diabetics are treated with medication that makes them gain weight (a known side effect) regardless of diet and exercise and the insulin resistance that goes with type 2 causes weight gain too. I can gain weight on a 1500 calorie a day diet.

I'm 6'2" and weigh 175lb. I'm also tired of reading how this disease is caused by being over weight.

One can be smaller and be Type 2. I am Type 2 when I am over 140 lbs. So, I lost weight and am now prediabetic. I don't know what I weigh, right now, but am a size 6. After learning to hang at this weight for awhile as I have to readjust to the lesser amount of food, I'll be going for minimum healthy weight to see what happens.

Rich, you are right. Type I and Type II are quite different. I had not thought about calling Type II something else but it makes sense.

It is called Type I and II because the end result is very similar for both. The body cannot function normally when it comes to assimilating glucose in the bloodstream. The difference is what causes it, and how it is treated.

And to complicate it further, there are people who are somewhere in between.

The good news for Type II is that they can reduce or eliminate the disease with diet and exercise. Type I is not so fortunate.

Rich... You have voiced what I have thought for years. My son is type 1. He has been insulin dependent since he was 11. He was healthy and active up to that point. Was in the scouts, taking kenpo, bicycled everywhere. Then out of the blue he became tired all the time. Had no energy, was always thirsty and urinated frequently. The only factor that I can relate to his condition was the death of his grandfather from injuries he had sustained in WWII, who he was so close to. He became depressed at that time and that is when his condition first appeared.

Rich, I am so glad you said this. As I have gotten older I have been thrown in with the type 2 diabetics. Whenever I mention that I have diabetes, people automatically assume type 2. While I certainly sympathize with type 2's, type 1 is heard about on a much smaller scale and is uniquely different- No matter how much I exercise or watch my food intake, It will not go away. It cannot be put into remission. It is something that made me grow up much faster than my peers and never,ever has there been a day when I can "take a break" or ignore it. I would be in the hospital in DKA.

Lord, it doesn't take long for the holier-than-thou, Type 1 diabetics to come out of the woodwork.

Children--Type 1 diabetes is simply how diabetes manifests in some people. Type 1 diabetes is associated with childhood diet (yes--it is--look it up), overuse of antibiotics (in both things like soap as well as medicine), being European American (Type 2 is simply how it manifests in people of other ethnicities). Here's a relevant quote:

Type 1 diabetes is the less common of the two main forms of the disease, accounting for between five and 15% of all cases. It is caused by an inability of the body to produce natural insulin to control blood sugar levels [. . . .] The soaring rates of the disease have been mirrored by studies in other European countries, but scientists have yet to pinpoint the reason. Other than changes to babies' diets, researchers are also investigating whether exposure to childhood infections, or conversely too sterile an environment, is causing changes in children's immune systems that may ultimately trigger the disease.

Type 1 diabetes is rising--and Type 2 is NOT "caused by" obesity or inactivity. Type 2 is "associated with" obesity and inactivity--both of which are most likely caused by whatever it is that is triggering Type 2 diabetes. A person who becomes overweight or inactive (due to available food or workplace issues) might develop Type 2 at a younger age--but there is a genetic predisposition just as there is with Type 1.

Well, that's kind of belaboring the obvious unless you really think that people in the Pacific Islands and Native Americans and Black people and Hispanics (who tend to get Type 2 rather than Type 1) are just lazy. A person with a predisposition for Type 2 will eventually get it--if only from old age--while a person without a predisposition for Type 2 won't get it (no matter how obese or inactive that person is). Trust me--my husband eats the same food, is just as overweight, and just as inactive as I--and his blood glucose is ideal. There is no diabetes on either side of his family (it is on both of mine).

Seriously, can the Type 1's please just shut up? People with Type 2 can't "cure" their diabetes with lifestyle (though they can moderate its effects), and you aren't poor pitiful victims who did nothing to deserve your fate (it was most likely environmental along with a predisposition).

What's the problem with being "lumped in" with people who have Type 2 diabetes? We have, what, leprosy? Lice? We are indolent and deserve our fate? What?

@bean at home

It may be suggested that you are being stereotyped because of your obesity. It also occurs to me that your personality shown in your writing style relects this obesity with a seemingly caustic, more-knowledgeable-than-thou, defensive-aggressive, lack of charm typical of people who have been discriminated against due to their appearance. I suspected as much in your earlier post, but waited until you confirmed it. Some people reserve 'dear,' and 'sweetheart' for those they know well or hold affectionately, and keep their assumptions obfiscated by cited fact.

Diabetus has been described as 'juvenile' and 'senile.' Or type I and II. It would seem that 'senile' diabetus is the onset over which we have most control, and that good diet and exercise do lessen or eliminate diabetic symtoms. Even fat people can ride a bike with relative painlessness. I ride because my feet give too much pain for walking as regular exercise. But I do something! I'd be just lying to myself if I were to complain that exercise provides no health benefit or that I won't feel better tomorrow for having done some. That's just a fat person's rational. I bet you have stubby little fingers, too.

Ummmm, I'm a type 2 diabetic and I take offense to your assumption that I brought it on myself when I have not been overweight, haven't sat around eating junk food/soda, and do not fit any of the other negative stereotypes that have been thrown around in the media to justify a cultural "war" on obesity.

Type 2 diabetes has everything to do with heredity, and there is no cure. Period.

I know that insulin deficient diabetics are trying to distance themselves from the garbage going around the media, but you are doing a terrible disservice to diabetics (of all types) everywhere by promoting an uneducated stance on the matter.

Why do you hate America?

I hope you never get sick.

They are. The neuropathy starts much earlier than one is lead to believe. I have found it present in the prediabetic ranges, but, I am still experimenting to see if I can control my diabetes with diet and exercise alone. All I know is, I go type 1 after one drink of alcohol. I am type 2 over 140 lbs, and, am now prediabetic. I will find out what I have done to myself vision wise around age 50 or so.

We do eat too much. It is fun to eat. However, there comes a point when we have to stop eating growing foods (lots of simple carbs & sugar) and switch our diets to maintenance foods. Here in the US, that just does not happen.

schwyz?? you might never meet someone who loves America more than me

Confussed?? I hope no one ever gets sick, but at some point, If I am injured or ill because of consious decisions I make, then that should fall on my shoulders...Darwin would require it...I don't wish anyone bad luck, but as we are going to be confined to this planet for the forseable future...we might be better off as a species (and all the others) if we let nature take its course

and just in case anyone is wondering...I am already committed to the Kevorkian health-care plan

Has anyone questioned that the medical community/pharms keep lowering the bar as to when you are prediabetic/diabetic?

Thank you, oh for goodness sakes. I have noticed that too. Just a few years ago, you were "normal" if your fasting glucose was under 111. Now you have to be under 100. They have also added the A1C test, which is supposed to be an average of the sugar in your blood. However, I heard from a friend with diabetes that if you have been diagnosed, it is extremely rare to go below 6.0, which is considered "normal". In the assisted living center that my mother was in, the nurse told me that they consider a fasting count of unde 150 to be good because any lower then that, many of the residents fall and get hurt. The count can also be affected by other medications, especially statins (just in the news the other day).

Just Friday, one of the doctor consultants on the Today Show said that normal fasting is 100 - 120. I wonder how she could be so wrong, unless they changed "normal" again.

Oh for goodness sake,

There's no conspiracy theory behind the lowering of fasting blood glucose level cutoffs for diabetes. It's simply due to continued research. Medicine is neither a perfect nor static science. The levels at which someone is considered prediabetic/diabetic is not the only update that has been made.

Physicians used to think one was considered to have hypertension only after their BP was above 140. NOW someone is considered to hypertensive if their BP is above 130.

Specificity of research protocol and outcomes have improved drastically over the years!

This means that more people are on hypertensive drugs when they lower B/P

hmmmmmmmmmm

The research shows that when the fasting blood sugar is kept below 100 and never above 150 non-fasting, there are far fewer health problems. Sometimes that means starting drugs at an earlier stage if the patient is not willing or able to keep the blood sugar down with diet and exercise. My husband is pre-diabetic but absolutely refuses to exercise in any way........so he takes Metformin. He does keep his weight normal, although not always with the healthiest food choices. But that is his decision...not the pharmaceutical company's decision. Same goes for BP drugs......research has shown that keeping the blood pressure around or below 120 systolic helps reduce heart attacks, strokes, and blood pressure related health problems (kidney disease, anyone?) much more than just reducing BP to below 140. Diet and exercise help reduce BP also, but does not always....many people still have to take meds. As an example, my paternal side of the family has a long history of early deaths, especially the men, in their 50's and early 60's. My dad and his brother took antihypertensives starting in their 40's and both lived to around 90 years of age. I started taking BP meds in my early 50's, but am in normal weight range. I will continue them as prescribed.

D--K

Ms. Phee.... SO... You're a fan of Kevorkian huh? You think people should suffer for "their actions"? And what about those that had no control over what happened to them? In the case of suffering for ones actions, I could easily say you should have your tongue ripped out for running off at the mouth. A consequence of your "actions".

If you knew anything about diabetes, you would know that many people get it who live healthy lifestyles and are children.

You have my permission to go ahead with your Kevorkian plan at the earliest opportunity. In fact, why not do it now. You can help the Earth and environment by eliminating yourself from leaving carbon footprints. And just look at how your ceasing to exist will help the Social Security system by not paying you anything that you might have paid into it.

Mr.PheaNiques-0000001--oh, I see. People have to take responsiblity for their actions . . . like being born? Or, being born a certain ethnicity in a certain time period?

People in the South Pacific have high rates of diabetes because their countries were invaded by people from Europe who introduced their own diets and their own lifestyles. It's really hard to live on fish and local roots in the South Pacific now that the Europeans have poisoned the fish (one should not eat too much of it) and taken over the farm land for pineapples and sugar cane.

Western Europeans have for millenia lived on a high carbohydrate diet. The people who developed diabetes on that diet--died. They didn't reproduce much. Thus, Western Europeans are mostly descended from people who can metabolize a high carbohydrate diet.

The rest of us, particularly those of us who are poor, have to eat the foods that are the least expensive. In areas where Western Europeans invaded and brought in their own diets--those foods are now heavy with refined sugars, carbohydrates, and fats. There is a lot of HFCS in it. If you come from a people who did not winnow out those who had a propensity for Type 2 diabetes, do low-level work (mostly sedentary work at a computer), and eat an inexpensive diet--yes, it is likely that one will develop Type 2 diabetes very young.

But, you know, everyone dies from something. Maybe you forget to put on your seatbelt, maybe you choose to drink and drive, maybe you have a high stress job, maybe you decide to go mountain climbing . . . . all those things are conscious choices. However, the food one has access to and the work that one does are mostly controlled by environmental factors.

It will most likely turn out that Type 2 diabetes is being aggravated by the methods of food production (too much HFCS and too much transfat and too much plastics and too much steroids in the meat and milk) and the workplace (no amount of "exercise" can compensate for a job that keeps one sitting in a chair for 40 hours a week--look it up).

Seriously--the people who come into these forums with trite, smug points is tremendously annoying. And your lack of valid points aggravates the situation.

Mr. Pheneaniques:

You are callous--some day as you age, it may come to you. There is something called "Old Age Diabetes", which has to do with the eventual wearing down of certain organs (pancreas) from a genetic link to the disease.

You think people should enjoy getting strokes, heart disease, even cancer, and amputations to prove a point?

Diabetes does not always attack people who are overweight. Genetics, Genetic dispositions.

Get an A1C test--that will tell you if you are prone to diabetes or have it..

@for what its worth,

pretty bad, man. You said nothing that wasn't criticism. This comment style leaves readers wondering why you are so unhappy with life. Not if, but why?! If you would like to advocate for civil/social society, I'm sure you will find many subscribers out here.

@bean at home.

I am not smug, and not riddled with preconception. I read your post. Now! You speak a fat person's rationale! Everyone and everything is at fault except your own self. Count the excuses you've given here for not getting off of your fat.......for not assuming a daily exercise regimen. With all due respect, if ya know what I mean here. With all respect that is due!

Ironic how you waste an entire post criticizing someone for criticizing someone. Like looking in a mirror, ain't it?

JamieNorwood...SLAM DUNKED by The Old Lefthander.

I have worked in construction all my life as a plasterer and developed diabetes 10 years ago. I started out as Type 2 (pills) and now need to take shots (insulin) to survive. I'd like to see you do that kind of work everyday and then you wouldn't even mention exercise in your lame attitude.

.

Walk. We are a walking species, therefore, walking is the easiest exercise because we always do it!

Can't wait until you are in your 70's, have arthritis and can't walk tht much. Such simpleminded observations are unsettling.

There clearly needs to be some kind of distinction between type I and type II diabetes (changing the names completely, as someone above suggested, would be good).

Confussed- 1578043 ... most people with type II diabetes have it because of poor diet and lifestyle. If you are not one of these people, then that's fine, but that doesn't make the original poster's comment any less valid. It just means you are a special case. Either that or your diet sucks and your "active" lifestyle wasn't enough to compensate for it.

Get off the processed foods and meat, people! Show me a type II diabetic vegan and I will give you a million dollars.

Post #4: Ahh, goodie. More "Africans actually have the answer" pro-anorexic swing. Now that appears to be the true conspiracy.... :/

enlightenedeuropean--you could stand with a bit more enlightenment.

People in Africa living in starvation conditions also do not have refined foods, work with computers, and have to deal with smarmy twits who like to call themselves "enlightened."

With what money do you want people to buy salmon, olive oil, and quinoa? At what jobs do you want people to work, when the only jobs available involve sitting on one's behind for hours a day? When people need to grab a bite between their various part time jobs--where do you want them to eat other than a fast food restaurant that serves $1 meals?

People eat what is cheap and available because they don't have access to money and they don't have access to kitchens all the time (well-to-do people have microwaves and refrigerators and kitchens available at work, and well-to-do people don't have to work multiple part-time jobs).

Yes, if one wants to live like a Tibetan monk and starve oneself, one will not get diabetes. You don't want people spending their own money on Metformin (which is $4 for a month's supply), so they should just stop eating and starve? Let them eat nothing and live at starvation levels (and die from malnutrition instead of diabetes)--thanks, Marie Antoinette.

@bean at home

People in africa yet still have to deal with 'smarmy knats', which may be more pleasurable to responding to 'repugnant obesity.' I notice a lot of backpedalling rationale in support of a sedentary lifestyle. And this demeanor..... who would want you?

I wonder if it has anything to do with the unnatural additives in our food. Pesticides, insectides may pickle a human pancreas if enough is imbibed over time.

Heavy drinkers can also damage their pancreas to the point of becoming a Type 1. I drank a lot in my youth, and, with one drink can send myself Type 1. Luckily, it heals enough so I can go off insulin. Of course, I don't discover I don't need insulin anymore until a severe hypoglycemic episode. Now, those are fun. Made me realize why some companies done give diabetics life insurance.

AVI...yes, I would argue those additives have played a role in the progression of the diseases we see.

Also, I do not think it was the alcohol that directly caused you to develop type 1 diabetes. Type 1 usually manifests after an illness that elicits an immune response.

Type I diabetes is present from birth. Type II is the only one that can develop later in life. They are VERY different conditions!!

People do not go from Type 2 to Type 1 or vice versa. If you're Type 1 you will have to take insulin injections for the rest of your life, you can not stop taking it. You can be Type 2 and control it by pills, diet and/or insulin.

Miskaffon--Type 1 diabetes is not present from birth. Rates are rising dramatically, probably because of environmental reasons. Type 1 can develop later in life, thanks. Both Type 1 and Type 2 have a genetic component, and both are triggered by environmental causes.

Type 1 is more common among Europeans; Type 2 is more common among non-Europeans.

Thanks for keeping your misinformation to yourself in the future.

@bean at home,

I would be inclined to accept everything you've said as untrue because of your previously demonstanted propensity to repeat rationalizations that support unwillingness to accept the responsibility for your own health, or lack thereof. But I already have an understanding of this disease that is contrary to everything you just wrote. Maybe Type 1 diabetus is latent at birth and not exactly 'present.' But if it is not genetic, it's not Type I. If it's genetic, it's 'present' at birth. But I don't mind sifting through your self-serving rationale....communication/discussion is a healthy exercise in the land of the free! This is how the misinformed become ...........

At the very least we should stop subsidizing sugar production. (Just another government program that, once started, seems impossible to stop.)

Sorry fellas, but almost everything that we consume contains sugar in one form or another. Even your proteins contain amounts.

If we could live off of a diet of lettuce and celery, we might get by with it. But we might also be so weak, that we can't walk a mile without resting.

Yes, in the article it said that 70% of the increase was due to population growth but the other 30% was from other causes.

I wonder, too, whether some of that increase is from better diagnosis of the problem. I am sure that many people have type 2 diabetes and don't even realize it.

Nice try all - excuse the obvious and find any reason EXCEPT that the USA has lead the world to eat more fat, salt and sugar - where 37% of the population is OBESE - NOT JUST CHUBBY. We are undisciplined slobs, sending young, fit people off to war so we can continue to be undisciplined slobs. Have you seen the newest food offering at Denny's? They have a maple bacon sundae - two scoops of vanilla with lots of bacon bits and maple syrup. Oh - and they developed their own food pyramid with all things bacon.

True that the gross number of people increased with the overall increase in population. But the article also says "The proportion of adults with diabetes rose to 9.8 percent of men and 9.2 percent of women in 2008, compared with 8.3 percent of men and 7.5 percent of women in 1980." -- Not sure if that increase is due to aging of the population though.

yeah mary that's right, Americans are the scum of the earth!!!!!! they should all be lined up and shot, everyone else in the entire world is better then the evil demonic fat stupid lazy americans ...please never stop drinking the koolaide

Unfortunately, most doctors no longer let you try to control Type II first by diet, at least in the area that I live. I think big pharma has a lot to do with the increase in the amount of people diagnosed, as well as the food supply.

Harry & Mercury,

There's no doubt pharmaceutical companies have tried to influence the use of their medications for practically everything; however, I find it hard to believe most physicians would want to put you on meds if they did not have to do so. There are a few components that are important for you not to neglect.

1. The idea that telling people how to eat and thinking that they will listen to you regardless of your expertise is the biggest fallacy yet. This belief stemmed from something known as the "Health Belief Model," which is essentially a model that suggests exactly what you will say will happen. A myriad of studies have shown that simply showing and telling someone to do something does not improve compliance to a regimen or ultimate outcomes. In fact, this is common sense that we see played out on a daily basis. For instance, nutritional information is placed on the back of ALL packed foods. Despite seeing how unhealthy some of these foods are people still eat them regularly. Thus, a doctor simply telling someone what to eat and what not to eat and to exercise NEVER WORKS for the majority of people.

2. Type II Diabetes is not a disease of which someone becomes immediately aware he/she has it. It is a progressive and very silent disease. Thus people may not be aware they have it until major symptoms show. That is usually when people go to the doctor. By that time it is usually TOO LATE to simply rely on diet and activity modifications.

3. You cannot always use size to determine whether someone will develop type II diabetes. Yes, obesity is linked to type II diabetes development. Excess fat leads to increased insulin release; however, we cannot only use the fat that we see with our bare eye as a predictor of who will and will not contract diabetes. Visceral fat (fat around organs), which does not show like subcutaneous fat does on a body, is equally important. Thus a skinny person who has "always gotten away with eating whatever he/she wants" may just as susceptible to developing diabetes as the fat-looking person who probably has the same diet.

Unfortunately, most doctors no longer let you try to control Type II first by diet

Shortly after turning 50 I had a Dr's appt, They did blood work and my Dr informed me that I had high cholesterol and he was putting me on a statin, He was a Dr so I did not argue with him and started the medication, Within 6 months I was feeling weak,tired and just had no ambition and my feet,back and kidneys hurt and my eyesight was being affected, Back to the Dr for more blood work, He indicated that the dosage I was taking was not high enough and wanted to increase it and wrote me an Rx for a higher dosage, I went home threw the Rx in the garbage and I managed my own diet,I included a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, I cut my red meat intake in half and when I went back to the Dr 6 months later for more blood work the result was I had lowered my cholesterol to healthy levels, My Dr was pleased and told me to continue on the statins, I told him I had stopped taking them and was managing my own diet, He was happy about that but told me he still wanted me to take the statins, He told me that if he was going to be my Dr that I must do what he told me, I told him fine he was fired and I walked out of his office and found another Dr, My point is Dr's can advise but they can not mandate, And even their advice should be questioned. I am now nearing 60 and my cholesterol has been fine ever since.

Of no importance

Of major importance. I love the story. I believe you! I hope it's true.

I tend to agree...this key board...might be the biggest contributing factor...I looked down at the scale this morning and seen 205 for the first time in my life (5'9" 43)

How delightful that you can afford fruits and vegetables, and that you can afford to buy exercise equipment, and that you have the free time to exercise five days a week. It is wonderful that you can do these things and will.

But, maybe you want to not suggest that everyone has these same options?

If you are really committed to helping yourself, however, bear in mind that no amount of exercise will compensate for a workday spent at the computer (look it up). Your best option is to get a standing desk (a desk you stand at rather than sit). Your next best option is to couple your standing desk with a manual treadmill.

Since you have the money to do this, I would recommend getting a treadmill desk (no, this isn't a joke--Google the name Dr. James Levine). There are varieties of them--but, really, it's pretty easy to make one of your own.

But, let's be a bit more up front about the fact that you have a good deal more money at your disposal than most people. It's good that you will do this--but a lot of people don't have these options.

You wouldn't believe how quickly a few miles per day riding a bicycle will bring health to you physique.

@bean at home

Is this more rationale for being fat and refusing to exercise....because it wouldn't do any good? I am a poor person and don't have the money to buy exercise tools, or eat real food? Geez, can everyone see how she became so fat?

Bean- I agree. I think a lot of the nation's health problems could be helped if fresh, healthy food was as inexpensive as the fast food and junk. Many people have to make the choice between paying the electric bill and buying healthy food for their family. Hot dogs and macaroni are a heck of a lot cheaper than whole wheat pasta, chicken breasts, and fresh veggies.

@Bean and inmissouri: No offense, but money has nothing to do with it - whatsoever! Do you shop in a grocery store? The last time I checked, which was less than a week ago, frozen vegetables were $.88/per bag in a large number of variations, with each bag containing about 4 servings. Frozen vegetables are healthier for you than fresh. They are frozen when they are picked and retain more of their nutrients than fresh. A big bag of dried black beans, kidney beans, split peas, lentils, etc. are all under a dollar and contain fat-free protein that is hard to beat nutritionally and contain about 8 servings each. Of course, those do require the time to put them in a pot and put water over them before you cook them anyway you like, but I can do that while I'm feeding my cat.

I went Vegan some time ago to avoid diabetes. After about two months, I was baffled as to why my food budget had gone down much more than the price of meat that I had eliminated. I wasn't looking for the cheapest way to go. I was looking for the easiest way to go. I have to eat out or buy Amy's frozen food to go over $5/day.

Good point. The keyword is "where possible". An alternative is those resistance bike pedal machines that fit under your computer desk or on the floor in front of the couch. Can be moved anywhere one chooses to sit so no excuse for not exercising the legs while watching TV or working on the computer, whether in the heat of summer or the cold of winter.

Publius, that has been the mantra of the medical business for 30-40 years, about the same time cited in this article for the rise in the occurrence of diabetes. I won't argue about exercise, it's good for you, no doubt about it. But how much exercise do you need to burn off a pound, just one pound, of fat? At nine calories a gram, and 454 grams per pound, it means enough exercise to burn just under 4100 calories. That's a lot of exercise. A quick Google search found a calorie counting web site that says walking three miles per hour on a level surface will burn 224 calories per hour if you weigh 150 pounds. I would submit there are not enough hours in the day to burn off the extra weight to any significant degree. Kind of depressing.

So let's look at diet. Low fat means high carb. Every carbohydrate, except fiber the fiber you cannot digest, ultimately breaks down to sugar. That means release of insulin to manage all the sugar in the blood. Lots of insulin leads to insulin resistance, and that leads to diabetes. So the diet you, and much of the medical community, advocate may be exactly why we have a diabetes epidemic. Maybe the time has come to strongly consider a low carb diet. Low carb is beginning to gain some traction out there, but has a long way to go. Read about low carb, keep an open mind, and you will be amazed. Read Taubes or Atkins, it is very interesting.

Now, I'm not much of a conspiracy theory guy, but as noted in the article, drug companies are making a bundle from diabetes. I would also suggest that major food producers are making a bundle from the low fat diet. If you can take a few cents of grain and make a $2.50 loaf of bread or a $4.00 box of cereal, would you want people to stop eating them? I doubt it. Combine the effect of big pharmaceutical companies, and big food producers, and you have a lot of money and political clout to throw around. Maybe greed trumps health here and around the world.

Read more carefully--part of the cause has to do with increased population, and about 30% does not. Yes, Western foods have a lot to do with the issue--but when Western food is all that is inexpensive and available, one eats it. When it becomes impossible to walk to work (I can't even walk to the store in my neighborhood any more--the last time I walked to the doctor, someone openly tried to run me over because it is assumed that anyone walking is poor, a vagrant, and doesn't belong in the neighborhood), and when work involves sitting at a computer for hours on end--yes, diabetes increases.

Diabetes and obesity are the black lung of the 21st centry.

@bean at home

We need to count your rationalizations. Now there is no walking in L.A.!

I favor the elimination of individual motorized transport, and I was inclined to sympathize with your resentment toward automobile drivers until I saw that it was the fat rationalizer again. They were just trying to run down the fat person. The war between autos and bicycles is much greater than the conflict with pedestrians and autos(not to mention pedestrian/bicyclist). If you count this as an excuse for not leaving the house, your obesity is limiting your activities. Just think! If you go somewhere and do something you won't be able to eat again until you return. Enless you stop at McDonald's on the way to the doctor's office. McDonald's is for poor people. It is also cheap for the poverty-stricken.

And, I am sick and tired of whiny Type 1 diabetics and their families. Type 1 diabetes is likely caused in part by genetics and in part by environmental factors (too clean of an environment, bottle feeding, day care exposure to viruses).

Type 2 diabetes is not "cured" by a pill--it is just as progressive and just as "incurable" as Type 1. There are far more people with Type 2, and far more of them die from it.

Type 1 is curable--have a pancreatic transplant. Type 2 is curable--have bariatric surgery.

Type 1 is the form that some people get, and Type 2 is the form that other people get--there isn't a lot of difference between them other than the fact that Type 1 diabetics tend to have hyper-clean moms and tend to be kind of OCD themselves (which might be one thing that caused it).

There is a Juvenile Diabetes Foundation that not merely funds Type 1 care, but will provide a free education for people who have Type 1 diabetes. There are "walks" and "runs" for Juvenile Diabetes. No one cares?

Perhaps the real problem here is that 1) you don't know what you are talking about and 2) you like playing the victim?

Have a great day.

@bean at home

Despicable person.

Take care of yourself! Because no one cares about you! Bean!

Bean@home

I happen to work with the ADA on various levels.

You are an idiot...

Please do not post information on things you do not understand.

What a stupid reply, Bean@home. I have been with my husband for 13 years and know that he is NOT OCD, was breast fed, and is certainly FAR from too clean an environment and, furthermore, he never attended daycare.

Why don't you get some facts straight before you post such garbage?

Oh, and your "solution" to a pancreatic transplant is hardly easy to come by.

For a while I was quite impressed with the comments coming from those Type 2 sufferers until I happened upon your post. I hope you never suffer from the effects that the Type 1 sufferers do.

EDIT: I was interested to learn more about you (call it morbid curiosity) so I read a few of your other posts. I really like the one wherein you state you cannot get out and exercise because of your desk job, YET you are constantly online posting your nonsensical comments. Perhaps if you spent less time online bothering people with your lack of facts you might improve your TYPE 2 DIABETES.

It's not just fast food being a part of the problem. It is also when we started consuming processed foods. Over the last 70yrs. our processed foods have become worse and worse for us to consume due to all of the additives that they use to make the products. It's not just to keep them lasting longer than freshly made product. It's also cheaper to make when you substitute sugar with high fructose corn syrup, and substituting butter with margarine.

It's called reading the labels on what you are eating. The longer the list, the more unhealthy it is for you.

Bettina,

You are absolutely right about processed foods. What is interesting, though, is that processed foods were essentially introduced due in large part to the fast food industry.

You should watch "Food Inc." if you have not already. It's quite shocking.

Unfortunately, the trip through the drive through for burger and fries has become just an "afternoon snack" with an additional 3 meals or more per day becoming the norm.

I totally agree with positive thinker. I have been a type 1 diabetic since I was 14 years old. As a type 1 diabetic my pancreas does not produce any insulin thus I have to take insulin. I was taking up to 5 injections a day but am now on an insulin pump and my life is almost normal. I am now 61 years old so I do know what it is like to live with type 1 diabetes. My sister is a type 2 diabetic and her treatment and lifesyle is completly different from mine. There is a lot of money being made from all that is needed to treat diabetes...both types. I agree that you cannot lump both of these conditions into the same group.

but actually it did refer to type 2 in the beginning, and pegged it with sedentary lifestyle and weight. I have borderline 2 myself. I exercise a lot for age 65, my diet is very healthy, but in my case its age and genetics. Its a complicated disease. Also compounded by having metabolic syndrome which I can't control except with meds.

p.s. there is no cure for diabetes. But you are right, the drug companies do have us in their grasp. Thank goodness my drug has a generic.

Type 1 and 2 are different but both are progressive and basically lead to the same type of complications that end life. Type 2 accounts for about 95% of all the diabetes in the world but ALL diabetics are at risk for suffering the same consequences and organ system damage related to elevated blood glucose levels. Additionally, type 1 has also been increasing over the last 2-3 decades in the very young...ages 0-4. The thought is that exposure to environmental triggers that cause the autoimmune response is now happening at a much earlier age. There are several long term research studies going on to study this...1 is the TEDDY Study (The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young).

Yes, drug manufacturers make billions off diabetes treatment but honestly, none of them can cure it yet...it's a very complex disease process that is unfortunately, still not completely understood.

Bottom line: a cure for diabetes is needed and whoever develops it first will be the billionaire or more likely the trillionaire!

I am an RN MPH and a certified diabetes educator w/ type 1 for 29yrs

Yes it mentions Type II in the beginning, in passing, but does not specifically state the article is about Type II. And it bothers me because we all know the media portrays Type II as resulting from a so-called sedentary lifestyle, but that is not so with Type I. So if Type I is increasing as well, that is definitely more worrisome because that means there are things happening that we have no control over to prevent its onset. I should have said that when I first posted, but I think faster than I type!

Excuse my conspiracy theories, as well. ;)

Diabetes as deliberate global population control!

@ peteMT

We already have automobiles for randomized population control. And noone is willing to give them up, either.

@JamieNorwood

That's true - but I think the more targeted cigarette marketing is much more effective!

Ha that would be awesome. Except that the symptoms of low and high blood sugar make you feel like anything BUT a superhero. :(

I guess if everyone with diabetes went untreated, the disease would be wiped out because they all would be dead!

You really are nonsensical, Charlie!