Importance of Diet and Exercise in Type 2 Diabetes Management

Importance of Diet and Exercise in Type 2 Diabetes Management

Introduction

Type 2 diabetes, is one of the most common diseases in the world and is also the most common type of diabetes diagnosed in a patient. It is usually caused by the increased level of glucose (sugar) in the blood and is said to be a lifelong disease. One of the most probable causes of diabetes shortage of insulin in human body, as insulin helps to the flow of blood sugar into cells, which is then later used to produce energy. If an individual is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, his/her liver, fat and muscle cells are less likely to respond appropriately to insulin. This disease occurs slowly over the period of time. It has been suggested by many doctors, that exercise and diet can play an important role in curing managing and maintaining the sugar level, which as result helps in curing type 2 diabetes. As the combination of exercise, diet and prescribed medicine contribute a lot in controlling blood sugar level and body weight.

Discussion

There has been no real evidence for the role of exercise and diet in preventing this disease. Formally type 2 diabetes was known as non-insulin dependent diabetes or maturity-onset diabetes. It is quite certain to say that medication plays a key role in managing the chronically high blood sugar levels, but it is also argued that balanced diet and regular exercise also assists in minimizing the risk of this disease. This disease is commonly found in people who are over 40 or are overweight and suffer from the problem of obesity. There are many symptoms of type 2 diabetes and they tend to develop gradually. Usually it is reflected through the fall in physical activity of an individual, some weight loss, blurred vision, frequent infections and night urination etc. This disease is mainly cured through exercise, with oral medications or with dietary changes (Polikandrioti et,al, 2009). Since the main root cause of this disease is unhealthy diet and obesity (clinically overweight), diet and exercise play a major role in reducing the chances of its causation.

Type 2 diabetes can be diagnosed in a few ways for example through fasting plasma. This method measures the blood glucose present in a person's body, who has been starving for minimum 8 hours. Another way used to diagnose it though an oral glucose tolerance test, as it allows to measure blood glucose in a person after 8 hours since he/she took his/her meal and after 2 hours of the individual drinking a beverage containing glucose. The last method is the random plasma glucose test (Matthew et.al, n.d). This allows measuring the blood glucose level in an individual's body, regardless of when the individual took his/her last meal.

There are several epidemiological studies that have proved that people who tend to maintain their body weight and manage their normal weight and people who possess physically active lifestyles, develop this disease very rare in ...