How to Prevent or Delay Diabetes

Islets of Langerhans

Pre-diabetes is a serious medical condition that can be treated. The good news is that the recently completed Diabetes Prevention Program study conclusively showed that people with pre-diabetes can prevent the development of type 2 diabetes by making changes in their diet and increasing their level of physical activity. They may even be able to return their blood glucose levels to the normal range.

Making Healthy Food Choices


Meal Planning Made EasyDiabetes Meal Planning Made Easy, helps you learn about the new diabetes nutrition recommendations and master the intricacies of each food group in the new pyramid.

Nutrition


Knowing what to eat can be confusing. Everywhere you turn, there is news about what is or isn't good for you. Some basic principles have weathered the fad diets, and have stood the test of time. Here are a few tips on making healthful food choices for you and your entire family.

* Eat lots of vegetables and fruits. Try picking from the rainbow of colors available to maximize variety. Eat non-starchy vegetables such as spinach, carrots, broccoli or green beans with meals.
* Choose whole grain foods over processed grain products. Try brown rice with your stir fry or whole wheat spaghetti with your favorite pasta sauce.
* Include dried beans (like kidney or pinto beans) and lentils into your meals.
* Include fish in your meals 2-3 times a week.
* Choose lean meats like cuts of beef and pork that end in "loin" such as pork loin and sirloin. Remove the skin from chicken and turkey.
* Choose non-fat dairy such as skim milk, non-fat yogurt and non-fat cheese.
* Choose water and calorie-free "diet" drinks instead of regular soda, fruit punch, sweet tea and other sugar-sweetened drinks.
* Choose liquid oils for cooking instead of solid fats that can be high in saturated and trans fats. Remember that fats are high in calories. If you're trying to lose weight, watch your portion sizes of added fats.
* Cut back on high calorie snack foods and desserts like chips, cookies, cakes, and full-fat ice cream.
* Eating too much of even healthful foods can lead to weight gain. Watch your portion sizes.

Exercise


Tips on how to include a healthy amount of physical activity into your daily routine:

What is Exercise?

What is exercise (physical activity) and what can it do for me?


Exercise is also known as physical activity and includes anything that gets you moving, such as walking, dancing, or working in the yard. You can earn the benefits of being physically active without going to a gym, playing sports, or using fancy equipment. When you're physically fit, you have the strength, flexibility, and endurance needed for your daily activities. Being physically active helps you feel better physically and mentally.

Physical activity can lower your blood glucose (sugar), blood pressure, and cholesterol. It also reduces your risk for heart disease and stroke, relieves stress, and strengthens your heart, muscles, and bones. In addition, regular activity helps insulin work better, improves your blood circulation, and keeps your joints flexible. If you're trying to lose weight, a combination of physical activity and wise food choices can help you reach your target weight and maintain it. All of these benefits can be yours even if you haven't been very active before.

Types of Exercise



* Aerobic Exercise
* Strength Training
* Flexibility Exercises

Aerobic Exercise



Aerobic exercise increases your heart rate, works your muscles, and raises your breathing rate. For most people, it's best to aim for a total of about 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week. If you haven't been very active recently, you can start out with 5 or 10 minutes a day and work up to more time each week. Or split up your activity for the day -- try a brisk 10-minute walk after each meal. If you're trying to lose weight, you may want to exercise more than 30 minutes a day. Here are some examples of aerobic exercise:

* Take a brisk walk (outside or inside on a treadmill)
* Go dancing
* Take a low-impact aerobics class
* Swim or do water aerobic exercises
* Try ice-skating or roller-skating
* Play tennis
* Stationary bicycle indoors

Strength Training



Strength training, done several times a week, helps build strong bones and muscles and makes everyday chores like carrying groceries easier for you. With more muscle, you burn more calories, even at rest. Here are some ways to do it:

* Join a class to do strength training with weights, elastic bands, or plastic tubes
* Lift light weights at home

Flexibility Exercises



Flexibility exercises, also called stretching, help keep your joints flexible and reduce your chances of injury during other activities. Gentle stretching for 5 to 10 minutes helps your body warm up and get ready for aerobic activities such as walking or swimming. Your health care team can provide information on how to stretch.

Being Active Throughout The Day



In addition to formal exercise, there are many opportunities to be active throughout the day. Being active helps burns calories. The more you move around, the more energy you'll have. These strategies can help you increase your activity level:

* Walk instead of drive whenever possible
* Take the stairs instead of the elevator
* Work in the garden, rake leaves, or do some housecleaning every day
* Park at the far end of the shopping center lot and walk to the store

Overcoming Barriers

How do I get past the barriers to being physically active?


If you’re not active, it’s likely that you have at least one reason why. Perhaps you’ve never been very active. Maybe you’re afraid you’ll get low blood glucose. Think about what’s keeping you from being active and then look into ways to overcome the barriers.

Where is insulin produced and how does it affect the body?

Insulin is produced by the beta cells of the islets of Lagerhans lying interspersed in the pancreatic follicles.

Insulin controls blood sugar level. It brings down the blood sugar level by letting body cells to absorb. Deficiency of insulin causes diabetes mellitus.

Definition of Islets of Langerhans


Islets of Langerhans: Known as the insulin-producing tissue, the islets of Langerhans do more than that. They are groups of specialized cells in the pancreas that make and secrete hormones. Named after the German pathologist Paul Langerhans (1847-1888), who discovered them in 1869, these cells sit in groups that Langerhans likened to little islands in the pancreas. There are five types of cells in an islet: alpha cells that make glucagon, which raises the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood; beta cells that make insulin; delta cells that make somatostatin which inhibits the release of numerous other hormones in the body; and PP cells and D1 cells, about which little is known. Degeneration of the insulin-producing beta cells is the main cause of type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus.

The endocrine (i.e., hormone-producing) cells of the pancreas are grouped in the islets of Langerhans. Discovered in 1869 by the famous German pathological anatomist Paul Langerhans, the islets of Langerhans constitute approximately 1 to 2% of the mass of the pancreas. There are about one million islets in a healthy adult human pancreas, which are distributed evenly throughout the organ; their combined weight is 1 to 1.5 grams.
Cell types

Hormones produced in the Islets of Langerhans are secreted directly into the blood flow by (at least) five different types of cells:[1]

* Alpha cells producing glucagon (15-20% of total islet cells)
* Beta cells producing insulin and amylin (65-80%)
* Delta cells producing somatostatin (3-10%)
* PP cells producing pancreatic polypeptide (3-5%)
* Epsilon cells producing ghrelin. (<1%)

Islets can influence each other through paracrine and autocrine communication, and beta-cells are coupled electrically to beta cells

 

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