Positive Health Online

Diabetes is a Serious Global Problem in the Modern World

In the United Kingdom statistics in 2004 revealed that 1.8 million people have been diagnosed and are suffering from Diabetes, and a further one million individuals have not been diagnosed as yet, but have the disease. In the USA Diabetes is the number one cause of death, because so many people are suffering from this Disease. There is an estimated 16 million people with Diabetes in the USA, with a further eight to 16 million people suffering who have not been diagnosed. So possibly 32 million individuals are suffering from this disease in the USA alone.

Psychologically, being diagnosed with Diabetes can have crippling effects if the individual lacks an understanding of the disease and is, therefore, vulnerable to other people's projections and advice on the issue. Merely taking a pill from your doctor is not a responsible choice. I will explain why.

Disease or Bad Lifestyle Habit?

At a cellular level, many scientists now believe that all disease today is an expression of the gene. The majority of scientists believe that disease is a response from our genes and is a 'poor lifestyle habit'. All adult disease is beginning to be labelled as a 'bad lifestyle habit'.

Our genes encode for all of the chemicals produced in our bodies. This includes the genetic elements passed to us by our parents, such as the colour of our eyes and hair, etc., however, the chemicals released from our genes 'moment to moment' have little to do with who our parents have been!

As human beings we are constantly adapting. With a little stress they adapt to this need; however, too much stress too quickly, or an abundance of stress, and they fail to adapt, they breakdown. Our bodies either adapt or break down to the current stresses and demands we place on ourselves through our environmental experiences, through the choices we make.

Our bodies also respond to our thoughts, the 'meaning' we choose to label our experience with. For example, we can either label our experience as positive or negative. We can think positively about developing Diabetes, for example "OK, I need to change my lifestyle habits now and take more exercise and eat a healthier diet!" Or, we can choose to think negatively "I am going to die early now!"

Understanding Diabetes

Diabetes, Obesity and Hypertension (high blood pressure) are inter-related. High blood pressure and being overweight increases your chances of developing Diabetes tenfold. In Diabetes individuals have high blood sugar levels. The reason for this is simple to understand, the sugar in the blood is not getting into the cells where it is needed! Once inside the cell, the sugar needs to be transported inside the mitochondria, the engine of the cell. With Diabetics this process does not happen efficiently. In healthy individuals, once the sugar gets inside the mitochondria it meets and mixes with oxygen and then combustion happens. Heat occurs first as a result of the combustion which then produces power. This is how electricity is made in the human body. This is how the human body produces energy. However, when this doesn't happen efficiently, electricity is not generated efficiently and therefore energy is not produced efficiently either.

In Diabetes, sugar in the blood has a hard time getting into the cell. So, the big question to ask is why is sugar not getting into the cell, into the mitochondria? Simplistically, insulin can help to drive sugar into the cell, so scientists thought for a long-time that Diabetes was caused by a lack of insulin production. But later on, scientists found out that there are two types of Diabetes: Adult-onset and Juvenile Diabetes.

Individuals with Juvenile Diabetes (insulin-dependant Diabetes) cannot produce enough insulin in their body. Juvenile Diabetes is an autoimmune disease, because the individual's own T-cells (immune response cells) malfunction and destroy the insulin producing cells in the pancreas. The disease occurs as a result of the 'out of control' T-cells. In Adult-onset Diabetes this is not the case, it is not an autoimmune disease. In-fact most cases of Adult-onset Diabetes have nothing to do with Insulin production. In actuality, in Adult-onset Diabetes, insulin production is usually fine. This confused scientists for a while and left this disease unexplainable until very recently. Then the new name was born: non-insulin dependent Diabetes.

Scientists then found that the cell membrane (or outer wall of the cell) has an opening for the sugar to enter into the cell. This glucose-transporter (or insulin receptor as some scientists call it) is rather like a door that allows the sugar into the cell. When the door is open sugar can come in; when it is closed sugar is blocked from entry into the cell from the blood.

This door, (glucose-transporter) is actually part of a very simple system. The mechanism that opens the door is actually insulin. In healthy individuals when we eat something, sugar is recognized and the pancreas produces insulin. With Diabetics, however, the insulin receptor/glucose-transporter (or door) fails to open properly. Scientists began to say that Diabetics are insulin resistant. They thought that they were simply not sensitive to insulin. Then, in 2003, scientists discovered why Diabetic individuals were resistant to insulin stimulation. A new protein was found that covers up the insulin receptor/ glucose-transporter. Insulin comes, but the protein Resistin covers the insulin receptor/glucose-transporter.

It is now known that Resistin is a gene product produced in the body. Every single protein produced in our bodies is, in-fact, encoded by our genes. In healthy individuals Resistin is not produced in Diabetes!

If Resistin is being produced, this means the body has a need to produce Resistin, but why? It is now known that if you eat a lot of sugar then you are not going to necessarily develop Diabetes. So why does the body produce Resistin? Our gene responds to need, so a Diabetic patient develops the need to cover up the insulin receptor/glucose-transporter, but why?

The reason Diabetes develops i.e. sugar does not go inside the cell, inside the mitochondria, is a result of not enough, or no exercise. If an individual doesn't exercise, no combustion is needed, so all the sugar that is in the blood is stored as fat. The mitochondria (the engine of the cell) remain relatively unused.

I personally am of the opinion that Diabetes is completely reversible. I have trained several individuals over the last few years with high-blood pressure and Diabetes, who have returned to full health.

Reversing Diabetes with Exercise

What sort of exercise could reverse the effects of Diabetes? Both aerobic and anaerobic training should be implemented, but with low-moderate levels of intensity. But it is actually stretching that is vital as a form of exercise. Exercise Physiologists have found that flexibility is critically important because our health depends upon our circulation! No matter how well you eat, if you do not have good circulation this means the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to every area of your body is poor. Circulation is critical for health.

So how can you achieve optimal circulation? Blood in the body is pumped through arteries and smaller vessels to every corner of the body. In between the arteries and blood vessels is, or should be, a capillary network. Capillaries are tiny blood vessels that interlink to form networks. Capillary density is essential for healthy blood circulation throughout the entire body. Blood capillaries have been ignored for too long. If you do not have capillary density throughout your body, you will have a problem with blood circulation. Indeed, a lack of capillary density will mean there is a lack of oxygen supply and nutrients to the area of the body, where there is low capillary density!

Capillaries are extended to the parts of the body that are regularly used. If a part of the body is not used, capillaries shrink, diminish and disappear. Indeed, for capillary density to diminish and disappear, it only takes approximately 21 days. For optimal blood circulation and health, capillary density throughout the entire body is critically important!

If an individual stretches regularly and is therefore flexible, there is an abundance of capillary density throughout the body. If an individual is not flexible there may not be an abundance of oxygen and nutrient supply to some of the tissues throughout the body, (the tight, unused areas of the body) where flexibility is not optimal, due to the lack of capillary density.

Capillaries do not extend and grow by exercise alone, as every process in the body is dependent on an expression of the gene. In the case of capillary extension and growth, it has been found that the protein-based encoded by the gene is called Angiogenin. Every cell in the body can produce a substance called Angiogenin, meaning capillary production. When Angiogenin is expressed by the gene and therefore produced by the cell, this chemical then enables capillaries to extend and grow. Angiogenesis was a scientific theory until last year. For the first time, in 2004, Angiogenesis was acknowledged by the scientific world as fact, and was proved with nano-technology!

Our bodies adapt to necessity. We have a use it or lose it mind and body. Flexibility and therefore capillary density diminishes without exercise training. Aerobic and anaerobic exercise training along with stretching is very important for human health. Exercise is key to reversing the effects of Diabetes.

Diabetics lose capillary density as the high levels of sugar in the blood damage the capillaries. When an individual has a lack of capillary density they have a lack of blood circulation throughout their body. Capillaries shrink with excess amounts of sugar, so blood cannot flow easily or efficiently. So sugar (and caffeine from tea and coffee) needs to be 'cut out' completely from the diet, and 'daily' exercise needs to be introduced. Both aerobic and anaerobic training with low-moderate levels of intensity, but especially stretching, needs to be done daily.

A lack of exercise in an individual's life means there is no need to produce energy; they do not need to bring the sugar into the cell, into the mitochondria. The body responds to this need and produces the chemical Resistin, which covers up the insulin receptor/gluscose-transporter! Lack of exercise may be a cause of Diabetes, but a high-fat/high-sugar diet is another factor, as the red blood cells that supply oxygen to the cells become stuck together in a poor diet, so the cells do not get enough oxygen.

It has long been known that individuals who do not exercise have a much lower number of mitochondria in their cells. Individuals with long-term sedentary lifestyles have very low mitochondria levels. A decline in Mitochondria increases the possibility of developing Diabetes tenfold. The cause of the onset of Diabetes is the lack of a positive electrical charge in the cell; in Diabetics a negative charge remains in the cell, as the cell does not open up to allow the sugar in to be burned, so the cell becomes closed down.

In my experience Diabetes is completely reversible with the correct exercise programme, by adopting healthier eating habits, and by making better lifestyle choices. Some scientists and doctors may disagree; however, more and more adult disease is now being labelled as a 'bad lifestyle habit.' If you change your poor habits for healthier lifestyle choices, your body should adapt to this need, stop producing Resistin, and your mitochondria should start to learn to produce energy in your cells again!

References

Kriska AM et al. The association of physical activity with obesity, fat distribution and glucose intolerance in Pima Indians. Diabetologia. 6: 863. 1993.
Kannel WB and McGee DL. Diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors. The Framingham Study. 59: 8. Circulation 1979.
Gu K et al. Diabetes and decline in heart disease mortality in US adults. JAMA. 281: 1291. 1999.
Grundy SM et al. Diabetes and cardiovascular disease: a statement for health professionals from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 100: 1134. 1999.
Bjornholt JV et al. Fasting blood glucose: an underestimated risk factor for cardiovascular death. Diabetes Care. 22: 45. 1999.
Ivy JL et al. Prevention and treatment of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 27: 1. 1999.
Simoneau JA et al. Altered glycolytic and oxidative capacities of skeletal muscle contribute to insulin resistance in NIDDM. J Appl Physiol. 83: 166. 1997.

Further Information

Choi Kwang-Do is a martial art with a difference. Designed by Grandmaster Kwang Jo Choi, it is a non-contact, non-competitive martial art that has been designed for human health and personal development. Choi Kwang-Do uses a unique stretch to improve circulation and to therefore enhance health.