Topic 4: Mike was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He is feeling good and has not noticed any changes in his health. Sam, his twin, has not been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. They both like the same activities and foods. Mike does not understand why he has diabetes, but his brother does not and why he has not had any noticeable symptoms. How would you explain this to him? Carbohydrate is broken down in our digestive tract to monosaccharides and glucose, a monosaccharide, stimulates the release of insulin. The release of insulin does not cause insulin resistance and eating more carbohydrate does not cause insulin resistance either. Insulin acts at the muscle to unlock the cell and let glucose in. Sometimes that key does is not as efficient at letting glucose in causing insulin resistance. One thing we know promotes resistance is excess fat which somehow blocks insulin’s efforts to get glucose into the cell. In our example, Mike has type II diabetes. He has plenty of insulin, but it is not working right. What health changes should Mike make to reduce his body fat?
