The Practical Aspects

The Apple Shaped Menace

Diabetes is one of the most common and prevalent disease. This disease has no specific cause for its occurrence, it can occur due to low insulin levels, obesity and many other causes.

But of these varied insulin levels are considered to be the leading cause for diabetes. Insulin sensitivity helps to know how sensitive to insulin you are and in setting your insulin doses. Insulin sensitivity helps to determine the total daily insulin dose, including the background insulin, carbohydrate Humalog/Regular and sliding scale Humalog/Regular.

Insulin sensitivity is also a measure of one's risk for heart disease. The more sensitive one is in general, the lower the risk for heart problems. For those with Type I diabetes, insulin sensitivity can be estimated by the following equations.

• Your weight (lbs.) / 4 =_____ units
• Your total daily insulin dose (all insulins) =_____ units

The answer from equation 1 gives your estimated need for insulin. If your actual insulin dose on equation 2 is close to this number, and you have good control, you have a normal sensitivity to insulin.

If equation 2 is less than equation 1 then you have excellent insulin sensitivity.

If equation 2 is much greater than equation 1, your insulin sensitivity may be lower or you may be on too much insulin.

If insulin sensitivity is decreased, the tips for an apple figure can help to improve sensitivity. With Type II diabetes, determining sensitivity to insulin is more complicated because everyone varies in how much insulin their own pancreas produces and in how resistant they are to insulin.

What is an Apple figure?

It is known that an apple is good for health, but a body structure resembling an apple with excess weight in the middle, isn't good for anyone. The risk for heart disease goes up two and a half times for men with diabetes and the apple figure, where as it rises eightfold for women with diabetes and this kind of a physical structure.

Often people with an apple figure have a family history of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, or cholesterol problems. But those genetic factors don't necessarily mean we WILL get insulin resistance.

Apart from inherited genes, controllable lifestyle factors have been shown to contribute to excess fat deposits in the middle. These lifestyle factors include alcohol, smoking, stress, lack of exercise, and excess fat or simple sugars in the diet.

Risk of apple figure:

Fat cells in the abdomen release fat into the blood more easily than fat cells found elsewhere. Fat cell release begins 3 to 4 hours after the last meal compared to many more hours for other fat cells and this easy release shows up as higher triglyceride (TG) and free fatty acid levels. Free fatty acids themselves cause insulin resistance.

A large number of people have insulin resistance and they are more prone to heart disease, even though they never actually develop diabetes.

Risks found with an apple figure include higher TG levels, lower HDL (protective cholesterol), higher blood pressure, diabetes (Type 2r), and kidney disease. Often there is a family history of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, or cholesterol problems.

Knowing whether you have an apple figure:

One should determine their waist-to-hip ratio to find out whether they have an apple figure. Measure around your waist an inch above the navel using a tape measure and then measure your hips at their widest point. Divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement.

• A ratio over 0.8 for women, or over 1.0 for men suggests an unhealthy accumulation of fat in the middle.

What if you have apple figure?

The following actions improve insulin sensitivity and are very important in preventing health problems if you've got an apple figure:

• eat less fat
• eat fewer total calories,
• keep blood sugars normal, (get good blood glucose control) This will lower your TG levels
• drink little or no alcohol, - alcohol is extra calories, drinking less will reduce your abdominal fat and lower your TG levels
• exercise regularly, turn that fat into more muscle
• don't smoke,
• reduce stress in your life