Type II Diabetes - are you at risk?

Type II diabetes, according to statistics, affects 70% of urban Indians. Chandigarh and Chennai have become the diabetes capitals of India. So, are you among those being counted in these statistics?

Can you reverse your condition if you are among the unfortunate ones? Why does it matter so much?

Let's start at the beginning. Your body uses sugar as a source of energy. Your blood has approximately 5 grammes of sugar at any point, which is used to create ATP, or energy. Like everything else, your body likes to stay within a narrow range.

In this case, 70–110 mm/dl of blood sugar. Too much and too little are problems.

Here is the strange thing. Too little does not occur very often. On the rare occasion that your sugar would start to dip, you would start feeling hungry very quickly.

The kind of hunger that would drive you insane The kind where there is no question of you not eating, no matter what you might have told yourself.

Think of this as a safety valve in your operating system, with warning signs going off telling your body that you are running out of available energy.

Too much, though, occurs more frequently than you might think. I have seen people with sugar levels that range from 150 mm/dl of blood all the way up to 600. It is only at the upper end of the spectrum that you start to see signs.

Until then, more likely than not, you would not know. It is for this reason that type II diabetes is called the silent killer. It occurs without much ado.

So, what can you do?

Well, for one, look for the obvious signs. Is your weight creeping up? Are you feeling hungry all the time? Do you get sugar cravings?

Is your waist circumference greater than your hip? If any of these are true, chances are that you are heading towards being diabetic if you are not there already.

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