On a Monday Moanin', The Cost of Diabetes.

Monday, April 23, 2012

The Numbers for Today:

• Fasting Blood Glucose:  109 mg/dl.  Must have been the chocolate bunny I ate late last evening.  I did feel guilty when I ate it, if that helps.
• Weight:  189 lbs.
• Exercise:  45 minute bike ride. Really, wonderfully cool weather.
• Mood:  7.0  Always hoping for a better day

The Menu:

• Breakfast:  Fruit medley of banana, strawberries and Rio Star pink grapefruit.
• Lunch:  Brown rice and summer squash/tomato stuff the Charming Mrs. SWMBO makes to get rid of yellow and zucchini squash.  
• Dinner:  Low fat Po' Boys, heavy on the cole slaw and grilled red peppers
• Snacks: Leftover mashed potatoes

Two Views on the Costs of Diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is a growing world wide problem.  In the USA according to the American Diabetes Association as of January 2011 alone there are over almost 19 million people have been diagnosed with it, 7.0 million are suspected to be undiagnosed and a staggering 79.0 million may be pre-diabetic.  You can read the grim figures here.

It's also a costly problem.

First is the money cost, $174 billion for the latest year available, 2007.  You can get the details here.  Even in today's world of fiat money, that's pricey and I imagine as the incidences have grown the dollar cost has grown as well.

The second is the human cost of uncontrolled diabetes.  Lost limbs, kidney problems, liver problems, pancreatic problems, heart and vascular problems, nerve damage, blindness, erectile dysfunction and death.

Not a lot to recommend it either way. 

The usual cause for type 2 diabetes is obesity. We are getting fatter and rate of new type 2 diabetics is growing right along with rate of people becoming obese.  That was my ticket to paradise.

So, you are not obese, are you not going to worry about suffering the costs, right?  Skinny people are home free, correct?

Sadly, no.  Skinny people do get it as well and the rate of skinny type 2 diabetes is growing. 

In no particular order of importance, here is a list of known triggers in thin people:

• Genetics
• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which I take to be cirrhosis of the liver 
• Inflammation (there it is again)
• Autoimmunity
• Stress
• High triglyceride levels
• Hypertension
• Inactivity
• Smoking

Some are readily fixable by being serious about maintaining a healthy diet or assuming a healthier lifestyle.  Going for walk every evening or quitting smoking can do wonders for some.

Other triggers, like genetics, are trickier to manage, almost defying a ready diagnosis or treatment.  For more detail on skinny diabetics, go here and here.  If you want read a depressing account of a skinny guy trying cope with his type 2 diabetes and dealing with the human costs, this is a frustrating tale.  It shows how complicated  treating this condition can be.

Makes me almost happy that by losing the fat, I lose the problem.  Often, it's not that easy.