diabetes 2

There is a strong connection between carbohydrates
high blood sugars and diabetes. Carbohydrates give your body the energy
or fuel
it needs to function properly.

There are two types of carbohydrates; simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates are in foods such as fruit sugar
corn or grape sugar and table sugar. They are single-sugar molecules. Complex carbohydrates are the foods that contain three or more linked sugars. So carbohydrates create blood sugars and that's where the problems start for diabetics. Understanding more about the connection helps to control your diabetes...

A Personal Experience

I am a diabetic type 2 and
at the moment
I control my blood sugars through tablets and diet. Blood glucose control is extremely important for any diabetic - it is the only way of minimising future health complications; heart disease; neuropathy resulting in amputations; kidney disease and early death.

Four years ago my A1C sugar levels were starting to get out of control - they weren't massively high but were creeping up. My Doctor increased my medication - with no real satisfactory results
my blood sugars were all over the place; I could go from a high reading at night and be woken by a hypoglaecemic (low blood sugar) in the early hours.

Then I discovered the Atkins diet and
because I wanted to lose weight
I started to follow the low carbohydrate
high protein menus.

That's when I discovered the real connection between complex carbohydrates
high blood sugars and my diabetes. Suddenly my blood sugars stabilised and it was because I was no longer piling in huge amounts of carbohydrate
which were pushing my blood sugars far too high.

This seemed to fly in the face of conventional advice on the right diets - complex carbohydrate rich - for diabetes. You see
I already understood I had to avoid sweet
sugary food - these contained simple carbohydrates. I hadn't realised that the more complex carbohydrate of bread
potato and cereals affected my blood sugars as well.

But (there's always a 'but' isn't there?) the Atkins diet did not really suit me. I had constant diarrhea which was stressful and debilitating. So I came off that diet after 3-4 months and
of course
my blood sugars began to get out of control again.

But now I knew about the connection
all I needed to do was find the right program for me that followed the low carbohydrate principle.

And just recently
whilst doing research for my diabetes website
I discovered a program that suits me
and which I describe in more detail on my website for diabetics.

My advice to any diabetic and pre-diabetic
do your research! Understand the close connection between the complex carbohydrates you eat
how they affect your blood sugars and how it can make it difficult to control your diabetes. Once you understand that link
look for a diet or system that you can adapt to safely bring your blood sugars back under control.

Remember
too many carbohydrates (complex or simple) give you high blood sugar levels and if you have diabetes it means your body cannot cope with the additional overload.