Do you know your lifestyle choices are affecting your health?    What body shape do you have … if you are overweight and want to avoid type 2 diabetes you are better to be a “pear” shape rather than an “apple” shape. In just a moment you will find out why this is:

• excess body fat around the abdomen or central area is more indicative of type 2 than anything else. There is a direct connection between an increase in your abdominal region, insulin resistance and diabetes.
• insulin works less effectively in your body when you are overweight, especially when you store excess fat on your waist.
• fat stored around your internal organs is different to fat stored on your hips.  This particular fat allows fatty acids and hormones to leak into your circulation and they act as a signal that your fat stores are full.  Then fewer insulin-receptors are made to absorb glucose.

Imagine yourself losing a small amount of your total body weight … say 5-10%.  Fat stores around organs are easier to lose than fat on your hips.  Here is a quick way to check if you are “apple”‘ or “pear” shape:

• a waist measurement of more than 37″ (94cm) for most men or 31″ (80cm) for most women, is a sign of internal fat deposits around your pancreas, kidneys, liver and heart.  In other words, men who have this type of fat have a waist much larger than their hips.   Women have a waist measuring at least eighty per cent of their hip measurement.
• over these measurements would indicate you are “apple” shape.

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Suspect Headlines

It’s important to pay attention to smoking health risks but although the headlines read “Smoking cessation may actually Increase Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes”, this really was a little misleading. The only risk from quitting smoking in relation to Type 2 Diabetes is from any weight you might gain; not from the loss of any of the poisons and tars in a cigarette. In fact there is a far greater risk to your health if you continue to smoke.

Study Leader Hsin-Chieh “Jessica” Yeh, Ph.D., an assistant professor of general internal medicine and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, says “If you smoke, give it up. That’s the right thing to do. But people have to also watch their weight,”

Risk factors of quitting

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New scientific evidence strongly advises gestational diabetes women should not smoke at all. What this new research reveals, is that smoking is particularly harmful to people with diabetes. And our concern here is that gestational diabetes moms, or diabetic women who get pregnant, need to take a heightened warning from this new study.

Scientists have just discovered the “smoking gun” that links smoking (specifically nicotine) to increased levels of blood sugar. While doctors have long known that smokers with diabetes have had higher blood sugar levels than non-smokers with diabetes, what eluded them was the causal agent that increased blood sugar levels. The uncertainty is over.

“This is an important study.” said Dr. Xiao-Chuan Liu, director of the new research, and professor at California State Polytechnic University. “It is the first study, to establish a strong link between nicotine and diabetes complications. If you’re a smoker and have diabetes, you should be concerned and make every effort to quit smoking.” he went on.

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