Diabetes and High Blood Pressure - Are You Self-Inflicting?

Diabetes and High Blood Pressure could be linked through insulin resistance. Examining the occurrence of Metabolic Syndrome X gives us insight into why it`s a case for concern.

It could spell trouble. The by-products of eating a poor diet are diabetes and high blood pressure. Almost 75% of diabetics are type 2, with 50% going on to develop high blood pressure, being unaware of the seriousness of their condition.

Metabolic Syndrome X - A Cluster of Symptoms

Before diabetes and high blood pressure are full blown other symptoms may show up. Weight gain especially around the middle, a high level of triglycerides in the blood, a decrease in HDL cholesterol, and insulin resistance.

A person experiencing all 3 symptoms along with the diabetes and high blood pressure, likely have what is know as Metabolic Syndrome X, due to the reason that cells and organs which are associated with those sicknesses, suffer malfunctions of metabolic processes. But they are all linked to a common cause; the regular consumption of high glycemic foods. These foods are white bread and rolls, white rice, sugar, baked ?potatoes, broad beans, chips, and many breakfast cereals. These foods are only a small selection from a list of many high glycemic foods.

The Symptoms of Insulin Resistance

Even if we eat high glycemic food, the remarkable pancreas can function quite efficiently. It`s an amazing organ. The insulin hormone released from it`s beta cells, will stimulate "gateways" (cell receptors), to receive glucose (sugar). It all functions perfectly. Insulin will also stimulate your liver and muscle cells to store any excess glucose as glycogen when too much is produced, and that reserve will be used when the glucose levels dip, maintaining a regular level of 70-110 mg per dl.

If you habitually eat a diet of glycemic foods, that`s when problems will begin to surface. Glucose levels will be too high in the blood too often, and your beta cells will continue to supply extra insulin to off-set the load. The results are damaging to those liver, muscle, and fat cell receptors. When that occurs, then the beta cells will work ever so harder, to produce more insulin, trying to force insulin into the cells. More cell receptors are destroyed and the cycle of destruction repeats.

Your cells at this phase, become insulin resistant, with Diabetes and high blood pressure looming as a real threat, along with the other metabolic syndrome X symptoms.

With all the bombardment of insulin, your fat cell receptors become resistant to it causing triglycerides to break down and enter the blood and raise the fat count. Your muscle cells are reduced to the amount of glucose they can take in, because they too have become insulin resistant, raising the glucose in the blood higher. Then there are your liver cells which fail to store any excess glucose as glycogen when they become insulin resistant, keeping glucose levels high. Welcome to the world of diabetes! Your blood pressure begins to rise because the insulin metabolism is gone haywire, and to top it all you will probably develop -

Narrowed blood vessels
Hardened arteries
Damage to artery walls
Damage to the kidneys
Fat burning mechanism switches off
Weight gain
Vitamin and mineral deficiencies

What happens now to your wonderful working pancreas? You overworked them so much that the beta cells are beginning to burn out. Soon you will need insulin injections, on top of all the other serious health issues you will now have to cope with. Is this your story? I hope not. Don’t self-harm. Change your diet before it changes you.



About The Author

Jamesina Goulbourne goes beneath the surface, searching for the reasons why high blood pressure and related illnesses can be reversed or even avoided altogether through alternative methods. For those seeking to know how the body works to help it, a visit to her site will not disappoint.

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