A leading nutritionist has offered her advice on reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in light of research revealing the scale of the problem.
According to the Diabetes and Wellness Foundation, there are currently 3.8m people with diabetes in the UK and it is estimated that a further 500,000 adults have the disease but don’t know it. In addition, for every 10 people that have diabetes, 90 per cent have type 2, which in many cases can be prevented.
And so, Nutritionist and Fitness Instructor, Cassandra Barns, has listed signs that indicate you could have high blood sugar – and what you can do about it. “It’s important to say that none of these individual signs mean you definitely have high blood sugar, but they are indications that it’s worth seeing your doctor, who will run some tests if necessary,” explained Cassandra.
• Feeling tired – of course, feeling tired can have many causes, but it can be an indication that your body is not efficiently taking glucose (sugar) into your cells to use for energy, meaning your blood sugar stays high.
• Feeling unusually thirsty – when your blood sugar levels are high, water is pulled out of your cells into your bloodstream to dilute the sugar. So, you may feel very thirsty, even if you’re drinking plenty of water – and may have to pee a lot.
• Feeling very hungry, even if you’ve just eaten – just like tiredness signals, you’ll get hunger signals if glucose is staying in the blood and not being taken into your cells. Your body thinks it’s because you haven’t eaten!
• A ‘spare tyre’ – weight gain around the abdomen is an indication that your blood sugar levels could be high and is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
• Thrush – high blood sugar levels can change the bacterial balance in vaginal fluids and encourage the growth of candida, leading to thrush.
