Insulin resistance, or the body’s inability to use insulin properly causes diabetes to develop. Insulin is an important hormone which transports sugar from the blood to the cells to use as energy. This important hormone is produced by specific cells in the pancreas known as beta cells. When these cells are sick, their ability to create insulin is affected, resulting in lack of insulin production and/or insulin resistance. Insulin resistance refers to the body’s inability to use the insulin that is produced.
Root causes of the illness include:
- Elevated amounts of fat – fat accumulates around our midsection. The midsection houses a lot of our organs, including our pancreas. Elevated amounts of fat create trauma around the organs. Adipose cells, which store fat, dwell close to our organs. As these cells enlarge in size they create inflammation and damage.
- Inflammation/overactive immune response – excess amount of fat is stored around the organs, including the pancreas. This excess fat creates pressure, leading to tissue damage. Damage leads to inflammation, creating an immune response. When inflammation is constant the immune system assumes the entire inflamed area is a problem and will attack the entire region, including the pancreas. Beta cells are affected by this process and get sick.
- Chronic stress – whenever we get stressed we produce a hormone known as cortisol. Over production of cortisol affects the digestive system. The metabolic changes that take place in these situations further extend diabetic damage. Additionally, cortisol weakens the immune system.
- Skipping meals – skipping meals weakens pancreatic cells that produce a hormone known as glucagon. Glucagon is important because it levels out glucose in the blood after insulin has done its job of lowering the overall total amount blood sugar. When we skip meals, this pancreas does extra work to bring balance. That’s because when we skip meals, the tendency is to eat a large meal to compensate for the lack of energy. This leads to a rush of sugar within a very small window of time. The pancreas ends up overworking during these moments, leading to pancreatic damage.