How Diabetes Develops and How You Can Manage It

Hello! I’m Dr. Rohit Madhav Sane, director of Madhavbaug Ayurvedic Heart Care Center. Today, we are going to talk about diabetes—a condition that often creates confusion and fear. But let me assure you, there’s no need to fear diabetes. In the next few minutes, I will explain how diabetes develops and how you can manage it effectively from your home. Let’s dive in!

Common Misunderstandings About Diabetes

When it comes to diabetes, many people carry misconceptions and unnecessary fears. It’s important to clear these up because diabetes isn’t something you need to be afraid of. Today, I’ll explain, in simple terms, how diabetes works in your body, so you’ll understand what exactly is happening and how you can tackle it effectively.

How Does Diabetes Happen in Our Body?

Our body has three main compartments that play a role in how sugar (glucose) is processed:

1. Your stomach and intestines (digestive system): This is where the food you eat is digested.
2. Your bloodstream (blood vessels): Once the food is digested, sugar enters your bloodstream.
3. Your muscles (muscle tissues): Finally, the sugar from your blood moves into your muscles, where it is used as energy.

The Journey of Sugar in the Body

Let’s say you eat a meal that contains sugar. That sugar enters your stomach and is absorbed into your bloodstream. This process happens directly—there’s no need for a passport, visa, or ticket for the sugar to move into your blood!

Once sugar is in your blood, it’s supposed to travel to your muscles, where it will be used as energy. This is the sugar’s final destination. If everything goes well, the sugar enters your muscles, where it’s “burned” for energy, and everything works smoothly.

But what happens when things don’t go smoothly?

The Role of Insulin

For sugar to move from your blood into your muscles, your body needs insulin. Insulin acts as the "key" that unlocks the "doors" (receptors) on your muscles, allowing the sugar to enter.

• In Type 1 Diabetes, your body doesn’t produce insulin, so the sugar can’t move into your muscles at all.
• In Type 2 Diabetes, which is more common, your body makes insulin, but the problem lies in the "doors" (receptors) that allow sugar into your muscles. These doors are blocked, often due to fat buildup.

The Issue: Blocked Receptors

In Type 2 Diabetes, the problem isn’t that your body isn’t making insulin. It’s that the insulin receptors—the "doors" that allow sugar to enter your muscles—are blocked by fat. This fat prevents insulin from working properly, which means sugar can’t enter your muscles and stays in your bloodstream instead.

So, even though your body is making insulin, the sugar can’t get where it needs to go. This is called insulin resistance.

What Happens Next?

If the sugar can’t enter the muscles, it remains in the blood, causing high blood sugar levels. Your body responds by signaling your pancreas to produce even more insulin to try and force the sugar into your muscles. But no matter how much insulin your body produces, if the receptors (doors) are blocked, it won’t work.

Type 2 Diabetes: What’s Going On?

In Type 2 Diabetes, your body is still making insulin—sometimes, even too much. But the problem is that the receptors (doors) on your muscles are blocked by fat, preventing the insulin from doing its job. Even though there’s plenty of insulin, it can’t move the sugar from your blood into your muscles.

This creates a cycle where your body keeps producing more insulin, but the sugar remains in the blood. Over time, this leads to chronically high blood sugar levels and the full development of Type 2 Diabetes.

The Real Problem: Fat Blocking the Receptors

The real issue is that fat is blocking the insulin receptors on your muscles, preventing insulin from transporting sugar into your muscles. This fat acts like garbage stuck inside a lock, stopping the key (insulin) from working.

How Can You Fix It?

The key to managing Type 2 Diabetes lies in removing the fat that’s blocking these insulin receptors. When you get rid of the fat, the insulin can do its job, and the sugar can finally move from your blood into your muscles, where it is used for energy.

What Causes the Fat Buildup?

This fat that blocks the insulin receptors doesn’t appear overnight. It builds up over time due to poor lifestyle choices, such as eating too much unhealthy food and lack of physical activity. By addressing this fat buildup, you can improve how well insulin works in your body and manage your blood sugar levels more effectively.

The Good News

If you reduce the fat that’s blocking your insulin receptors, your body can start using insulin properly again. This means the sugar will enter your muscles, get used for energy, and your blood sugar levels will stabilize. In other words, you can effectively manage, or even reverse, Type 2 Diabetes by addressing the root cause—fat blocking the insulin receptors.