Like type 1 diabetes, the exact cause of type 2 diabetes is hard to pinpoint, but it is likely that genetics and lifestyle play a role in the development of insulin resistance which ultimately can lead to type 2 diabetes when left untreated. When someone has insulin resistance their body’s cells struggle to respond to the effects of a “normal” amount of insulin. The job of insulin is to reduce glucose, so when the body doesn’t respond to insulin, it eventually causes high blood sugar. However, first, the pancreas tries to fix the high blood sugar by producing even more insulin.
Prolonged increases in insulin can lead to weight gain, increased triglycerides, increased blood pressure, and decreased HDL (good cholesterol) and eventually pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes if not treated. The reason that this progression occurs, is that eventually the cells that make insulin “burn out” from having to produce a higher than normal amount of insulin, often for years.
Once the insulin producing cells in your pancreas can’t keep up, this is when blood sugars start to rise, and rise. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans has been recommending that you eat a high carb, low fat diet for decades—this recommendation is detrimental for someone that is carb intolerant because it encourages regular consumption of starchy foods that inevitably cause high blood sugar. A low carb, high fat (ketogenic) diet is a much more appropriate (and science-based) approach for someone that is carb intolerant because it will keep blood sugar and insulin under control.
This guide does a great job of describing what type 2 diabetes is and what causes it, and I have a video series on the topic here: Reversing Diabetes 101 with Dr. Sarah Hallberg: The Truth About Carbs, Blood Sugar and Reversing Type 2 Diabetes
Original article: https://www.quora.com/
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