A silent killer is roaming the bodies of 20 million Americans, wreaking havoc on their blood glucose levels and major organs such as the liver, kidney and heart. Even more frightening, is that an estimated 6 million people are completely unaware that they have the disease.

Diabetes has the dubious distinction of having two plans of attack: Type 1 and Type 2. The onset of Type 1 usually occurs before the age of 21 and it is called Juvenile Diabetes.

According to the guidelines from the American Diabetes Association, “In Type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin. In Type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells do not use the insulin. Insulin is necessary for the body to be able to use sugar. Sugar is the basic fuel for the cells in the body, and insulin takes the sugar from the blood into the cells.”

Milwaukee resident Yvonne Lumsden-Dill is one of 20 million Americans fighting diabetes. Lumsden-Dill, Executive Director of the Women’s Leadership Institute at Mount Mary College in Milwaukee, was diagnosed six years ago after asking her doctor to test her blood sugar. “My doctor always checked my blood pressure and cholesterol and I would always ask her to check my blood sugar. My doctor said, “‘You always ask about that, are you concerned about it?’” Lumsden-Dill was concerned given that her grandmother and mother both died from diabetes complications. As it turned out, Lumsden-Dill is a Type 2 diabetic and, in her mind, there were six characteristics that pre-disposed her to this disease: ethnicity, gender, weight, stressful work life, age, (Lumsden-Dill is over 40) and heredity.

Lumsden-Dill has made changes to her lifestyle to control this disease. “I do weight training twice a week and four nights a week I walk after dinner. I very consciously eliminated fried foods and I switched to brown rice and dark breads. With white foods, they take out everything that’s good for you and they leave in things that are not good for you. I’ve been drinking 2% milk or skim milk for thirty years, and now I only drink soy milk.”

Lumsden-Dill claims there are three things that can help a diabetic eat properly: routine, convenience and availability. “Establish a routine and stay on it. Keep healthy food convenient instead of running to McDonalds and keep it available by having a well-stocked refrigerator. Don’t be a human garbage disposal. Throw out food if you have to. Eating food to keep from throwing it out will put weight on you.”

Lumsden-Dill is taking insulin and oral medication. However, her blood sugar levels could be lower, but it is not all doom and gloom. She is working with an endocrinologist and has sought the advice of a naturopathic physician to provide her with a better understanding of how to reduce her blood sugar level so that she can continue to live a healthy lifestyle.

Robyn Cherry

Diabetes: The facts
It is a well documented fact that diabetes is a killer disease. This fatal disease can cause its victims to suffer from heart disease, stroke or kidney failure. Other complications from diabetes can include foot or leg amputations, and women of color are more at risk for this disease than their non-color counterparts.

According to Dr. Irene O’Shaughnessy, an endocrinologist with the Medical College of Wisconsin, there is a higher rate of Type 1 diabetes in whites but 95% of minorities diagnosed with diabetes are Type 2. African-American women who become pregnant face a 50% chance of developing the gestational form of the disease. She also noted that African-American women delivering their first infant, who suffer from gestational diabetes, have a 100% chance of developing gestational diabetes with subsequent pregnancies.

Dr. O’Shaughnessy add that because of the natural history of diabetes, Type 2 diabetics will eventually end up on insulin. “Because of the gradual decline in the ability of the body to use the insulin it produces, “insulin resistance” increases.” Blood sugar naturally rises after we eat and diabetics have to be aware of their Glycemic Index, which is how quickly blood sugar rises. The Glycemic Index, or GI for short, is a system that ranks foods by their affect your blood sugar levels. Low-GI foods (less than 55) produce a gradual rise in blood sugar that’s easy on the body. Foods between 55 and 70 are intermediate GI foods. Foods with high GI numbers (more than 70) make blood sugar and insulin levels spike fast.

Dr. O’Shaghnessy also advises checking blood sugar two hours after a meal. Sugar levels that register more than 159 should be discussed with your family physician.

A change to a healthy lifestyle is essential to controlling this disease as well as staying abreast of new information. Dr. O’Shaughnessy says ongoing education is very important for a diabetic “to be a player in their personalized treatment plan to avoid serious complications.”