Stress, Diabesity’s Demon

© Jacquelyn Johnston, M.Ed.

Where does it hit you? For Patti, it’s headaches—migraines, even. For Alex, it’s thundering at the temples. Leslie? She eats a whole package of cookies. And Greg? Back pain that keeps him up at night.

Yes, every emotion is a physical event, and in people with diabetes it often translates into more belly fat. An overweight participant at my last seminar asked me how stress and weight issues were linked.

Many people now understand that diabesity is the combination of excess weight and Type 2 diabetes. Here’s what I told him. At 200 pounds past his ideal weight he did not know where to start. He agreed to start with one thing. Not doing one thing, but understanding one thing. Just one: that there’s a disease pathway.

“You mean how one thing leads to another?”
“ Exactly”.
“So where does stress come in?”
“Well, Greg, (now Patti was listening too) it’s your arteries”.
“I have diabetes, not heart disease”.
“I hate to tell you this, but the two are linked”
“I dowanna hear this”.
“Well, I do, so tell me”. Now Greg was the one eavesdropping.

“80 percent of people suffering from Type 2 diabetes die of a heart attack,” I explained “Stress causes inflammation in the arteries. Inflammation leaves a narrower path for the blood to go through the arteries and veins, and the heart has to work overtime. It can do this for a time, then it too, protests. That’s when you can easily get a heart attack. Plus, belly fat isn’t static. It envelops a lot of toxins, and produces hormones that stress the heart and other organs.

And all the time, your poor pancreas is struggling to stabilize the sugar situation. Your liver is taking over some of the pancreas’ duties, and you have a real zoo going on inside you”.

Unfortunately, the break’s over, folks. When, thought I, are you going to embark on an action plan? Like calling me? Or downloading the free report on the right of this page? ”

Let me know what you think the ideal course of action would have been for Greg.
Lots of room for comments just below this box.

Waiting to hear from you,

Jacquelyn

Jacquelyn Johnston M.Ed.
Professional Health Coach and Educator,
Solutions and Support for Optimal Health

Whether you need to lose those pesky 20 pounds,
work on prevention or regain health, I can help.