Eating to Death:
Type 2 Diabetes a Curable Disease
Doctors and Scientist from the American Diabetes Association declare that, “at least 26 million and counting Americans suffer from Type 2 diabetes (Pp.1 2013). Majority of the population affected by Type 2 diabetes are African-Americans and Hispanics. According to the ADA, “Nearly $250 billion dollars in medical expenses can be traced directly back to Americans with diabetes” (2013, p.1). Most Americans with Type 2 diabetes are unaware that they can cure and rid themselves of this “disease.” Type 2 Diabetes strips the body’s ability of producing adequate amounts of insulin (Blood Sugar) or it tells the cells to disregard the insulin. Insulin is essential for the human body to be capable to use glucose for energy. When food is consumed, the body converts all of the sugars and starches into glucose, which is the basic fuel or energy for the cells in the body. Insulin takes the sugar from the blood and transports it into the cells. This topic is important because Americans are losing their lives and money to a curable disease that can simply be fixed by taking preventive measures towards diabetes, changing their daily diet by eating healthier food and incorporated exercise in their daily lives.
According to the ADA, “African-American people are tremendously affected by diabetes as 3.7 million or 14.7 percent of all African Americans aged 20 years or older have diabetes” (2013, p.1). CQ Researcher Kenneth Jost explains that, “Diabetes is broadly misunderstood as a controllable disease; on the contrary this disease is deadly and expensive” (2001, p.1). While it may be a common disease people should not overlook this disease and they should be aware of the ways to prevent themselves fr...
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...betes Association®. Retrieved March 30, 2014, from http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/statistics/
CDC - Diabetes Public Health Resource - Diabetes DDT. (2014, March 13). Retrieved March 30, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/
Center for Science in the Public Interest (2009). In K. Weber (Ed.), Food, Inc: How industrial food is making us sicker, fatter and poorer -- and what you can do about it. New York: PublicAffairs.
Hirshberg, G. (2009). In K. Weber (Ed.). Food, Inc: How industrial food is making us sicker, fatter and poorer -- and what you can do about it. New York: PublicAffairs.
Jost, K. (2001, March 9). CQ Researcher. Retrieved March 30, 2014, from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/
Nestle, M. (2009). In K. Weber (Ed.) Food, Inc: How industrial food is making us sicker, fatter and poorer – and what you can do about it. New York: PublicAffairs.
During the year 1889, two researchers, Joseph Von Mering and Oskar Minkowski, discovered the disease that is known today as diabetes. Diabetes is a disease in which the insulin levels (a hormone produced in unique cells called the islets of Langerhans found in the pancreas) in the bloodstream are irregular and therefore affect the way the body uses sugars, as well as other nutrients. Up until the 1920’s, it was known that being diagnosed with diabetes was a death sentence which usually affected “children and adults under 30.” Those who were diagnosed were usually very hungry and thirsty, which are two of the symptoms associated with diabetes. However, no matter how much they ate, their bodies wouldn’t be able to use the nutrients due to the lack of insulin.
Nestle, Marion. Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
The 2009 movie Food Inc. describes the major role that food production plays within many lives. This movie revealed that there is a very small variety of companies that consumers purchase their food from. These few companies actually control what is out on the shelves and what we put into our bodies. These companies have changed food production into a food production business. Many of these companies experiment with ways to create large quantities of food at low production costs to result in an enormous amount of profit for themselves. Some of the production cost cuts also result in less healthy food for the population. Instead of worrying about the health of the population, the companies are worried about what will make them the most money.
Sharpe, D. A Culturally Targeted Self-Management Program for African Americans with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. (2012, December 15). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Rajaram, S. S., Vinson, V. (1998). African american women and diabetes: a sociocultural context. Journal of Health Care for the Poor & Underserved, 9(3), 236-247.
Diabetes is a disease in which a person’s body in unable to make or utilize insulin properly which affects blood sugar levels. Insulin is a hormone that is produced in the pancreas, which helps to regulate glucose (sugar) levels, break down carbohydrates and fats, and is essential to produce the body’s energy. The CDC (2013) offers reliable insight, summarized here, into the different types of diabetes, some causes, and health complications that may arise from the disease.
In this book, Pollan focuses a lot on the culture that surrounds the eating habits of today’s society in America. He talks about how we come from a culture that was primarily dependent on the hunting and gathering of our food. Pollan explains that through the years, Americans have turned away from providing for themselves in exchange for quicker and more convenient meals. I believe that America has evolved into a fast paced way of living. This has inhibited today’s society from having optimal time to prepare and even sit down to enjoy their meals. These cultural changes have led to a higher consumption rate of processed and fast foods. Almost anywhere you go, you can find a find a fast food restaurant or chain. With all of these arising opportunities, today’s culture has created a very unhealthy nation filled with sickness and disease. Pollan states that three out of every five Americans are overweight and one out of every five is obese. When compared to American culture before processed and fast food were ever an option, issues and diseases related to weight were almost non-existent. The people that lived before our modernized culture had to expend a greater amount of energy on hunting and tracking their prey, sometimes even ending up empty handed. However, when compared to today’s culture a surplus of food is available to people in exchange for much smaller energy expenditures.
Jost, Kenneth. “Diabetes Epidemic: why is this serious disease on the increase?” The CQ Researcher (March 9, 2001): 185-200
Walsh, Bryan. “America’s Food Crisis.” NEXUS. Eds. Kim and Michael Flachmann. Boston: Pearson, 2012. 166 – 173. Print.
Glucose is a sugar that plays a big part in a human’s health and well-being. This sugar is a major source of energy for the body’s brain and cells. The Cells that receive energy from glucose help in the building of the body’s muscle and tissue. Although glucose may be important to the body too much of this sugar can cause a chronic condition called Diabetes. Diabetes, also known as Diabetes mellitus, is a chronic condition that is caused by too much sugar in the blood. This condition can affect all age groups. In fact, in 2010 a survey was taken by the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, on the number of newly diagnosed diabetes. Out of 1,907,000 people: 24.38% were ages 20-44, 55.17% were ages 45-64, and 20.45% were ages 65 and greater. Diabetes is a very serious condition, and it can be deadly if left untreated. This paper will help better educate the reader on the signs and symptoms, the testing process, and the management of diabetes.
Harvey, Blatt. America’s Food: What You Don’t Know About What You Eat. 1st ed. Cambridge:
Our current system of corporate-dominated, industrial-style farming might not resemble the old-fashioned farms of yore, but the modern method of raising food has been a surprisingly long time in the making. That's one of the astonishing revelations found in Christopher D. Cook's "Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis" (2004, 2006, The New Press), which explores in great detail the often unappealing, yet largely unseen, underbelly of today's food production and processing machine. While some of the material will be familiar to those who've read Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" or Eric Schlosser's "Fast-Food Nation," Cook's work provides many new insights for anyone who's concerned about how and what we eat,
For my cultural interview, I decided to interview an African American male of age 49, who is suffering from chronic diabetes mellitus. This disorder has caused a significant
The 'Secondary'. Food politics: how the food industry influences nutrition and health.
It became so clear that junk foods lead to a punch of catastrophic diseases like obesity, type two diabetes, vascular diseases and cardiac disorders. Those kinds of diseases cost more than $150 billion annually, just to diagnose, treat people who suffer from them. That disease is chronic and leads to many health-related issues, for example, obesity considers a risk factor for type two diabetes, and high blood pressure, joint disorders and many others (The Denver Post 2012). The key of preventing many chronic problems is nutrition. Low income plays an important role of limiting most people to buy and eat a healthy diet and in the other hand, it is easy for people budgets to purchase junk foods. So controlling the prices of healthy foods to be suitable for all people make good nutrition available for everyone. Adequate diets mean decreasing the epidemic of those serious diseases, and stopping the spread and break the bad sequences that may happen. Long-term exposure to junk foods that are full with chemicals like additives, preservatives have led to chronic illnesses difficult to treat. Also, the chemical added to junk foods are tasted unique and made millions of people becoming addicted to them and are available everywhere for example in restaurants, cafes, lunchrooms (The Denver Post