One of the epidemics that has worsened over several decades is type 2 diabetes, and it can progress to type 1 diabetes if there is no care and treatment for it. Type 2 diabetes happens when the insulin your pancreas produces no longer recognizes glucose which makes you insulin resistant (insulin resistance does not necessarily mean you are diabetic) in addition to your pancreas not producing as much insulin as you did before developing type 2 diabetes.
The cause of type 2 diabetes is being overweight, living a sedentary lifestyle, and eating foods that are high in simple carbs and trans fats such as junk food. Drinking sugary drinks such as soda and high-sugar juices will also increase your chances of developing diabetes drastically. Unfortunately, even if you are at an optimal weight because you have a fast metabolism if you are eating high-calorie foods with high amounts of sugar and trans fats, you can still become diabetic.
If you are at an optimal weight and you eat healthier foods, and you are relatively active, your chances of developing type 2 diabetes are lower even if type 2 diabetes is genetic. if you had a parent or grandparent that had the condition, that is more of a reason to stick to living a healthy lifestyle.
However, the good news is, type 2 diabetes when it develops early can be reversed if you live a healthy lifestyle. If not, you can keep it under control through diet and exercise. You will need to go on medication such as Metformin to help keep your blood sugar under control. However, if that fails, or worse – if you end up with type 1 diabetes where the pancreas no longer can make insulin at all, then you will need insulin injections. How do you know your blood sugar levels are normal? Let’s now talk about the ideal blood sugar levels.
What Is The Normal Blood Sugar Level Range?
The normal blood sugar range for someone who is not diabetic is anywhere from 4.0 to 5.4 mmol/L or 72 to 99 mg/dL when you are fasting. That means that is the normal blood sugar you will want to have first thing in the morning before you eat breakfast. The normal blood sugar level after eating a meal within two hours is anything up to 7.8 mmol/L or 140 mg/dL. If you happen to not be diabetic and have higher blood sugar than 5.4 mmol/L or 99 mg/dL, then you don’t need to panic.
If you had a lot of high-fat and high-sugar foods to eat the night before, your blood sugar may be higher, and that even goes for you usually living a healthy lifestyle. However, if you are finding that your fasting blood sugar is consistently beyond 5.4 mmol/L or 99 mg/dL, then you may have pre-diabetes which means your pancreas is becoming more stressed or you may be insulin resistant.
If that is happening, then you will need to see your doctor. If you do have diabetes whether it is type 1 or type 2, you will want to have a fasting blood sugar that is no greater than 7 mmol/L or 126 mg/dL. You also do not want to have blood sugar greater than 10 mmol/L or 180 mg/dL within two hours after eating. If your blood sugar levels are higher than that, you will need to see your doctor about changing your medication regimen and you may also want to revisit your dietician to change your diet as it is normal for adjustments to happen.
However, now you know what your ideal blood sugar should be, even if you are diabetic and that way, you will know what tools to use to ensure it falls into that optimal area.
