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Mar 27, 2012

Type 2 Diabetes - the easy way out?

5 miler on the schedule today....done!  Another pair of shoes bites the dust.  My favorite shoes are going minimal.  Well, ok, not really but they are going to an 8mm heal to toe drop and I'm used to a 12mm.  It's the new Ride 5 coming out this fall.  I'm hoping it will not be drastic.  On a positive note, it looks like I'll be testing a pair of trail shoes shortly which are at a 6mm drop so this will give me a chance to get used to a lower drop.  Looks like all shoes are moving this way.

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Type 2 Diabetes
Last night I was watching the national news and they were talking about a new surgery where they can fix people with Type 2 Diabetes.  Not just any weight loss surgery.  It basically changes their numbers so they are almost instantly not diabetic anymore(within hours or a couple days at most) without even losing the weight.  The surgery is a stomach procedure so they can lose weight which happens after.  What are your thoughts on this?

First, I was to preface this with I'm not against the procedure.  If it makes people healthy, then I'm all for it to help keep health care costs down.  What I do worry about is people that do it because they do not want to work to lose the weight.  Of course, the segment said that the surgery is for people who have tried diet and exercise and it has not worked for them.  If that was truly the case 100% of the time, I'd feel better about it.  My first thought is that people need to try to lose the weight.  I'd even go as far to say that unless there is some hereditary reason for the weight gain, they should be able to prove(through a doctor) that they tried and could not lose the weight.

Perhaps my opinion is severe?  Maybe.  Type 2 diabetes was the one thing I was really worried about when I weighed so much.  So I did something about it.  I worked hard.  I watched what I ate.  I exercised daily.  And I did it.  I would venture to say that most people can do it too.  Now that there is a procedure to change things, is this the easy way out?(not that surgery is easy, but you know what I mean?)

The biggest shock - 23 million people have Type 2 diabetes!!!  Wow!  What does this mean?  We will all pay for these people at some point through higher cost insurance(unless the insurance companies charge them more which some are doing)....but that's for another blog post.

I'd be interested to hear your opinion.  Anyone see the segment on ABC news last night?

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I decided to also give the people that signed up for my Virtual race a few more days(until Friday at Midnight) in order to submit their race results.  Thanks for those that have already submitted theirs.  We had lots of people sign up but I have not received many race results and I need that to pick a winner.  After that, I'll pick the winners but I want to give people one more chance to read this.  I hope everyone understands.

Have a great day and....Keep Running!!!!

7 comments:

  1. I just realized I didn't give you my results.... 13.17 mi at 2:15:32

    Didn't see that special but I know I wish people would try harder before having a procedure.

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  2. I don't think your opinion is too severe. It IS the easy way out and there can still be complications after any surgery which could be worse for them in the long haul. Even if someone gets the surgery, i think they still need to make a lifestyle change or face more health complications in the the future. I really truly wish people took their health more seriously and realize it is a life or death risk they're making. It's never worth making yourself sick and potentially killing yourself just so you can eat garbage all the time and never work out. Yeah, I think my opinion is way more severe than yours :)

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  3. I agree with Meg...well maybe not as hardcore :) Surgery should ALWAYS be a last resort. Even minor surgery can have massive complications sometimes. I think people need to realize that starting to exercise really just starts with 1 step. Go for a walk, a bike ride, etc. Unless you are severely disabled, you can start with that. I am still not a small guy, even after losing 45 lbs and definitely not the prototypical runner. My resting HR is down to in the 50's and hey, I just ran a half. When I started "running" I was almost 300lbs. If I can do that, so can most people.

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  4. Diabetes (type II anyway) is almost always the result of sedentary lifestyle and poor eating choices. Period. People say they try, but they don't really try. Trying is hard work and people, in general, want things 'fixed' quickly and without any effort. Thus, the mentality is: I will just take a metformin and my diabetes is 'cured'. I don't have to take any responsiblity for the role that my lack of exercise and poor diet plays.

    I didn't see the report but now I'll have to google it.

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  5. I did not see this segment, but I agree with you. I was insulin resistant, and I lost the weight and went off the medication. I worked hard too and majorly watched what I ate. People CAN DO IT. My fear is that, like you said, they do not want to. They want the easy way out, and will do anything to get there. Thank you for the infographic too. I wish I had that when I was trying ti understand diabetes. Very helpful and appreciated!

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  6. Unfortunately we live in a modern world of "make a half-assed attempted and we will see it as "Trying.""

    The easy-way-out is acceptable by most people now. Add in that we dont' let people fail but instead help make excuses on why it WASNT a failure. (Think of modern parenting - and helicopter parents.)

    We now have generations of adults that were raised as not given the chance to fail. Which means many of them never really learned to try.

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  7. I think more options for diabetics is a good thing. Some may disagree with surgery and advocate healthier lifestyles, which I agree with, but for some people that is not an option. The surgery gives them a way out.

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