Diabetes & Insulin Resistance

Diabetes & Insulin Resistance

Diabetes mellitus, or diabetes, is a condition where there is higher than normal glucose (sugar) in your blood. The hormone insulin is made in your pancreas and is the taxi that transports sugar from the blood into the cells of your body to be stored or used for energy. With diabetes, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin to meet your needs or your body cannot properly use the insulin it does make. Types of diabetes include Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, Latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA), Maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Our specialist Dietitian across all types of diabetes is Alissa Erneste. You can read more about Alissa here.

As diabetes is a chronic condition, it requires a sustainable approach with a focus on self-management by learning how to listen to and understand your ‘inner expert’, putting you in charge of your eating and health decisions. At Dietwise we use a weight-neutral or weight-inclusive approach to diabetes care that takes the emphasis off weight loss, which is scientifically proven to be highly unlikely to be sustained if it occurs at all. Our Dietitians support evidence-based interventions that promote health and well-being regardless of weight change. Shifting the focus from weight-centred care to encouraging behaviours you can control such as regular eating, balanced meals, joyful movement, and attention to overall emotional well-being has been shown to improve blood glucose control

Negative outcomes and risks of weight-focused diabetes care

There are many significant negative outcomes of a weight-focused approach to diabetes and include:

• yo-yo dieting and weight cycling – (the chronic gaining and losing of weight) making diabetes more difficult to manage due to swings between hyperglycemia (high blood sugars) and hypoglycemia (low blood sugars)
• disordered eating – from obsessively measuring and logging food intake, preoccupation with weight, and a hyperfocus on exercise to earn or burn calories
• eating disorders – which commonly include binge eating disorder as well as anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa in higher-weight bodies too
• weight stigma – from health professionals which can lead to shame resulting in avoidance/delay in seeking medical care or minimizing symptoms, higher cortisol levels, decreased self-regulation, and avoidance of exercise

How our dietitians can help with diabetes

• promoting self-care behaviours versus weight loss to limit disease progression, prevent complications and manage symptoms
• learning with curiosity versus judgement about what factors can affect blood glucose levels, and glucose patterns day-to-day to help guide informed decisions
• embracing blood glucose monitoring from a place of curiosity instead of fear
• understanding why medications may be an important part of your diabetes care
• exploring options for joyful movement versus strict exercise routines with a focus on how it makes you feel and how it may affect blood glucose versus weight loss
• helping advocate against weight loss and dieting interventions commonly prescribed by medical professionals that pathologize and degrade higher-weight bodies which is harmful, unethical, and non-evidence-based
• helping you make decisions that support optimal well-being without fuelling restrictive eating and the eat-repent-repeat cycle
• educating on the harmful effects and risks of weight cycling (yoyo dieting)
• assessing the presence of disordered eating behaviours or an eating disorder
• discovering simple yet powerful ways to know when, what, and how much to eat without restrictive rules
• developing a lifestyle plan that includes food literacy, how to balance meals and carbohydrate awareness
• discovering a health-supporting eating pattern that’s enjoyable and responsive to your internal signals of hunger and fullness
• learning how to eat what you love without guilt or fear of losing control
• incorporating size acceptance and body respect into lifestyle goals
• supporting mental health, minimizing stress, and optimizing sleep including resources for further support

Our Dietitians take a holistic and gentle approach to nutrition for diabetes care for all diagnoses, empowering you to focus on self-care versus self-sacrifice. We understand that health is complex and is influenced by many factors, some out of your control. We are non-judgmental, and our recommendations are evidence-based, and we take a weight-neutral approach.