So you ate the twinkie and three cookies and a ding dong. Or maybe half a velvet cake. Or was it an entire pint of ice cream? The sugar starts seeping into your bloodstream... and you begin to feel sleepy. Your eyelids are getting heavy. You feel relaxed and at ease. Unless you are a three to ten year old. In THAT case you start bouncing off the walls because - well because you're a three to ten year old!! NOT because you ate a bunch of sugar.
The "sugar high" of folklore is a myth, perpetuated by mothers to stop their kids from eating too many sweet treats. Or maybe it came from dentists trying to help avert the inevitable cavities that sugary substances promote. Nobody really knows where this idea came from, but it is a nice little piece of voodoo. There is no such thing as a "sugar high". Children run around and bounce off walls and throw darts in their friend's forehead because they have all the energy of . . . children. They are definitely hyperglycemic. But the sugar only fills their tank to keep 'em running. Putting gas in your car doesn't make it immediately start zooming off all willy-nilly and crashing into things, does it? No man, of course it don't.
Sugar goes in, insulin is released by the pancreas to allow the sugar to be absorbed by your body's cells. If you have no insulin, or produce reduced amounts, you have type 1 diabetes. Very Bad. As you get older, or fatter, or for other reasons as yet unknown, Your cells become "insulin resistant" - they stop absorbing the sugar and insulin combo. You have type 2 diabetes.
Type 1 takes big mojo to help - and there is NO mojo that can fix it. Insulin shots are the best thing yet discovered. Hyperglycemia is the condition of too much sugar in the blood and an insulin shot helps the body absorb that sugar when the body produces little or no insulin on its own.
Type 2 is not as bad. The body's cells have become resistant to insulin, or maybe the pancreas make less than it once did. It would seem that a body gets tired and 'worn out' and becomes less and less able to do what it once did easily. Too much abusive eating and drinking MAY help to bring this condition aboutbut the cause is still unclear.
There is no cure for either type of diabetes. Some things help insulin to be more effective, some things make insulin more available, other things increase insulin production and other things help absorbption or elimination. Herbal treatments are best for those with mild problems and cannot be relied upon for type 1 - EVER. There is no remedy to make a broken pancreas start producing insulin.
There is mojo for type 2. For some people, watching the diet is enough. Some try things like ginseng, onions, garlic, or cinnamon to help. Take in less sugar, exercise, cut out the bad stuff - among other things - and you will probably be OK. It will depend on the severity of your condition. You will need to be vigilant about your health in this regard for the rest of your life.
Both types of diabetes may have roots in genetics, injury, or diseases, which create the condition. My kind have no way to know these things and can only ask help from western medicine to find out these root causes. Use both with wisdom.
Do not tempt my uncle Samedi....
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