A Lesson from Some Native Americans

To help us understand Type 2 Diabetes, let's take a lesson from the Pima Native Americans in the Southwestern United States. Their story teaches us about the intersection of heredity and lifestyle.

The Pimas currently have the highest rate of Type 2 Diabetes in the world. They now become diabetic at relatively young ages, can have severe disease, and therefore suffer from the many complications: heart disease, diabetic neuropathy (loss of sensation, beginning in the limbs but progressing upward), diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease), all of which can contribute to severe, uncontrollable infections, which can lead to amputations or even septicemia (an infection in the blood) which often leads to death.

I learned about this group of Americans when I was doing a (Glucophage related) preceptorship with Alan Garber, MD, at Baylor Hospital in Houston. He is one of the top 3 Diabetologists in the United States. When he told us about this unfortunate group of Native Americans, I asked a very important question: did their great-grandparents have the same incidence of Diabetes? No, he said, they had none.

Then here is the intersection of heredity and lifestyle. The Pimas have a genetic pre-disposition for Type 2 diabetes, which their great- grandparents also had. But, think about their great-grandparents lifestyle: they were hunter-gatherers, gardeners, and in fact worked physically hard every day. They ate what they grew, gathered, or hunted. They did not drink alcohol, and none of them were overweight.

God made us in his image. We have a magnificent body. But he meant for us to read the owners manual, part of which you are reading now.

I love working with training clients who want to take charge of their wellness, especially those with Type 2 Diabetes or those on their way to the disease. You are in charge, but you need to find out HOW to help yourself. Your physician doesn't have time to tell you, and he/she may not explain it very well either. There are diabetes-educators, but they are not as brutally blunt as I usually am. There are many people who don't want to make the necessary lifestyle changes, and would prefer to be "sick" and let medicine try to "treat" them. It's your choice. I love the body God gave me (which has not always been the case), and I care for it well. One thing I've learned over the past 14 years is how absolutely terrific I can feel when I take care of me.

Coming up next: so just what is Type 2 Diabetes?