Caffeine and type 2 diabetes

That morning cup of coffee may not be the best thing for a type 2 diabetic. Tea has a lot of health benefits, but for a type 2 diabetic, caffeine is not one of them.

Caffeine increase both glucose and insulin levels.

Type 2 diabetes is not so much a problem of glucose as it is a problem with the body's inability to use insulin effectively. The ineffecient use of insulin by the body is what causes the sugar to stay in the blood stream. High blood insulin levels force the body to store the glucose in the blood as fat. The body has to get rid of the glucose. If your body does not react normally to insulin, the glucose has to be stored as fat.

Keeping insulin levels down is just as, if not more important, than keeping blood glucose levels down.

If you are a type 2 diabetic and having trouble with glucose control you might consider switching to decaf coffee and tea, using more herbal teas, and drinking more of that miracle beverage, plain, filtered spring water.

Soda, too, has a lot of caffeine, and studies have found that drinking sodas with artificial sweetener causes people to crave starchy, sugary foods. It has even been suggested that diet colas actually contribute to weight gain. Weight gain is a constant battle for the person with insulin resistance or high insulin levels.

There are many articles on the internet about the dangers of diet cola aside from the risk to diabetics. Here is one, if you are intersted in reading more just do a websearch.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Your-Diet-Cola-is-Killing-You!&id=536797

I have not had a diet cola in three months. I was drinking up to and sometimes more than 12 cans a day. I was stopping at the service station for a 36 oz diet cola once or twice a day. I had a diet cola addiction. It was not hard to break it, after reading some of the articles concerning aspartame, it was real easy to stop drinking diet soda!

I didn't experience any of the headaches that I had heard signal caffeine withdrawal. But I was still drinking caffienated tea at that time. I am no longer drinking caffeinated tea.

But a few days after I switched to decaf tea, I had finished my day shift work and was into my night shift, when I realized I just didn't have the energy I usually have.

Thinking my blood sugar might be low, I checked it. My BS was fine. Then I realized why I was feeling so blah, I had gone the whole day without any caffeine.

Now if I am feeling draggy at midday, I will go ahead and drink one glass of caffeinated tea. But I won't have any caffeine after 3 PM. I am sleeping better and don't get up as often to use the bathroom during the night.

Since stopping the diet cola, and eating a low carb diet, the cravings for sugars and starches are gone as well.