Diabetes: The Global Evil

If you are living in India, then I am sure that you must know at least one person who is suffering from Diabetes. Yeah it’s that common in our country. This is the reason why India is also known as the “Diabetes capital of the world”. But according to some recent studies, there are approximately 422 million diabetic patients in the world and India ranks third in that list. Surprised? Wondering who are the other countries? They are China and the United States of America.

According to the reports, about 50 per cent of the total patients suffering from Diabetes are from China, USA, India and Brazil alone. That means about 211 million patients are just from the four countries of the world and remaining are from the rest. These numbers are insane!

What are the reasons behind these numbers?

Apparently, there are end number of reasons behind these numbers like bad lifestyle, lack of education, no regular health monitoring, genetics and the most important of all, the food and nutrition. The kind of food we Indians eat mainly consists of Simple carbohydrate like white rice, white bread, sugar drinks, etc. Remember, I am not against simple carbohydrate; on the contrary I promote their use, but only in a proper way.

If you are someone who works out everyday, you can have the simple carbohydrate just after your workout, but in moderation. A small portion of white rice won’t do any harm but that depends on the intensity of your workout and your goal. If you are already a diabetic, then please avoid taking simple carbohydrate and switch to healthier options like Oats, Chapatti (whole wheat flour bread), etc.

How can you prevent or control Diabetes?

“Diabetes is not curable. Once you have it, you have it for lifetime”. This is one of the most common myths you hear about diabetes. This statement is so not true. Diabetes can be controlled and cured, in case you are a Type-1 diabetic patient. If you are a Type-2 patient, chances are less but it is not impossible if you follow an active lifestyle and keep a check on your nutrition and health. 

Here are some of the ways by which you can control or prevent Diabetes:

      1.  Stay Active, Stay Fit

Yes, as I have mentioned earlier that if you stay physically active your chances of having diabetes is pretty much less. Involve yourself in some physical activity like weight training, running or cardio, yoga or play some sport like football, badminton, basketball, etc. There are so many activities to choose from and achieve your goal.

If you are someone who is already suffering from Diabetes, then taking up some physical activity becomes even more important for you. If you are an over-weight person, you should try and loose some weight but with proper nutrition and under the guidance of a certified fitness trainer. The reason why there are a significant number of people suffering from disease in India is mostly because they are not into fitness.

Don’t you think its better to spend the money on your fitness rather than giving it to the doctor and suffer for a lifetime? What’s say?

2.    Your Enemy- Junk Food and Carbonated drinks

For a diabetic patient, junk food or fast food and carbonated drinks are like slow poison. They will not only make you obese, but also works as a catalyst to your existing diabetes. The reason is the amount of saturated fats available in the junk food. The oils usually used in the junk food are refined oil or vegetable oil. Both these oils are proven bad for your health as they contains mainly saturated fats which can give rise to problems like high cholesterol level, hypertension and heart diseases.

The carbonated sodas are not behind in messing up with your health. If you are an Indian, then you must have heard about Virat Kohli, skipper of the Indian Cricket team, who has decided to stop endorsing a popular soft-drink brand. The reason is the proven side effects of these drinks on our body. Even if you are not a diabetic, try and avoid both the things as much as you can. These things will only make you unhealthy and keep on adding those extra pounds to your body weight.

3.   Not only Sugar, Carbs are also responsible

If you are from India, then you must have seen people avoiding sweets because they are diabetic, but will eat a plate full of white rice. Common sight in our country, right?

Most of the people think that only sugar is responsible for their condition, which is absolutely wrong. Carbohydrate, especially simple carbohydrate is also equally responsible, if not more. If you are a diabetic, try and avoid any form of simple carbohydrate as much as you can. Replace your meal with healthier options like Oats (unflavoured or plain), Brown bread, Whole wheat bread (chapatti), etc. These are some of the examples of Complex-carbohydrate.

Try and keep a check on your carbohydrate intake. Make sure that you don’t eat more than 25 to 30 grams of carbohydrate with every meal and that too the healthier ones.

4.   Alcohol! Seriously?!

I’m not a big fan of Alcohol. I follow a very active fitness regime where I workout everyday and sometimes even twice a day, followed by a five to ten kilometres of walk. It is definitely your choice whether you want to have it or not, but if you are a diabetic, you must avoid the consumption of alcohol. Alcohol is a source of simple carbohydrate that gives you around 7 kcal energy, per gram consumed plus it’s very high on sugar. It mixes in your blood very quickly and spikes your blood sugar level instantly.

If you are someone who takes fitness very seriously, then try and avoid alcohol on a regular basis. Once in a while is fine, only if you are not diabetic. There are other proven side effects of alcohol like liver failure, heart diseases and kidney problems.

5. Balanced Diet is the key!

Balanced diet is the key to healthy living. It doesn’t matter whether you workout or not, balanced diet is the most important thing to follow. I see people taking too much carbohydrate in their diet or eliminating them altogether. This must not happen at any cost. They must consume the right amount of all the macronutrients in their meals.

For a diabetic, I will advice that your meal must contain mostly of green vegetables (leafy and non-leafy) (1/2), dietary fibre, grains and dietary fats (1/4) and protein (1/4). Even if you are a fit person, you must follow a good diet plan containing clean sources of macronutrients. The numbers will vary for someone who is relatively following an active lifestyle depending on the activity.

6. Heard of Bitter Gourd juice? Now it’s time to try!

I know most of you will hate me for this, but bitter gourd (or karela) juice is known to have diabetes-controlling property. Studies have proven, that if you consume 2,000 mg of bitter gourd juice everyday for 4-weeks, you will see a difference in your blood sugar level. As the name suggests, its bitter in taste, in case you haven’t heard about it.

The bitter gourd has insulin-producing properties that will help boosting your insulin levels naturally. If diabetes runs in your family, then I will suggest you to have this juice everyday in order to prevent yourself from this disease.

As I have mentioned earlier, Diabetes is curable and it will not hamper your daily activities. These are just some of the most effective ways by which you can prevent and control diabetes. I have seen cases where people have lost their eyes to diabetes and I don’t want this to happen to anyone. Only we can change it and make the world “Diabetes-free”. I know it is not easy, but it is possible. When we can throw something like Polio from our country, can’t we do the same with Diabetes? I think we can!

Let’s not advice our respective governments to take some steps against the diabetes. Let’s do something on our own and the only way this is possible is when we start realising the importance of fitness and good health. Why do we always go to a doctor when we are sick? Why can’t we go to them when we are healthy? Visit a doctor every 6 months and get a full body check-up. You certainly don’t know how much you are going to live, but you can surely do something about the quality.

There is one more thing I would like to add here. I was reading about the NGOs that support child rights and work for underprivileged children and I came across CRY- Child Rights and You. I was very much influenced by the work they have done so far and their Vision and Mission for the future. If you are reading this and you want to help the NGO to reach it's goal, then please visit CRY's website. Let's make this world a better place and spread smiles! :)

I hope you liked the article. If there is any suggestion or query or anything you don’t like about the article, please feel free to mail me at any point of time. Also, if you like this article, then please don’t forget to give it a plus one on Google+ and thumbs up on Facebook. You can also follow ‘Tech & Nutrition’ of Facebook.