14th November is World Diabetes Day.
The reason why I'm blogging about this is because my mother's sister suffers from Type 2 Diabetes. We don't have any substantial medical history if my mother's parents or other relatives suffers from the disease previously. So, when we heard that she had it, we were shocked.
A lot of folks do not realize the dangers of consuming too much refined sugars in our diet.
There are also alot of myths surrounding getting the disease such as "I'm thin, I won't get the disease" or "None of my family members had the disease and so, I won't get it."
Based on what I've read, it seems that researchers cannot pinpoint exactly why some adults will develop the disease despite being perfectly healthy and active. Of course, being overweight and not having a healthy lifestyle makes us more susceptible to developing the disease.
Some years back, my family discovered a book on the dangers of sugar and we started to cut back on our intake of processed foods. However, I've learned now that cutting back sugars is only 1 small part of the puzzle. The major part of the staying healthy is to be active, i.e. exercising.
My recent health scare has prompted me to take a more serious action on this as diabetes can cause many problems such as heart disease and kidney problems. Diabetes can also destroy nerves which leads to limb amputation and blindness. I learned that my blood sugar was a bit high and so, decided to learn more about this disease.
However, if you get diabetes, it does not mean that you'll need to have insulin injections. There is oral medication if you are found to be insulin resistant. That's why it is important to have a full medical check-up as the doctor would be able to prescribe the right therapy for you.
Besides that, getting diabetes also does not mean that your diet must be entirely sugar free. Diet changes should be to cut back on all foods with refined sugars such as white bread, sugar (obviously), soda drinks, anything which contains "corn syrup or high fructose syrup". Diabetics can still take sugars but in very very small amounts and less frequent as possible. Our bodies still need sugars as fuel.
Get your blood sugar checked. Prevention is better than cure...
The reason why I'm blogging about this is because my mother's sister suffers from Type 2 Diabetes. We don't have any substantial medical history if my mother's parents or other relatives suffers from the disease previously. So, when we heard that she had it, we were shocked.
A lot of folks do not realize the dangers of consuming too much refined sugars in our diet.
There are also alot of myths surrounding getting the disease such as "I'm thin, I won't get the disease" or "None of my family members had the disease and so, I won't get it."
Based on what I've read, it seems that researchers cannot pinpoint exactly why some adults will develop the disease despite being perfectly healthy and active. Of course, being overweight and not having a healthy lifestyle makes us more susceptible to developing the disease.
Some years back, my family discovered a book on the dangers of sugar and we started to cut back on our intake of processed foods. However, I've learned now that cutting back sugars is only 1 small part of the puzzle. The major part of the staying healthy is to be active, i.e. exercising.
My recent health scare has prompted me to take a more serious action on this as diabetes can cause many problems such as heart disease and kidney problems. Diabetes can also destroy nerves which leads to limb amputation and blindness. I learned that my blood sugar was a bit high and so, decided to learn more about this disease.
However, if you get diabetes, it does not mean that you'll need to have insulin injections. There is oral medication if you are found to be insulin resistant. That's why it is important to have a full medical check-up as the doctor would be able to prescribe the right therapy for you.
Besides that, getting diabetes also does not mean that your diet must be entirely sugar free. Diet changes should be to cut back on all foods with refined sugars such as white bread, sugar (obviously), soda drinks, anything which contains "corn syrup or high fructose syrup". Diabetics can still take sugars but in very very small amounts and less frequent as possible. Our bodies still need sugars as fuel.
Get your blood sugar checked. Prevention is better than cure...
