World Diabetes Day Cheat Sheet
It is the day after World Diabetes Day and I am not celebrating.
I carry in my genetic make-up, a predisposition to Type 2 Diabetes. Thankful to Dr. Desmond Menon, a medical lab scientist who shared an explanation about how genetics do not necessarily point a person along the same health pathway as their grandparents. The key word in that podcast interview, was "interventions", and that gave me hope. I could intervene!
I think so fondly of my grandmother Maria-Rose. She was likely diabetic but was not well managed. I recall her eating one of her favourite meals - the pungent delight of a Durian fruit, Coconut Rice and Gula Melaka. I remember her eating it so delicately with her hands dressed in a sarong. Her kidneys failed her in her early 70s. Her daughters, my dearest mother and her sister are Type 2 Diabetic too. My God Aunt will always sternly assert, "I'd rather die than not eat. I live to eat". In our last phone call, she played the endearing victim and told me she was well, except for some dull aches and pains around her joints, which is normal as we age, she said.
Mum's kidney function at last check was at 17%. The photo is a snippet of what the dietitian ordered while mum was in the hospital 3 years ago. She's Type 2 Diabetic and when I saw the list, it was no wonder that she was constantly eating! And the irony, of having so much sugar in our blood stream, and yet it wouldn't satiate. She kept on telling me she was hungry. What trickery was this? I'm glad to report that we haven't been back to the hospital since then and I have been managing her T2D without Metformin, which were abruptly stopped as soon as the hospital declared that she had chronic kidney disease (CKD) after a bout of UTI. I was left to manage a mid 70s patient who has survived two non-malignant brain tumours and as a result, has had her pituitary removed, has diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease and no medication except for her daily hormone tablets and me. And I at the time, was a back-paddling prediabetic on the verge of a metformin prescription. I also am an ambitious creative industry entrepreneur who wants to make an impact film now about my lived experience, hoping to bring awareness to this common disease we all accept as "something that happens as we age". I even picked up a Motion Picture Award for that script and together with my co-producer friend and fitness coach Nikki Yeo, we have filmed interviews, spoken to construction workers, cooks and nutritionists, doctors and government, educators and friends. Friends who are battling the disease. A non-communicable one. Acquaintances that know someone with a missing limb. Amputations seem to be a rampant procedure in a city with the most delicious foods. How can that be? Which horror film is this?
I am not wanting to celebrate today as I have seen how this disease has taken the style out of lifestyle for too many people close to me and me. The onslaught is usually unassuming. You don't have diabetes until you do. Trick or treats. Birthdays. A couple of drinks at the work function. It's an addiction, this taste in your mouth, sugary slippery taste of goodness like that milk add. Lactose-mo. Fructose-comatose from one juice too many. I hope we wake up soon from this slumber for the numbers show and there's a reason behind the madness of adult diapers outselling cute children ones in Japan. Thankfully they have reinvented the recycling of those into fuel pellet burners for public baths. And this is the final keystone, a sucker punch why point-of-sale aisles have led us here, to this cul-de-sac of packaged processed foods.
Here's my cheat sheet to thrive healthily as a modern-day forager:
#1 Read the labels. A teaspoon of sugar is approximately 4grams and we really only should have no more than seven tsp or 30grams of sugar per day. And no, sugar substitutes don't really help.
#2 Track what you eat and drink using an app. Eat consciously, not habitually, then only will you see the results.
#3 Do the research and know your foods. Be a real foodie who knows hard facts about what's really in a dish that makes it delicious. How is it cooked? A fried crunch is usually the result of glycation. Can you get your crunch elsewhere? Is it laden with sauce? Remember sauces are usually sweet.
#4 Food is like chemical romance. When something doesn't agree with you inside of the stomach, your body will tell you it's time to let it go.
#5 Enquire and ask around for good advice. There are many learned medical practitioners and allied health professionals who understand nutrition. Seek them out, listen to a podcast or two.
Good luck!
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