Reduce your Risk of Diabetes
As published in Owen Sound & Grey Bruce Life – June 2007.
It was great to see so many new faces at May’s Wellness Dinner at the Rocky Raccoon Café. The topic of this month’s Wellness Dinner was Hypoglycemia and Diabetes. Not a light topic, but one of great importance. Diabetes is a contributing factor in the deaths of approximately 41,500 Canadians each year due to complications including cardiovascular, kidney, retinal, and nerve diseases. No longer a disease of the aged, children are also at risk. The rate of children hospitalized with type 2 non-insulin dependent diabetes rose 200% from 1997 to 2003. So learning some simple dietary choices will not only decrease your risk, but also that of the young ones looking to you for guidance.
The goal in preventing and avoiding blood sugar issues is to keep blood sugar levels within their optimal range, thereby avoiding spikes and crashes. The pattern of up and down levels can wear out the pancreas and adrenal glands – the glands that are responsible for keeping our blood sugar levels constant under any circumstances. The best way to do this is with a diet full of whole foods. Refined foods like white sugar, white flour, white rice, and white pasta do not have the fibre to slow glucose down in its race into the blood stream. They also have been stripped of minerals like magnesium, zinc, and chromium which are essential in the breakdown and absorption of the nutrients from our food. The body then has to give up these minerals from its stores to break down that refined food. So in eating these half-foods, the body is being depleted of minerals and causing spikes in our blood sugar levels – both of which increase the risk of hypoglycemia and diabetes.
There are many dietary recommendations in the reduction of your risk of diabetes. A whole foods diet is full of risk-reducing benefits. Whole foods come complete with all the fibre and minerals they need to be of the greatest benefit to our body. Fibre naturally slows down glucose absorption by ‘getting in the way’. Minerals are available for their functions and don’t have to be pulled from the body.
You can also assess how quickly carbohydrates and sugars enter your blood stream with a tool called the Glycemic Index. Picking foods lower on this index (usually whole foods high in fibre) will allow glucose to gradually be absorbed. You can find the Glycemic Index of most foods on the web at www.glycemicindex.com. Cutting down or eliminating alcohol will also help, as alcohol is another refined sugar that goes straight into the blood stream. Eating 5-6 mini meals and snacks throughout the day, focusing on high complex carbohydrate and high fibre foods will keep sugars entering at a slow and steady pace. Exercise also plays a huge role, not only in weight management, but by exercising moderately for 30 minutes a day you can cut your diabetes risk in half.
Change is maintainable when it is gradually introduced. Decide on one or two of these points that you would like to focus on, and make a few better choices within these points. Over time you will have developed great new habits, without much thought or sacrifice, but will allow you to live a longer, healthier life.
