Sandy KumskovIf You're Fat, You'll be Diabetic
February 29th 2008 20:59
Category: No Category
Personally, this is one of the oft-repeated media messages that I most love!
Because it's usually repeated with such conviction that it's the absolute truth, I just have to laugh. If the person making the statement did even a modicum of independent research, rather than just relying on the press release, they'd find out that they're trying to finish a 100-piece jigsaw puzzle when they've only got one piece!
I'll put my mirth aside, and look at this further:
There are two main types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 is where you don't make any insulin, often the pancreas shuts down completely and often this happens early in life. That type is highly life-threatening and is managed with close monitoring of the diet and insulin injections. Insulin pumps and other innovations are making life much easier for people who have Type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 is often called the lifestyle diabetes, because it's largely self-induced. Studies show that if you eat lots of refined and hence sugary foods, and don't exercise, you're at risk of developing this disease. Then the insulin injections and close monitoring of food intake that people with Type 1 diabetes have to undertake, becomes necessary. And people die from this disease, let's not trivialise it. It is life-threatening, and it causes nasty physical side effects like gangrene and blindness. It's not a joke.
BUT you can get the disease even if you're not statistically overweight. What? Yes, you don't have to be fat to get it, you just have to be inactive and live on junky food.
Conversely then, you won't necessarily get diabetes if you ARE statistically overweight, despite what your GP tells you! If you eat nutritionally dense food and get some regular exercise, your diabetes risk factors are immensely diminished, regardless of your body weight.
Of course that's not really worthy of endless minutes of expensive television, newspaper, or magazine time, endlessly. Nothing exciting or dramatic about taking good care of your precious body. But gee, it feels good
It's easier to talk about making the behavioural changes than it is to make them though, which is why all the medical interventions are so sought-after. Human nature being what it is, we'd much rather take a pill than take responsibility
Especially when we're bombarded constantly by the "we're all so fat we're going to die nasty deaths" message.
Because it's usually repeated with such conviction that it's the absolute truth, I just have to laugh. If the person making the statement did even a modicum of independent research, rather than just relying on the press release, they'd find out that they're trying to finish a 100-piece jigsaw puzzle when they've only got one piece!
I'll put my mirth aside, and look at this further:
There are two main types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 is where you don't make any insulin, often the pancreas shuts down completely and often this happens early in life. That type is highly life-threatening and is managed with close monitoring of the diet and insulin injections. Insulin pumps and other innovations are making life much easier for people who have Type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 is often called the lifestyle diabetes, because it's largely self-induced. Studies show that if you eat lots of refined and hence sugary foods, and don't exercise, you're at risk of developing this disease. Then the insulin injections and close monitoring of food intake that people with Type 1 diabetes have to undertake, becomes necessary. And people die from this disease, let's not trivialise it. It is life-threatening, and it causes nasty physical side effects like gangrene and blindness. It's not a joke.
BUT you can get the disease even if you're not statistically overweight. What? Yes, you don't have to be fat to get it, you just have to be inactive and live on junky food.
Conversely then, you won't necessarily get diabetes if you ARE statistically overweight, despite what your GP tells you! If you eat nutritionally dense food and get some regular exercise, your diabetes risk factors are immensely diminished, regardless of your body weight.
Of course that's not really worthy of endless minutes of expensive television, newspaper, or magazine time, endlessly. Nothing exciting or dramatic about taking good care of your precious body. But gee, it feels good
It's easier to talk about making the behavioural changes than it is to make them though, which is why all the medical interventions are so sought-after. Human nature being what it is, we'd much rather take a pill than take responsibility
Especially when we're bombarded constantly by the "we're all so fat we're going to die nasty deaths" message.
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