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‘Eat healthy and exercise to ward off diabetes’
View(s):- Strong advice from Prof. Prasad Katulanda including how to protect children from this serious health condition
By Kumudini Hettiarachchi
Practical advice on how to keep diabetes at bay comes from a senior doctor as World Diabetes Day is commemorated on Tuesday (November 14).
While warning that Sri Lanka falls among the top 10 countries having the highest rates of diabetes in the world according to recent data, Consultant Diabetologist and Endocrinologist Prof. Prasad Katulanda attached to the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) shows the way to deal with this crisis. He is also Professor in Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo.
Prof. Prasad Katulanda
Urging that immediate action is needed to counter the “alarming” trend of a majority of adults in urban areas either having diabetes or being in the pre-diabetes stage, he concedes that the economic situation is also impacting on people’s lives.
“But we need to channel whatever money we have to eat a healthy diet and thus prevent bigger medical bills as well as disastrous complications such as amputations and kidney issues due to diabetes,” he says.
Prof. Katulanda says that the answer to the danger of diabetes is major lifestyle changes not only among adults, both old and young, but also children. For adults, there is a measurement – the Body Mass Index (BMI) should be less than 23, with it being “better” if “lower”. The BMI is a measure of the body fat based on height and weight in adults.
The ways it can be achieved, says Prof. Katulanda, are:
n Healthy eating – the need is to cut down the intake of carbohydrates (starchy foods), especially refined carbs and also refined sugars. The consumption of protein is essential so that muscle mass is maintained and also for better glucose metabolism (breakdown of carbohydrates into simple sugars).
To be satiated and stop oneself from over-eating, green leafy vegetables and green fruit such as avocado and guava are the answer. Yellow fruit has sugar and if someone is eating those, the amount of carbohydrates in the diet has to be balanced out accordingly.
n Physical exercise – such activity needs to be age-appropriate and also take into consideration other issues a person may have.
The recommendation for adults is 150 minutes per week of aerobic-type exercise (physical activity that uses large muscle groups in the body) and three days of strength training and flexing exercise. If someone has mobility issues with the knees, he/she could engage in exercise while seated or do chair yoga.
For young people and children, the recommendations are at least one hour of exercise per day. Children should be encouraged to engage in sports and not be just poring over books or sitting before a computer or TV. Physical activity and sports will pave the way for children to be healthy as well as grow into healthy adults.
Regarding novel strategies available to combat diabetes, Prof. Katulanda says that if detected early, Type 2 diabetes could be reversed.
“So eat a balanced diet, engage in physical activity and get yourself screened to prevent and detect diabetes early,” he adds.
| Preventing diabetes in the next generation With this year’s theme for World Diabetes Day being ‘Know your risk factors’, the Sri Lanka country office of the World Health Organization (WHO) has adopted the sub-theme: ‘Stay Well Sri Lanka – Let’s Start Early’. This is taking into considering that children need to be targeted early to prevent diabetes in the next generation. It is important for parents and education authorities including teachers to initiate good habits early in children to prevent complications later in life due to diabetes. Globally, research is showing that Type 2 diabetes is appearing at earlier ages, affecting younger adults. Envisaging that the economic downturn may lead to a low quality diet with a high starch content which would aggravate the occurrence of Type 2 diabetes, the WHO states that it is important that early interventions are in place to address childhood behaviours. Effective communication is vital in this regard. | |
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