Is Kerala, Diabetes capital of the world?
"The doctor of the future will give no medicines, but will interest his patients into care of human body, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease"
Thomas Edison
Diabetes was a disease earlier associated with the rich mainly those who does very less physical exercise. Now it is spreading among the middle class and poor at an alarming stage. Kerala is turning to be the world capital of diabetes.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes occurs when our body is unable to properly process the glucose it gets from food. Glucose is simple sugar that provides energy for cells to carry out basic tasks. When the sugar can’t get into cells they remain in the bloodstream and cause problems like heart disease, kidney damage and vision problems.
Type1 accounts for 5% of diabetes cases.
Type 2 accounts for 90 to 95% of cases.
Mathew is a school teacher in Kerala. He lived a sedentary lifestyle. He became diabetic 40 years ago. Now, one of his leg is amputed, moves on wheel chair. Mohan worked in Kuwait, worked for Bechtel Corporation, an American construction company. He unknowingly followed the American junk food style. Being diabetic for over 35 years he has very little sensation on his leg. Anil worked for British Airways in Gulf . He got addicted to the Cola culture. His wife too followed him. Both are diabetic for over 25 years. Vijayan is a daily worker in Kerala. He is fond of the Kerala junk foods cooked in oil. He is diabetic for 15 years. His medical bill is beyond his limit. All of them have to take three times medicines, they have restrictions for food, they have to visit hospitals to get prescriptions, they have to pay for their medical strips and medicines.
They all may be increasing doses according to the degree of disease. They are facing the risk of deterioration of organs and senses. Imagine their problems, and heavy medical bills and their deteriorating body condition. If they were aware of this disease and what are the reasons behind it earlier they could have prevented this disease. Can they reverse this. Yes to a certain extent. They did not know prevention is better than cure. Through this blog we are trying to create an awareness and education . This is our ( you and me ) role.
Reasons for increasing diabetes.
- Lack of nutrition.
- Lifestyle changes.
- Less or no physical exercise.
- Stress.
1. Lack of nutrition
Researches done by Pondicherry University and Harvard University shows that lack of nutrition is a major cause for diabetes. Nowadays we eat more starch and less of required nutrients. We are overfed, under nourished. There is a shift in the staple grains. Earlier we used to eat ragi, bajra, thina, millet, jowar etc. along with rice and wheat . Now we eat mainly polished rice. We don't know how old is the rice we are getting. There is no expiry on the rice packet. Highly polished rice is mainly starch, have less nutrients since the bran is removed. We used to eat tubers like yam, tapioca, and fruits like jackfruit, breadfruit etc. before. Now we reduced that too. Our ancestors diet contained healthier food than ours. We eat more starch, more sweet, more fat, less vegetables and less fruits.
2. Lifestyle changes
Our food
Traditional balanced food 30 years back.
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Now
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Breakfast
Kanji +payaru
Puttu +Kadala
Pazhaya kanji + fish curry and chutney
Yam, tapioca + fish curry
Idli + sambar
Used millet, Ragi etc along with rice
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Breakfast- (mostly starch rich)
Palaharam
Puttu + pazham
Appam+ stew
idli/dosa +sambar, chutney
(idli made of polished rice and polished urdu dal)
Now we eat more of polished rice products or only rice with less of other grains.
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The powdered grains lose its vitamins over the days. We are not taking a balanced food. When we take Puttu +pazham- it is starch + starch
The balanced food should contain starch, protein, fat, fresh vegetable leafy greens and fruits. We don't eat much fresh vegetables as salad. Only very few eats yam.
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Lunch
Rice + Sambar, avail , eriserry, Thoran, yoghurt, fish curry
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Lunch
Rice and Chicken+
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We lost variety of fresh phyto chemical plant nutrient from vegetable. Our food contains less leafy greens and fruits.
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Dinner
Rice + Fish curry, thoran, yoghurt
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Dinner
Rice + fish curry or chicken+
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We lost fresh home grown green nutrient foods.
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We ignored our traditional wisdom. We ignored our traditional super foods, like full bran unpolished rice, legumes, un-skinned pulses, amla, sardine, pumpkin, yam, locally available fruits like papaya, gooseberry, pineapple, jackfruit, mango, jampakkai, guava, cashew fruit, different types of bananas etc. From a wide variety of foods with varied nutrients we limited to few. In this shift we lost multi vitamins required for the body. Most of the people eat only banana as fruit, not any other local fruits. We ignored our traditional way of cooking- water based cooking to oil based frying.
The cultural shift. We ignored our heritage when the influx of gulf/foreign money, and the TV channel revolution changed our lifestyle in 1970s and 80s. There was a cultural shift from our traditional vegetarian oriented food to non vegetarian, ayurveda to allopathic, home made healthy food to processed bakery items, sadya with different curries to biryani . Moreover poratta, biriyani, chips, sweets, baked items become popularized. Earlier every household had a few cattle, chickens, little farmland and a kitchen garden. Now 100% of our food is from the market. We shifted from physical work to sedentary life due to automation of household jobs, TV shows and laziness. We moved from a hardworking society to a pampered society. Most of us got paper degrees. In that process we lost the aspiration to work with hand. Almost all physical jobs are done by immigrant work force. We are in a sinking mindset. Now we are paying a heavy price by being diabetic.
When we get away from our tradition, we cut our roots. When we cut our roots we lost the nutrient source too.
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No 2 and 3 are full bran unpolished rice. Next time ask the grocer to get that for you. Buy what you want and not what they sell.
If you want to see the full bran unpolished rice buy 500gms of "Ngavara Ari" from the shop. |
We disregarded the traditional way of cooking. We shifted from simple cooking to complex cooking. We used to boil our foods. Now we overcook food. While overcooking, or deep frying the fibre and the nutrients are getting lost. We shifted from water cooking to oil cooking, which means more frying. In addition we deep-fry most of the foods- like chips. Africans, Philippinos, Carribeans and South Americans eat boiled green banana, but we make chips and eat. Even the banana fruit is fried. This is done only in Kerala. Chips business was prevalent only in in 3 or 4 major Municipal corporations, like Trivandrum, Cochin, Trichur and Calicut before, around 30 years back. Now it has flourished in all the remotest villages of Kerala. We like more frys. We fry fish more than before. We eat more meat than before like meat olathiyathu etc. Vegetable too is fried to make mezhukku varatti etc. We copy the TV shows cooking which starts with sauting in oil instead of traditional cooking of adding oil just before completing cooking. When oil is reheated molecular changes are taking place , it becomes trans-fat and polymer.
I live in Vancouver, Canada. Recently I offered a warm Samoosa to a Chinese neighbor. He refused it saying that he won't eat anything cooked in oil , he eats food cooked in water only. A great lesson for us with a piece of wisdom. He is above 65 years old , but he looks around 55 and has no illness.
We refused to pay attention to traditional super dishes like sambar, avial, erissary, thoran, parippu ( lentil), etc. which are balanced diet with different types of vegetables that contains lot of nutrients and fiber. Sambar is a three in one dish: a curry, a lentil soup and a vegetable soup. Now it is replaced with chicken, red meat and fish curry made of large fish like kingfish. Instead of highly nutrient small fish like sardine and mackerel we eat large size kingfish. Nutritionists call King fish and other big fish the "broiler" among fish. Traditional way of curry is replaced by fries, where nutrients are lost while overheating the food in hot oil. We shifted from water cooking to oil cooking.
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| Eat multiple super food vegetables. |
White sugar consumption is increased a lot. Sugar is one of the culprit behind increasing diabetes. Sugar depletes vitamins. We want everything sweet.
Consumption of bakery items increased. It is recently reported Kerala got the maximum density of bakeries. Most of the bakery items are made of fibreless white flour, which lacks the fiber and nutrients. Moreover the fried foods are rich in trans fats and sugar. They lose their nutrients while deep-fried in oil.
Alcohol consumption has increased a lot. We drink liquor with high percentage of alcohol in it like whisky, rum etc which is very bad for the body. We rank number one in India in alcohol consumption. We drink the maximum whisky in the world. Alcohol, like sugar depletes multivitamins and minerals from the body.
We ignored or rather ignore foods which are bitter and pungent. Instead we encourage our children and other people to go for sweet, sour and salty. Food with bitter taste is an essential daily requirement for the body according to Ayur Veda . North Indians, Europeans, Americans, Chinese eat bitter leaves like different lettuces, herbs, fenugreeks ( methi). Chinese take tea without sugar. North Americans take coffee with out sugar. Ayurveda recommends to have daily food with six tastes for a healthy living. Add at least a few a green bitter food in our daily menu. Bitter gout we get are mostly pesticide infested . Methi leaves (Fenugreek or Uluva), bitter gout leaves, coriander, mint are good choice. Bitter regulates secretion of insulin and glycogen by the pancreas, there by help to manage diabetes.
Read the blog "The wisdom in tastes and colors of healthy Food"
We take salad and fruits are taken very rarely.
We watch games on the TV screen rather than playing on the ground. We do very less walking, cycling, or gym exercises or gardening. If we are watching TV more than two hours a day, chances of getting diabetes is more because of lack of exercise. Move our body or lose our body. The choice is ours.
We stopped farming at home as well as home grown kitchen garden. We turned to pesticide infested vegetables transported from other states.
When automation has replaced manual work we use household pumps instead drawing water from the well, use cars instead of walking, use grinders instead of manual grinding etc.
We sit more idle than our old generation, for watching TVs, Computers, or in the cars. Move your body or lose it. British Researches has shown people who are sitting more hours are on high risk of diabetes.
Lack of Vitamin D is another reason for diabetes. We get Vitamin D mainly from sunlight. We won't work or play outside like before. We like to stay indoors.
We watch more TV shows than others. We got the highest number of TV stations. Most of our TV serials are depicting aggressive behavior, and material craziness. The world is already dark, we want light to replace darkness. How many hours a day we watch TV? Does it make us calm, peaceful happy, or does it make us aggressive, angry, jealous, hatred and change our bio chemistry and create toxic chemicals in our body. If it is the latter we are prone to stress and illness.
4. Stress - Mind matters most.
We shifted the focus of religion. If religion cannot discipline the mind it lost its purpose. We go to churches, temples, or mosques to get things done rather than learning how to calm the mind and discipline the life. Mind matters most in health. Mind changes the bio chemistry of our body. We run to get material possessions rather than mental peace and harmony with fellow beings and other creations. We create divisions based on beliefs and hate others. Hatred creates stress hormones and toxic chemicals and slowly we become prone to diseases. Hatred, jealousy, anger worries are slow killers. The antidote is love. Love, patience, tolerance, compassion, simplicity etc. are free medicines, because they reduce stress hormones that creates toxic chemicals. These are the godly multi-vitamins. These are intangible soups. These are divine powers. Om Namah Shivaya. Bow to God. Charge us with the divine power. Show the grace of God: good thoughts, good feelings and good actions, dormant in us to save us from illness.
Let us pray to seek peace of mind , Shanti "
Om shanti". Prayer is talking to God. When we pray next time pray to Clean, Clear, Calm our mind and ask god to make us creative. Calmness is energy.
- CLEAN mind is loving, caring, helping, non-critic, positive, optimistic, honest, open-minded, confident, creative, encouraging, motivating, and forgiving. It will admit and correct mistakes. It will be filled with respect, humility, happiness and team spirit.
- CLEAR mind is clear from laziness, fear, cynicism or pessimism, selfishness, ego, exhibitionism, lie, worries, anxiety, tension, hatred, negative thoughts and negative emotions.
- CALM mind is relaxed and energetic. A calm mind saves energy. The above qualities can be achieved by regular physical exercise, sports, mental exercise, meditation, and yoga. Improve your inner strength by learning self-discipline, patience, relaxation, emotional intelligence. Believe in you and say “ I CAN” change my present lifestyle.
Meditation is listening to God . Improve the quality of listening. Meditation is calming down ourselves while listening to God. When we calm down our mind, we calm down our body. That is the way to relax or stress relief.
5. Food contains lot of pesticides and chemicals. We don't grow food , though we can grow. We import from other states grown mainly with lot of pesticides. We get old vegetables, not fresh that contains not nutrients but poison.
What can we do to reverse diabetis?
- Change from single grain of rice to multigrains: rice, wheat, ragi, oats, barley, millet, jowar, thina etc. Use full bran unpolished rice as much as possible.
- Change from single fruit (mainly banana) to locally available multifruits: papaya, mango, gauva, custard apple, chambakkai, jackfruit etc.
- Add salad and multi fruits in food. Reduce chips, bakery items, sweet and meat.
- Eat as much home grown vegetables and fruits as possible. Reduce pesticide infested food.
- Learn how too much sweet affects the nervous system. ( Read blog on white sugar)
- Avoid alcohol. Switch to unsweetened wine.
- Eat your daily bitter tastes. Not bitter-gout alone. Bitter gout bought from market may contain pesticides. Eat methi (fenugreek) leaves, kale leaves, gooseberry etc. Eat all six tastes as a daily requirement suggested in Ayur-Veda. Ayur veda is not only a way of treatment, it is a way of living too.
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| Eat multiple fruits |
- Change our life style, eating habits, cooking habit to a healthy eating habit.
- Move your body or lose your body (exercise) . Change the sinking mindset.
- Keep a healthy mind. Loving mind.
- Control stress.
- Do something for the society. It gives satisfaction. Love others, nature and universe.
What creative steps can we take as a community?
Learn from the lessons. We ignored education on healthy living. Educate people from school to colleges, communities, temples, churches, mosques etc. the importance of healthy living and the basics they have to know.
Start "Healthy living " as a mandatory subject from schools to Ph D and all have to pass that to complete their course.
Do research. Participate students in all walks of life. Create a 'Diabetes Knowledge Bank'. Deposit and withdraw valuable information.
Educate each other. Having a paper degree does not mean 'don't do any work with hand.' Let each of us educate two or three people known to us, in our family, neighbors, or work place. Together we can reverse increasing diabetes in our community.
Educate the necessity of kitchen garden to avoid heavy import of pesticide infested vegetables from other states.
Find out the locally available super foods. Grow them at home.
Stop or reduce buying the junk foods. Encourage healthier living. Buy whole wheat bread instead of white breads. Reduce three white angles: SMS , Salt, Maida and Sugar.
Let us hold each other to strengthen our wisdom and values. Let us change our present lifestyle today, which has led us to this situation. We can reverse diabetes by changing the way we live. Now the choice is left with us. Do we want our present lifestyle or our life? Change our lifestyle, change our world. Be the change. Lead others.
"Lokha samastha sukhino bhavanthu" (Let the whole world live happily) is my prayer.
Please read Related blogs
- White sugar.http://motherkeralacom.blogspot.ca/2012/09/white-sugar-is-it-angel-or-slow-killing.html
- Super foods
- Meditation
- Par boiled Brown rice
- Colors and tastes of food
- Sugary drinks
