Health Blog by YinTeing

This is a ‘calories-for-thought’ for those who love 3-in-1 (coffee/milk with sugar and creamer) pre-packet tea/coffee. On average, one packet of this is equivalent to almost half hour of leisurely walk in the park.

So you may want to rethink if you are taking more than a packet a day: 

Note: Over 95% (and sometimes 100%) of the fat content is saturated fat (lemak tepu) as stated on most the packets. 

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In the book called The Mind-Body Diabetes Revolution writen by Dr Richard S. Surwit with Alisa Bauman, carries a short tagline:

The proven way to control your blood sugar by managing stress, depression, anger and other emotions.

Dr Richard had spent about 20 years studying the relationship between blood sugar levels and the emotional state of a person having diabetes. If you read the book, you will find that the advise are all based on clinical studies being done either by himself or other researchers- not on assumptions or gut feeling.

Standard Treatment Protocol for Diabetes

When a person has diabetes, the standard treatments prescribed by doctors are:

1. Diet and weight loss

Patients are told to stay away from a diet high protein and high fat diet. Actually many people had the perception that diabetics should never take anything sweet but more findings is ponting towards a high fat diet as the cause of blood sugar control problems. He did a study whereby 50 women were fed with the Rice Diet (consists of high glycemic index food but little fat) and he found that these women lost weight and have their blood under better control. This differs from what that is commonly thought- that high glycemic food- ie food like fruit juice, sweets, white rice and white bread that converts rapidly raises the blood sugar is a no no for diabetics. 

Losing weight even though a little can dramatically improve blood sugar control by making your cells more sensitive to insulin.

2. Exercise

Aerobic exercises and strength training are beneficial for diabetic control. Aerobic activity improves your blood circulation and oxygen usage capacity of your muscles/organs. It burn calories, strengthens the heart which lowers the risk of heart disease (one of the complications of diabetes). Strength training helps you build more muscles and so increase your metabolic rate. It is indispensable if you want to live optimally. However, diabetics are considered to be under special population- therefore, before you begin any exercise program, you must consult a physician and obtain the clerance- but please don’t use this as an excuse not to exercise.

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