Eating Healthy and Its Affect on People with Diabetes

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Imagine a time when being thin was not a race and eating a healthy diet was something that we all did as a habit. American’s have gotten so caught up in looking the way the models in Hollywood look that we have developed horrible eating habits. The fact that we eat most of time out of stress is proof enough that we are trying to bear too much weight on their shoulders. When applying a healthy diet and regular exercise, a person with diabetes can greatly reduce the long term health issues that are common with the disease.

Eating healthy greatly decreases the risk of developing life threatening conditions. When we eat a high fat diet the fat that we take in can cause such conditions like heart disease, colon cancer, heart attacks and even strokes. The high fat diets cause the visceral fat to build up in our body and that type of fat is like a toxin to our vital organs. Eating diets that include foods that have a fat content of 7g or more is unhealthy. These foods include, fried food, food high in sugar, canned vegetables, and foods that are cooked in butter and salt. The United States is the leading country for obesity. We have the highest rate of colorectal cancer in the world; colorectal cancer is the fourth most common form of cancer in men and women. This type of cancer is more common in people over the age of fifty, and you can get this type of cancer by eating a high fat Eating Healthy and Diabetes 3 diet, and family history. (Mediline Plus – updated June 12, 2008, www. nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/colorectalcancer.html) It is so important for us to devise a plan to greatly change the way we eat and what we feed our children.
Being overweight greatly increases the chance for a person to develop diabetes later in life. Physicians are diagnosing diabetes at an alarming rate, and ironically enough those same people are clinically overweight. 20.8 million People in the US have Diabetes that is 7% of our population. 14.6 million Have been diagnosed by a physician. 176,000 people under the age of 20 have diabetes. Some of this is inherited, and the majority unfortunately is because of obesity. In 2002 Diabetes was listed as the #6 cause of death, heart disease is the #1 cause of death with people with diabetes. (National Diabetes information Clearinghouse, NIH Publication 06-3982, November 2005. www. http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics/#7) If we scaled down our calories and lost just 10% of our body weight we would greatly reduced the outcome of our overall health. 10% of our body weight is essentially 35,000 calories, when thinking about eating fast food the average hamburger from McDonalds has 600 calories, and a large French fry has 580 calories and when you add a medium coke you have a meal that has 1460 calories. You only have to eat this meal 25 times to gain 10% of body weight. Eating Healthy and Diabetes 4
Now, by cutting out those kinds of meals when you figure most people eat this kind of food daily, you could drop 10% really easily. It is all about watching what you eat, and drinking lots of water. (http://www.chowbaby.com/fastfood/
By combining regular exercise and a low fat diet we can strengthen not only our physical body but our mind as well. Regular exercise opens up the blood vessels and stimulates the nerve ending in the body. Americans today do not look to daily exercise regime to make themselves feel better. Only a mere 54% of Americans that exercised daily say that they actually felt better. (Webmd, Jan 2008, www.webmd/excercise/html) By taking the time out to strengthen your mind and body you can lengthen your life span by 3 years. By stimulating the mind and allowing the brain to breathe, adrenaline is rushed through the body which allows for a sort of euphoric state. Only 30% of Americans are getting the recommended 30 minutes of exercise that is needed. The onset of people sitting in front of the TV, and not being active has brought on weight gain, and with that comes insulin resistance and then before you know it type II diabetes is the real issue. By adding small amounts of activity within our daily lives we can fight the onset of diabetes. By, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or walking to work instead of taking a cab, these things can really help with the big picture. (Donald Saunders, 6/29/07, www.buzzle.com) Eating Healthy and Diabetes 5
Lowering the amount of fat in your diet has many great benefits. One of the main ones being that is greatly reduces the risk of stroke or heart attack. By eating a high fat diet we raise out LDL levels which is the bad cholesterol. It is recommended that eating a diet that has monosaturated fats is good to lower LDL levels and keep HDL levels (good cholesterol) the same. Monosaturated fats are in food such as: avocados, nuts, peanut butter and most seeds and oils. (Daniel J. DeNoon, May 7, 2004, does a low fat diet decrease heart risk. http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040507/does-low-fat-diet-increase-heart-risk) Eating fruit and vegetables, and the fiber they provide lowers cholesterol levels. The folic acid in the fruit helps produce red blood cells. Whole grains are also a great addition; they reduce the risk of chronic disease. They help with weight management and also aid in constipation, which allows your colon to work properly.
Eating an unhealthy diet is something that we teach our children, which in turn threatens their life and allows them to develop the same habits we have. Being overweight is not hereditary in most cases. There is a small link between obesity and it carrying over the “fat” gene. Studies have shown that multiple genes are needed in order for that person to be born into obesity. Children with a non-active lifestyle are becoming more and more obese within the US. Eating Healthy and Diabetes 6
Children that do sedentary activities daily seemed to have a higher body mass index than active children. This lifestyle is something that as parents we can change. We don’t have to sit by and watch our children slowly die. In the United States the number of children that are overweight is astounding. 15.3% of children ages 6-11 were overweight in 2000. 25% of children report that they do not engage in any physical activity what so ever, and in 1999-2000 an average of 10% of preschool children ages 2-5 were overweight, that is up from 1994 when it was only 7%. ( HYPERLINK "http://www.overweightteen.com/statistics.html" http://www.overweightteen.com/statistics.html). This is unacceptable; our children deserve much more than this, we should be teaching them to be active, and to encourage regular exercise. Only 8% of elementary schools and 6% of middle and high school offer physical education classes. When schools undergo a budget cut, physical education is the first to get cut. Most of the physical education classes offered are not even enough to get the requirement of activity for their age group. (Jacqueline Stenson, August 9, 2005. As gym classes dwindle, how can kids keep fit? HYPERLINK "http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8827876/" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8827876/). Most kids today lead a sedentary lifestyle because of the availability of video games, and computers. However, some schools are using the video game epidemic as a positive angle on keeping kids healthy. By implementing the Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) game, we can continue to increase our children’s activity levels. By playing DDR for one hour Eating Healthy and Diabetes 7 will help children loose weight. Nintendo has also developed a product call Wii Fit which allows the player to do yoga, and balance techniques to stay fit. (John Timmer, April 30, 2007, Dance Dance Revolution hits high school gym class. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars)
The most important thing to remember when deciding how to eat and exercise is that we have to take care of ourselves. There is no one that will do this for us, and we have to know what our body needs and listen to it. Our children need to be taught to eat healthy, and they need to understand the importance of daily exercise. If their schools will not take the steps to ensure they get the exercise they need daily, then it is up to us at home. We can get out and do things with the kids, limit the time allowed to play video games and the computer. We also need to watch what we feed our children; meals of convenience are only hurting them in the long run. Stopping by McDonalds on the way home everyday is unacceptable. By showing our kids that eating these kinds of foods is ok, they will in turn teach their kids the same, and the obesity epidemic will only rise from here on out. Imagine how amazing it would feel to be the ones to stop these babies from dying at an early age, and allowing them to have a fuller life. It is our job to stop the number of people dying, and the best way to do this is to lead by example.

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References
Mediline Plus – updated June 12, 2008, www. nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/colorectalcancer.html
National Diabetes information Clearinghouse, NIH Publication 06-3982, November 2005. www. HYPERLINK "http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics/#7" http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/statistics/#7
Jacqueline Stenson, August 9, 2005. As gym classes dwindle, how can kids keep fit? HYPERLINK "http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8827876/" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8827876/ HYPERLINK "http://www.overweightteen.com/statistics.html" http://www.overweightteen.com/statistics.html
Daniel J. DeNoon, May 7, 2004, does a low fat diet decrease heart risk. HYPERLINK "http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040507/does-low-fat-diet-increase-heart-risk" http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040507/does-low-fat-diet-increase-heart-risk
John Timmer, April 30, 2007, Dance Dance Revolution hits high school gym class. HYPERLINK "http://arstechnica.com/news.ars" http://arstechnica.com/news.ars
Donald Saunders, 6/29/07, HYPERLINK "http://www.buzzle.com" www.buzzle.com