Reviewed by ASIF ANWAR ALIG
Blood Sugar & Spices: Living with
Diabetes, by Charmaine D’Souza, Random House India, Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon, Year2014,
218pp, Indian Rupeese250, Soft.
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Prevention
is better than cure,’ healthcare specialists advise us when consulted, though we
often agree to disagree with them. Ignoring advice we ‘assume’ that intruder in
carefree life—an unwelcome and untimely sermon. We hardly follow them though told
repeatedly.
Time
passes by and we begin to accept the advices to monitor unmanageable our health.
Prevention is vital in health management in today’s fast-paced lifestyle. Self-help
book Blood
Sugar & Spices: Living with Diabetes
motivates a reader to value prevention besides censuring the usual idiocies which
bring complexities in life.
Millions
of diabetics encounter melancholic experiences every day. Many people live healthy
life with this lifestyle disease. Dr. Charmaine D’Souza brings such facts related
to diabetes in this book. She warns how carelessness and ill-treatment of body ruin
life we receive only once. Human bodies are not permanent so sincere efforts are
mandatory for healthy living.
Usual
craziness include depriving bodies from sleep for ridiculous work schedules, partying
madly by ignoring perilous and self-damaging consequences and fitting into
skinny jeans as so called ‘ardent’ priorities. Is depriving body of food to attain
that ‘size zero’ makes sense?
There
is a need to focus on the healthy eating for overall wellbeing. This book
suggests home remedies especially herbs to monitor blood sugar level for healthy
living. What turns diabetes fatal and how to control it? Why untreated diabetes
might cause serious complication? Diabetic ketoacidosis, coma, heart diseases, kidney
failure, blurred vision or even amputation of lower limbs in the extreme cases remains
common consequence of uncontrolled diabetic conditions. Excess glucose
circulation in blood streams causes focusing aspects as well.
She
ascertains that there have been regular advancements in the medical research to
bring good resources for healthcare professionals. The serious concern is that
even with a new dawn in this sector it has literally failed to investigate a breakthrough
for total cure of diabetes. We are still unaware of what actually causes sudden
stop of pancreas from producing insulin in Type 1 diabetes and how this issue remains
unresolvable yet. Type 2 diabetes has causal relation with the genetic predispositions
besides obesity and related issues being other factors.
The
symptoms causing diabetic onset include polydipsia (increased thrust); polyphagia
(increased hunger) and polyuria (passing of copious amount of urine) besides constipation,
excessive weight loss, fatigue, blurring of vision and extreme susceptibility
to infections. They characterize diabetic mellitus onset. She stresses that diabetes
can’t be cured completely but one can use effective resources with change in food
habits to lifestyle for good control.
She
caveats that highly stressed out situations bring severe rise in the blood
sugar levels. It is crucial for family members of diabetic persons to help them
avoid mental and physical stress. An increase in stress level directly
responses by Glucogenic hormones release hence it causes enhancement of blood
glucose level. With high levels of diabetes milletis due to blood sugar
elevation body’s metabolic system affects badly. Insufficient hormone insulin in
diabetic cases against required one for normal carbohydrate metabolism turns lifestyle
difficult.
Insulin-dependent
Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM), also called Type 1DM and Non-insulin-dependent
Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM), often denoted with Type 2DM, can be controlled by bringing
radical change in the lifestyle—through proper diet intake and regular exercise.
This
book guides the diabetics to focus on optimism besides thorough elucidation of diabetic
complications. Living with diabetes in the condition under which glucose circulation
in bloodstream fails to absorb properly is chronic but developing a feel of luckless
sufferer further worsens health condition. Why optimism is crucial for diabetics?
She suggests that maintaining positive frame of mind and self-confidence turns one
capable to manage body plus mind. It helps to overcome the metabolic disorders.
Family
support and encouragement boosts the morale of every diabetic person. Major diabetic
symptoms of hyperglycemia should be treated instantly if detected. Ignoring that
means you invite Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) condition which otherwise cause medical
emergency. Such situation arrives once insulin supply goes too high to cause glucose
movement out of the bloodstream to enter into body cells. It starves brain out of
fuel just to force one to go into coma. Such situation leads to brain damage or
even deaths.
This
book suggests the options to keep blood glucose level under control. As diabetes
affects all parts of body, it must be prevented by taking timely step to manage
the disease. It is worth noting that today diabetes causes more deaths than
AIDS and breast cancer combined. She suggests the action plan to test blood
glucose level on regular intervals to maintain that at near to normal levels possible.
If you are success in doing that you can easily beat complications associated
with diabetes.
Diabetics
are susceptible to diseases like heart attacks, retinopathy, nephropathy,
neuropathy, encephalopathy, periodontal disease, respiratory tract infections, urinary
tract infections and skin infections because it causes lifelong total-body complication.
Manage diabetes by total change in lifestyle for overall improvement. Diabetics
must understand this disease carefully to learn the major and minor complications
for better solutions. To manage it you are required to maintain great tenacity
of positive frame of mind. Support from family helps diabetics to develop
self-confidence. Blood glucose level is best maintained through diet management.
She
also points out why most diabetes management programs focus on body hydrations.
An intake of minimum of two liters plain water besides increase in wholegrain
intake is helpful. Diabetics are recommended to have fibre-rich food besides limiting
carbohydrates. Regulated intake of dietary supplements zinc, manganese, chromium
and vanadium et al are valuable. A diabetic must have sufficient sleep and involve
in stress-busting activities for good control over this disease. Manage
lifestyle by keeping in consideration this fact that diabetics are more
sensitive to changes like physical, physiological, environmental and even mental.
Monitor
body and have balanced, nutritious diet low in saturated fat and simple
carbohydrates with high fibers. If you are success in at least 20 percent
reduction in body weight you can claim to have better diabetic management. Proper
diet and exercise increase sensitivity to insulin. That is why you should have regulated
diet. Be careful especially if there is a family history of diabetes. Carbohydrates
are essential parts of diabetic diet. Carefully regulated diet instead of restricting
carbohydrate inputs proves more beneficial. Fruits like mango and custard apple
contain extra sugar than the rest but diabetics with better blood glucose
control may have them in diets as in-between-meals carbohydrate snack rather than
a total avoidance.
Primary
focus in this book is on the herbs and spices. They have irrefutable impact on
diabetic lifestyle to enhance pleasure derived from food. Herbs and spices shape
the cuisines by adding interest in food. Even simple but an aromatic meal always
remains best choice.
This
book lists herbs available in the households as ultimate options to manage the diabetic
conditions. It has the collection of healthy recipes recommended to diabetics. It
is an excellent reference book for diabetics to understand the disease and incorporate
changes in life for their healthy living.
*****
[Asif Anwar Alig (asifanwaralig@gmail.com)
is assistant professor and media relations specialist at Saudi Ministry of
Education. He was earlier an executive producer in ETV; editorial coordinator
at MDI, Gurgaon (India) and media specialist at PMU (Saudi Arabia). His website
www.asifanwaralig.com
advocates—“Books are hard-bound drug with no danger of an overdose and he is a
happy victim of books.”]http://www.ceylontoday.lk/thumb/epaper-images/56551.jpg; http://ceylontoday.lk/96-113984-news-detail-gateway-to-healthy-life.html
