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Exclusive: Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is now so common people
are talking about‘diabesity’, a combination
of diabetes and obesity
By Ilse Salzwedel
EVERY single person who is about 10 kg overweight runs the risk of
developing type 2 diabetes. If you’re obese (20 kg or more overweight)
you have a considerable chance of developing type 2 diabetes.
In South Africa more than two in every five people are overweight and like America we
are heading for three epidemics: obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Specialists in the West warn that type 2 diabetes is becoming more prevalent
among children, compared to 30 years ago when most people suffering
from it were over 50. In South Africa type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and
high cholesterol levels are also diagnosed in children as young as eight years. This is extremely worrying.
“We must stem this tide of type 2 diabetes by doing something about our kids’
eating habits and lack of exercise,” says Dr
Jacobus van Dyk, a paediatric endocrinologist
from Pretoria who heads a clinic for
young diabetics. “If we don’t act quickly we’ll
have enormous problems.”
If you’re overweight, on
your way to diabetes or
already have type 2 diabetes,
it’s vital you eat and
exercise properly. Even if
you’re healthy it will do
you an enormous amount
of good to follow the
guidelines left and below.
EXERCISE AS FOLLOWS
Diabetics benefit a great deal from exercise but all South Africans should
become more active to prevent type 2 diabetes. Get your kids away from the
TV and get them moving – otherwise we’ll be heading for a diabetes pandemic.
Thirty minutes’ exercise three times a week is essential. Soccer, swimming,
tennis, cycling, ballet and modern dancing are all excellent forms of exercise.
Remember, if you don’t control your diabetes by means of the correct diet, exercise
and pills, daily injections will soon become necessary. And that’s no joke!
THIS IS HOW YOU SHOULD EAT
- Make sure you eat enough fibre. Two fruits a day and lots of vegetables with white meat is best.
- Be careful of cooldrinks and fruit juice – they contain a lot of sugar.
- Grill meat and avoid deep-fried foods.
- Poach or boil eggs.
- Don’t forget, take-away foods (deepfried
chicken pieces, hamburgers and
pizza with lots of cheese) contain at
least three times more fat than regular, home-cooked food.
- Follow a low-GI (low glycaemic index)
eating plan with very little rice, red
meat, potatoes and chocolate.
CONTACT DETAILS
- DIABETES SOUTH AFRICA 011-792-9888/7 or www.diabetessa.co.za. (There are 92 support groups, nine branches and a network of health workers countrywide.)
- DR JACOBUS VAN DYK Little Company of Mary Hospital, Pretoria: 012-460-7900/1
YOU Pulse Summer 2007/8
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