This is that time of the year, families are getting together, weddings are celebrated left, right and centre. There is a family get together almost every day and this will run its course till February. Weddings and New Year celebrations go hand in hand and we Indians love both these occasions to death.
In India, we have the tradition of celebrating every festival or occasion with something sweet. Our parents always say, “kuch meetha ho jaye” and this led us here. Every festival in India is celebrated with sweets and cakes, be it homemade or made by the local confectioner. All in the name of Love for our family and the celebration we tend to let go and overeat.
This one, often extended two-week period leads to binge eating and leads to a massive influx of blood sugar levels. This is the primary reason why so many of us are now suffering from either fasting blood sugar (pre-diabetes) or diet induced diabetes i.e. Type II Diabetes.
Diabetes alone is the leading cause of hypertension (high blood pressure), obesity and pre-mature death in North India. It has become such an epidemic that 69.2 million of India’s adult population has diabetes. Imagine how high the number would be if we were to include the youth populous into the mix. These are some scary numbers, that we need to investigate, after all, the nation’s biggest strength is our ever-growing human resource.
We are sitting with almost half the population (47.3%) who have diabetes but are undiagnosed. That’s an alarming figure, not to mention that this epidemic is spreading to even the rural areas of our great nation. In recent times, where the nation has seen growth, we have seen an increase in the standards of living and the way people conduct their lifestyle. This change brought about something with itself that added fuel to the fire.
Ever since the advent of globalisation and growth that It brought to our shores, our households became more open or welcoming to the idea of consuming alcohol as a part of celebrating festivities and occasions alike. This led to a sudden surge in the number of diabetic and pre-diabetic patients and contrary to popular belief, diabetes and drinking became more common among the affluent in the rural areas of the nation.
This happened for a simple fact, that is people who became affluent in the urban areas knew what alcohol did to their systems and how a balanced consumption would be the smarter way to go about it, sadly people in rural areas didn’t have the same liberty and prevalence of the said disease became more customary in the lesser developed areas as a result.
We want to give the same opportunity to all our readers to spread this message around, so that they can make an informed decision. So, let’s do the right thing and educate others.
I’ll address the elephant in the room, now. How does Alcohol affect the blood sugar levels of an individual to begin with?
Alcohol, like any other nutrient holds a calorific value, this value stands tall at an enormous 7 calories per gram. Mind you, these are empty calories, meaning our body cannot use them or gain any sort of nutrition from consuming them.
These just raise the blood sugar levels caused by a spike in blood insulin levels (insulin is a hormone, that raises blood sugar level and channels it to be used as fuel for the body), which falls down equally as fast which decreases blood sugar levels making us lethargic and sleepy (one of the side effects of alcohol, the feeling of grogginess that comes with drinking).
Now imagine mixing up a serving of alcohol and sweets that we usually consume on festivals. Ingesting both these together will cause an insane surge in blood glucose and it will collapse equally as fast, causing insensitivity of Insulin in the body which causes Diabetes.
A smart way to go about it would be the goldilocks way, the age-old rule of moderation is key, stands its ground even today. Eating a balanced diet and following a well-balanced workout program only solidifies your efforts of being a healthier and happier version of yourself. Coupled with consuming a modest one unit a day for females and 2 units a day for males, wherein you are not missing out on the good times with your loved ones yet at the same time you are looking after yourself, helps in this regard.
It is one of the fastest growing epidemics that our country is combating, and it will start with our preventive steps, spread the word around, create awareness and nip this problem in the bud.
After all a healthy nation will be a wealthy nation, our biggest strength lies in our numbers, our families and our love for one another.
Educate each other and look after each other for a better future.
Till the next festival, happy munching in moderation.
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