It's Diwali time here in India and you are probably planning to make lots of sweets. If you are like me and do not exactly love cooking, you are probably planning to buy some sweets and chocolates to send as gifts to your friends and relatives. Every other cookery show on television seems to be teaching you how to make sweets for Diwali.
But isn't it really sad that each household that you plan to visit this Diwali seems to have at least one or more diabetic persons who are on a restricted diet? Why is it so? Why does everybody around you seem to be diabetic? Because, many of them are!
Currently roughly one in every ten Indian is diabetic. By 2030, it is estimated that nearly one in every five Indian would have diabetes. Even today, most of the diabetics in the world live either in India or China, with India leading.
What makes us so prone to diabetes? Is it our food habits?
Well, it's our race mostly! As Asians, we are five times more prone to diabetes than whites. Central obesity or an apple shaped body is more common among Indians. We are more round around our tummies...that's where all our fat seems to be settling down. This shape of our body and the increased resistance to insulin makes us Indians more prone to diabetes.
The poori-chhole, butter chicken, paneer butter masala, chupudi chappatis, rice and the kheer, paysam, rasgulle etc in our diet is also a big culprit. How many of us really 'look before we leap' at the sight of yummy food?
And then it's the sedentary lifestyle, lack of physical exercise and stress that add to the risks we already possess as Indians.
So, while we are planning to say 'kuchh meetha ho jaye' this Diwali, let's just remember that diabetes is no more an epidemic in India, it has reached pandemic scales. We cannot be overlooking our risks any more.
How do you plan to cut down on your total calorie intake this Diwali? If you have great no-sugar ideas, please share.
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