Taking control of your diabetic destiny

DR SHARMILA RAMESSUR CHANDRAN

And guaranteed, no priests or religious offerings required.

No fad diets, expensive gadgets, gym subscription or personal trainer needed.

You will feel better, look better, live better and you will save money!

START WITH SMALL CHANGES THAT WILL LAST

1. Reduce carbohydrates/ high calorie food

What contains carbohydrates?

• Rice, bread, everything made out of flour (faratas, puris, dhol puris).
• Starchy vegetables; potatoes, sweet potato, beetroot, cassava (manioc), vermicelli, sagou, maize meal, taro (arouille).
• Nuggets, burgers, chips, biscuits.

Reduce carbohydrate portions at regular meals

• One 10 -15 cm length of a baguette is enough for a main meal or a small ~10 cm diameter bowl of rice.
• Be careful of religious fasting and the carbohydrate overload with starchy vegetables or various puddings cooked with sugar and sultanas.
• Beware of nuggets/burgers/kebabs, they are carbohydrate loaded and unhealthy, high processed food.
• Faratas, puris should be occasional food – once every few weeks, not eaten several times per week.

2. Eliminate food with added or hidden sugars on a regular basis

• No sugar in tea/coffee – use artificial sweeteners if you like the sweet taste.
• No soft drinks and no fruit juice.
• No Indian sweets, cakes, and pastries, lollies, chocolate.
• No ice cream, full strength yogurt, milkshakes, falouda.
• Avoid very sweet fruits such as grapes and watermelon.

All of these should only be eaten or drunk on special occasions if you like them, about once a month.

3. Achilles’ tendon of the eating habits of Mauritians: fried carbohydrates!

• Samosas, gato-piman, bhajas, hakkiens etc.
• Indian sweets (sugar dense fried carbohydrates).
• Greasy kebabs, burgers and various other food all containing fried carbohydrates at the ever-increasing number of hawkers stalls.
• Puris, faratas, various ‘tekwas’

All of these should only be eaten in moderation, only once every few weeks and then only in small portions and not all at the same time.

4. Beware of too much of a good thing

• Honey and dates are natural sugars but are still sugar should be consumed in moderation.
• Wholemeal flour and brown sugar are better than refined white flour and white sugar but is still carbohydrate and should be reduced.
• Boiled starchy vegetables are better than fried food but are still carbohydrates

SO WHAT TO EAT THEN?

What is there left to eat, you ask?

When I grew up – dinner was lentils/bean/dhal soup, sautéed vegetables, a small portion of fish or meat or an egg with salad or chutney. If you eat this with a small piece of bread, it is a perfectly balanced meal high in fibre and nutrients.

1. During a main meal; eat a small portion of carbohydrate, a small piece of meat or fish or 1-2 eggs and LOTS of vegetables and salads

• Lettuce, cucumber, and carrots are freely available in Mauritius and easy to prepare.
• Vegetables: greens (brèdes) cauliflower, cabbage, eggplant, corn, beans are all available in abundance. Chouchou is a great replacement to potatoes. Eggplant can be made in a great dip.
• Pulses: lentils, dhals, gros-pois, beans are all great sources of fibre, and vegetable protein.

2. Drink lots of liquid; water or tea and coffee with a little bit of milk and no sugar.
3. Always have lots of healthy fruits around; bananas, guavas, mandarins, pineapple, apples and pears and also cucumber (local fruits are best)
4. When you are hungry, do not reach out for biscuits or cakes

• Eat a piece of healthy fruit
• have a drink

filling your stomach with liquid and fibre will stop you from being hungry.

HOW MANY MEALS SHOULD YOU HAVE?

Most of us are not working in fields or warehouses unlike our hard-working grandparents. Due to our sedentary lifestyle, 3 large meals plus morning and afternoon tea are too much.

1. Reduce main meals to 2 per day and replace one meal with a drink and a healthy snack.
2. For example, if you have breakfast, then you should only need a drink and fruits/salads for lunch and afternoon tea.
3. Or only have a drink of coffee and tea for breakfast and have a healthy lunch.
4. Morning or afternoon tea should be fruits or salad and a drink.
5. You can eat vegetables like cucumber, salads, carrots, tomatoes endlessly all day long.

Busy with work and no time to cook? Preparation is key

Plan ahead and prepare all weekday meals during the weekend. Dhal and lentils keep very well for a week and curries taste best when a couple of days old.

Worried the vegetables will go off? Cut and clean all vegetable and keep them unwashed in containers till the day you need to stir fry them.

EXERCISE

The average office-worker in Mauritius has alarmingly low levels of activity.

Make time to walk, simply walk for at least ½ hour almost every day.

• Doing the school pick up and drop off?
  • Don’t waste time looking for a park right next to the school. Park 10-15 minutes away and walk. It is also good for your kids.
• Needs to buy something quickly from the supermarket? – don’t drive – walk!
• Practising sports or walking on the weekend is good but simply not enough.
• Don’t employ people to do everything for you.

• Housework and gardening are a great way to exercise.
  • Walk with your kids or grandkids after school- you will connect with them, and you can teach them about local birds and plants.

Walking requires use of your muscles throughout your body and muscles use up the sugar/glucose in your body, lowering the blood levels.

However, it is very important to realize that mild to moderate exercise while very good for your health, won’t lead to weight loss as it is just not enough exercise, and you won’t burn enough calories. Don’t make the fatal mistake of walking to the food hawkers or having a huge afternoon tea after a 20 minutes’ walk.

To lose weight through exercise, you will need to aim for at least a fast paced 1 hour walk daily.

Try to increase your exercise level over time, walk longer and faster and try to cover more ground.

If you already own a Fitbit or a pedometer- the aim is to walk some 10,000 steps per day.

7 kms or ~ 1.5 hours of walking from the time of waking up to bedtime. If you can at least

get to 5 km per day/~8000 steps, that is ~ 1 hour of walking in 24 hours, you will significantly improve your health.