The content frameworks of most online media - or new media, as media science scholars may prefer to call it - are pathetically replete with articles that seem informative when they are in fact grossly inaccurate and misleading. One such article is the one that was posted here. This article categorizes Diabetes as a lifestyle disorder and a rich man's disease. Furthermore, the key claim that is put forward in this blurb is that of Diabetes emanating from faulty diets, pregnancy, injury, surgery, excessive intake of junk food and other factors that influence one's lifestyle. While some of that may be true in some cases, this article, first of all, fails to draw a sharp line of distinction between the varied types of Diabetes that besiege many of us today. The main forms of Diabetes include:
Juvenile Diabetes (Commonly known as Type 1 Diabetes): Diabetics who have this condition are dependent on external injections of Insulin for their survival, since the beta cells in their pancreas, which are responsible for secreting Insulin to regulate body metabolism and blood glucose levels, are nearly or completely destroyed, resulting in the absence or deficiency of Insulin in their bodies. This condition is caused by an adverse auto-immune process which occurs when the body attacks and destroys its own cells in the pancreas.
Type 2 Diabetes: Type-2 Diabetics face a notably different situation. The Insulin produced by their beta cells does not act effectively to regulate their blood glucose levels. This condition, which is known as Insulin resistance, is mostly genetic. However, the factors that most commonly precipitate its occurrence include increasing age, obesity, physical inactivity and improper diet.
Type 3 Diabetes (Commonly known as Gestational Diabetes): This form of Diabetes occurs during pregnancy when hormonal changes reduce the body's capability to respond effectively to Insulin. This condition may be transitory and curable though it can also lead to Diabetes as a permanent condition.
Much else can be said in brief space. First of all, Juvenile or Type 1 Diabetes is not a lifestyle disorder like Type 2 Diabetes though many may claim that it is. Secondly, it is not as genetically influenced as Type 2 Diabetes. Thirdly, it does not arise from eating junk or high-glycemic foods all the time. Fourthly, it is most certainly NOT a rich man's disease. A contention that it is, is not only discriminatory in terms of economic class but is also ethnocentric and doctrinal in its fundamental character. These are the four claims that the foregoing article establishes and I wouldn't think twice before disputing them.
I have been a Juvenile Diabetic for 15 years. I am 24 today. Before you think otherwise, I was never overweight. Though shy, quiet and sensitive, I was energetic, healthy and physically strong before the onset of Diabetes. I was also quite thin as a child and hardly ate much, though I did have a fondness for candy, bonbons and chocolate like many kids do. Moreover, not a single progenitor or existing family member of mine had any form of Diabetes ever. One can then safely say that the notion of lifestyle and genetic factors as attributable stimuli in my case, is ruled out. My heightened physical and emotional sensitivity was rather unusual though. I remember that I had some issues at school, following my family's relocation to India from abroad. And this wasn't just culture shock resulting from the unforeseen move to India. After some counseling that I attended, an IQ test was recommended for me.
Fearing that something was wrong with me (or worse, that I was a retard), I reluctantly agreed to undertake a formal test. It turned out that my IQ was 136 and I was advised to enroll in a special education program, which I didn't do not only because of certain situations that required urgent focus back then but also due to the fact that special schools and programs for the gifted hardly existed in India during those years. They are still relatively scarce in India today and the school environment that I spent many of my years in, was rather conventional, orthodox and dogmatic - a factor that caused me much stress. I don't mean to digress here but the reason for its mention at this juncture, is not borne out of any megalomania on my part - rather, it is a contention that I must have been very precocious as a child. This precociousness took over when a stressful life event assailed me when I was eight years old. Yes, eight-year-olds can face stressful life events too. You see, stressful and traumatic life events do not necessarily impose themselves on you only when you are over 40! I will not venture into a detailed account of this event here other than that my Mum was consumed by an illness that nearly took her life and we received not an ounce of family support without having to beg for some mercy from our end - a move that won us some grudging tolerance, though not without criticisms leveled at me and my baby sister, and claims from my maternal grandmother that I was the one who had brought this illness on my Mum, with all my troubling and petulance. Besides the ensuing thoughts of suicide that engulfed me many a time, I nearly attempted one while staying in the grandmother's place when my Mum was in hospital fighting for her life. What's more, the grandmother dissuaded Mum's elder sister from flying down to India (from the Middle East where she was then based) to see my Mum, explaining that it would be too expensive for her to buy an air ticket! It could have been the last time my aunt would have seen her blood-related sister, if she did come down to visit but she heeded my grandmother's advice and didn't. Now you get the picture.
My Mum did survive against all odds. However, it cannot be mere non-stress-induced coincidence that I was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes a year later, after nearly seeping into a ketoacidotic coma.
Notwithstanding an ivy-league degree and a status as an evolving journalist-writer, communicator and author today, I should remind you that I am quintessentially from the developing world. Amidst my social campaigning endeavors, I have addressed gatherings of Type-1 Diabetics as a part of a series of inspirational awareness sessions and group therapies for other recently diagnosed Diabetic children and youth in India. Over 90% of Diabetics I have met in these camps are more often than not from poorer families that cannot even afford proper treatment. I myself hailed from a very modest family. Having seen such scenarios, my blood boils when I read or hear that Diabetes is categorized as a rich man's disease. Such shameful archetypes cannot be generalized.
Another issue is the idiocy of some people who think that eating a small meal every 2-3 hours (something that is recommended for everyone but absolutely necessary for Diabetics) makes us fat, lazy or both. Though I didn't (thankfully!) suffer from any of the depression that a recently diagnosed Diabetic undergoes, I did get teased a lot in school not only for being intellectually different but also for eating every couple hours! In fact eating more this way helps you get thinner by helping you burn more fat. If it wasn't so, the svelte models and actors that many of us lionize today, wouldn't be doing it too! I was amused at how ironic life could be, when I later received a few modeling offers across London, Mumbai and such, myself (I certainly do not have the stereotypical model's figure, but I do think that it's how a person holds herself that makes her better placed to endorse a brand - more on that later though). Conversely, many of you (especially Indians) might see what I mean when you think about that unpopular relative who not only made a lot of noise but who also ballooned up because he/she ate nothing all day but junk or just two heavy meals sun-up and sun-down to such an extent that he/she could not distinguish between torso and tummy. Don't be fooled if people like that can still reach forward and touch their toes without bending their knee joints. If you are well-acquainted with the dynamics of human symmetry, you would understand that it's probably because their legs are shorter and their torsos longer and bigger! Doesn't that make sense? The point here is that ignorant people may ridicule or make fun of us for for consistently munching on some chow every few hours or not being able to touch our toes while stretching after exercise but that's just what they are - ignorant and as pea-sized as their brains are!
In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that Type 1 Diabetes is definitely not a fallout of diet or lifestyle-related issues. Online media channels should avoid incapacitating their content by posting such misleading bullshit to unsuspecting masses.
Juvenile Diabetes (Commonly known as Type 1 Diabetes): Diabetics who have this condition are dependent on external injections of Insulin for their survival, since the beta cells in their pancreas, which are responsible for secreting Insulin to regulate body metabolism and blood glucose levels, are nearly or completely destroyed, resulting in the absence or deficiency of Insulin in their bodies. This condition is caused by an adverse auto-immune process which occurs when the body attacks and destroys its own cells in the pancreas.
Type 2 Diabetes: Type-2 Diabetics face a notably different situation. The Insulin produced by their beta cells does not act effectively to regulate their blood glucose levels. This condition, which is known as Insulin resistance, is mostly genetic. However, the factors that most commonly precipitate its occurrence include increasing age, obesity, physical inactivity and improper diet.
Type 3 Diabetes (Commonly known as Gestational Diabetes): This form of Diabetes occurs during pregnancy when hormonal changes reduce the body's capability to respond effectively to Insulin. This condition may be transitory and curable though it can also lead to Diabetes as a permanent condition.
Much else can be said in brief space. First of all, Juvenile or Type 1 Diabetes is not a lifestyle disorder like Type 2 Diabetes though many may claim that it is. Secondly, it is not as genetically influenced as Type 2 Diabetes. Thirdly, it does not arise from eating junk or high-glycemic foods all the time. Fourthly, it is most certainly NOT a rich man's disease. A contention that it is, is not only discriminatory in terms of economic class but is also ethnocentric and doctrinal in its fundamental character. These are the four claims that the foregoing article establishes and I wouldn't think twice before disputing them.
I have been a Juvenile Diabetic for 15 years. I am 24 today. Before you think otherwise, I was never overweight. Though shy, quiet and sensitive, I was energetic, healthy and physically strong before the onset of Diabetes. I was also quite thin as a child and hardly ate much, though I did have a fondness for candy, bonbons and chocolate like many kids do. Moreover, not a single progenitor or existing family member of mine had any form of Diabetes ever. One can then safely say that the notion of lifestyle and genetic factors as attributable stimuli in my case, is ruled out. My heightened physical and emotional sensitivity was rather unusual though. I remember that I had some issues at school, following my family's relocation to India from abroad. And this wasn't just culture shock resulting from the unforeseen move to India. After some counseling that I attended, an IQ test was recommended for me.
Fearing that something was wrong with me (or worse, that I was a retard), I reluctantly agreed to undertake a formal test. It turned out that my IQ was 136 and I was advised to enroll in a special education program, which I didn't do not only because of certain situations that required urgent focus back then but also due to the fact that special schools and programs for the gifted hardly existed in India during those years. They are still relatively scarce in India today and the school environment that I spent many of my years in, was rather conventional, orthodox and dogmatic - a factor that caused me much stress. I don't mean to digress here but the reason for its mention at this juncture, is not borne out of any megalomania on my part - rather, it is a contention that I must have been very precocious as a child. This precociousness took over when a stressful life event assailed me when I was eight years old. Yes, eight-year-olds can face stressful life events too. You see, stressful and traumatic life events do not necessarily impose themselves on you only when you are over 40! I will not venture into a detailed account of this event here other than that my Mum was consumed by an illness that nearly took her life and we received not an ounce of family support without having to beg for some mercy from our end - a move that won us some grudging tolerance, though not without criticisms leveled at me and my baby sister, and claims from my maternal grandmother that I was the one who had brought this illness on my Mum, with all my troubling and petulance. Besides the ensuing thoughts of suicide that engulfed me many a time, I nearly attempted one while staying in the grandmother's place when my Mum was in hospital fighting for her life. What's more, the grandmother dissuaded Mum's elder sister from flying down to India (from the Middle East where she was then based) to see my Mum, explaining that it would be too expensive for her to buy an air ticket! It could have been the last time my aunt would have seen her blood-related sister, if she did come down to visit but she heeded my grandmother's advice and didn't. Now you get the picture.
My Mum did survive against all odds. However, it cannot be mere non-stress-induced coincidence that I was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes a year later, after nearly seeping into a ketoacidotic coma.
Notwithstanding an ivy-league degree and a status as an evolving journalist-writer, communicator and author today, I should remind you that I am quintessentially from the developing world. Amidst my social campaigning endeavors, I have addressed gatherings of Type-1 Diabetics as a part of a series of inspirational awareness sessions and group therapies for other recently diagnosed Diabetic children and youth in India. Over 90% of Diabetics I have met in these camps are more often than not from poorer families that cannot even afford proper treatment. I myself hailed from a very modest family. Having seen such scenarios, my blood boils when I read or hear that Diabetes is categorized as a rich man's disease. Such shameful archetypes cannot be generalized.
Another issue is the idiocy of some people who think that eating a small meal every 2-3 hours (something that is recommended for everyone but absolutely necessary for Diabetics) makes us fat, lazy or both. Though I didn't (thankfully!) suffer from any of the depression that a recently diagnosed Diabetic undergoes, I did get teased a lot in school not only for being intellectually different but also for eating every couple hours! In fact eating more this way helps you get thinner by helping you burn more fat. If it wasn't so, the svelte models and actors that many of us lionize today, wouldn't be doing it too! I was amused at how ironic life could be, when I later received a few modeling offers across London, Mumbai and such, myself (I certainly do not have the stereotypical model's figure, but I do think that it's how a person holds herself that makes her better placed to endorse a brand - more on that later though). Conversely, many of you (especially Indians) might see what I mean when you think about that unpopular relative who not only made a lot of noise but who also ballooned up because he/she ate nothing all day but junk or just two heavy meals sun-up and sun-down to such an extent that he/she could not distinguish between torso and tummy. Don't be fooled if people like that can still reach forward and touch their toes without bending their knee joints. If you are well-acquainted with the dynamics of human symmetry, you would understand that it's probably because their legs are shorter and their torsos longer and bigger! Doesn't that make sense? The point here is that ignorant people may ridicule or make fun of us for for consistently munching on some chow every few hours or not being able to touch our toes while stretching after exercise but that's just what they are - ignorant and as pea-sized as their brains are!
In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that Type 1 Diabetes is definitely not a fallout of diet or lifestyle-related issues. Online media channels should avoid incapacitating their content by posting such misleading bullshit to unsuspecting masses.
Nish,
ReplyDeleteI am in awe of the person that you are, and will forever more remain thus. You are not an ordinary face-in-the-crowd, you are simply an extraordinary individual to whom some ordinary, and many difficult things have happened. Your courage, innate sense of self-motivation and penchant for moving ahead will always assure you the future you wish, one filled with goodness, joy and happiness. May you live long, healthily and happily.
The Nomad.