HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT | Page 24

Natural Health & Wellbeing Pre-diabetes... yet another A complete range of certified organic & bio-dynamic: fruit & vegetables • meat • dairy • bread • personal care • cleaning goods We respect the environment and strive to reduce the impact of our lifestyles on the world we share with other species and future generations by seeking to avoid products that depend on the exploitation of others. We support non-toxic, sustainable agriculture. We prefer to buy from local, earth-friendly producers. We recycle and try to lead by example, educating ourselves and others about health and nutrition, cooperation and the environment. Theresa & Yves HOURS: Mon- Fri 9am - 6pm; Saturday 9am - 4pm www.greenhillsorganics.com.au [email protected] Shop 4, 328 Windsor St, Richmond 02 4588 5377 IN-STORE or HOME DELIVERED NaturallyBetterHealth Remedial Massage Acupuncture Chinese Medicine 0450 688 235 Richmond www.naturallybetterhealth.com.au The Yoga Shed The Yoga Shed offers qualified, knowledgeable & inspiring local yoga teachers. Bringing Yoga to the Hawkesbury Community in one easy and accessible location. Richmond Pre natal Mums and Bubs & Kid’s classes We offer a range of Yoga classes & cater for all ages and ranges of ability. For class times & more information find us online at www.theyogashedrichmond.com Phone: 4588 5377 Shop 4/328 Windsor Str eet, Richmond 24 ISSUE 61 // June 2015 by Sue Quin Herbalist, Naturopath, Nutritionist Health Foods & You Shop 2, 209-211 Windsor Street, Richmond Phone 4578 1055 We have heard, for nearly a decade now, of the explosion and ‘epidemic’ of diabetes in the western world. Even in India and China, incidence of diabetes is running at an all time high. Nearly one in four Australians have a diagnosed condition of diabetes, or have risk factors indicating the onset of diabetes. In conversations everywhere, we hear of more and more people being diagnosed with diabetes, and the new condition – Pre-Diabetes. So what does this really mean? The prestigious British Medical Journal (BMJ) last year published an editorial on the medicine and politics of pre-diabetes, questioning the unnecessary medicalisation of this condition. The great cause for concern is that a whole new group of people can be brought into the ‘medical’ fold, be prescribed medications, and subsequently place an unsustainable financial burden on our health systems and the community. So What IS PreDiabetes? The official guidelines around diagnosing PreDiabetes appear to be fairly loose. A doctor can diagnose pre-diabetes when a person has a slightly high fasting blood sugar (usually taken first thing in the morning after fasting overnight), or a slightly higher HbA1C, which measures the average sugar levels in your red cells over the last few months. However, there can be problems with both of these. Your fasting blood sugar can vary significantly depending on what you ate the day before, especially the evening before, and with your levels of stress. During the pre-dawn and early dawn hours, our bodies, as they get ready for the day, can produce higher levels of stress hormones, especially cortisol. These hormones can cause a rise in blood sugar as your body prepares itself to meet the stresses of the day. Sometimes blood sugars will rise as a response to dropping during the night. It may also signify that the body needs good food – NOW!, in order to start metabolizing for the day ahead. HbA1c is a test frequently used to confirm a diagnosis of diabetes or to monitor the progress of the disease. However, results can become unreliable when there are blood problems such as low iron levels, when taking drugs such as aspirin, recent surgery and loss of blood, and even age. HbA1c levels will rise when red blood cells get older or hang around for longer than their text-book standard of 120 days. But in diabetes, most red cells have a shorter life. So, this test does not always show a true picture. How Dietary Recommendations Have Changed In the early 1970s, the accepted dietary recommendation for diabetes patients was a low-carbohydrate diet which included fats. It was recognized, 35-40 years ago, that a healthy body needed fats to maintain good digestive and metabolic function, and to maintain good levels of Vitamin A and Vitamin D, both of which are ‘fatty’ vitamins. There was also recognition that cereals with lots of fibre, as well as vegetables, had a much greater benefit on blood sugar levels than processed foods and low-fat diets. It seems almost common sense now to realize that in a society before the advent of manufactured food products, diabetes was never really a public health problem. Is Low-Fat Really Healthy? The popularization, in the late 70s and 80s, of the low-fat diet for cardiovascular health changed all that. Suddenly we were being warned off all fat and eggs, and even the ‘good’ fats like butter, vegetable oils and nut oils. The catch-cry became that a fatty diet caused fat in the arteries, which led to heart attacks and strokes. What we were really doing was ignoring the complex benefits of fats in protecting eye health, preserving good kidney function, and supporting the capillary circulation in the tissues. The Vitamin D Connection People with diabetes are, almost without exception, deficient in Vitamin D. This is a fatty vitamin which is absolutely essential not just for bone health, but also for nervous system and immune health. It plays a huge role in preventing early onset of mental health issues including dementia, and is important in cancer prevention, and overall metabolic health. Vitamin D helps your hormones to communicate with cells HAWKESBURY DISTRICT INDEPENDENT NEWS www.hdinews.com.au