Imagine having to rely on these everyday for the rest of your life to control diabetes
(Picture from Pixabay)
It’s quite
apparent that diabetes is a serious problem in Singapore when the Prime Minister
focuses a major portion of his National Day Rally speech on it, to the point
that it almost feels like a health talk. Certainly, I would agree that we have
reason to be alarmed when our small nation is only second behind the USA in
ranking of incidence of diabetes.
A high
incidence of health problems in a country is not only detrimental to
productivity when most of our only natural resources are its people. But when
many people are requiring medical treatments, the manpower shortage – doctors,
nurses and other medical staff will become even more severe than ever. There
will be shortage of hospital beds, and there will be long lines of patients
everywhere. Naturally, it is also a huge drain on welfare.
Much of the
Prime Minister’s advice is very good advice, though they are also not news.
Replace white rice with brown rice or mixed grains, drink water instead of
sugary sodas, do more exercise and try to achieve at least 10000 steps a day…
such advice has been repeatedly advocated by health enthusiasts and medical
professionals everywhere in the world. They have also been discussed in one of
our blog posts here. And here is an article on making brown rice more palatable. Sadly, not
everyone is willing to compromise their taste buds, until something serious
happens, and by then, it may be too late.
Perhaps one
of the main problems is that Singaporeans really love our food. It is no news
that we have a large variety of dining options, from hawker centres to hipster
cafes to fast food to Michelin restaurants. On top of that, there are plenty of
food blogs dedicated to reviewing and recommending new eating places and menus.
A new menu by Macdonald’s can easily get tongues (or keyboards) wagging as
foodies wax lyrical over the good and bad.
As a member
of my neighbours’ WhatsApp group dedicated to food, and not being much of a
foodie myself, it is quite sobering to see people across different age groups
being so interested in food. It is also evident that many people enjoy eating out,
or perhaps, they simply don’t have time or interest to cook, and they so they
dine out on a regular basis (one of the things health professionals and
enthusiasts discourage due to the inability to control what goes inside the
food). Aside from sharing photos featuring meals they had, as well as the opening
hours of the elusive wanton mee stall nearby that opens infrequently, another
hot topic for them is durians. Thanks to them, I’ve learnt that durian buffets
are a thing in Singapore.
For fees ranging from $30 to $50, you can enjoy your fill of durians, and not
just during the durian season. And durians are absolutely bad news for
diabetes.
Singapore, renowned for being a food
paradise, is chockfull of temptations. To have the government implement restrictions
or bans would not only be considered draconian, but also require resources to
enforce. Ultimately, awareness and self-restraint are the best tools to
combating diabetes and the related health issues. That also includes going for
regular health screenings to detect symptoms and problems that have not become
serious enough to make an impact, and are still at a more easily treatable
stage. A piece of good news is that from next month onwards, health-screening
fees are cut down to $5 for those above the age of 40. Nevertheless, even
without a health checkup, I believe most of us, especially the younger
generation, are well aware about whether we actually are at a risk of diabetes
(sedentary lifestyle, eating out a lot, on the chubby side). It is time to stop
living in denial and start making a proactive decision to safeguard one’s
health.
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