diabetes

When I was in the United States doing my post graduate degree I would often listen to the song by Olivia Newton John entitled " Lets get physical" . The gist of the song basically suggesting to us that we need to do some exercises. I know its not that easy to find time to get physical. We are all  bogged down with our office tasks and a host of other problems. By the time we reach home at six pm  we would already be exhausted physically and mentally. We just would want to rest quietly  and  would be  hoping that there's " pisang goreng panas" or "cucur udang" on the table ready to be consumed. "Cucur udang" tastes better when it is served with "Teh tarik" or Nescafe "tarik". And "Cucur udang" and "teh tarik" always come together  during the tea time

At home, there's no way we could do anything. The only thing that we are will to do is probably munch the snack and read the newspaper. We are  couch potatoes. The drawback of  not doing anything physical  is  obesity. When you are obese there's a greater chance that you will get diabetes. They too come together  in a package.

I recently heard that 3 out of five women in Malaysia are obese. This is definitely true  and I often observe that there are many women who are fat. In fact, I notice that there are more fat Malay women that that of the other races.The interesting thing is that I see  young Malay  girls before they get married  as really shapely and thin. They look so sexy and cute. But soon after they get married especially after getting their second or third child they will start to  balloon up. From 53 kilos on the wedding day they  now have grown bigger to almost 80 kilos and still adding up weight. The men too are obese after being fed continually by their wives. They have "nasi gorreng, mee goreng, nasi lemak" and all those spicy and oily dishes. You will see that their belly will start to become really round and big and it starts to protrude. From the size of 28 the men will start wearing size 40 or 42 in just a few years.

When you are fat  the first disease that you get accustomed to  is diabetes. Most people don't realize that they are diabetic until its too late. They would just collapse and would be in a daze. A female friend of mine who just turned 50 recently collapsed in her home and had to be rushed to the hospital after having the feeling of nausea and experiencing vertigo . After some diagnosis the doctor concluded  that she had diabetes and had to undergo insulin treatment. She now faces some nerve problems as a direct result of the diabetes. She now faces what those in medical sector called peripheral neuropathy.

When we reach 50 we really need to get physical. We can't give the same excuse of not having  time to exercise.We really need to reduce our calorie intake too. We should cut down on the carbohydrates that we take. Most importantly,cut down on the sugar consumption. No more teh tarik and nescafe tarik but just plain warm water. Now , "Lets get physical".......