Category: General

Diabetes in Cats on the Rise

Emma1 Comment
diabetes in cats
He’s a pudgy pussy – and sadly at risk of developing diabetes.

Diabetes in dogs and cats is on the rise – that’s according to a story in the Daily Mail this week.

Pet insurer Animal Friends says cats are most at risk. The insurer’s study of 9,000 pets showed an increase of 1,161 percent in feline claims since 2011. At the same time, cases in dogs have increased by 850 percent.

An expert from the UK veterinary charity, the PDSA, told the Daily Telegraph that one of the reasons for the increase in diabetes among cats and dogs was owners feeding their pets human food, which has far too many calories for them.

Animal Friends received just 62 claims for cat diabetes cases in 2011 – compared to 721 claims in 2015. Symptoms of the disease in pets include the pet being hungry or thirsty all the time, along with peeing more often.

Diabetes in cats and dogs can be managed with insulin therapy and diet and exercise.

To prevent your dog or cat from getting diabetes in the first place:

Check their weight*. This varies depending on breed, but for visual clues you should be able to feel the ribs and spine and see the animal’s waist when viewed from above. The abdomen should be raised. It shouldn’t sag when viewed from the side. Cats are roughly supposed to weigh less than 5kgs.

Check the weight at petMD. The site has a calculator that allows you to calculate the weight for different dog breeds.

Only feed your pet pet food. These can vary in quality. The popular brands tend to have a lot of rice, cereal and vegetables, which aren’t necessarily ingredients that dogs or cats are meant to eat and gluten in particular can upset stomachs. You can buy pet food which is formulated for weight loss.

Check food portions. This is especially important if you are feeding you cat or dog biscuits. Make sure you are giving your pet the recommended amount and no more.

Encourage your pet to exercise. With dogs, this may mean extra walks. For cats, structured exercise is difficult, but you can start by placing his food bowls upstairs or investing in a biscuit dispenser he needs to play with in order to get his biscuits. You can also start playing with him before every meal. Catster has some ideas for how to play with your cat. This is especially important if you have an indoor cat.

Pet weight loss is important – but it also requires expert advice from your veterinary surgery. Be sure to ask their advice before putting your dog or cat on a diet.

 

*The easiest method for weighing a cat or small dog is to hold the animal, jump on your scales (set the scales to kilos for ease) and then weigh yourself and subtract the difference.

EastEnders and Diabetes – A Gaff or Not?

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kids partyOne story that caught our attention this week was a piece in the news about EastEnders making a diabetes-related gaff.

Referring to a children’s party, a character in the show had talked about the food on offer, commenting that it wasn’t a good children’s party unless a kid got diabetes. The press talked it up along the lines of “outrage as EastEnders makes a mockery of those with a chronic illness” kind of thing (I paraphrase).

The “outrage” (and often outrage is a complete media invention) seemed to be about the supposed wrong understanding of what childhood diabetes is – because type 1 diabetes isn’t caused by sugar intake. Or that diabetes is a laughing matter, according to the outraged who awarded EastEnders social media exaggeration along the lines of #epicfail

There are a number of issues here. The character didn’t actually classify what kind of diabetes the children would get – she just said diabetes. In reality, younger and younger people are now falling victim to type 2 diabetes because of increased body weights in younger people. Increased body weight can be due to excessive sugar intake, which also causes insulin resistance and can eventually lead to type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes, on the other hand, is an auto-immune condition. Its exact causes are unknown. But do people in possession of common sense seeking an accurate understanding of medical conditions and what they involve look to EastEnders? Really? Does a soap opera have that responsibility?

Did I laugh when I read the story? Yup. Do I think it’s done massive damage to the diabetes cause in the UK? Nope.

Years ago, as a newly-diagnosed 10-year-old, a boy in my primary school class told me I had type 1 diabetes because I’d eaten too much sugar. Luckily for my self-esteem I knew he wasn’t right (though I wasn’t confident enough to actually challenge him) but in later years my older self knew that he hadn’t been that far off the mark when it comes to sugar and what it does to bodies.

Let’s look at this ‘gaff’ in another way too. Suppose our character Kim’s saying about children getting diabetes from eating too much sugar was taken to heart by the nation and parents all over the UK decided to cut sugar out of their kids’ diets completely.

Heavens. Would that be such a terrible thing…?

 

Picture thanks to Hire for Parties.

 

A Day of Low-Carb Eating

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bacon and eggsMost of the time, I eat about 90g* of carbs a day but from time to time, I do ultra-low carb to get my blood sugar levels to behave impeccably.

What does ultra-low carb look like? Well, this is a 30g a day sample:

Breakfast – two rashers of bacon, two links sausages, scrambled egg and a thin slice of black pudding. (We were staying in a hotel and the buffet style breakfast is always easy for low-carbers.)

Lunch: prawns mixed with mayonnaise, salad leaves, chopped red pepper and broccoli and some grated cheese.

Dinner: Liver with fried onions and bacon, cauliflower and a slice of low-carb bread spread with butter.

Total carbs – 33g (fibre 10g), macro split – 10 percent carbs, 63 percent fat and 27 percent protein.

What do you eat when you’re trying to keep your carbohydrate count very low?

 

*I use myfitnesspal as my carb counter. 

Public Health Collaboration: A Group Of Doctors Are Crowd-funding To Solve The Obesity & Diabetes Epidemic

kaitiscotland1 Comment

 

Eatwell_PlateIn the UK 25% of adults are obese, the highest prevalence in Europe, and type 2 diabetes has risen by 65% in the past 10 years with no sign of slowing down. Together they cost the NHS £16 billion a year and the UK economy at large £47 billion a year.

These perilous percentages and shocking statistics have presented themselves despite the fact that as a population Britons are following the dietary advice that is being recommended.

Based on the latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey published in 2014 by Public Health England, our total food consumption is on average 383 calories below the recommended, our total fat consumption is just below the recommended 35%, we’re just one portion shy of the recommended 5 fruits and vegetables a day, and lastly we’re only 1 g over the recommended amount of daily red meat intake.

Seemingly the issue of obesity and diabetes in the UK isn’t that Britons are over consuming but that they are following the dietary guidelines, known as the Eatwell plate given by the NHS.

A complete overhaul of these dietary guidelines is needed based on the most up to date scientific evidence in order to improve the health of the UK.

From Monday 1st February – Monday 29th February a group of 12 doctors have come together to solve the UK’s obesity and diabetes epidemics by crowd-funding to set up an independent public health charity called the Public Health Collaboration (PHC).

The group of doctors include deputy chair of the British Medical Association Dr. Kailash Chand OBE, dietitian Dr. Trudi Deakin, cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra, psychiatrist Dr. Tamsin Lewis, general practitioner Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, clinical psychologist Dr. Jen Unwin, diabetologist Dr. David Cavan, general practitioner Dr. Katharine Morrison, general practitioner Dr. David Unwin, general practitioner Dr. Joanne McCormack, general practitioner Dr. Ian Lake and general practitioner Dr. Ayan Panja.

The PHC needs to initially raise £5,000 to publish it’s first public report on healthy eating and weight loss guidelines given by the NHS. Alongside funding it’s ambitious campaign for change within the NHS.

Director of the PHC, Sam Feltham, is closing down his fitness business and only taking a London Living Wage in order to fight for the cause and says “Our £5,000 fund-raising target doesn’t sound like it’s enough to change anything on such a large scale, especially if you’re used to big budgets, but we’re in a fortunate position that our founding members of doctors are not taking any money for helping write our reports and supporting our campaigns.

The PHC will have it’s first public report published in April 2016 on what the scientific evidence tells us should be the dietary guidelines for optimal public health. Once published we recommend that the NHS read the report and takes it seriously for the sake of the nation’s health and economy.”

You can contact Sam Feltham for further comment or to get in contact with our group of doctors by emailing info@phcuk.orgor by calling 07734944349. Website http://igg.me/at/PHCUKorg

 

Giving Up Diet Coke – an Update

Emma4 Comments

diet cokeThere’s no point in making grandiose announcements on a blogging account and then failing to follow them up so here is an update on my attempts to give up diet coke…

A success. I no longer drink diet Coke in the quantities that I used to (a litre and a half a day, ahem!). I have saved myself considerable money as, like many others addicted to the fizzy stuff, I insisted on the real thing and I liked to drink individual servings rather than buying it in big bottles. It’s “fresher” that way, if you can ever use words such as “fresh” to describe Diet Coke.

[EDITOR’S NOTE – “ER… NO???!!]

I lasted almost four weeks without any diet coke. I stopped having chewing gum at the same time so that I could limit my exposure to any kind of artificial sweetener entirely. After week four, I had one (a 500ml bottle). One a week. That lasted roughly four weeks and then it crept up to two, then three and then one a day.

Which is where I am now – a one-a-day girl. When I used to drink three of these 500ml bottles a day, it used to take a lot of willpower not to drink any more. That same willpower comes into effect with drinking just one a day. So it’s willpower that has had a lot of practice. Continue reading “Giving Up Diet Coke – an Update” →

The Health Benefits of Good Sugar Control

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healthy person
We prefer happy health messages!

Oof – another week, another story about diabetes: this time the ticking time bomb that affects the UK with those suffering from type 2 diabetes now numbering more than 4 million and this figure predicted to rise to 5 million in less than a decade.

Nothing new there exactly, as experts have been predicting this particular time bomb for a while. I’m not a great fan of such stories because of their gloom and doom tone. It’s all very well frightening people, but fear isn’t always a great motivator.

Why not stress the good things that happen when you take control of your diabetes? As a type 1 myself, I can personally vouch for how different you feel when your blood sugar is under control.

Like you could conquer the world!

In contrast, when your sugar levels are running higher than they should, it makes you grumpy (as my husband and mum can certainly vouch for), depressed and tired on a day-to-day level.

If you watch your diet carefully, eat low-carbohydrate meals and take regular exercise, you can start to:

  • enjoy higher levels of energy
  • feel less tired
  • feel as if you WANT to exercise or get active
  • feel sociable
  • see your skin improve (rashes clear up and the tone evens out so that you look younger)
  • lose weight if you need to and enjoy the confidence and other feelings that are usually associated with losing excess weight
  • see improvements in your dental health (high sugar levels often result in gum disease)
  • reverse certain complications associated with diabetes
  • enjoy improvements in your relationships (it’s really hard to have great relationships when you are feeling like s**t)
  • sleep better (though maybe you won’t just be going to bed to sleep, see above bullet…)
  • feel better after you eat (instead of wanting to go to sleep).

Do you want to add any other improvements you have seen or experienced since taking control of your blood sugar levels? Please let us know in the comments. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

Emma2 Comments

new-years-day-1064217_960_720Happy New Year to everyone who follows The Diabetes Diet blog. We wish you health and happiness (and normal blood sugar levels) in 2016.

If you’re planning to kick-start low carb eating or in need of low-carb menu planning ideas, check out our blog as we’ve got loads of delicious recipes here, and plenty of information via the D-Solve course and the How to course which will help you work out how to deal with your diabetes.

And if you want that little bit extra help in a book where all the information is in one place, check out the Diabetes Diet here.

Rob Kardashian Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes

Emma2 Comments

Världsdiabetesdagen

As you might imagine with a condition as prevalent as diabetes, the topic is in the news frequently.

One article that caught our eye this week was the news that Rob Kardashian has type 2 diabetes. Rob Kardashian (in case any of you are saying to yourself, “who??” having recently returned from an extended sojourn on Mars) is a member of the all-powerful Kardashian k(c)lan*.

Members of the family are famous for breaking the internet with their ginormous bottoms, transvestism, dating men their girlfriends really should have sat them down and had an “avoid like the plague” word about, and spending vast sums of money.

Rob has been famous of late for steering well clear of family gatherings, most notably sister Kim’s wedding to Kanye West, and publicity.

As publicity loves nothing more than rumours of family fall-outs and fatness in celebrities, it found him anyway and recent pictures have shown a rather over-weight and unhappy looking young man.

According to TMZ, the 28-year-old was recently hospitalised and subsequently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. High-profile people with type 2 diabetes aren’t hard to find – Brian Cox, Tom Hanks, Sir Steven Redgrave and Larry King for starters – but Rob is unusual because he’s so young.

On the other hand, diagnosis of type 2 diabetes is on the rise – and it’s on the rise in people of a younger age. One 2007 article, for example, looked at incidences of type 2 diabetes in children under the age of 17 in the UK and found that “the frequency of type 2 diabetes appears to be increasing” blaming it on the increase in childhood obesity.

Poor Rob is likely feeling overwhelmed and unhappy at this moment in time, wondering what this diagnosis means for him and the way he lives his life.

On the plus side though, having now been diagnosed he can get on with making himself feel much, much better. Type 2 diabetes can and is improved all the time by lifestyle factors such as diet (and of course we’re going to promote the low-carb diet here a la The Diabetes Diet) and exercising regularly.

And of course if Rob would like any of our recipes for the dishes that can support his return to health, he’s welcome to peruse our website!

 

*In a gloriously egotistical way, mamma Kardashian insisted on naming all her kids with K names, even the ones with names not usually spelt with a K. You gotta admire it.

Pic thanks to Oskar Annermarken on flickr.

 

 

Pensioner Celebrates 80 Years of Living With Type 1 Diabetes

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Pic thanks to Diabetes UK

Congratulations to Clifford Whittaker – who this week celebrated living with type 1 diabetes for 80 years.

The Essex pensioner received an HG Wells medal from Diabetes UK in recognition of how long he has lived with the condition.

Mr Whittaker told the BBC he had never allowed his diabetes to stop him from doing anything and that his late wife Doreen had played a part in keeping him healthy over the years. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 8 and only stopped driving two years ago.

Sharon Roberts of Diabetes UK said Mr Clifford was an inspiration, showing people that it was possible to live a long life with diabetes if you managed your condition well.

Read the full story here. Pic thanks to Diabetes UK.

If you want help managing your diabetes for great blood sugar control, check out the Diabetes Diet.