I want to talk a bit today about my father, who passed away about a week ago. I have been thinking a lot about him in conjunction with this blog, as his major illness was diabetes- the disease of chronic, lifetime overeating. It mostly goes hand in hand with food addiction and cravings.

Now as a child and young adult, I never knew of the profound link between diabetes and food cravings or food addiction. In fact, I never knew there was such a thing as food addiction. And my dad and I used to have a grand old time, sharing food and laughs. We liked ice-cream, cookies, donuts, and soda, and there was always a treat involved in a trip to the store with my dad.

My dad and I both loved to eat, and it was one of the ways in which we bonded.

But as I watched my dad in the last years of his life, I remember thinking so frequently “What a price pleasure in food can exact.” As time went by my father could hardly walk due to his diabetes. He couldn’t see very well. Food began to have no flavor at all and he had a hard time swallowing. He spent his days dozing listlessly in a chair, and was sad beyond measure at the loss of all that he had ever enjoyed in life.

And what is odd to note is that by the end my father had lost all capacity to eat anything at all. And in reality, he died from not being able to eat.

So what does this say to us, the masses of us, as we go about our lives? The pat and easy answer would be “just don’t eat so many complex carbohydrates.” But with food cravings, and nearly every label on every food container in the grocery store having some sort of sugar or flour product listed in the ingredients- and usually high up- this seems nearly impossible. I know it took me nearly seven years of eating absolutely no trace of sugar, wheat or flour to feel that such things no longer had a draw for me. Oddly enough, this is about the same amount of time it takes for the body to regenerate all of its cells- and I have often pondered that perhaps I am now literally ‘a whole new me’ with mo more cells that are addicted to foods.

During the week of my dad’s death, I played in the arena of eating some no-no foods. In some ways I think it was a last and feeble attempt to connect with my dad, who was gone by then. But I can tell you that I don’t suggest this as a good idea. I have had my days of intense and unmanageable cravings, and it’s not fun. So I know that seven years or no seven years, it is best for me to stay on the straight and narrow.

So here is where I am left regarding this whole issue. My dad could not avoid his fate. He didn’t know about food addiction, or what to do about it. And so he followed an inevitable path to destruction. I have another possibility. I can stick to the foods that make me feel healthy and vibrantly alive and that do not cause cravings. And I can educate others on how to do the same. And I can hope that the grocery stores eventually begin to offer us more options. And by doing this, I can most fully honor my father’s love- and his greatness. For he was a truly amazing man, in every way.

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Sufferers with diabetes have a condition that creates a problem with how their body produces energy for food. We use glucose, which is transported around the body by blood, as a form of energy which comes from food containing sugar. As the main source of fuel for the body, glucose must get to where it is needed but diabetes stops this process from happening. Because the natural distribution method employed by the body is faulty, glucose levels rise which can cause serious health problems.

If you do not know much about this problem, there is some basic information below. In type 1, which is also called juvenile onset diabetes or insulin-dependent where the body completely stops producing any insulin; daily injections of insulin are needed if the diabetic patient does not want to die. Insulin works like a catalyst, enabling the glucose produced by food to be absorbed by the cells and used as energy. The second form of diabetes usually affects people when they are of mature years; this type happens when not enough insulin is being produced or it isn’t being used properly, but it can normally be treated through diet.

To stay alive we need energy, something which is supplied in abundance by everyday foods like various pastas, bread, potatoes, rice and fruit for instance. High blood glucose levels over a long period of time can cause blindness, heart disease, kidney problems, and amputations.

By sticking to a diabetes health care regime, most of these conditions can be helped; then many of the conditions associated with this condition can be slowed down considerably if not stopped altogether. Managing your condition means you must take control of certain areas of your life by ensuring you take your medication regularly; it is very important that you don’t smoke and maintain your blood glucose levels, cholesterol and other blood fats within your target range.

Apart from this, your blood pressure and weight should not go above the limits your doctor advised. Diabetes is a life long condition if you are unlucky enough to contract it; in America there are more than five and a half million recognized sufferers. However, the disease remains undiagnosed in about the same number; over 600,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Official figures show that diabetes causes the death of over thirty four thousand people in America every year but deaths from citizens that have the condition but do not die directly from it is about 320,000.

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Can yoga really help diabetics, too? While we know that yoga has gained popularity in recent years, what kind of health benefits does it provide? Recent studies have been conducted to determine if certain yoga poses actually help reduce blood sugar levels in persons with Type II diabetes. What they found was the link not only to lowered blood sugar levels, but the associated benefits of reducing stress for diabetics.

There are two types of stress, good and bad. Good stress is the kind that does not impact an individual’s physical or emotional health as bad stress does. A negative stressor causes the release of cortisol and glucagon. They impact blood sugar levels in the body. They raise blood sugar levels in opposition to insulin. Over time, the biochemical changes can promote the likelihood that insulin will be ineffective to lower and manage blood sugar levels in a diabetics. Exercise that not only works the cardiovascular system, but reduces stress level, therefore, is beneficial to diabetics.

One of the studies conducted to cure diabetes was the one set up by the Yoga Biomedical Trust, founded in 1982 by biochemist Dr Robin Monro, and an Indian yoga research foundation which discovered that practicing yoga for 30 minutes a day for one month helped reduce blood glucose levels in some diabetics.

It has been found that stress causes the release of toxic chemicals in the human body. Among those secreted are glucagon and cortisol. At the cellular level, they impact blood sugar in a negative way. They act in opposition of insulin, thereby increasing sugar levels in the blood. When a diabetic person is stressed out, a biochemical chain reaction causes higher levels of insulin resistant blood. That means the cell cannot convert the sugar into usable energy and the diabetics blood glucose level is high. Reducing the amount of stress as well as increasing the cell’s sensitivity to insulin go hand in hand when combating diabetes.

At the end of the 12 weeks blood sugar levels fell significantly in all patients in the group and were slightly raised in a control group which had not joined in the yoga sessions. Three yoga students managed to reduce their medication, including one man who had not changed his drug regime for 20 years.

It has been known for a long time that exercise is helpful for diabetics. Yoga therapy may help reduce stress levels which could play a part in maturity onset diabetes. But one drawback is that some patients would find it hard to keep up the regular sessions needed to sustain the benefit. All the patients said they would like to see these classes set up on a permanent basis but we don’t have the money.

In the past, diabetics confronted with the disease may have been given the impression that strenuous, rigorous exercise was the only way to combat their rising blood sugar levels. Now, the opportunity to practice a gentle, mindful form of exercise has risen and been proven to help diabetics. Maintaining healthy respiratory, circulatory and endocrinal systems are important for everyone’s health. Yoga helps restore balance, inside and out.

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