woman with diabetes

[deleted356736]

Both of my parents had it and they were not particularly obese. Almost all of my cousins in my generation have it as well. Some are overweight but many are not.

Medically, you are quadrupuling your chances of type 2 diabetes (and also heart disease) by being as little as 10% overweight, as defined by your maximum BMI. I don't think many would even recognise 10% as being overweight, let alone consider that a major risk factor for one's life! In my case, that means about 6kg over the maximum for my height (60kg).

We are not talking even close to obesity here.

I have secondary diabetes, so I know all about control and complications of diabetes. And if you control and manage diabetes through diet, exercise and (in my case) insulin, then you will suffer minimal adverse consequences. The trick is EXERCISE. If I exercise every day, I have no problems at all. If I miss even one day's exercise, I have trouble avoiding blood sugar spikes, even with insulin. So the answer to managing diabetes is not being overweight, not being more than 10% above your BMI, and EXERCISE.

 

[Principessa]

Sheesh! And people think I'm an overbearing luddite whose opinions must be seen as fact. Cbrmale has sunk to an astounding new low even for him. He usually keeps his alleged facts to the interracial dating threads. Apparently being married to an African woman makes him an expert in the field.

The bottom line as Naughty has already mentioned, is that NO ONE deserves diabetes and it is NOT always preventable. Telling a person who is diabetic they deserve the disease because they don't work out daily and count carbs is like telling an AIDS patient they deserve to die.

 

[D_Ellerby Eatsprick]

I have secondary diabetes, so I know all about control and complications of diabetes. And if you control and manage diabetes through diet, exercise and (in my case) insulin, then you will suffer minimal adverse consequences. The trick is EXERCISE. If I exercise every day, I have no problems at all. If I miss even one day's exercise, I have trouble avoiding blood sugar spikes, even with insulin. So the answer to managing diabetes is not being overweight, not being more than 10% above your BMI, and EXERCISE.

Sorry cbrmale, you have struck a nerve with me about BMI...

I have my bachelor degree in Physical Education and several of my courses addressed the issues on BMI. What bothers me is that people don't really understand the validity or relability of the BMI charts. BMI doesn't apply to anyone anymore today because when the BMI was first generated, it was targeted at the average WHITE male / female.

But since when is there an average white person these days ? Since everyone comes from many backgrounds or have different circumstances, it's kinda hard to classify them as the average white / black / brown person. I am adopted and come from two different background - so how could I be classified as an "average" white female. I'm sure there are many other people who come from family with mixed background.

Also you have many people who come from a specific background or race that does not fit the BMI ideal. I happen to know that it does not apply to black or native people due to metabolism differences and how fat is allocated.

It doesn't apply to children because they are not done growing (they are losing their baby fat or they are gaining weigh due to inactivity but still growing).

The BMI doesn't apply to aging adults because of muscle and bone loss, especially in women.

The BMI doesn't apply to athletes because they have more muscles than fat. Many professions (police, firemen, EMTs) require you to profess your weight and some follow the BMI and tell people they are overweight, when they are simply are muscular.

It doesn't apply to people with specific type of disabilities or conditions because when they get hurt, or lose a limb or have something affecting their mobility, it can change their metabolism, brain chemistry, type of muscles used, etc..

Peole have been rejected by insurance company because according to the BMI they were overweight, but just happened to be musclar and healthy.

I wish people would stop referring to BMIs as an index to classify people as under / overweight. It can act as a good guideline to let people know they should be in this range but the drawback is theres too many other factors involved that will skew the BMI. But yet, we continue to use the BMI to preach to people that if they aren't well into the BMI ranges that they are doing something wrong.

sorry cbrmale. please don't take it entirely personal but as a new learning.

/soapbox

 

[deleted356736]

A girl on fire,
I understand the limitations of BMI, especially when it comes to atheletes, and also when it comes to other races (my wife is African so my children are half-white and half-African). It is, a you mentioned, a guideline, and for a middle-aged white man like myself it's very relevant. My African wife has a typical stocky African build, but when she looks about 'right' in terms of muscle and fat, when we weigh her she fits into her BMI range. When she looked 'wrong' after her second pregnancy, no surprises that she was a bit over her recommended BMI range.


NJQT466,
I AM DIABETIC! I have insulin-dependant secondary diabetes, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Nobody knows more than me why we have to stop people from destroying their health.

Africans in Africa are quite different to people of African ancestry living in the USA. There are big cultural differences, which any African who has been to the US will attest to. In Africa itself, Bantu African culture is not 100% homogenous, but it has many major elements that are common across the tribes of much of sub-Saharan Africa. One of these common elements is the expression of sex, where a Zimbabwean has a similar outlook to a Nigerian or a Kenyan, but nothing like an American. There are many other common elements: the natural tendancy to willingly follow a 'leader' without question has resulted in many of the destructive dictatorships that have plauged Africa over the last fifty years. To outsiders, it must be hard to understand the Amins, the Mugabes and the Kabilas etc, but to someone like me it's quite obvious how such tragedies happened, and why, eventually they were brought to an end. Music, both traditional and modern, is also universal. It's freaky to be familar with Zimbabwean pop music with it's typical syncopated rhythms, and then hear music from Kenya or the Congo, and immediatly be struck by how familiar it is, right down to a twangy syncopated lead guitar. My wife speaks chiShona, and yet could understand a lot of Swahili on a film we watched because Bantu languages have many commonalities. And so we can go on.