Just over a month ago, I attended a wake of a neighbor who died of complications of diabetes. He left a family with a loving wife and two children. My friend is noted to be the village’s tailor. As early as I can remember, kuya Inch has been the one who repaired my school uniforms when I was in high school and until the time my own kids went to school, he was the one who repaired those as well. He was a nice person but his lifestyle was defined by the frequent drinking spree, smoking and un-healthy diet.
Later on, I just found out that he was rushed to the hospital because of a wound on his feet that wouldn't heal for quite a while. That was the time he discovered that he has diabetes and it was too late, because the only solution the doctor gave him for a wounded foot is an amputation. And just after a few months, he was rushed again but this time he died of kidney failure. So this illness doesn't happen over-night. It grew from a long years of neglect and diabetic people will mind the situation only when the symptoms become worse and then it will be too late.
After seeing a lot of people suffer from the illness, I became more conscious in my health and lifestyle, since both of my parents has diabetes, and just a few years ago, I found out that my blood sugar level is slightly elevated as well. Right now, I included running as part of my fitness regimen and my health has improved tremendously. My only concern is, in many occasion, I experience hypoglycemia, where my blood sugar level is very low. These occurrences happen when I do long-distance running, so I always keep a bar of chocolates in my pockets just to manage it.
Just a week ago, I was invited to an event hosted by Abbott Pharmaceuticals where they presented a very interesting program that will effectively manage diabetes in three simple steps. It is called Glucerna 1-2-3 Challenge. It is a 12-week long program that is specially designed for people who have diabetes to learn simple techniques to help them manage the illness with a healthy lifestyle. The three steps incorporate:
1. A healthy meal plan
2. Exercise
3. A specialized nutrition products such as Glucerna
These simple programs will help people with diabetes address three simple components of managing their condition – managing sugar response, reducing weight and waistline and supporting a healthy heart.
Step 1. : Exercise
In the forum, Abbott invited three key note speakers each one specializes on a specific step. The first one who presented was a very familiar face in the fitness community, Coach Jim Saret, who discussed the first step which is Exercise. He presented a very doable fitness exercise which he formulated for people who seemed to have “not-enough” time to exercise because of their busy schedules. This is called the “metafit” or “metabolic-fit”. It is a combination of three simple calisthenic exercises such a as Jumping-jack, lunges, wall push-ups and squats. The four exercises are to be executed ten reps each repeatedly no longer than four minutes and one can actually burn as much as 600 calories per day.
Step 2. A healthy meal plan
The next resource speaker was Nadine Tengco, a well-known US certified fitness nutritionist and chef and Weight management specialist. She introduced a radical meal plan that allows a diabetic person control a steady level of blood sugar by eating “more” food. In her presentation, she disproves some of the fallacy of the old-school of thought in weight loss diet which requires a person to eat less and deprive the body of some of the nutrients it needs. She advocates a system called “Dag-dag – Dapat”, a meal plan where one can increase the number of times a person eats in a day with specific food that are actually deliciously prepared but with more nutritional value. By eating more frequently, the body increases metabolism hence burning more calories in the process and eventually reducing weight.
Step 3. Specialized Nutrition Products - Glucerna
The last speaker was Dr. Jose Rodolfo Dimaano and he is the current Medical Director of Abbott Nutrition Philippines. He is also the secretary and board member of the Philippine College of Pharmaceutical Medicine. Dr. Dimaano presented the cause of diabetes and its complications. He presented that many of the Filipinos today has diabetes but they don’t know it because most are asymptomatic. Any symptoms that occur are normally suppressed and often times interpret it as a simple illness that can be addressed through self-medication. Most of these diabetic people are the type-2 diabetic where the illness was acquired resulted from a very un-healthy lifestyle, vices and obesity. He also presented the product Glucerna as an ideal meal supplement or even pose as meal replacement where a diabetic patient can effectively manage the illness that eventually lower down the A1C level of blood sugar.
At the end of the session, everyone was invited to have a free screening of blood-sugar, body mass index and blood pressure. I was surprised that my blood sugar level is 51 mg/dl which is alarmingly low and is considered as hypoglycemic. Hypoglycemia is also dangerous because it can cause coma or even death. So after the screening, I was served with Glucerna and a meal to manage my condition.
About Glucerna Triple-care Product:
Glucerna Triple-care product provides a unique system of ingredients to help patients manage their blood sugar response and support cardio-vascular health. Also, Glucerna Triple Care can support weight management when used as part of an over-all diabetes management plan. It has been clinically proven weight and reduce HA1C in conjunction with an over-all diabetes management plan.
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