Zero sugar and lifelong meds must for diabetics? Endocrinologist debunks five myths

Myth: Diabetes happens only to people who eat sweets

Fact: This is absolutely wrong. Diabetes doesn’t happen if you eat sweets. If you don’t have diabetes, your body is absolutely capable of handling sweets.

Diabetes happens because of genetic reasons and generally poor lifestyle habits. Not exercising, family history of diabetes, being overweight, and obesity increase your risk of having diabetes.

Myth: Sugar is bad, but jaggery is good for diabetes

Fact: That is also absolutely wrong. Jaggery, sugar and honey are all the same. Jaggery is not better. If you have diabetes, all these things are going to increase your sugar equally, so don’t have any of them.

Try to get used to having your tea, coffee or generally other things without any of these added sweeteners. Once in a while, if you want to enjoy a sweet, that’s completely fine if your sugar intake is controlled. But for daily consumption, these should be zero.

Myth: If I get diabetes, I can’t have rice or any other carbohydrate at all

Fact: This is a myth. Our Indian diet consists of rice and roti, and we can’t ask patients to completely stop what they’ve been eating since childhood. It is practically not possible, and one can’t really shift to salads all the time.

You can have your rice or roti, but portions have to be controlled.

Only one-quarter of your plate should have rice. If you eat a little bit of rice and go for whole grains like brown rice or single polished rice, it definitely improves the glycemic load of the meal. When you reduce the quantity of rice and increase the quantity of salads and proteins, your plate should generally have curry, dal, a little bit of rice and curd, with salad. If you have it like that. Don't fill half of your plate with rice, but have a cup of rice; it’s completely fine.

Myth: Once you start diabetes medicines, you have to always use them

Fact: That is not always true. There is a genetic component and also a lifestyle component. A lot of times, because of a poor lifestyle, we end up getting diabetes very early as compared to our parents.

If you modify your lifestyle, and if you are obese or overweight and end up losing that extra weight, it is quite possible that you might not require any medicine, as long as you are maintaining that weight and following healthy eating habits.

There are so many patients for whom medicines are not required anymore because they have been strict and regular with their diet and workout. It might not be possible for all, but for some, it’s a reality.

Myth: Only overweight or obese people get diabetes

Fact: That is a wrong myth. Although we used to say that diabetes is a ‘disease of obese and overweight people’, now we know that there are so many other types.

It’s not just Type 1 and Type 2—there are 13 types of diabetes. There are genetic diabetes types, autoimmune diabetes and malnutrition-related diabetes. All these things can happen even if you are not overweight or obese.

In Indians, despite having a normal weight, we still can be obese—it’s called normal weight obesity. Our genes predispose us to having diabetes. That is again unfortunate, but working on lifestyle modifications and generally living a healthy life can prevent diabetes for a very long time.