Diabetes in NDN Country

[jones]

mouth health

don't neglect your teeth either. Diabetes will destroy your teeth.

[*Mystic*]

I'm very supportive of people who have Diabetes. My mom is a Diabetic. She's been one every since she was a little girl. My grandfather also have Diabetes. They are both constantly checking their sugar. My mom's sugar is always low. I make sure that the both of them get the support they need. Many people have Diabetes. Way more now than what it used to be. But I didn't know that Diabetes was prevalent in the Native Community until now.

[azshinob]

My first symptom was shakey vision. I went to the doc after a couple of days and she did a blood workup and called me a few days later to inform me that i had type 2. One of the foods i hated to give up was bacon and fried potatoes, my ma used to make it every weekend.

[onca-pintada]

I am really concerned about our health. Yes, we had a lot of things forced on us along the way, but we can take a lot of it back and re-empower ourselves and the people.

The problem is that we are not eating our traditional foods nor being traditionally physically active. THAT is what it comes down to.

We all like to think 'fry bread' is real NDN food, for example-but it is not. We did not cook with processed wheat flour-it didn't grow here. (bannock is closer to our traditional bread-if made with a traditional, not wheat flour)

I am a registered dietician but I don't work with our people with diabetes, because you don't want to hear what I have to say about the diet part of it (and that makes my training nearly meaningless). How on earth can you support drinking soda and in the same breath say you are concerned about diabetes!!?? Hello!

But do you know what, the most important part of the preventive piece is PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. Vigorous, regular, and life-long practice.

So that's my 2 cents:

First and foremost, we need to be physically active. Second, we need to eat our traditional foods without fooling ourselves about what is traditional.

Generally, unprocessed foods from the bottom 2 tiers of the food guide pyramid, along with lean choices from the fish/game/bird/nut group should be the foundation of our diet.

A preventive lifestyle is my passion-while I hate to preach-I love to teach.

Onca


Here are a few helpful websites:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/Fpyr/NAmFGP.html

and

http://web.diabetes.org/NativeAmericans/ATSLow.pdf

[jones]

I live with type 2 every day of my life. I wake up, go to work, etc. and my life revolves around my eating/walking schedule.

I like pop. I won't lie about that, but I never substituted it for water. I like junk food and I really like frybread, but I never ate frybread everyday.

I was at a normal weight all my life. I was an athlete too. When I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes I didnt' fit the picture of a person with diabetes. I wasn't overweight or anything like that. I don't know how I could have prevented diabetes. I really don't eat too much different than I always have, except now I don't have the occassional pop or junk food fix. I always worked out and I still work out. I can gage my workouts on the health of my hunger and how well I ate that day. The better the choices, the better the workout = less symptoms (which are always there).

Eating habits are just that...habits. Change the habits, control diabetes. Prevent diabetes? I don't know. I couldn't.

[middle of the sky]

my ex caretaker just had her leg removed cuz of this... im shocked cuz shes my age... ill have to really look into diet and how to avoid diabetes

[Cutbead Queen]

I am really concerned about our health. Yes, we had a lot of things forced on us along the way, but we can take a lot of it back and re-empower ourselves and the people.

The problem is that we are not eating our traditional foods nor being traditionally physically active. THAT is what it comes down to.

We all like to think 'fry bread' is real NDN food, for example-but it is not. We did not cook with processed wheat flour-it didn't grow here. (bannock is closer to our traditional bread-if made with a traditional, not wheat flour)

I am a registered dietician but I don't work with our people with diabetes, because you don't want to hear what I have to say about the diet part of it (and that makes my training nearly meaningless). How on earth can you support drinking soda and in the same breath say you are concerned about diabetes!!?? Hello!

But do you know what, the most important part of the preventive piece is PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. Vigorous, regular, and life-long practice.

So that's my 2 cents:

First and foremost, we need to be physically active. Second, we need to eat our traditional foods without fooling ourselves about what is traditional.

Generally, unprocessed foods from the bottom 2 tiers of the food guide pyramid, along with lean choices from the fish/game/bird/nut group should be the foundation of our diet.

A preventive lifestyle is my passion-while I hate to preach-I love to teach.

Onca


Here are a few helpful websites:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/Fpyr/NAmFGP.html

and
http://web.diabetes.org/NativeAmericans/ATSLow.pdf

Onca:

First of all, I am a type 2 diabetic (15years now) who happens to love "pop" and I still manage to control my sugar extemely well. Like many diabetics we do occasionally indulge. If you want to pretend that diabetic's like me don't exist in NDN country or any where else for that matter then you better sit down to read the rest of what I have to say.

I find your soap box message annoying and uncompassionate at best. (I bet you work for IHS, too!) I personally feel that dispite what you have learned from books and or experience, the message you try to convey to people has fallen on deaf ears because you haven't lived with this monster personally. How dare you assume that all or most of us are in this boat because of the way we eat. I'm diabetic because my mom, grandparents and several aunts and uncles are. Not because I eat or ate frybread or bannock everyday or even occasionally. It's a proven fact that it is heraditary however, there are certian things one can do to prevent the onset from happening sooner or later but if you have the "gene" then its only a matter of time.

Furthermore, to attempt to back handledly call some of us hypocrytes by drawing the analyse of our occasional sip of "real pop" and our genuine concern for NDN people, who may be walking around and not even know that they could possibly be diabetic is adding more insult. I am very concerned for everyone in NDN country - the federal goverment of which is resposible for the healthcare of the majority of NDN people has historically slashed funding to direct patient care including diabetic education while continually paying staff (including dieticians) exorbinate salaries. If just one person reads this thread and decides that maybe they should be checked then chalk one up for us hypocrytes! I just hope they find a dietician with some common sense who is willing to work with them to control their sugar and not immediately turn them against the whole process.

I suggest that you improve on your message and perhaps show some compassion - then maybe people would be more inclined to listen to what it is that you have to say.

[jones]

Onca:

I find your soap box message annoying and uncompassionate at best. (I bet you work for IHS, too!) I personally feel that dispite what you have learned from books and or experience, the message you try to convey to people has fallen on deaf ears because you haven't lived with this monster personally. How dare you assume that all or most of us are in this boat because of the way we eat. I'm diabetic because my mom,
Furthermore, to attempt to back handledly call some of us hypocrytes by drawing the analyse of our occasional sip of "real pop" and our genuine concern for NDN people, who may be walking around and not even know that they could possibly be diabetic is adding more insult. I am very
I suggest that you improve on your message and perhaps show some compassion - then maybe people would be more inclined to listen to what it is that you have to say.

you took the words right outta my mouth!

[onca-pintada]

I honestly can't change a word of what I previously wrote, except to add that because diabetes is a complex disease-that is to say, a disease caused by the interaction of environment and genes-it is imperative to preventively be mindful of the environmental aspect of the disease, which is largely exercise and diet habits.

To address a few of your assumptions, I have never worked for the IHS; I continue to live below the poverty level despite being a R.D.; I do not have diabetes.

While my words may be strong, I speak through my heart.

While 'all foods can fit' into a diabetic lifestyle, I feel that it is important to remember those of our future potentially diabetic generation who may be reading what we write in this column. We CAN be careful about what we say and how we say it (!) so that they won't be erroneously influenced into thinking that it is ok to make poor choices rather than sissy ones because of casual comments on our part. It is too serious a matter.

[Cutbead Queen]

I honestly can't change a word of what I previously wrote, except to add that because diabetes is a complex disease-that is to say, a disease caused by the interaction of environment and genes-it is imperative to preventively be mindful of the environmental aspect of the disease, which is largely exercise and diet habits.

To address a few of your assumptions, I have never worked for the IHS; I continue to live below the poverty level despite being a R.D.; I do not have diabetes.

While my words may be strong, I speak through my heart.

While 'all foods can fit' into a diabetic lifestyle, I feel that it is important to remember those of our future potentially diabetic generation who may be reading what we write in this column. We CAN be careful about what we say and how we say it (!) so that they won't be erroneously influenced into thinking that it is ok to make poor choices rather than sissy ones because of casual comments on our part. It is too serious a matter.

Well you are certainly entitled to your "zero" tolerance- conservative opinion about what diabetics can and can't eat however unrealistic I believe it is.

My assumptions about you working for IHS was in my opinion relavant. Perhaps you are unaware that a large majority of the members and visitors on this board are primarily native americans who use IHS or have in the past for medical care. Furthermore, many registered dieticians and doctors that I have dealt with personally through IHS are of the same uncompassionate, unrealistic opinion as yours when it comes to treating indians in general, including diabetics. That was the comparison I was attempting to make. Excuse me for assuming that you were employed by IHS - based upon your soap box comments and conservative unrealistic stance when referring to diabetes, I still think you would fit in extemely well with an IHS facility.

I agree with you, this is a serious matter that not only needs to be addressed with compassion but with a realistic assesment of what is really going on in NDN country when talking about diabetes and I'm speaking from first hand experience!

[rezgranny]

Diabetes

I'm 46 and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 3 yrs ago. My daughter who will turn 30 in Dec was diagnosed with type1 when she was 14. She's struggled with it for half of her life. Insulin injections 3, sometimes 4 times a day has not been something she likes doing. She slacks off every now and then, but with the birth of her son, (hospitaized through out her pregnancy, full term, healthy,) he's 18 months old, she's become more vigilant about watching her diet and taking her meds. She knows that she needs to take her diabetes seriously if she wants to be around to see her son grow up and be there for the milestones in his life. I on the other hand have been able to control it with diet, excercise and meds. No needles, thank goodness. My husband has also been diagnosed with type 2, agian diet excercise and meds work for him. Both sides of our family have a history of diabetes. Complications such as loss of sight, amputations, kidney failure (dialysis) and other medical problems can all be traced back to diabetes and somebody in our family at one time or another has suffered from these problems.
My husband and I are overweight, over 40 and have a history of diabetes in the family, so are chances of developing diabetes was pretty high. My daughter lucked out and got it while she was young, and required hopitalization to control it. It is quite rampant on our reserve. Almost every family has had a family member with diabetes. We have a good health nurse and health director who are constantly pushing diabetes awareness to the community.

[onca-pintada]

I didn't notice any threads about diabetes amongst native people. I don't know about anyone else, but diabetes is becoming a concern of mine, personally because I have family members with this disease. I would just like to hear what others' comments are about this disease. I had a grandmother that died from diabetes. I know a lot of friends and relatives that have it. Please respond to this thread. I am interested to see what your views are.

Thank you for this invitation to make a discussion forum about diabetes among natives!

We are all aware of the devastating effects of the disease on our collective (and individual) morale(s).


Preventive health research and education is my passion; thus, I find it inspiring to learn about natives who don't have diabetes to learn about ways we can to prevent/control DM. For example, there are interesting differences between many anglo-american natives with DM vs. latin american natives without DM that shed light on how lifestyle differences contribute to the onset of the disease.

Most aboriginal people from latin america (ie. Quechua from ecuador, Pima from Mexico) do not experience DM. They have maintained their traditional foodways and arduous physical activity practices, whereas 'we' have not.

These observations become relevant when we are interested in PREVENTING new cases of DM among a large population of natives. Of course, there are individual exceptions to any 'rule' (ie. some natives getting DM despite good lifestyle habits such as one of our column respondents above).

Despite this, it becomes apparent that for our collective preventive well-being, we can focus our (preventive) educational messages such that we address the aspects of the DM equation (lifestyle + genetics) that are within our control-namely re-constructing our traditional dietary and exercise (lifestyle) patterns in a 'modern' world.

The Pima natives of mexico provide the strongest case for following the path of traditional foodways & exercise-ways. Unlike their U.S. Pima kin, they don't have DM.

That's powerful information that we can share with all aboriginals from the americas-as we ALL reconcile our genetic selves with our increasingly 'modern'/assimilated lifestyles.

I am interested in revitalization of our traditional (before European contact) eating and exercise habits, and inspiring this interest in others. Without being paid the exhorbatant salaries that the IHS dieticians receive, I am free to speak without sugar-coating my words.

Maybe there will be an interest in (as well as a backlash against!) a case for an effort to revitalize our traditional dietary and exercise practices!

By the way, could someone please tell me what a 'soap box' is? That is not a phrase that I am familiar with.

[Cutbead Queen]

"Soap Box"

"Soap Box"
Function: noun
: an improvised platform used by a self-appointed, spontaneous, or informal orator; broadly : something that provides an outlet for delivering opinions
source: Websters online dictionary
"Soap Box"
Conventional attribute of street preacher, who would stand on soap box and say sermon, and thus, term denoting preacher-like behaviour.
source: urbandictionary.com

I thought I had diabetes and that this was a discussion devoted to and about diabetes.........now your talking about "DM"...... what the hell is "DM?" I assume its an acronym for something in your arsenal of complex educated registered dietician experience that you are trying to convey but I'm sorry to say: I don't know what the hell your talking about. Does anyone else?

[onca-pintada]

Dear Cutthroat Queen:

Thanks for the clarification!

And I was almost ready to purchase several boxes of nice Tea Rose glycerin Heart soaps by Crabtree & Evelyn when I typed in "soap box" on the internet...

I hope you don't have a daughter/son that wants to go through 'hell' to get through college and go through 'hell' to become a dietician!!

So far anyways, I'm actively preventing DM (knocks on wood)...I guess I can return to the forum when I am diagnosed!

[drinkingfromysaucer2]

"Soap Box"
Function: noun
: an improvised platform used by a self-appointed, spontaneous, or informal orator; broadly : something that provides an outlet for delivering opinions
source: Websters online dictionary
"Soap Box"
Conventional attribute of street preacher, who would stand on soap box and say sermon, and thus, term denoting preacher-like behaviour.
source: urbandictionary.com

I thought I had diabetes and that this was a discussion devoted to and about diabetes.........now your talking about "DM"...... what the hell is "DM?" I assume its an acronym for something in your arsenal of complex educated registered dietician experience that you are trying to convey but I'm sorry to say: I don't know what the hell your talking about. Does anyone else?

No, I'm not a diabetic. But sure, I am aware of how suddenly "DM" snuck up on family and friends. I've seen
suffering.


yes, DM is/can be sort of an acronym for hell!
no dictionary required: DM = diabetes mellitus (as opposed to juvenille diabetes ....symptoms occur later in life).