11 Diabetes myths and misconceptions | Zyla Health
Diabetes is one of the most common diseases around the world and so are the myths about it. Whenever you talk to someone about diabetes, either they’ll give you a “pity” look or they will start giving you some “health advice” which they think is true.
This “health advice” will have at least 1 thing which is nothing but a myth. You tend to believe it because it sounds so true and you don’t want to do anything to make your blood sugar worse. This way, we keep on adding more and more myths to our list in order to manage diabetes.
Here are some of the common myths about diabetes that I have heard:
“Diabetics must avoid almost all the fruits.”
“Once diagnosed with diabetes, your medicines will keep on increasing.”
“Rice will increase my HbA1c?”
After hearing these myths about diabetes mellitus, I feel like there is so much confusion and misconceptions regarding diabetes that needs to be busted so that everyone knows what is good and what is harmful to their health.
With the increasing number of diabetes cases, it’s important to spread awareness about the right treatment, the right food and the right attitude towards the disease. This way, everyone will be one step ahead in managing diabetes in a better way.
Here, in this blog, we’re going to bust such common myths which might be coming in between you and your best diabetes treatment. So let’s get rolling…
Myth 1: I can’t develop diabetes as I don’t have any family history.
Truth: Diabetes is a metabolic disorder. Family history can be one of the causes of diabetes but not the only cause of diabetes.
If you have irregular meal timings, frequent intake of fried or outside food, physical inactivity, high body fat, high-stress levels for a long period of time, then your chances of having Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in the future will increase.
It is important for you to work on your lifestyle by managing your body weight, eating right and at the right time, regularly involving in physical activity and managing stress levels.
Myth 2: Once diagnosed with diabetes, your medicines will keep on increasing.
Truth: Personally, I have seen a lot of diabetics say this without realizing that 80–90% management of blood sugar levels is in their hands.
No, medicines won’t increase if you’ll work on the root cause of diabetes and the root cause is your lifestyle. Improving your lifestyle will improve your blood sugar levels. You will notice it in your lab tests and you will feel it yourself when your body will regain its energy levels with time.
You can manage diabetes with these 3 main pillars: medicines, diet and physical activity. All 3 of them go hand-in-hand. Be regular with your medicines and physical activity along with making the right food choices to reduce your pill load with time.
We all have doubts regarding the best medicine for diabetes but we don’t have many sources to look out for sure. Read our blog, “Which is the best medicine for diabetes” to clear your confusion.
Myth 3: Diabetes can happen only to people who are overweight.
Truth: It is true that being overweight or obese increases the chances of having high blood sugar levels. But if you are having normal body weight and have either a family history, sedentary lifestyle or inadequate food intake then you can have diabetes in near future.
Ageing is just another factor that reduces glucose tolerance and thus increases the chances of diabetes. So, overall it’s all about making the right decisions and then making it a lifestyle.
Myth 4: Eating sugary food items causes diabetes.
Truth: Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease where either insulin is not produced at all or is produced less or has reduced sensitivity which increases the level of glucose in the blood. It is caused due to multiple reasons as discussed earlier.
So, if you are having normal insulin functioning, a good lifestyle and eating sugar in moderation, your blood sugar levels will be under good control.
Whereas, if you’re having excessive sugar intake and a sedentary lifestyle along with improper dietary patterns, this can lead to weight gain. And weight gain reduces insulin sensitivity, so a combination of all these factors will increase your chances of diabetes.
Myth 5: I always know when my sugar is high or low so I don’t measure it often.
Truth: I get it, it’s your body, you’ve experienced high and low blood sugar symptoms multiple times before but it is important to measure your blood sugar levels, if possible, every time you have the symptoms.
Either high or low, you need to know the level so that you can take the next step carefully and then later inform your doctor about it so that he/ she can make changes in your medicines.
It is also important to measure the level so that it’s clear that the symptoms you are experiencing are because of changes in blood sugar levels and not because of any other health problem.
For example, blurred vision is experienced in case of high blood sugar and weakness is experienced in case of low blood sugar whereas, blurred vision and weakness are also experienced in case of low BP (blood pressure). Here, measuring the blood sugar and BP level will be clear, if the symptom is due to low/ high blood sugar or due to low BP.
To manage high blood pressure, read our blog, “8 Dietary tips to manage hypertension”.
Myth 6: When blood sugar levels are under control, I can discontinue or reduce the medicine by myself.
Truth: This is just another thing that I have seen a lot of patients do as it seems logical to think that, “medicines must be reduced as blood sugar levels are now normal”. But it is just another big NO!
Let’s take it from the beginning. Your medicines were started when you had high blood sugar levels. Gradually with medicines and an improved lifestyle, your levels came down to normal limits. Now think, if you discontinue or reduce medicine, what will happen?
Your blood sugar levels will start increasing again as you’ve made changes in one of the pillars that controlled your blood sugar levels. What now? How to reduce medicines? Well, if your blood sugar levels are controlled with the medicines, firstly congratulations!
Secondly, continue with the same medicines and improved lifestyle as they were the reason behind your controlled blood sugar levels. Why? Continuing with the same treatment will gradually lead to a reduction of blood sugar levels to less than normal i.e. low.
And when your levels are low, then medicines will reduce or will be discontinued to bring your levels back to normal. But always remember to keep your Doctor informed and reduce medicines as per his/ her advice.
I hope this is some good news!
Myth 7: People with diabetes have to avoid carbohydrates completely
Truth: Just another very common and false myth! A diabetic must never avoid carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the main source of energy in your diet. If you’ll avoid it then you’ll start experiencing tiredness and weakness throughout the day. It can also lead to low sugar episodes.
If you’re thinking that you’ll get energy from protein or fat sources, then I will advise you to not harm your body that way. Protein and fat have different functions in your body. Its carbohydrates’ function to spare protein and fat for those other uses.
Moreover, lack of carbohydrates can lead to constipation as fibre will be reduced greatly. It can lead to diabetic ketoacidosis and multiple other nutritional deficiencies.
Also, carbohydrates can’t be avoided as wheat and rice are the staple food of India. What to do now? When it comes to carbohydrates intake in diabetic patients, moderation is the key.
So, when taken separately, we need to limit rice intake to a medium bowl (200 grams) and chapatis intake to 2–3 per meal. When taken together, limit rice intake to a small bowl (100–150 grams) and chapati intake to 1 per meal. Here, rice is in cooked form and chapatis will be thin.
Along with this, add lots of salads, dal/ curd and vegetables to your meal to balance all the nutrients, increase fibre and protein intake and manage your blood sugar levels.
Now you have quite a good idea about how you developed diabetes and how you didn’t… Most importantly you got to know about the management of diabetes. We’ll now look into the food myths in more detail for a better understanding.
Food is our fuel and it helps in fulfilling our nutritional requirements. Due to the same reason, it becomes important for a diabetic to eat well. But worldwide famous “myths” don’t let you eat happily.
Don’t worry my friend, we’re here for you. We’re going to bust the myths about diabetes and the food to eat when you have high blood sugar levels. But before moving on to debunking diabetes myths it’s important for you to know what is the glycemic index and what is glycemic load of food.
Every food item has a glycemic index (GI) & glycemic load (GL). Both these parameters help in understanding whether and how fast a particular food will increase blood sugar levels.
Glycemic Index (GI) for food:
It is a measure of how quickly the carbohydrates (or carbs) in the food will break down into glucose. If this breakdown happens fast, it raises the blood sugar level quickly too.
A carbohydrate-containing food is divided into three types according to their glycemic index:
- Low GI (55 or lower): Food with low GI means that these will be absorbed slowly by your body and so they will not raise your blood sugar levels quickly.
- Medium GI (56–69): Food that has a Medium GI can be said to be diabetes-friendly! They neither raise nor drop down your blood sugar levels.
- High GI (70 or higher): These food products are the ones that can be one of the reasons behind your uncontrolled blood sugars! A sugar patient must stay away from these to manage their blood sugar levels through diet.
Glycemic Load (GL) for food:
It is a measure of the extent to which blood sugar levels can rise by one serving of food. While choosing food products, a diabetic must go for low GL food.
It is calculated as,
Glycemic Load (GL) = Glycemic Index (GI) x Amount of carbohydrate present in that food / 100
- Low GL food: Ranges between 1–10
- Medium GL food: Ranges between 11–19
- High GL food: Ranges above 20
Here’s how we break all the diabetic food myths with the help of the glycemic load and glycemic index.
Myth 8: Fruits increases blood sugar levels
Truth: All fruits fall under the category of low to medium GI, i.e. the carbohydrates in fruits (fructose and fibre) gets converted to glucose slowly. This also helps in slower absorption by your body and so, simply put, fruits do not raise blood sugar levels.
So yes, if you are a diabetic patient, you can have nutritious bananas, mangoes, grapes, chickoo, litchi, strawberries etc…. All of it!
A quick tip: Bananas not only manage blood sugar levels but if you have high Blood Pressure, bananas help in keeping that in check too!
Myth 9: Diabetics must not take rice and wheat
Truth: Dishes made of wheat, besan, bajra, jau are great for you, but avoid harming your body with cereals like refined flour (maida), low GI jowar (sorghum) and processed ragi (nachni or finger millet).
The fibre content of refined flour is very low and so it not only raises your blood sugar level but also leads you to overeat and gain weight. This can further lead to other health problems.
Rice is your friendly enemy, which means you simply need to change the way you eat it. Rice has a high GI but having it in limited quantity or removing the excess starch from it will make the meal healthy.
Cook rice in the traditional way: Add excess water to the pot while boiling rice. Drain the water containing starch for a healthy diabetic-friendly meal.
Now, a myth that ragi improves your blood sugar levels. Ragi is gluten-free, rich in fibre and packed with nutrients, true! But during its processing, the fibrous layer is removed from it and hence, the glycemic index increases! So, it must be avoided.
Myth 10: Consumption of milk causes insulin resistance
Truth: Milk and milk products contain lactose, a type of carbohydrate which has a low GI. Lactose will slow down the emptying of the stomach which will make you feel full and so it’ll control your hunger.
You can surely have 3–4 servings of milk and milk products in a day as it’ll help in fulfilling your requirements of protein, calcium, magnesium and will maintain your energy levels.
One thing that you must keep a check on is the fat content of dairy products. Having toned or double toned dairy products will give the appropriate fat required by your body. Try avoiding full cream and buffalo’s milk.
Myth 11: Brown sugar and artificial sugar can be taken in diabetes.
Truth: Before talking about brown sugar, I would like to talk about table sugar. Also known as refined white sugar which is basically sucrose. Sucrose is a type of carbohydrate which when taken raises blood sugar levels quickly, makes you age faster, increases weight and heart diseases.
Did you know? Refined white sugar gives us “empty calories” which means you get high calories but no nutrients.
Now, brown sugar is prepared from the same source as white sugar but it is lower in calories and carbohydrate content. So, if your blood sugar levels are high then try avoiding it as much as possible.
Whereas, if your blood sugar levels are under control, then having 1 teaspoon of brown sugar in a day would be a far better option than having any refined white sugar.
While grocery shopping, do you also look for the tagline “Sugar-Free”, “No Sugar”, “ Zero Sugar” or “diabetic-friendly” in the food products?
I am sure that these lines attract you, but let me tell you, if you are taking any of the processed “Zero- sugar” food products, then you are actually taking more of the “hidden sugar”!
Trust me, you should consider changing that item from your grocery list. You need to change your grocery list because these products contain artificial sweeteners which can lead to food cravings, overeating, weight gain and metabolic diseases like high cholesterol, high blood pressure and high blood sugar etc.
In my suggestion, stay away from the so-called “diabetes-friendly” food-like diet mixture, diet coke, sugar-free biscuits, artificial sweeteners etc for a Diabetes free life.
It’s never too late! Now you know what to do and what to eat and so these diabetes myths won’t ruin your life. You can start your health journey today. Work hard and smartly to fight diabetes the right way. Zyla is here to help you with it.
Zyla aims in managing your blood sugar levels in a sustainable way and guides you with personalised care with a team of endocrinologists, nutritionists, physiotherapists and 24*7 available personal care managers in the chat system. You can download the Zyla app and enrol in our program to get the best treatment.
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