Diabetes & Chronic Issues Support Group

[Nakita Akita]

Here is my theory on obesity and overweight.
In the USA starting in about 1980 the USA (5%) of the world population had more air conditioners than the rest of the entire earth population.

The numbers of course have increased in the USA as well as other places.
When it's hot and there is no relief, you don't want to eat. It's pretty much a fact.

But sitting in an air conditioned, nice cool room, you can eat all you want.
Give it some thought. It's my theory.

 

[Twilight Phoenix]

Here is my theory on obesity and overweight.
In the USA starting in about 1980 the USA (5%) of the world population had more air conditioners than the rest of the entire earth population.

The numbers of course have increased in the USA as well as other places.
When it's hot and there is no relief, you don't want to eat. It's pretty much a fact.

But sitting in an air conditioned, nice cool room, you can eat all you want.
Give it some thought. It's my theory.

One of the most plausible reasons may simply be biological. I read a theory both by sociologists and biologists, who think that actually the only reason for which there are more overweighted people than 60 years ago is food availability. As simple as that.
We evolved mostly as opportunistic omnivorous scavengers (complex hunting techniques are quite new in evolutionary age), who often had to face food deprivation and starvation. Those who could stock up fat had better chances to stay alive, which is a very old survival mechanism present in most animal species.
With modern agriculture and world market, food became more and more available, and available all the time, all year round, providing a constant input of nutrients. Except we haven't evolved for constant inputs of nutrients, we evolved to be able to stay many days in a row without eating, and to burn as much energy as possible to obtain food (by hunting, scavenging, tracking preys, climbing to trees for fruits...). Which is the exact opposite of our modern lifestyle.
As most jobs became mechanized and less and less physical work became mandatory, we tend to burn very little energy when compared to the constant amount of food we're provided. But our bodies don't know that. They just do what they evolved to do : stock up fat "just in case". Even if there is basically no "just in case" in northern industrialized societies.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

smooth theory, Nakita Akita When it's hot one also doesn't like to indulge into fat-burning activities (although the alleged baby boom after the big blackout in NY in 65 would prove the opposite )

I think te reason for teh growing obesity rate is a combination of many factors: food availability, technical advantage, more aggressive food advertizing, less social pressure (fat people are no longer being stared at) and also this fatal new trend to making everything bigger (huge burgers, huge pizzas, huge portions in restaurants, even ice cream scoops are twice the size in the US than in Germany) and the all-you-can-eat (until you explode) offers and eating competitions (which, without meaning to offend anyone, I frankly find disgusting). They all send out completely wrong signals. Gorging like a pig that's being fattened for the butcher has become not only tolerated but even hip.
Then there are these ready made meals that you just have to reheat: far too much sugar, salt, fat and chemicals. People must learn again to cook real food. It's so much healthier, tastier and far less fattening.

A combination of two other factors that so far we overlooked in our discussion is genetics and falling death rates. While people with metabolism flaws used to die at an early age, for the last decades medicine has become so good that they survive, propagate and pass on their genetic flaws so that the respective medical conditions (like for example obesity based on malfunctions of the liver) multiply.
Type 1 diabetes as a mostly hereditary disease is a good example: until about 100 years ago it'd have been a death sentence, nowadays it's a condition more common than Influenza. According to the WHO there were 110 millions type1 diabetics in 1993, atm there are approximately 400 millions.

 

[DimesDan]

Type 1 diabetes as a mostly hereditary disease is a good example: until about 100 years ago it'd have been a death sentence, nowadays it's a condition more common than Influenza. According to the WHO there were 110 millions type1 diabetics in 1993, atm there are approximately 400 millions.

You seem to be conflating type 1 with all diabetes, type 1 makes up around 10% of the total of people with diabetes and the figures you're working from (I assume this from the WHO) is only giving figures for the total world wide number of individuals with diabetes.

This from the WHO is very informative on the causes of all types of diabetes and the complications that will arise with bad glucose management: GLOBAL REPORT ON DIABETES

 

[Nakita Akita]

You seem to be conflating type 1 with all diabetes, type 1 makes up around 10% of the total of people with diabetes and the figures you're working from (I assume this from the WHO) is only giving figures for the total world wide number of individuals with diabetes.

This from the WHO is very informative on the causes of all types of diabetes and the complications that will arise with bad glucose management: GLOBAL REPORT ON DIABETES

Type 1 diabetics turn up in childhood for the most part. Also I've only know a few but they seem to stay in good shape and good weight categories.
Some people mix up the two.

 

[Nakita Akita]

smooth theory, Nakita Akita When it's hot one also doesn't like to indulge into fat-burning activities (although the alleged baby boom after the big blackout in NY in 65 would prove the opposite )

I think te reason for teh growing obesity rate is a combination of many factors: food availability, technical advantage, more aggressive food advertizing, less social pressure (fat people are no longer being stared at) and also this fatal new trend to making everything bigger (huge burgers, huge pizzas, huge portions in restaurants, even ice cream scoops are twice the size in the US than in Germany) and the all-you-can-eat (until you explode) offers and eating competitions (which, without meaning to offend anyone, I frankly find disgusting). They all send out completely wrong signals. Gorging like a pig that's being fattened for the butcher has become not only tolerated but even hip.
Then there are these ready made meals that you just have to reheat: far too much sugar, salt, fat and chemicals. People must learn again to cook real food. It's so much healthier, tastier and far less fattening.

A combination of two other factors that so far we overlooked in our discussion is genetics and falling death rates. While people with metabolism flaws used to die at an early age, for the last decades medicine has become so good that they survive, propagate and pass on their genetic flaws so that the respective medical conditions (like for example obesity based on malfunctions of the liver) multiply.
Type 1 diabetes as a mostly hereditary disease is a good example: until about 100 years ago it'd have been a death sentence, nowadays it's a condition more common than Influenza. According to the WHO there were 110 millions type1 diabetics in 1993, atm there are approximately 400 millions.

These are great points too.
I think it all contributes.
It would be a non-issue other than that it seems to cause peripheral illnesses sometimes.
That part makes me sad. I have a lot of overweight friends and sometimes I worry about that. So far none of them have any issues.
Maybe I feel this way because my husband was obese and he had a heart attack and died. Possibly if he hadn't been so over weight,
1. He wouldn't have had the heart blockage
2. When he went to the emergency room at the hospital, they wouldn't have just dismissed him as being "a fat Mexican".

 

[DimesDan]

Type 1 diabetics turn up in childhood for the most part.

I was diagnosed a month after my 15th birthday and will be marking 20 years since that this year. I also know of four people diagnosed with type one in adulthood, including Theresa May who was in her 50s.

Also I've only know a few but they seem to stay in good shape and good weight categories.

Yes, that does seem to be the case.

Some people mix up the two.

Oh I am fully aware of that, hence my distaste of diabetes related jokes given I had zero control over being diagnosed with it.

 

[Nakita Akita]

I was diagnosed a month after my 15th birthday and will be marking 20 years since that this year. I also know of four people diagnosed with type one in adulthood, including Theresa May who was in her 50s.



Yes, that does seem to be the case.



Oh I am fully aware of that, hence my distaste of diabetes related jokes given I had zero control over being diagnosed with it.

Well, I'm not sure where you live but I don't think I've ever heard anyone make jokes about it.
I knew a guy when I was in the army, he ate like a freaky amount of sugar all the time, he told me it was because his dad and two older brothers had diabetes, so he was eating as much sugar as he could before he got it too and then he wouldn't be able to eat sugar any longer.

I thought at the time there was a flaw in his logic, but you can't tell anyone stuff.
So it was like his joke. I'm sure his family members having diabetes was true though.

 

[Kor]

Here is my theory on obesity and overweight.
In the USA starting in about 1980 the USA (5%) of the world population had more air conditioners than the rest of the entire earth population.

The numbers of course have increased in the USA as well as other places.
When it's hot and there is no relief, you don't want to eat. It's pretty much a fact.

But sitting in an air conditioned, nice cool room, you can eat all you want.
Give it some thought. It's my theory.

Here's an interesting economic point of view on the question, from Harvard:
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/2640583/cutler_obese.pdf

From the article:

The available evidence suggests that calories expended have not changed significantly since 1980, while calories consumed have risen markedly.

The authors go on to discuss their theory on why this has happened.

Here's another insightful article from Harvard, less heavy on data: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/obesity-in-america-whats-driving-the-epidemic

Kor

 

[DimesDan]

Well, I'm not sure where you live but I don't think I've ever heard anyone make jokes about it.

My location is in my location field. As for jokes about diabetes, that seems to be a staple aspect of large sections of American humour.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

Interesting article! I was rather surprised to find Iceland that far up in the obesity list but it makes sense: in that climate they'll propably eat mostly ready made products instead of cooking with fresh ingredients.
Hmm, when it comes to taking less time for cooking and eating too many snacks I'm guilty, too (my country ranks #3 on the obesity list - not all my doing, but still I add to the statistics)

 

[Nakita Akita]

Interesting article! I was rather surprised to find Iceland that far up in the obesity list but it makes sense: in that climate they'll propably eat mostly ready made products instead of cooking with fresh ingredients.
Hmm, when it comes to taking less time for cooking and eating too many snacks I'm guilty, too (my country ranks #3 on the obesity list - not all my doing, but still I add to the statistics)

Not to brag or anything, but the USA is number one!
I'm not bragging. USA USA. USA!

 

[Doom Shepherd]

I make jokes about diabetes.
But then, I have it (Type 2, genetic variant), a sweet tooth, and use humor as a coping mechanism, so jokes were kinda inevitable.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go drink a McDonalds' sweet tea because I've finished all my work for today and being out of my mind in a sugar haze will help pass the time until we close.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

yes, same here. I find that a good portion of gallows humour makes life far more bearable
It runs in the family: my aunt died of skin cacer. One evening in Hospital she was told she'd have a surgery first thing the next morning. The day nurse had already left and as auntie was a little forgetful and didn't trust herself to tell the nurse next morning that she wasn't allowed to have breakfast, she decided to write it down and put the note in a place where she was sure the nurse would see it. Unfortunately, in the excitement both forgot to remove the note the next morning.
When my aunt got wheeled into the theatre, the surgeon and his team were rather amused to find a note tied to her toe saying "please don't feed the inmate"

 

[Twilight Phoenix]

Anyone with Irritated Bowel Syndrom (aka functional colopathy) here ? If yes, how did you get tested and did it make any difference in the way you're living with the disorder ?

I've had it since my birth and I'm getting more and more frustrated by it...I can live several weeks without anything occuring, and all of the sudden it will get triggered for no reason. In the worst days, it totally prevents me from having a normal day, because of the pains and the recurring trips to the loo...All I can do is stay at home on the couch and drink, drink and DRINK to avoid dehydration.
I never got officially tested for it, but since I've got every single symptome, all the doctors I met so far did agree on a IBS diagnosis.

But for a couple of months, I have been wondering if I should get tested for it. Now two major questions occur :
- Is there any other procedure than coloscopy that can diagnose it?
- Would it change anything for me if I got diagnosed ?

Here comes the tricky part...I've tried to go towards coloscopy multiple times, even got prescriptions for one, but as I suffer from very severe virginitophobia (irrational fear of sexual abuse and rape) the whole process of coloscopy sounds too much like being raped and I feel too terrified to get it done...And more : (trigger warning for medical rape)

Spoiler

...in France, there have been reported occurrences of women getting raped while anestheasied, by doctors who allowed their students and colleagues to shove things up their patients' genitals or rectum without asking for the patients' consent before the procedure began...So I am more than reluctant to lie helpless on a hospital bed with my intimate areas exposed...

Is there any other examination that can diagnose IBS ?

And what would it change for me ? Is there any real interest in gettting diagnosed, or will I still be lying on ly couch with Spasfon because nothing else exists ?

 

[rhubarbodendron]

afaik coloscopy is the only way to diagnose it. But if you are afraid of the examination, somedoctors do it with only a sedative, not a full narcosis, and even let you watch on screen what they are doing. And if you are afraid it's perfectly ok to bring someone to hold your hand (and have an eye on the doctor). After all, it is not a surgery and hence no complete sterility is required, so that nothing at all speaks against having a trusted person there.
I'd recommend you see several doctors and pick the one you trust most and who has no problem with you bringing someone for moral support.

Just an idea: have you tried keeping book on what you eat and when you get the symptoms? I thought for years I had IBS and realized only recently that I always get it when I eat too many carbohydrates. So in my case it's a diabetes related problem, even though it looks like IBS (horrible belly aches, totally out of the blue, extreme diarrhea lasting for 1/2-1 hour). Maybe with you it's the same?

 

[Twilight Phoenix]

Just an idea: have you tried keeping book on what you eat and when you get the symptoms?

I used to do it as a teen but I quickly stopped because the GP told me it was IBS, period >_<
But it's a good idea. I'll definitely keep a food journal again.

 

[TrickyDickie]

The WHO article mentioned genetics, in passing, but it did not mention this:

https://blogs.scientificamerican.co...ful-and-harmful-dna-into-modern-human-genome/

I just happened to encounter that and thought I would pass it along. Quite fascinating. I was not aware of that research.

I would recommend that anyone with IBS should have the simple stool sample test to check for H pylori, because that bacteria can cause IBS and many other things.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

Helicobacter pylori grows inside almost everybody: research estimates 80 % of all Germans (including myself) host this little critter but not even 10% of the infected people ever get any illnesses caused by it (I have no figures at hand for other countries but should think it'd be about the same in all industrialized countries). Hence the test is nearly always positive but doesn't automatically mean you'll get stomach ulcers or bowel troubles. Only if the balance between the bacteria in our stomach and intestines is disturbed, Helicobacter and other bacteria can cause problems.
So don't let any test results scare you and don't fall prey to medical ads recommending superfoods, supermeds and other expensive stuff. If you are among the unhappy 10% who do get ulcers you'll of course need medication. But until then, just ignore your internal subtenants, eat a normal healthy diet and include plain yoghurt in it (the white stuff that comes in beakers, not the gentleman in green velvet with the jewish accent ). Yoghurt contains the sort of bacteria we need and helps us restore the normal bacterial flora in our digestional system. These "good" bacteria, our symbionts, keep the bad guys at bay. And also forget about the much advertized "probiotic" yoghurt - that's just another advertising trick. Plain standard one is just as healthy at half the price.

 

[TrickyDickie]

I think that stress, especially of the chronic kind, can (among other causes) stir up the H pylori and get it active and causing trouble. IBS has other causes (stress is one of them), but H pylori can cause it. It can also cause asthma, interstitial cystitis, incontinence, sinus problems, cancer, and many other problems. They are just beginning to get into what all it can do. And H pylori is, thus far, pretty much unable to be 100% eliminated because it is very resistant to antibiotics and it hides....goes inactive for a while and then pops back out again. I read one case where an individual went through 8 treatments of the triple-antibiotic cocktail and it still did not eliminate it. Now they are up to quadruple-therapy. That is a very harsh 'treatment', especially with proton-pump inhibitors. It strips the system of friendly bacteria but does not eliminate the H pylori. And the H pylori already reduces beneficial stomach acid. They need a much better approach than the anti-biotic bombardment that is a threat in itself and does not work.