A Malnourished Generation

Tags

diabetes, eye disease, fast food, fruit and veg, malnourished

I read an interesting article this morning.  A 14 year old boy had eaten nothing else but chips (French fries for my US friends), Pringles, white bread, and the occasional sausage or slice of ham.  He went to the doctor and complained that he felt tired all the time.  The doctor discovered the boy was vitamin B12 deficient and gave him supplements, but he did not continue to take them.  He also did not change his diet.

By the age of 17 he had gone completely blind and was diagnosed with nutritional optic neuropathy, where the optic nerves are badly affected by a lack of nutrients (the boy ate no fruits or vegetables).

At the age of only 17 you are convinced that nothing nasty will ever happen to you.  In my opinion it is the boy’s parents who are at fault here; they should have encouraged him to eat healthier food at a younger age and also ensured that he was taking his supplements. However, it’s a sad fact that if whichever parent in charge of cooking food does not like fruits or vegetables, then their children will probably not get served any either.  This happened to a friend of mine, who ended up severely overweight and sadly chronically constipated as a child because her mother did not like fruits or vegetables.  Luckily she learned more about good nutrition on leaving home, and shed over 4 stones in weight.

Around the mid 1970s, the evil tendrils of a certain hamburger chain spread their way across the pond and into the UK town centres.  Now there is not a high street that does not have several fast food outlets, and this high fat food which is low in nutrients is now crippling our younger generation.  I see the effects of too much fast food at the hospital where I work.  The Diabetic Clinic is bursting at the seams with patients who have grown up (and some who are still growing up) preferring the taste of fast food and sugar laden gunk which are both empty of proper nutrients.  So many people are overweight and yet they do not realise that they are malnourished as well.

I don’t know what your opinion is, but to me it’s child cruelty to make a kid so overweight that the only place for it is the Diabetic Clinic.  Untreated diabetes leads to bad circulation causing foot ulcers and possible amputation, not to mention the aforementioned eye disease.  All a parent has to do is feed a kid with lots of fruit and veg starting from when it is weaned,  instead of  shovelling high fat junk and sugar-loaded food down its throat.  It’s a crying shame.

 

 

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Freakin’ Freakshakes

Tags

calories, diabetes, sugar

Today by reading an item of news I learned a new word – ‘Freakshake’.  I’ve also just learned that it’s National Diabetes Day …

A Freakshake is apparently a milkshake containing any number of sweet additions such as ice cream, double cream, or chocolate etc.  This freakin’ outrage can contain the equivalent of 39 (yes, 39!) teaspoons of sugar and has a calorie count of 1200.  A certain restaurant chain in the UK sells this dubious ‘delight’.

To maintain her weight a woman needs to eat no more than 2000 calories per day, or 1500 if she wants to lose some pounds.  A man can eat up to 2500 calories per day.  So in effect a Freakshake has taken up more than half a woman’s daily calorie allowance and almost half a man’s.

Does this restaurant chain care that it is contributing to the spread of Type II diabetes, which is linked to obesity and is affecting one in every sixteen people in the UK?  No, all it cares about is money and making a profit from people who cannot control their weight.

The NHS is creaking at the seams with the self-inflicted ailments of diabetics.  The eye clinic where I work is overloaded with patients suffering from diabetic retinopathy and maculopathy.  When they’ve been seen in the eye clinic they then go elsewhere in the hospital to have their foot ulcers and amputated stumps dressed.   Of course, I do have sympathy for Type 1 diabetics who are born without the ability to produce Insulin, but I cannot understand why others might want to subject their body to a regular assault of Freakshakes and the like and expect to suffer no consequences.  The body can take the odd sweet treat, but too much sugar over a long period of time and the pancreas will eventually become exhausted and refuse to work.

In my opinion sugar should be listed as a Class B drug, and regulated by the Government.  It is highly addictive, and causes unpleasant withdrawal symptoms of headache, fatigue and muscle aches.  It builds sugar receptors in the brain, causing the sufferer to crave more sugar to banish the aforementioned withdrawal symptoms.  It also makes the blood acidic, causing calcium to be leached from the bones to neutralise the blood.  Sugar is hidden in many foodstuffs we consume, as manufacturers want us to enjoy the taste of their food and so add sugar to make us buy it again.  It’s all a question of money (as usual).

Excuse the rant and I’m not getting at those who enjoy a little slice of cake once in a while for example, but I work for the NHS and see first hand the effect of freakin’ Freakshakes/ too much sugar.