Busting the Myths about Diabetes

Myth 1: Diabetes is not a serious disease.

Fact: Diabetes is a serious, chronic condition that can lead to severe complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, and amputations if not properly managed. The good news is that with proper treatment and lifestyle adjustments, people with diabetes can lead healthy lives.

Myth 2: No one in my family has diabetes, so I won’t get the disease.

Fact: It’s true that having a parent or sibling with diabetes increases your risk for getting diabetes. In fact, family history is a risk factor for both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. However, many people with diabetes have no close family members with diabetes. Lifestyle choices and certain conditions can increase your risk for type 2 diabetes. These include:• Being overweight or obese• Having prediabetes• Polycystic ovary disease• Gestational diabetes• Being age 45 or older

Myth 3: Only older adults get type 2 diabetes.

Fact: While type 2 diabetes is more common in adults over 45, it is increasingly being diagnosed in younger people, including children, adolescents, and young adults, due to rising obesity rates and sedentary lifestyles.

Myth 4: People with diabetes need to eat special diabetic foods.

Fact: No, you don’t need special food. A healthy meal plan for people with diabetes is generally the same as healthy eating for anyone. In fact, there are a lot of different eating plans that can help you manage your diabetes. In general, a healthy eating plan for diabetes will include lots of non-starchy vegetables, limit added sugars, swap refined grains for whole grains and prioritize whole foods over highly processed foods. Working with your Endocrinologist and nutritionist can help you find the right balance for you.

Myth 5: People with diabetes shouldn’t eat fruit

Fact: Fruit is a healthy choice and along with vegetables, should form a large part of a healthy balanced diet. Fruit is higher in natural sugars than vegetables, but is still lower in sugar than cakes, biscuits and sweets, and it contains other nutrients and fibre.

If your blood glucose levels are high, it’s unlikely that it’s the fruit in your diet that is the problem. Look at other sources of sugar in your diet before you cut down on fruit.

Myth 6: I can stop taking diabetes medicines once my blood sugar is under control.

Fact: Some people with type 2 diabetes are able to control their blood sugar without medicine by losing weight, eating a healthy diet, and getting regular exercise. But diabetes is a progressive disease, and over time, even if you are doing all you can to stay healthy, you may need medicine to keep your blood sugar within your target range.

Myth 7: If you have type 2 diabetes and your doctor says you need to start using insulin, does it mean you’re failing to take care of your diabetes properly?

Fact: Using insulin to get blood glucose levels to a healthy level is a good thing, not a bad one. Type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease. When first diagnosed, many people with type 2 diabetes can keep their blood glucose at a healthy level with a combination of meal planning, physical activity, and taking oral medications. But over time, the body gradually produces less and less of its own insulin, and eventually, oral medications may not be enough to keep blood glucose levels in a healthy range.

Myth 8: Gestational diabetes doesn’t need to be taken seriously.

Fact: Gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy, can pose risks to both mother and baby if not properly managed. It increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life for both the mother and the child. Proper management through diet, exercise, and sometimes medication is crucial.

Myth 9: Diabetes reversal is possible

Fact: Both Type1 and Type 2 diabetes cannot be reversed. Insulin is the only treatment for people with type 1 diabetes and it is life saving for them. Similarly, type 2 diabetes cannot be reversed. However, selected people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes can control their blood sugars with strict diet exercise and weight loss without medications. Correct term for this is diabetes remission and not reversal

Understand these myths and facts, eat right, exercise regularly and stay healthy!

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