Diabetes

Working with your financial advisor at the early stages of your working life makes sense to ensure that you build a foundation to a solid retirement plan. A good life/disability and critical insurance plan will also ensure that the needs of your dependents are taken care in the event of your premature passing. Equally important is your health.

As countries continue to develop, people have become more affluent. Lifestyles have also changed. Instead of manual labour, there are more sedentary jobs. Productivity in agriculture and livestock have also enabled better food to be produced. The combination of less exercise and richer foods have resulted in diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes becoming much more common.

The Canadian Diabetes Association recently reported that in 2016, 9.2% of the population, or 3.5 million people in Canada have either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. It is also projected that by 2026, almost 12% of the population or 4.9 million people, will struggle with diabetes.

Even emerging countries have similar disturbing statistics. In Malaysia, it is estimated that 3.5 million or 17.5 per cent of its citizens aged 18 years and above have some forms of diabetes. The number of cases is also growing each day.

Lest I sound like the proverbial boy who cried wolf, if this is not a wake-up call, I don’t know what is. 

There are at least 3 easy steps we can take to prevent or at the very least reduce the chances of being diabetic. Since I am not medically trained, I would advise you to speak to doctor first.

 - Early health screening for blood pressure and cholesterol are also important as these are telltale signs of being diabetic.

- Adopt a more active lifestyle (aerobics exercises, weight lifting, swimming)

- Watch your diet.  Eat more healthy greens, beans, tofu, lentils and less meat. 

Growing up in Malaysia almost forty year ago, most people have never even heard of diabetes, cancer or high blood pressure. It must be because we were always poor and had to walk miles to school, and our parents were mostly manual labourers. Plus, the diet were mostly consisted of vegetables, fish and rice.