The busy Mananchira and the main beach here witnessed a unique Chakyarkoothu performance on Friday. Here, instead of narrating a portion from the epics, the Chakyar had a special role to play — that of a health ambassador, driving home the message of healthy food habits and regular exercise for effective management of diabetes.
As various health-care institutions organised seminars and diabetes detection camps to mark World Diabetes Day on Friday, a diabetologist and his team roped in the Chakyar who went about criticising the prevailing tendency to binge on high-calorie food.
This Diabetes Day observance comes with a declaration to take up a two-year advocacy of healthy food and lifestyle to manage diabetes.
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“Keralites’ food is a recipe for disaster. In addition to carbohydrates, diabetics should also avoid fat. But, what we see in most cases is a diet rich in both,” says diabetologist and former secretary of the Calicut Diabetes Forum S.K. Suresh Kumar, who organised the event.
On alternative therapies for diabetes management, Dr. Suresh Kumar said: “People should go in for time-tested, evidence-based form of treatment, including diet. There is no special food for diabetes. The existing food is good. But its intake is regulated to keep diabetes under control. People should understand that diabetes is not curable, but can be managed effectively through diet and exercise.”
“Genetic predisposition is only a risk factor. It doesn’t mean that diabetes will be passed on from parents to children. But, the risk turns a certainty because of unhealthy lifestyle and food. Such cases are high even in the mid-twenty and late-twenty age groups nowadays,” he said.
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The Chakyar reeled out well-memorised statistics on the incidence of diabetes in the country and the need to follow healthy food habits.