World Diabetes Day Happy Birthday Fred!

© Jacquelyn Johnston, M.Ed. Diabesity Coach

Fred? Who’s Fred? And why is his birthday of any significance?

Once upon a time, in 1841, a little boy was born in Ontario, Canada. He attended local schools and attended the University of Toronto, becoming a medical doctor, then a lawyer, and acquiring a PhD in science in the course of his extraordinary career. Sir Frederic Banting was killed in a tragic air disaster at age 50, having packed in more accomplishments than most people can fit into three lifetimes, including the 1923 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

World Diabetes Day is fittingly scheduled on his birthday, November 14th. But why?

After distinguished service in the Canadian Army in the First World War Fred began to be interested in diabetes. For some time he had wondered what made pilots black out in flight. In 1922, working with three colleagues, he discovered how to use insulin to treat Diabetes.

Prior to that, diabetics were given only the meagre amount of food their bodies could break down and use. As a result many literally starved, losing so much weight they withered away and died.

Frederick Banting and his assistant Charles Best had their fist startling breakthrough in 1922 when they treated a 14-year-old diabetic boy. Their success was so startling millions calmoured for the insulin they had developed. In 1934 Banting was knighted for this discovery.

Today, we do not associate diabesity with people who are wasting away and dying. Rather, we associate it worldwide with people who are overweight, and even have a new name for it, Diabesity. This has become the most dreadful epidemic of modern times.

Countries around the world have been asked to light up their buildings in blue today to draw attention to the World epidemic of diabetes. You can see some of them if you go to You Tube and tyoe in World Diabetes Day. People from Los Angeles to Dubai are participating, as the numbers have gone up astronomically all over the world.

285 million people across the planet have diabetes. And those are the known cases. Most of these are obese. In North America 10.2% are known to have it, but when you factor in all the overweight people who have pre-diabetes, the numbers are much higher.

Is your waistline greater than half your height? You could be one of them.

Has your doctor asked you to shed 20 or 30 pounds? You could be one of them.

From India to Russia to the pacific islands, from North through South America, the numbers of people with diabetes are staggering. Most of those who have it have Type 2 Diabetes, and most could reverse it with lifestyle changes. Those who do not take it seriously are playing with their longevity.

70% of people with diabetes live in the world’s richest countries. Let’s stop for a moment and think. The richest countries have the greatest access to food. Doesn’t take Einstein to figure out there could be a connection between geography and diet.

And, get this, most diabetics are of working age—they are their families’ breadwinners.

When did you last have your blood sugar checked? Who’s counting on you? What would happen if you could no longer work?

Points to ponder on World Diabetes Day. Fred must be turning in his grave.

To start on a solution download my free report at the websites below. Feel free to call me for more.

Jacquelyn

Jacquelyn Johnston M.Ed.
Professional Health Coach and Educator,
Solutions and Support for Optimal Health