Feb
12
Asian Spectrum held a premiere for its diabetes awareness series “Ounce of Prevention, Pounds off for Cure” on Jan. 23 at Tufts Medical Center. About 60 people attended the screening.
South Cove Community Health Center dietitian Zhanglin Kong talks about good nutritional choices. (Image courtesy of Ling-Mei Wong.)
Diabetes is caused by the body’s inability to control glucose with the insulin hormone. Type 2 diabetes is developed from weight gain and lack of exercise, while type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder which attacks the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.
The series includes doctor interviews, healthy cooking tips and tai chi demonstrations by Wah Lum Kung Fu and Tai Chi Academy of Malden Sifu Mai Du. Asian Spectrum partnered with Beebe Elementary School in Malden to have overweight students learn kung fu with Du, resulting in weight loss. The interviews are in Mandarin and Cantonese, with subtitles in English and Chinese.
“If you have a higher body mass index (BMI), you have a higher risk for diabetes,” said Joslin Diabetes Center dietitian Ka Hei Karen Lau. “One out of two people have diabetes or a high risk of prediabetes.”
There are 29 million diabetes patients in the United States, according to data from the Joslin Diabetes Center. However, China and India have 50 million diabetes patients. People of Asian origin tend to develop diabetes at a lower body weight than other ethnic groups, at a BMI of 23, compared to the usual BMI of 27.
South Cove Community Health Center dietitian Zhanglin Kong advised audience members to substitute food they loved with choices high in fiber and nutrition. For example, instead of cooking white rice, brown rice has more fiber, is more filling and controls blood sugar better.
Asian Spectrum is a nonprofit with a mission to address issues in the Asian community, producing videos.
This post is also available in: Chinese
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