Prakritik Chikitsa, Yog aur Diabetes
Dr Rajiv Rastogi
Shivank Prakashan, 2023
Rs 295
Long years ago, people in India led far simpler lives than what is the norm in the country today. They ate simpler foods, their lifestyles were more in tune with the circadian rhythm, and ‘lifestyle disorder’ was a term that had not yet been applied to India.
And then, economic liberalization took place, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Of course, pinning every ill of the society today — including lifestyle disorders — on economic reforms of 1991 and their consequences, would not only be simplistic but outright wrong. Yet, the fact remains that India has earned the rather unfortunate epithet of being the diabetes capital of the world, which is a disorder concomitant with generic lifestyle of a fast progressing capitalist economy.
According to a recent study published in June this year, by Madras Diabetes Research Foundation and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India has around 101 million people living with diabetes and another 136 million in pre-diabetes stages. This is the biggest such study on diabetes in India conducted on a sample of over 113,000 people across 31 states and union territories in the country. Its finding — that 11.4% of India’s population is diabetic and another 15.3% is pre-diabetic — is alarming.
It is worth mentioning that Indians suffer from Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Type 2 diabetes, the most common type of diabetes, is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. The body doesn’t make enough insulin or doesn’t use insulin well.
As diabetes is so widespread in our country, one cannot expect the population to simply wait to be diagnosed and begin a lifelong quest to control it, which, often times, deteriorates with co-morbidity resulting in serious complications. So, would it not be better if every individual took the challenge in his or her own hands and tackled the disease at the individual level, thereby setting up precedent for a healthy lifestyle for society at large?
It is possible, as the new book Prakritik Chikitsa, Yog aur Diabetes (Naturopathy, Yoga and Diabetes) by Dr Rajiv Rastogi, shows. Published by New Delhi’s Shivank Prakashan, it’s a handy guide on how this serious national health scare can be tackled.
At the outset I would like to clarify that the book has been published in Hindi. That cannot be a deterrent for gaining vital information on health, especially when it is a national scare, and therefore, I thought it prudent to review it in this essentially English magazine.
The author is former Assistant Director (Naturopathy), CCRYN, Ministry of AYUSH, and has written several books on health, naturopathy and yoga, making him perfectly placed to write a handy book that individuals can consult right from the time they think they have become vulnerable to diabetes.
He writes that one of the biggest challenges facing the treatment of diabetes is the fact that there is no harmony between various types of medicinal knowledge, all of which have something to contribute towards prevention and cure of this disease. He writes, “The material presented in the book has not been complicated, a lot of references have been given to ongoing experiments [on this disease]… It lists the difficulties faced by diabetes patients as well as gives suggestions to policy makers. I can assert that whatever programme is created to help diabetics, it will have to incorporate Yoga and Naturopathy as these two branches of medicine not only help in containing diabetes but teach many other things on maintaining general health which is not the case with other systems of healthcare and medicine.”
The author has quoted latest data regarding the burden of diabetes in our country and the urgent need to take care of the burgeoning problem. Through easy to read and concise chapters, he establishes the situation of the condition in different groups of people — women, children, people suffering from obesity, and so on. He has also presented brief discussions on the impact of diabetes on other health conditions such as cancer, cardiac issues, glaucoma, and vitamin D deficiency, among others.
Keeping various aspects in mind like the apprehensions and fear that the patients face due to diabetes, multiple queries that appear in the mind related to the disease, technical details related to diabetes for medical practitioners, etc., too have all been addressed by the author in different chapters in an incisive manner.
The part of the book that every reader would most eagerly wait for deals with the treatment of the condition, which the author presents through succinct notes, diagrams and other illustrated material. With the emphasis that Yoga deserves in containing diabetes, the author has dedicated multiple pages to this section. He writes: “According to a research paper published in Clinical Research Cardiology Journal (SC Manchanda, Kushal Madan, 2014), Yoga has been found to be useful and economical in the incidental treatment of Type 2 diabetes.” The highlight of the chapter on Yogasanas for treating diabetes is the detailed protocol that the author gives for a guided programme of Yoga, including 30 minutes of Pranayam, which must be followed at least five times a week. He lays special emphasis on Surya Namaskar, giving precautions and other advise.
The intervention of naturopathy for treating diabetes has been dealt with in equal detail by the author. He writes: “In reality, diabetes is a lifestyle disorder. To control it, it is imperative to correct the disturbed lifestyle of the patient. Lifestyle refers to way of life, food habits, thought process and attitude, and daily routine. In effect, the chief aim of naturopathy is to correct an individual’s lifestyle.”
Last but not the least is the due emphasis given by the author to the importance of a right diet in preventing and controlling diabetes. In fact, the importance of correct dietary habits cannot be overstated in tackling any lifestyle disorder. He has given a detailed analysis of types of food and their impact on our health — such as Sattvik, Rajsik and Tamsik diet, and the effect each one of these has on our short-term and long-term health. The most important point that the author makes in this section is the importance of eating food at a particular time. As sages and rishis of ancient India emphasised centuries ago, there is no substitute to good eating habits and the modern world’s lifestyle disorders are proving them right in a back-handed manner. The more we remain active after sunset, the more we push our dinner time to middle of the night, the graver the danger of getting afflicted with multiple disorders.
Just getting a few basics right is likely to bring a course-correction in our lifestyle, as Dr Rastogi underscores throughout his book, leading to not just a healthier world but a world with lesser incidences of diabetes.
*The writer is Editor, Science India.
