Welcome

Logo2 JPEG I launched this site to help share information on diabetes.  With an epidemic of diabetes in Singapore – an estimated 11% of the population now has the disease (on my calculation that’s around 550,000 people) – I aim to make this a resource that will help people live a long, healthy life. I firmly believe that with the right choices diabetics can avoid the dangers and complications. There is a real need for increased diabetic awareness and education in Singapore.  

I have a serious concern that a lot of people are not taking the disease seriously enough, and that the impact of this will be on people’s long term health.  I have personal experience of the disease, having had diabetes for a decade now, and believe now is the right time to communicate what I have learned and to encourage others to share their experiences.  

Over the last 10 years I have studied the disease in detail, applied my learning and believe that if anything I am now more healthy than when I was first diagnosed.  I made tough choices, stuck by them and have seen the benefit. Over the last ten years I have achieved near normal, non-diabetic levels of blood glucose.  My last HbA1c result (http://www.diabetes.co.uk/what-is-hba1c.html) was 4.7% (June  2015).  When I was diagnosed back in 2005, my glucose fasting result was 9.7% and my blood sugar was at 270mg/dl.  Since then I have not had one reading above 6%.  That is almost 10 years of very tight control. 

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This material is written from a patient’s perspective.  I have no medical background, but what I have learned I have researched thoroughly.  I have been lucky enough to have the benefit of the wisdom and support of an excellent diabetic specialist – Dr Alex Fok (http://www.alexfok.com/) – who helped me get straight back on my feet after diagnosis.  

The information I will share relates mainly to my views on nutrition, exercise, and how to approach the disease psychologically. These are the steps I have taken to normalise my blood sugar.    A lot of the advice, in particular on diet, is also quite diffrent from what you will get from the various diabetic associations (e.g. Amercian Diabetes Associaton, British Diabetic Association).  My own experience is that advising people to eat a diet largely based on carbohydrate is quite wrong.  Some of the changes I have made in my lifestyle are not for the faint-hearted and require discipline and diligence. The benefit though, a happy healthy and hopefully long life, with far reduced fear from the dreaded complications, makes it well worth the effort.

In my experience managing diabetes is about acceptance and ownership and taking control.  You are driving the car; others can help you learn how to drive, but you are at the wheel.  The destination you reach, and how you get there, are your choices alone.  I hope this site proves instructional and helpful.  Please also look out for our Facebook site.

My book is now available, which includes all of the information I have gathered over the last decade in how to manage my blood sugar.  The price is only SGD $8.50, or equivalent in other currency.

 

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