I just read an article in the February 2011 issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance called The World's Best Stocks by Andrew Tanzer (www.kiplinger.com). The first stock to be highlighted by Tanzer, in case you are capital-flush, is Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical company which provides OVER HALF the global market for insulin.
According to Mr. Tanzer, "As people gain weight and consume more sugar in their diets, the pancreas can no longer produce enough insulin to break down that sugar. By the end of this decade, UnitedHealth recently estimated, half of all adult Americans will be diabetic or pre-diabetic unless we suddenly change our diets and lose weight. The incidence of dietabetes is also exploding in countries such as India and China, where diets and lifestyles are shifting abruptly as people see their incomes rise."
I love Novo Nordisk. They are an extremely focused company. They produce very well written patient education materials which I have used in working with adults with diabetes. They are highly skilled and professional at what they do. Because 5-10% of people with diabetes have type 1 diabetes and require insulin, we need companies like Novo Nordisk. However, for the 90-95% of people with diabetes type 2 (the one you get when you eat too many calories and get too little exercise), Novo Nordisk should be Plan B, not Plan A. Even American Diabetes Association says that in their Standards of Medical Care. The fact is that diabetes is preventable and reversible. Most doctors don't spend much, if any, time telling patients how to do that because it is simply easier for them to hand you a prescription.
Americans - and now countries like India and China - are killing themselves - and their children - with too much sugar. Where do you find sugar? Just look on the food labels under "total carbohydrates". There is sugar in cereals. Sugar in sodas. Sugar in energy drinks. Sugar in the processed foods served in school cafeterias. Sugar in fruit juices. Sugar in energy bars. Sugar in the snack foods served at the Boys and Girls Clubs.
It's OK if you want to eat too much sugar. There are drugs just waiting for you. Like insulin. Your doctor will be happy to give you drugs because then you have to keep coming back for more. Instead of becoming drug addicts, it would be so much easier to get back to the basics of wholesome, whole, good foods in the right portion sizes. Call me old-fashioned but I'll take a dinner of wild salmon and spinach anytime over a big Mac (540 calories, 10 teaspoons sugar, 7 teaspoons saturated fat, and 1,040 mg sodium) and large fries (500 calories, 14 teaspoons sugar,6 teaspoons saturated fat, and 350 mg sodium).
My focus is to prevent diabetes and to raise awareness about how to do it. When you know what to do, it's easy. Healthy eating means a commitment to learn how to get to - and stay at - a healthy weight. Focusing on solutions to childhood obesity is what the Growing Healthy Kids movement is all about.
Improving the health - and lives - of America's children, one garden and one child at a time. Because failure is not an option.
In kindness,
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
NOTE: My book "Healthy Living with Diabetes: One Small Step at a Time" is available at the Vero Beach Book Center, the Growing Healthy Kids Variety Store (3300 43rd Avenue in Vero Beach) and www.ourlittlebooks.com.
