Hindus Tested For Diabetes At Netherlands Festival
Rotterdams Dagblad

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS, July 29, 2003: A hundred Hindu volunteers were
tested for diabetes during the annual Milan celebration in the Hague.
Approximately ten percent were found to have mild diabetes reported
Karen Bree, project leader of the GGD (Public Health Service), Sunday.
The GGD and the Dutch Diabetes Association had chosen the Milan
Festival as the starting point of an information offensive about
diabetes among the Hindu population of the Netherlands. In comparison
with other communities, Hindus in the Netherlands have an increased
risk of diabetes as a result of improper diet. The Hague has the
largest Hindu community in the Netherlands. Of the 40,000 Hindu
inhabitants of the Hague, an astounding forty percent get diabetes. The
outcome of the tests during this year's event is not alarming according
to Karen Bree. "We had expected this," said Bree. "It is especially our
intention to make the people conscious that they are walking around
with diabetes and the risks involved. And we can refer them to a
general practitioner in the early stage. The sooner you know about it
the better." Since 1985, the Milan festival has been celebrated every
year to promote the integration of Hindus in the Netherlands. At least
ten thousand visitors annually attend "Milan." It is the largest Hindu
festival in Europe according to the organizers.

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What improper diet of the "Hindus"?
Too much ghee,oily foods,fried things...etc???

* Excess deep frying of starches and proteins in polyunsatured oils (trans fatty acids due to heat?),
* excess bad chloresterol from ghee especially the frying of starches and proteins in ghee. Raw buuterfat on the other hand is perfectly utilised by a normal human physiology and provides good quality needed cholesterol,

ALONG WITH (and this is important becuase it is often COMBINATIONS of different things that give rise to effect)

* excess sodium chloride (mineral salt )
* excess refined sugars as the main non starch carbohydrate(instead of fresh fruits)
* starchy carbohydrates predominantly refined or denatured - white rice, white flour

ALONG WITH
* negligible fresh greens (mostly all overcooked unlike Thai cooking)
* negligible fresh raw fruit
* negligible fresh oils and fats as in pristine butterfat, freshly pressed UNHEATED oils, fresh raw almonds, pistachios, avocado etc


and most importantly
CULTURAL STUBBORNESS about diet.

signed
An Indian Hindu

PS it has taken me 20 years to convince my family that
IF THEY MUST USE FRYING METHODS
it should done with GHEE or OLIVE OIL
becuase these are the more heat tolerant fats causing the least side effects from being subjected to heat.

The ayurvedic principle that honey must never be heated
needs to extrapolated to any other concentrated sugar.
But do Hindus do this ? AAAAtishooo. OOps I meant, NO.

Not much different to other groups around this planet.
Just a lot unhealthier given their long history of ancient knowledge.

Thanks.

You see, being a vegetarian doesn't automatically make you healthy. Like if you eat subji with curd fried in ghee, rice with ghee, sweetrice, pakoras, samosas. halava. They all taste great, and this is a typical feast, but they are all loaded to the brim with ghee. That can't be good. Remember cholesterol only comes from animal products. Probably better to use olive oil than ghee.