Anuradha Varanasi
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Written By: Anuradha Varanasi | Updated : May 10, 2016 10:53 AM IST
Read this in Marathi
Surendra Singh Rajput would begin his day with a shot of 25 units of insulin every day ever since he was diagnosed with diabetes more than two decades ago. His blood sugar level was as high as 560 mg/dL. The normal levels of a healthy individual after meals should be somewhere between 100 and 140mg/dL and between 70 and 110mg/dL before meals.
Despite his ongoing treatment, his health kept deteriorating steadily and started affecting the quality of his life. I was starting to get fed up of relying on insulin to keep me going after all those years. My blood sugar level was still as high as 400 and though I was on different kinds of medication for diabetes other than just insulin, I was barely seeing any improvement, says this Kolkata-based businessman. These are the 10 healthy resolutions every diabetic should follow for a better life.
Finally, a friend recommended that he should try out yoga as an alternative therapy to help bring his diabetes under control along with his usual allopathic treatment. It was in 2011 when I decided I should take better care of my health and I took 17 days off from my business and went to the Swami Vivekananda Yoga AnusandhanaSamsthana (VYASA) in Bangalore, he adds.
Bidding adieu to insulin
At VYASA, Rajput followed a routine schedule and claims that just four days after he joined the charitable institute, his blood sugar level dropped to 140. At VYASA, Ayurveda practitioners use yoga as a socially relevant science to fight against certain lifestyle diseases.
We were made to wake up at 5.30am every morning for assembly at the prayer hall which lasted till 7.30am. After that, we would have a light breakfast and go for our health check-ups following which we would start doing yoga and undergo counseling regarding our diet changes till 1 pm, says Rajput. These are the healthy breakfast options for diabetics.
Following lunch, at VYASA, he would continue doing yoga exercises, relaxation techniques and was also administered Ayurvedic medicines for the first few days. It was an integrated approach. Other than yoga, I was also given massage and mud therapy and naturopathy, adds Rajput.
Since then in 2011, Rajput was informed by his doctors that he would no longer need insulin. While he still had to continue taking two different oral medications prescribed by his general practitioner, Rajput says he feels much healthier and happier now after battling against diabetes for more than two decades.
Inspired to help others
The beauty of yoga and the other therapies was that it was based on PanchaKosha or the five layers in the body according to Vedantic philosophy. Just four days after I started my treatment at VYASA in 2011, I stopped taking insulin.
After that, I continued taking those two tablets until very recently. I went again to Bangalore for another session in January this year and after that, my doctor recently informed me that I can stop taking one of them because my blood sugar level is almost getting back to normal, says Rajput. Rajput has now formed a group of 50 people to help them achieve holistic health.
Yoga poses for diabetes control and prevention
Speaking to TheHealthSite, his doctor from VYASA, Dr Amit Singh, Chief Medical Officer, Arogyadhama says you can try out these yoga poses to control your diabetes or even if you want to avoid the condition if you are in the high-risk group:
Standing yoga poses:Ardha Chakrasan, Dhanurasana and Trikonasana
Sitting yoga poses:Ardha Matsyendrasana and Shashankasana
Lying down poses: Bhujangasana, Makarasana, Pawanmuktasana and Setubandhasana
Yoga pose diabetics should avoid: Salabhasana
Image Source: Surendra Rajput
