Dr BM Hegde on Diabetes

Dr. Belle Monappa Hegde, born in 1938 near Udupi, Karnataka, is a medical scientist, author and educator, and a former Vice-Chancellor of Manipal University.

In his view the rise in diabetes is linked to lifestyle and junk food. He advocates a return to traditional living and natural health practices that have sustained people for generations. Insulin, released by the pancreas, regulates blood sugar, but he asks us to look at the whole way we live, not at one organ.

Dr. Hegde strongly believes that nature protects everything it creates. Human beings carry a built-in corrective mechanism for healing, provided they live sensibly and regularly.

An unhealthy lifestyle lets disease surface, and in Dr. Hegde's view diabetes is caused more by a disorder in lifestyle than by anything else.

We should eat according to the genes we inherit and never overeat. When food intake stays the same but a sedentary life means the energy is not spent, blood sugar rises.

Dr. Hegde says sugar is only a tiny part of the picture. When we sense a threat, like a tiger, the autonomic nervous system releases catecholamines that turn stored glycogen in the liver into blood sugar so we can run.

Today the 'tiger' is stress at the office and we do not run, so blood sugar stays high while the energy goes unused. Stress and fear raise blood sugar, which is why he looks beyond the pancreas.

Dr. Hegde says future studies should not rely on reductionist ideas. Matching people only on height, weight, age, BMI and sex does not capture the person.

He describes a human being as roughly 30% body, 30% genes and 40% consciousness, and says people should be understood by their genetic, constitutional and consciousness type. Ayurveda does this through Vata (air), Pitta (fire) and Kapha (water): when they are balanced the body works at its best.

Dr. Hegde proposes that future medical studies follow the principles of Ayurvedic classification and take each person's individual constitution into account.

He acknowledges the approach is more demanding and costly than the current method, but believes that once understood it can do a great deal of good, and expects the idea to emerge from India and spread worldwide.

If Ayurveda can show that blood sugar is brought under control with Ayurvedic medicine and lifestyle change, Dr. Hegde calls that a real Dhanwantari medicine.

He explains the importance of Aahara (food), Vihara (lifestyle) and Aushadhi (medicine) for a healthy life. Food is the main culprit: Indians eat a lot yet live sedentary lives, so he urges eating less, in small portions, and choosing healthy food. He quotes Lal Bahadur Shastri: eat one meal less, because so many people are not eating.

Dr. Hegde's practical advice on food is simple: reduce the quantity you eat, and even if you eat a single meal in the day, keep the portion small and the food wholesome.

Controlled eating, together with activity, is central to managing blood sugar.

Dr. Hegde says that consuming food and medicine as a whole matters. Whole, nutritious foods benefit the body more than isolated parts.

Ayurveda follows this idea: it does not reduce a plant to a single compound and ignore the rest.

The herbs used in Sugar Knocker are natural plant ingredients. The aim is not only to bring numbers down but to help the body live under more balanced conditions, alongside a systematic daily routine.

Dr. Hegde speaks about what herbs can do for the body and how they fit into daily life. His full speech, recorded at the inaugural ceremony of Sugar Knocker, is below.