Here, then, is the original post followed up by what is going on today. A little self help for diabetics....
My First Month of getting control of Type 2 Diabetes
I write about all kinds of stuff here, but rarely do I discuss personal or health issues. I feel, though, that it is time to share they ways I am dealing with type 2 diabetes.
Having talked to a lot of people about this, I find that almost everyone I know is 'Pre-Diabetic'. I was also told this about 2 years ago. I figured I would lose weight, exercise and cut way back on my sugar intake. At that time my glucose test came back in the mid 100s. Not great. I did well for a couple of days, and then blew it off. Pre meant I was not there yet. Then, I had labs done in March of this year and my glucose was at 260 and my A1c was 7.4 ... At that point I called my doctor and started getting pro active. I hated hearing her say that I had full blown Type 2 Diabetes. It was a serious wake up call and I needed to heed the warning.
The first thing was the medication. Metformin twice a day. The scary thing about that was reading the side effects. Severe gastro intestinal discomfort, gas, serious runs, and cramps. The very worst of anti-social behavior. I took the meds and waited for the worst. Nothing happened. I was one of the lucky ones. To this day, I have no bad reaction to the Metformin.
Next on the agenda was to lose weight. That meant a drastic change of diet. Being in Auto Sales, one tends to eat whatever they can whenever they can. It's a terrible thing to do to your body. I think the choices we have in fast food nowadays is tantamount to just eating poison . Some of the taco fast food places can't even tell you what the "Meat Product" the put in their taco is. True Mystery Meat. So, I had to adjust what I ate IN A BIG WAY. No sugar, no white carbs, a little dark chocolate (90%) and less dairy.
I swore I would never give up my milk, so I found a brand called Fair Life which is lactose free, half the sugar and organic. One 8 oz glass is fine and I am happy. Also, Mulberry and Cinnamon from the health food store. One of those a day, and 600mg Alpha Lipoic Acid if you have toe tingling. I got a glucose meter and tracked my readings 2x a day to show my doctor in my follow up. She was pleased that my numbers were down over 100 points 1 month after starting my new AD (After Diabetes) life. I have shed about 16 pounds and completely changed my diet. I must say my wife, Nikki, was a HUGE part of this too. It takes a ton of prep time to eat healthy. She jumped in with both feet and she too has shed some pounds.
After the first month I feel great. More energy, I can put on my socks and breathe at the same time....Kinda nice.
It is an ongoing process. But, I have taken a do or die (literally) attitude regarding this issue. I have been sober now for 35 years, and quit smoking about 18 years ago. This is the same thing. It makes no sense to me to load my body up with all this crap. And it is not easy to avoid sugars. High fructose corn syrup is in everything from Ketchup to salad dressing. Start reading labels. If there is fructose corn syrup, you might as well replace that with the words Rat Poison. It is my belief, since I started researching all this stuff, that the dramatic rise in type 2 diabetes is in direct proportion to the amount of processed foods humans eat. There are alternatives to these things. Even so called Health foods are not. Become a label reader. Things you think are okay are NOT. White rice, corn on the cob, every kind of fruit juice and energy drinks are full of sugars. It will shock you.
Anyway, I am on a new journey, and I will keep you updated.
Have a great (Sugar free) Day!
So NOW, February 2021, after trying to stay within the bounds of my diet, I did end up letting go of about 35 pounds and bringing my A1c down to 5.4 which is in normal range. NOW, to be fair, I have put on about 8 pounds since then, and my last bloodwork came back at a 5.5 which is still pretty normal. I still take Metformin (Which I have also heard has anti aging properties) and still watch my sugars and carbs, although I could get a little more strict with myself.
My point is, that type 2 does not have to be a sentence for doom and worse to come. Like anything else, it does take a lot of determination and goal setting. I talk about goal setting in my book, The Self Help Book for People Who Hate Self Help Books. I had to go at it like I went at staying clean and sober. If I don't do something about it, I will die young. Pretty good motivator for me.
Have a great day and remember you can order my book The Self Help Book for People Who Hate Self Help Books here....
Amazon NOOK ibooks and the rest
No comments:
Post a Comment