In July of 2008, I was a 54 year old male weighing in at 208 pounds with a family history of high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. I was taking Norvasc for high blood pressure but other than that, no symptoms of anything malicious except aging ;-) I reported some minor symptoms (fatigue mainly) to my doctor who ordered my first A1c test (a 3 month average of blood glucose levels). The results were not good --
10.0 I was sent to our local Diabetes Education Centre where I was given my first pin-prick blood glucose test. Four hours after eating my usual breakfast of 'a big bowl of Cheerios and 12 oz. of orange juice', I had a reading of
16! (280/US scale). I was told that this number probably would have been around
22 two hours after the meal! On the Canadian scale, anything above 7.0 (128/US scale) means damage to the body is occurring so I was very concerned. The dietician proceeded to show me charts & graphs & food groups & medicines, etc. Regimentation never works for me so I decided to take matters into my own hands. It is
ME &
MY HEALTH that are at stake after all so my decision was to make it
PERSONAL. Here's what I did:
I read everything I could find on diabetes & diet. What was immediately evident was that there is much controversy regarding both these subjects. Fortunately, I found HealingWell & other forums early on in my research. I read ALL the messages here, looking for common ideas & common sense.
(Editor's note: If I was ever on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire', I would save my 'Ask The Audience' for last since I believe that more minds are better than one 
What filtered out of the HealingWell messages was the idea that
STARCHES & SUGARS (CARBOHYDRATES) cause weight gain & elevate blood glucose levels to dangerous degrees. I decided to try the 'Nothing White Except Cauliflower & Cottage Cheese' diet recommended around here. This meant that I would have to avoid potatoes, bread, cereals & pasta as well as the obvious sugar-containing products but still seemed more appealing than taking drugs & gaining weight. Before starting, I searched out information on Glycemic Indexes, Glycemic Loads, the Atkins Diet, 'low-carb' diets and from this made lists of allowable foods. I also decided to not count calories, carbs or anything else; perhaps subconsciously hoping this would make the diet fail & allow me to go back to eating my prescious carbs? Maybe, but I definitely wanted to make sure that this was going to be a natural lifestyle change and that it would be something I could easily maintain.
30 days later: I had lost 10 pounds! Hmmm ... interesting ... motivating.
90 days later: Down 30 pounds! My A1C test came in at 4.7!
APRIL 2009 (9 months later): A1C is 5.2 -- up a bit but still good.
Dec. 2009 My weight has levelled off at 154 (down
54 pounds). My last A1C came in at 5.5, still in the
good range.
My doctor told me
"Your diabetes is gone!" What he really meant was:
"If you continue your current lifestyle (diet, exercise, etc.), you can delay the onset of the symptoms & problems associated with diabetes & other diseases."Some side-effects of all this:1) Reduced risk of heart disease, stroke & other ailments.2) Lower blood pressure.3) Increased energy4) Cholesterol (bad) down from 5.5 to 3.8OBSERVATIONS & CONCLUSIONS:1) The diet works.2) It is important to keep track of the effects of all foods on YOUR system. During the first few months, I tested before/after every meal so that I could find out how MY body handles things. I learned to use the software that came with my meter & made graphs/charts of my progress.
3) Read everything but don't believe everything you read. Think about
it & apply common sense.
4) Ask questions. Talk with your doctor, especially if you are taking medications.
All this worked great for me.
Chris - Forum Moderator, Diabetes
~ Diagnosed Type 2 in July 2008 ~ Dropped 53 or so pounds after following HealingWell advice ~
~ Diabetes under control / no meds - so far - knock on head
I used to eat 100% wrong -- now I eat 95% rightPost Edited By Moderator (Lanie G) : 10/14/2017 8:29:34 PM (GMT-6)