A pictorial history of my (now) eight year ‘low carb paleo‘ anniversary, celebrating the successful managing of diabetes with a low carb paleo lifestyle. To all those in the medical industry who attempted to convince me a low carb paleo lifestyle is…
- not maintainable long-term
- unhealthy long-term
YOU WERE WRONG! YOU ARE WRONG! Stop harming people. I am so glad I did not listen to the doctors, nutritionists and diabetes educators.
The pictures above were all pre-diabetes diagnosis. None of the pictures were taken at my heaviest, just before my diabetes diagnosis, but you get the idea.
Brief Diabetes Story:
A diabetes diagnosis in mid-February 2009 changed my life forever. At diagnosis I had an A1C that was ‘too high to read’. I needed drugs and insulin ‘just to survive’. The diagnosis was the slap in the face I needed. I began to discover, as I reduced carbohydrates I needed less and less, drugs and insulin.
By the end of March, I had weaned off all drugs and insulin with normal blood sugars. By the fall of 2009 I’d lost 78 lbs and was a lean mean fighting machine! Ok, I was lean and mean. :)
My A1C had gone from too high to read to 5.2 by the fall of the same year.
Next is a pictorial history. If you aren’t familiar with my diabetes story, there are more details about me at the end of the post including how I eat, play and LIVE!
2008 / 2009
I have been ‘fully primal’ since August 1, 2009.
2010
2011 – Wearing a (S) Small T-shirt
2012 – Goofing off for Halloween
.
2013
2014 – Winter
Warming in the Winter Sun
April 2014
July 2014
Spring 2015
2015 – Summer
Summer 2016
Summer 2017
Still THRIVING!! … not just surviving. :)
My Story Timeline:
Briefly. Very briefly. :)
2/15/2009 – Rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Received a diabetes diagnosis. I was told I would likely be on drugs and insulin for the rest of my life. A1c was too high to read.
March 2009 – By the end of March 2009 ( 1 1/2 months after diagnosis), by reducing carbohydrates I had weaned off all drugs and insulin, with ‘diabetic normal’ blood sugars.
May 2009 – Doctor follow up, A1c 5.8!!! Boom! In less than 3 months, i had TOTALLY changed my health around!! The downward health spiral was OVER! :)
To measure your A1C, no need to visit a doctor’s office, order one from Amazon.
Over the coming months I would read everything I could find on ‘low carb’, diet and diabetes care. I eventually found Mark Sisson’s site, MarksDailyApple.com (MDA) and I learned about a better way
… a better way to eat, to play and to live!!!
On 8/1/2009,
- after several months of reading everything I could find on the paleo lifestyle,
- after months of ratcheting down my carbohydrate consumption,
- after months of decreasing grain, legume and vegetable oil consumption…
I went fully ‘low carb primal’, typically eating 15-20 grams of total carbs per day.
What does that mean? Read all about my meal plan, click here “A Low Carb Paleo Meal Plan You Can Live With“.
Following a paleo lifestyle is much more than ‘just’ diet or meal plan, it’s all about eating, playing, living as we were designed.
Eight 12 Years of Successfully Managing Diabetes
I have done numerous experiments, I have tested high, moderate, low, very low and even Zero Carb. I always ‘come back’ to where I am today nutritionally.
In this post, “Diabetic Food Journals“, I summarize my Food Journal posts since I started the blog in 2010. My historical totals actually line up closely with my current way of eating.
Calories from Fat = 72%, calories from carbs = 2% and calories from protein = 26%.
Historically my carbohydrate total has been only … <drum roll>… 12.8 grams of total carbohydrates per day.
Averaging 12.8 grams of TOTAL CARBOHYDRATES for six years!?! And I thrive.
In the winter I typically eat less, and in the summer when berries and vegetables are available I tend to eat a little more carbohydrates. Remember, the data above is an average.
We’ve established my historical averages, here is a link to my low carb paleo meal plan, you have seen pictorial proof of my results through the years … what are you waiting for?
Join me in THRIVING!!! and not ‘just’ surviving.
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If your blood sugars are elevated and you cannot achieve truly normal blood sugars with diet alone…
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