This week marks the two year anniversary of my Diabetes Diagnosis and my decision to do every thing I could to fight the disease. I am often asked ‘why did you decide to fight it’? … why did I decide to become a Diabetes Warrior? Why not be an ADA Diabetes Patsy? … and ‘give in’ like millions of others to the ‘carb up and shoot up’ so called treatment plan?
When I think back I always think of five particular memories. PLEASE read this and see if any can apply to you and your life. You may not have diabetes… but if you are not eating a low carb paleo meal plan... then in all likelihood you are living with an inflammatory ailment.
Set the Stage:
Prior to my diagnosis (in ICU at the hospital) … I’d been sick for over a year. I had not given up on living… but my ‘I don’t give a crap’ quotient had steadily risen. I was miserable and suffered from extreme lethargy prior to going into the hospital. You can read these posts if you want proof or additional information. “Ailments Then and Now” and “Labels of Drugs I took Pre-Low Carb Primal“.
I was rushed to the hospital after my wife helped me walk into the doctor’s office on Feb 15, 2009. I barely remember the details but I remember being taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Now to the key memories…
Key Diabetic Memories:
1. The Telling… occurred my 2nd day in the hospital. I was hooked up to monitors and ‘drips’ … still felt bad but MUCH better. The hospital’s endo came to see me mid-morning.
“… we think you have Type 1 Diabetes and will likely be on diabetes drugs and insulin for the rest of your life.”
** This is why it’s important to go ‘low carb primal’ and FIGHT! If you ‘give up and give in’ by following their failed ‘carb up and shoot up approach…. you’ll never know. I am drug and insulin free with NORMAL BLOOD SUGAR!
2. Thoughts of my grandmother – Thoughts of my grandmother and her battle with Type 2 Diabetes… which lead to a downward spiral in her health … not to mention the pain, suffering and anguish. PLEASE read this post on her story. “Tale of Two Type 2’s”
After hearing the news that I was a diabetic … like my grandmother… I was floored. I was ‘only’ 47 years old…. Health wize… I was much older of course.
I did NOT want to go down that same path…. I knew where it lead. Years of agony, anguish and ultimate failure. Heart attacks, kidney failure, strokes… and neuropathy.
3. Decision (A) That night in the hospital I had made the decision to begin to do EVERYTHING that I could to reverse this disease. I was NOT going to give up and give in.
I was going to “eat right’ and exercise. I would take my medications and insulin and do the best I could to live a long and fulfilling life. If I could wean off the drugs and insulin … great… if not… FINE!
That night I began what would be an ALMOST daily ritual… EXERCISE! Most weeks I exercise 7 days a week… even if it’s only 15 minutes some days. That night I ‘used what I had’…. a large Aquafina water bottle. I would curl these and do ‘deep knee bends’ and leg lifts. I say deep knee bends because these were NOT squats as I know them today. My range of motion was slight… BUT THAT’s OK!
The important thing is to TAKE ACTION and do a little more each day!!!!!!
4. Hospital Nutritionist Visit: What a JOKE! … she handed me a nutritional food pyramid and instructed me to ‘eat the food groups’ … and try to limit calories to about 2000 per day. …
THIS IS THE SAME Advice being ‘dished out’ to diabetics today… and the same advice they were given 30 yrs ago… IT’S BULL SH*T! ….
I thought to myself… HELL YES!!! I can do THIS!!! The same foods I’d been eating … minus fast foods? I can eat less meat, more vegetables and I loved to eat beans, pasta, rice, breads, cakes and cookies? HELL YES!
Still … in the back of my mind, it did not ‘seem right’, I would investigate this once I was out of captivity. AND something is NOT right. The meal plan ‘they’ push is high carb and causes an increase in drugs and insulin… don’t believe me, read this post, “ADA Diet is Low Carb?”
5. Decision (B) – The Day of Discharge. This is my last memory that was critical to my decision to fight. After this… I never questioned and never faltered.
The day I dischared, 2/18/2009 it was a cold, damp rainy day. Appropriate for my mood.
I came home to an empty house… and I cried like a baby. Thoughts of my grandmother and other family members came flooding into my head.
I remember saying these words to myself…. “I can do this!” … I can ‘eat right’ and take drugs…. I can be a ‘good diabetic’…. but deep down I knew where that path lead. I had seen it OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I was going to eat as I was instructed and I was going to take my drugs and insulin but I was going to fight this!!!
Other Key Events
My doctor (general practitioner) told me to investigate Low Glycemic Index. Low GI is NOT the answer … far from it. BUT … it did get me to learn about carbohydrates and I learned that the lower in Carbs… the less drugs and insulin I needed.
My Nutritional Epiphany – From Mark’s website, this should be Required reading for ALL Diabetics.
Summary:
So why did I decide to become a Diabetes Warrior??? In short, because I had seen the affects both mentally and physically of the conventional wisdom “treatment” regimen … I did not want that. I was TOO young to die slowly.
Yes… I was LUCKY! I was lucky enough to have the desire to fight this disease… AND I was lucky that my efforts were productive.
For many Diabetics (Type 1’s)… they will take insulin for the rest of their lives. BUT… when first diagnosed how many could ‘beat the disease’ … HAD I LISTENED to my ‘hospital endocrinologist and nutritionist’ … I’d still be a diabetic on drugs and insulin.
YOU DO NOT KNOW … until you try….earlier the better. WHY NOT TRY TODAY!?!
Here is my Diabetes Warrior Info:
My Diabetes Meal Plan ( a true diabetes diet, not like most of those promoted by American Diabetes Association)
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