Hi there. This is my introductory blog-it is a little long winded but bear with me as I get the disclaimers out of the way as well as give you a little history on how I got to where I am. In future blogs I will be filling you in on how I have found my way to this point in time and how I decided I am now ready to share what I am certain will be transformative in many, many ways. So, let’s begin.
I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore.
What I did to my body was stupid and I knew it was stupid while I was doing it, but that isn’t what I’m mad about.
That my body, which has always been good and strong, succumbed to the onslaught of sodas, hotdogs, snack cakes, doughnuts, candy, burgers and every other damn thing I fed it for 50 years doesn’t make me mad either.
Nor does the understanding that if I don’t take charge this disease will destroy me piece by piece until I die just to escape the endless indignities heaped on me. Although I have to admit that one is running a close second to what really upsets me.
What really makes me mad is a small thing but one that is indicative of a much larger issue.
Test Strips.
Yup-test strips make me really mad, and I’ll tell you why. Test strips can run anywhere from about 20 cents to 1.25 each and if you follow your doctors advice or the dictates of your own fears then you can test three to eight times a day. At the low end that is 60 cents to 1.60 a day. At the high end that is 3.75 to 12.00 a day. Day in and day out, year in and year out until you get hit by a bus and quit being a cash cow for what is becoming just about the fastest growing industry in the world.
When test strips are made they are printed by the zillions and at that scale of manufacture they can’t cost more than fractions of a penny to make but are so profitable that manufacturers give away the test equipment for free to get you to use their strips. They are the printer ink of the medical industry. Then there are the books, the drugs, the clinics, the diabetes specialists, the actors shilling for the industry. It is a money making machine that rivals slot machines for strip mining our wallets—and that makes me mad as hell, and I hope you will join me in not taking it anymore.
A FEW WORDS OF CAUTION
THIS IS IMPORTANT STUFF SO READ THESE WORDS AND PAY ATTENTION
YOU SHOULD NOT UNDERTAKE ANY COURSE OF ACTION THAT MAY AFFECT YOUR HEALTH WITHOUT CONSULTING YOUR DOCTOR. SHOW HIM OR HER THIS BLOG AND WHAT I AM DOING TO GET RID OF MY DIABETES AND ASK THEM IF YOU ARE HEALTHY ENOUGH TO DO THIS.
THAT SAID, LET’S GET ON WITH THE REST OF WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AND YOU CAN DECIDE IF IT IS FOR YOU-WITH YOUR DOCTOR’S ADVICE OF COURSE.
In the blogs that follow I am going to be honest with you. If I got a wart on my plan of action then I am going to let you know. You will also see for yourself the reasoning behind what I am doing and if the results hold up to expectations. Each post will begin with my daily stats. Right off the bat you can see if this works or not. You will be able to see what it looks like after a week, a month, a year. You will be able to judge for yourself if you want to try it. WITH YOUR DOCTOR’S APPROVAL-OF COURSE.
Now I am going to be up front with you-I don’t have all that much faith in doctors. I grew up that way. My Dad was that way. My Mom damn near waited too long before she went to her doctor and he diagnosed her with breast cancer. So my advice to you is SEE YOUR DOCTOR-your health is your responsibility and you need to do what is best for you, which includes getting advice from other sources besides my blog. That said-let’s get going.
How I came to have type 2 diabetes
By being stupid, stressed, overworked, not getting enough sleep, not taking time to exercise, not doing what I knew I should be doing for my health, thinking I was different or stronger and that I could get away from paying for all of the above with my health.
I was first told that I was in dangerous territory in 1996 when I went to a doctor for the first physical I’d had in 10 years. You remember what I said about doctors. My partner nagged me and I’d just had a wicked bout of vertigo that had nothing at all to do with the roll of belly fat I was packing. My blood pressure was up and my fasting blood sugar was 124. The doctor gave me a bunch of info and told me to lose weight. I read the stuff, and then went to 7-11 for a Spicy Bite hotdog with lots of sauerkraut and extra mustard. To wash it down I had a monster 42 ounce soda, non diet, and a package of Hostess chocolate Zingers. Good healthy eatin’ there.
As it turns out, a 2003 Women’s Health Study that looked at nearly 50,000 healthy women 45 years old and older they had tracked for 8 years and found that a diet high in red meats and processed meats had higher chances of getting diabetes. Frankfurters, hotdogs, and the like upped this risk by 24%. Not being satisfied with a mere 24% risk I made sure to have that fine meal four or five times a week. I justified it by saying that I needed that energy boost to keep going. I had work to do and I was feeling run down. That huge wack of calories would give me the bump I needed to get through the day. Oh-add to that the breakfast coffee and doughnuts and maybe another 42 ounce soda late in the day and I made sure of it. Nothing less than a 110% chance for me.
By the time I had my next physical my blood sugar was up to 145 and my blood pressure was something like 160/115 and I weighed in at 301. The doctor who gave me the news made no bones about it. I was on the way to being dead. She gave be drugs for the blood sugar-something called Glucophage-and another drug to bring down the blood pressure. I asked her if there were alternatives to taking drugs. She said, "death." So I tried them and I modified my diet some and the drugs made me feel weird so after a while I quit taking them and as I didn’t have health insurance or a lot of spare money I didn’t go back to her either.
So there I was. The year was 2002, I was 48 years old and tipping the scales at 300 pounds, I had high blood pressure, diabetes and my man parts were unreliable at best. What to do. I was unwilling to accept the drugs or death scenario the doctor laid out and so I started learning about diabetes. I am not a doctor but I do have some scientific training and I know how to think, so that’s what I did.
It is now nine years later, August of 2011 to be specific and I have put together a plan which I will be telling you about in these blogs. I think it is a good one that is based on solid information and a variety of experiments I’ve done on my own body to see what would happen. Now I am ready to make the change I should have made back in 1990 before I did 20 years of damage to a body that really was working very well. But done is done and now let’s see what can be undone.
The beginning.
August 8, 2011
Wt. 258.4
Blood Sugar (first thing in the morning) 285
Blood Pressure 158/102 68bpm.
For the last month I have been eating reasonably well-no hotdogs and not too much in the way of sweets, though there was a soda a few days ago, some ice cream and a couple of candy bars. The test was to see what happens when I go back to more or less normal eating. Better than some, worse than others but typical.
Now, today, right this moment I am starting with the plan I have been putting together for the last couple of years. There are no drugs other than aspirin for the occasional headache and my morning coffee.
Here is what the plan looks like-I’ll fill you in on the reasoning later as this first blog is getting really long.
Other than the coffee nothing to eat until noon. Tonight I will not eat anything after 8 and not eat until noon. It is a long stretch without food but the reason for that is based on everything I have learned about diabetes. This becomes the daily routine. Stop eating at 8 pm. First meal at noon. 16 hours without food. Sounds like a lot but really the only real change is eliminating breakfast and snacks. For eight hours you are sleeping. Just keep thinking about how good lunch is going to be. I’m already looking forward to it.
Hope you can join me for the adventure in transformation. More tomorrow.
Jim
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