The Beginning and The End
I am a diabetic. I don't know if I have ever revealed it online, but my family knows, and most of my friends know, so it's not a secret. When I found out, I was devastated; it was a dark time in my life. I think that was about 3 years ago. I have been uneven in my attempts to manage this deadly disease, as I suspect is the case with many people in similar circumstances, but on the whole, I am trying to get healthier, and beat this thing.
I purchased a book last weekend called Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes Without Drugs. There is much in the book of which I already was vaguely aware, but this point in my life I guess I am at a "perfect storm" moment, where everything has converged at once in a fearsome, potentially deadly way. I was already on blood sugar meds, then I was put on high cholesterol meds about a month ago. And this past week, I scored the trifecta, high blood pressure meds. This is intolerable. I have been looking long at hard at myself lately, and one of the things resulting from this introspection is the need to be be more aggressive regarding my health. I was told early on in my diabetes diagnosis that with diet and exercise, I could severely limit its ability to kill me, cause me to lose limbs, and go blind. And for a while, I did that.
Last New Year's Day, my wife and oldest daughter and I went on a challenge to see who could lose 20 lbs. first. I was at the heaviest I have ever been, 260 lbs. when we began. I won the challenge, getting down to 240, and I was encouraged to keep on losing, but I seemed to plateau, or hit an invisible wall. I could not break into the 230s. Eventually, I got frustrated and my went started to increase, then yo-yo. I few weeks ago I began to force myself to walk more, and eat better, and this week, I was pleased to see myself weighing 235.7 lbs. Yay. I am encouraged to break 230. I don't know how long its been since that was my weight. Sad.
Anyway, back to the book. I had been following the conventional wisdom and thinking that if I cut back on sugary foods, that is a good step towards improving my numbers. I also make the effort to cut out red meat from my diet as much as possible, because everybody knows that red meat is high in both fat and cholesterol. I could confine myself to chicken and fish, right? I am a huge seafood lover (no pun intended), and so this type of restriction allowed my to eat what I already preferred, making it feel less like a restriction and more like a license. Well shoot. According to this book, "since animal products are the only source of cholesterol in the diet, leaving them off your plate eliminates all the cholesterol from your diet." That's what I want, to have my cholesterol levels so low that I can stopped taking meds to lower them. But I thought I could do this while eating chicken and fish and shrimp and crawfish. And I can, but at a penalty.
Imagine you are $10,000 in credit card debt (I know this scenario isn't hypothetical in the least to many people, but bear with me). If your goal is to pay that thing off as quickly as possible, is it smarter to send them the minimum balance, or to send as much as you possibly can? The answer is obvious. Is it smart to buy the occasional shoes or video game or meal on the card, in effect adding to your debt as you are lowering it? Of course not. That is working against yourself. You could still get out of debt, but you are making it take longer than it needs to take. The best thing would be eliminate the debt as quickly as possible, and not add to your burden at the same time you are trying to lighten it. Similarly, I am in debt on my cholesterol card, I've rung up so many charges that my bank account (my body), has been unable to pay to keep at manageable levels. Financially, I know what I have to do. Now, regarding my health, I know what I have to do. I'm not just going meatless (pork and beef), I'm going without all animal products.
The blunt truth from the book: Some [fish] are lower in fat than chicken, while others, such as salmon, are quite high. But all fish have fat, and much of it - between 15 and 30 percent - is saturated fat. All fish have cholesterol, too. Some, such as shrimp and lobster, are much higher in cholesterol, ounce for ounce, than steak.
Ouch. That hurts. But taking pills everyday - especially for slackers like me who are forgetful or busy or both - that hurts worse. So I am getting the meat and eggs out of my kitchen, out of my freezer, out of my kitchen, out of my life, at least until my numbers supports their re-integration into my diet. I have to do this. I am going to make it enjoyable and successful. Let's see how this goes.
I purchased a book last weekend called Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes Without Drugs. There is much in the book of which I already was vaguely aware, but this point in my life I guess I am at a "perfect storm" moment, where everything has converged at once in a fearsome, potentially deadly way. I was already on blood sugar meds, then I was put on high cholesterol meds about a month ago. And this past week, I scored the trifecta, high blood pressure meds. This is intolerable. I have been looking long at hard at myself lately, and one of the things resulting from this introspection is the need to be be more aggressive regarding my health. I was told early on in my diabetes diagnosis that with diet and exercise, I could severely limit its ability to kill me, cause me to lose limbs, and go blind. And for a while, I did that.
Last New Year's Day, my wife and oldest daughter and I went on a challenge to see who could lose 20 lbs. first. I was at the heaviest I have ever been, 260 lbs. when we began. I won the challenge, getting down to 240, and I was encouraged to keep on losing, but I seemed to plateau, or hit an invisible wall. I could not break into the 230s. Eventually, I got frustrated and my went started to increase, then yo-yo. I few weeks ago I began to force myself to walk more, and eat better, and this week, I was pleased to see myself weighing 235.7 lbs. Yay. I am encouraged to break 230. I don't know how long its been since that was my weight. Sad.
Anyway, back to the book. I had been following the conventional wisdom and thinking that if I cut back on sugary foods, that is a good step towards improving my numbers. I also make the effort to cut out red meat from my diet as much as possible, because everybody knows that red meat is high in both fat and cholesterol. I could confine myself to chicken and fish, right? I am a huge seafood lover (no pun intended), and so this type of restriction allowed my to eat what I already preferred, making it feel less like a restriction and more like a license. Well shoot. According to this book, "since animal products are the only source of cholesterol in the diet, leaving them off your plate eliminates all the cholesterol from your diet." That's what I want, to have my cholesterol levels so low that I can stopped taking meds to lower them. But I thought I could do this while eating chicken and fish and shrimp and crawfish. And I can, but at a penalty.
Imagine you are $10,000 in credit card debt (I know this scenario isn't hypothetical in the least to many people, but bear with me). If your goal is to pay that thing off as quickly as possible, is it smarter to send them the minimum balance, or to send as much as you possibly can? The answer is obvious. Is it smart to buy the occasional shoes or video game or meal on the card, in effect adding to your debt as you are lowering it? Of course not. That is working against yourself. You could still get out of debt, but you are making it take longer than it needs to take. The best thing would be eliminate the debt as quickly as possible, and not add to your burden at the same time you are trying to lighten it. Similarly, I am in debt on my cholesterol card, I've rung up so many charges that my bank account (my body), has been unable to pay to keep at manageable levels. Financially, I know what I have to do. Now, regarding my health, I know what I have to do. I'm not just going meatless (pork and beef), I'm going without all animal products.
The blunt truth from the book: Some [fish] are lower in fat than chicken, while others, such as salmon, are quite high. But all fish have fat, and much of it - between 15 and 30 percent - is saturated fat. All fish have cholesterol, too. Some, such as shrimp and lobster, are much higher in cholesterol, ounce for ounce, than steak.
Ouch. That hurts. But taking pills everyday - especially for slackers like me who are forgetful or busy or both - that hurts worse. So I am getting the meat and eggs out of my kitchen, out of my freezer, out of my kitchen, out of my life, at least until my numbers supports their re-integration into my diet. I have to do this. I am going to make it enjoyable and successful. Let's see how this goes.
posted by Jahan at 10:31 AM
1 comments
