Impressive effects, that your dietary changes have had.

What else do you need to do? Do you plan to (or even need to) lose weight, increase exercise, get even more specific on the diet?

I've never been "overweight" in the fat sense and I have a naturally slim build or at least I did until in my 30's I took up weightlifting and bodybuilding. That required an absolute enormous amount of caloric intake. I gave it up about 10 years ago when I had a bad back and during that time off I reduced my amount of eating accordingly. Then I got back into it about 3 years ago and upped my food intake big time, admittedly not always the best choices but it's hard for me to gain weight, always was. I think somewhere when I had that severe bout of sciatica last fall thru December and slowed way down on the exercising I didn't cut back on the food and some of the junk and that may have triggered something and then of course to see my weight decline was frightening.

I plan on sticking to the recommendations of the Diabetes assoc plus I'm back in the gym almost daily once again and my weight has started to increase whew.

Re the improved eyesight.
Funny thing now I think about it.. When this all first happened and I tossed out all the junk I bought a couple of those 12 oz bags of fake baby carrots and set to eating at least a bag of those everynight and I've done that every day since, I cheat and dip then in about an ounce of light Ranch. , Maybe it is the carrots. According the diabetes chart you can eat unlimited amounts of carrots. Good thing I like them, fresh would be better but it's too early right now.

This post was edited by pkguy on Sat, Apr 6, 13 at 20:19

That really IS impressive. Glad to hear you're able to manage it so well.

It's really pretty amazing - though probably not surprising - how much diet can affect our bodies. It's not all about losing weight. Whether it's diabetes, joint pain, blood pressure, etc. I hear enough success stories to where it's unreal how many of us don't adjust our diets to live better. I'm the first to admit I'm one. It's been "next week" for many years now.

Had to laugh at your last paragraph. When I saw the title of the thread I though, "Um, old news buddy!"

Good job, and continued good luck.

pkguy, glad you found out before it was too late! Can be quite dangerous. So glad you are feeling better, because of changing your diet etc.
Hopefully you will continue to feel better, and find it not to hard to adjust to the dietary restrictions.
Wishing you the best of luck, and thanks for coming out :)
So many of us feel not well and ignore the symptoms. Glad you got help! You're an inspiration for the rest of us!

Our diets and other lifestyle choices make such a difference. I'm a believer.

I've told this story before, but 3+ years ago I was 214 lb, on high blood pressure medication (beta blocker), on two cholesterol meds (statin and something else), suffering repeated gallbladder attacks and considering having that organ removed, starting to have kidney stone attacks (OMG painful), walking with a cane due to crippling gout and limited range of motion in my right ankle, suffering periodic gout attacks in that ankle, on two gout meds (allopurinol, colchicine), and my blood work was coming back as borderline pre-diabetic.

I went on a serious diet, lost 35 lb., started working out, started cycling everywhere, largely stopped driving, even gave up my four-Marlboros-a day habit.

Everything went away. No more blood pressure or cholesterol meds, unmedicated BP dropped 20 points, unmedicated resting heart rate dropped 20 points, gallbladder attacks stopped, kidney stone attacks stopped, gout flares stopped, gradually regained ankle mobility, blood values all normal again.

Not to mention feeling so much better. When I was 46-47 y/o, I was feeling like I was 60 y/o. Now I'm 50 y/o, and feel . . . well, 48 y/o maybe - no Ponce De Leon story here, alas - but anyway, it is an improvement.

There is so much of life and health that is beyond our control, but also so much that we can influence. As you as showing us right now! Again, impressive results!

The discipline is hard (mumbled after a period of backsliding) but most of us have it in us - after all, it is hard to get up every morning and work all day, but we do it - we just have to learn to apply our strength to this aspect of life.

Like FOAS when I read the title I thought.........I think PK's memory is going...that's way old news ! ;)

Love your attitude, it is absolutely amazing what diet can do to our over all health. It takes determination as John says but if anyone has that it's you!

Good luck

PS: John great to hear that the weight lost resulted in such a dramatic change. Life is short enough and way to short to live it unwell if we can help it.

Initially it took me quite a few days to come to grips with it. Having to do those insulin injections and as well my close up vision got very very blurry, talk about being stressed out which didn't help either along with not sleeping.

The other thing they found I forgot to mention was that my cholesterol was quite high and he prescribed some Crestor. However like I told him I put that down to the month or two prior where when I noticed my weight was dropping I switched from my regular daily quart of skim milk to regular full fat milk, started eating a quart of ice cream every few days etc. So I was packing in a lot of high cholesterol foods. I'm not even that big a meat eater, a fexitarian myself normally. I'd like to go in and get that checked again because I really don't think I need to be taking the Crestor. I'm back to skim milk and everything else is low or no cholesterol.

I've been living on plenty of home made vegetable type soups done in the pressure cooker, Rices with steamed vegetables and some sort of pasta, can't live without pasta's, peanut butter sandwiches on multi grain breads. It still going to take me awhile to fully adjust.

Peter, I'm certainly happy to hear that you've improved your health so much, that's wonderful and I'm ecstatic that you're feeling so much better.

My old doctor told me that he estimated 75% of the cancers today were caused by or contributed to by our diets. When you take into consideration the heart disease, diabetes, pulmonary issues, it's amazing what harm we are doing to ourselves with our dietary habits.

As for your beloved pasta, if you can get it there try something called "Dreamfields". It's a low GI low carb something or another, Dad could actually eat it without sending his blood sugar through the roof.

And no, I'm not employed by that company nor am I given any monetary compensation for my opinion, LOL.

Hang in there, and stay healthy. Definitely have a second blood test with that cholesterol, maybe you won't need that medication either. A single test could be an anomaly, so it would be good to know.

Annie

Annie, do they sell it at Kroger or Meijer? I usually hit one or the other once a week.. I don't recollect seeing it but then wasn't really looking

Peter, I don't have a Kroger anywhere near me but I used to buy it for Dad at the Big Rapids Meijer. It's not a very big Meijer so if they had it, probably others do.

I can't tell the difference between that and regular white pasta and neither could Dad. By the time I put meat sauce on it for him, he got a nice mix of carbs and protein and it didn't spike his blood sugar like regular pasta did. I never could convince him to eat the whole wheat stuff.

As you know, though, every person's body reacts differently. I hope it works for you and you love it!

Annie

Wow, that's quite a diagnosis, but you seem to be managing well. Good for you.

I want to add that the best way to stay on a diet, of any kind, is to keep a food journal. More and more research mentions this as a successful strategy. There are many programs out there that have apps for smartphones and websites from your desktop PC, they have hundreds of thousands of foods in their databases, so it's not hard to track meals, and they track, on a meal by meal basis, whatever nutrients you want - carbs, fat, sugar, calories, etc.

There are food journal apps just for diabetics too, and they will really help once the novelty wears off and the hard work begins, in about 9 months. They also have communities and forums, so you won't be alone as you head off into this adventure.

Good luck.

I forgot to add this, I wondered about Daisyduckworth, too and found her on the Herbs forum. She's still around, just not cooking any more. I miss her recipes. too

The link for Daisyduckworth keeps changing "itself", not sure why, but it's happening in other posts too. Links won't stay as they are written. Hm... It's in the Herbs forum - "Daisyduckworth how are you doing?"

{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Link

This post was edited by momj47 on Tue, Apr 9, 13 at 9:34

Why do so many people get diabetes? Not everyone I know who has it is overweight and it sounds like you are not either, Peter. I certainly believe that diet and lifestyle affect our well-being but I also think genetics plays a huge role.

I am no shining example of healthy living yet my cholesterol is consistently good. I think it's just lucky genetics.

Anyway, I'm sorry this happened to you but very happy that you are responding so well to meds and lifestyle changes. Take good care of yourself!

This thread can be very informative to many about health, eating and cooking. It would be nice to be on the Discussions forum. Not many people visit here.

Thanks for posting.

dcarch

Thanks everyone. The doom and gloom aspect of it all has pretty much subsided

Interestingly my neighbor just came by and few minutes ago with two pieces of cake on a plate.. Didn't say anything but I'll probably eat a small piece later. My resistance isn't that great lol. The dietician said it was ok so long as I scrape off most of the icing.

And tomorrow maybe I'll go check out and see if Meijer still caries that Dreamfield pasta, Annie.

Here's the link to Daisy

Here is a link that might be useful: Daisyduckworth