Here I am. I’ve told you that I’m mad about my health. My body continues to betray me daily and I have only two choices: give in to the chaos and insanity of high blood sugars and non-compliant eating or start a new and radical way to care for myself. I’ve tried it all. Anyone who has written a book about diabetes management has made some money off of me, to no obvious improvement in my situation. I am a person who likes to see the science behind things. I don’t like fad solutions and I’m pretty intelligent, but the scope of different thoughts on diabetes management is very wide. These people are not trying to mislead anyone, I think they’ve experienced some personal success or treated people successfully, but I haven’t found one yet that speaks to me personally. And so, I am at the place where I must look over all I know and use what has been successfully for me, in conjunction with carefully monitoring my blood sugar. I hope you’ll go on this journey with me. Of course it should be obvious that I am not a physician and I am following my own advice alone. Please consult your own physician if you are making a dietary or exercise change to make sure you are ready to do so.
| HERE IS THE PLAN: | ||
| I am using a few different strategies to move toward a shift in my health. I will add sources for the authors I have cited. Please read them more completely if you have time, since I am merely summarizing their information. | ||
| 1. Intermittent Fasting: This is the newest and most exciting treatment I have found to change my body’s ability to metabolize glucose. Much research has been done on folks who stop consuming for at least 12 hours at a time, up to 72 hours at a time. I’m not thinking of anything longer than this, although some do advocate this for regaining health. I’ll leave that reading up to you. I am going to be engaging in what is referred to as a 5:2 fast. 5 days of normal eating (more on that later) and 2 days of limited calorie intake, to allow my pancreas to rest and not have to pump out insulin. As I do this, my body is encouraged to utilize my stored body fat and to cleanse my liver. Sounds good to me! I will detail more on this as I go along. | ||
| 2. Activity: I will not bore you with all the promises I’ve made to be active and help my body heal itself. Instead let’s just get to what I’m doing now. Four (4) times a day, I will be riding my exercise bike for 15 minutes. Doesn’t sound very exciting, but I need to offer my body brief activity frequently during the day to assist my glucose utilization. 15 minutes is nothing, and there is no excuse I can find to avoid this. In addition, I will go to my favorite gym, Koko Fit Club, three times a week for strength training. This increases metabolism and all diabetes docs agree that this decreases glucose intolerance. It just needs to be done. They have a great program for weight loss for Diabetes Management and I can measure my body fat and changes in strength through a computerized program. | ||
| 3. Green smoothies: I can’t juice. Too many quick carbs without fiber is too much for me, but I can put all those same foods into a VitaMix and get it all with the fiber and it is easier on my body. I’m doing this every morning and on my IF days, when it is time to eat. Kale, cucumbers, celery and lemon juice. | ||
| 4. Meditation: The stress of my life is low level but constant. I take on a lot of other people’s stuff and I need to find a place to discharge it. I want to sit still for a while each morning and listen to the Spirit speak to me. | ||
| So, that’s it. I’m committed to just jumping in and starting this. No excuses. |
the furious and the fast 