Change for the Better

by PapaScott on 08 July 2005

The good news is: I don’t have Diabetes mellitus type 2. The flip side is: I’m well on my way to getting it unless I change my lifestyle, fast.

My sister-in-law is a Heilpraktikerin (alternative practitioner) together with her husband, and I’ve been helping them with their website Naturheilzentrum Drochtersen. She’s started offering a weight-loss program based on optimizing metabolism, and suggested we both start the program together. My Body Mass Index is 35, so I could use such a program quite badly (I’m 174 cm tall, I’ll let you do the math).

The first step is a comprehensive blood analysis, so she stopped by a couple weeks ago and took our weights and a dozen vials of blood. Among the blood tests was glucose, and mine was at 129 mg/dl, over the healthy maximum. A big yellow flashing warning signal.

To make sure I didn’t really already have diabetes, I went in yesterday for a sugar load test. Drink a cup of sugar water on an empty stomach and check the glucose after 1 and 2 hours. My glucose was way too high after 1 hour, but was OK again after 2 hours. My pancreas is still working, but it’s under stress.

I now have a list of about 40 foods I am allowed to eat, all with glycemic indices of 50 or less. I need to eat at least 750 g of vegetables and drink 3.5 l of water per day. I need to plan at least 4 hours between meals, and eat no carbohydrates on an empty stomach. I need to take vitamins and spoonful of linseed oil daily. And I need to exercise. I’ve invested in a pair of running shoes, and I’ve started using them.

Since the initial blood test I’ve lost nearly 2 kg, so it looks like I’m on the right track.

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

Karl 08 July 2005 at 06:09

That’s great. Good luck to you.

Frank Koehntopp 08 July 2005 at 09:00

Sounds great, Scott – congrats for being able to switch that fast. Keep it going!

Heather 08 July 2005 at 19:42

That’s inspiring, good luck with the rest of the process.

christina 09 July 2005 at 09:47

Wow. Great that you’re taking charge of your health and making positive changes. Nice to have the support of your immediate family too.

PapaScott 11 July 2005 at 13:58

I’ll be waiting for a couple more kilos (or a couple dozen) before I start congratulating myself. But I can already tell after a week of running a half-hour every other day that my ratio of run-time to walk-time is improving, although I still walk more than I run.

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