Be Your Own Advocate

I needed to understand my disease, so I started researching Type 2 Diabetes online--reading about carbohydrates, fat, sodium, sugar, and protein content of foods and how they affected my body as a diabetic. Diabetes is different for each person and its treatment will be different. To be a good manager of your own health, you need to communicate with your doctor or diabetic nurse and work towards better health to successfully manage your diabetes and control your daily blood sugars. Diabetes affects organs like the kidneys, liver, your eyes, even your brain and the long-term consequences are not good.

Just a Note to share how strong our bodies really are. You can lower your A1c (average blood sugar levels over the past 3 months) by diet alone and improve your body health. After multiple knee injuries in 2001, I was in a wheel chair and told I'd never walk again. It was difficult to maneuver the wheel chair at work, and I had to ask too often for help, slowing down office work production. I eventually lost my job after being out on disability leave too many times. I fell into a deep depression and again ate everything bad for me, just to feel good. My blood sugars were averaging 270 often reaching over 350... I was correcting it with more insulin and of course, without realizing it, accelerating insulin resistance. I just didn't care... and I gained a huge amount of weight. A year later, and at rock bottom, I woke up... I just wasn't ready for my life to end up like that-- fat, sick and seldom leaving the sofa.

I had been living for almost two years with high blood sugars averaging 300 daily (down from the 450 I was that day at the doctor's office); the normal level for a controlled diabetic was 90-110 daily. This seemed like a number I could never reach. I chose to work hard, fitting in a diet regime that I could live with, swearing off mayonnaise, bacon, sausage, fried foods, white sugar, dark sodas, and cooking oils that had caused such pain. I had developed irritable bowel syndrome; some think it develops from a lifestyle of stress. I was training myself to eat healthier and I worked hard. I still could not walk without pain, or bend my knees to tie my shoes, or even lay in bed at night on my back with my legs straight or bent for long. I hurt until I fell asleep and began hurting again once I woke up.

A single serving of pasta is the size of a scoop of ice cream, a serving of meat is the size of a deck of cards. I was amazed to discover that I had been eating almost four servings of pasta at a setting, and way over the allotted amount for meat, consuming hundreds of calories, and raising my blood sugars to deadly levels at each meal. No wonder I always felt so terrible!

Stanford University

In 2002 fate stepped in when a friend emailed me a notice about an online study group on Chronic Long-term Illness that the Stanford University was hosting and they were looking for volunteers that met a strict criteria. I applied for the class and was accepted into their Study Group. As I met the members online, we shared the extent of our chronic illnesses before the classes formally began. Yes, we had pity parties at first, of course. I discovered that many lived with far more serious health problems than I ever had, and I was humbled. Together, through that study group, we learned how to become active self-managers, to understand our symptoms, and how to creatively exercise for fun and fitness even with our various limitations like chair dancing or simple, basic yoga; heck, even doing stretches helped. The important thing was to MOVE our bodies, move any way we dared. We learned to be the best we cold be despite our various limitations.

We learned to push ourselves to better health by making commitments to ourselves through personal, weekly action plans that were accountable to the group; to keep track of our progress and to share with the other members our weekly successes and failures. We all had workbooks mailed to us to keep track of our food intake and exercises. Once a week, we were assigned a 'buddy' to support us one-on-one through emails and to share with our buddy our trials and challenges. I felt empowered, and hopeful for the future.

Now that I was determined to become as healthy as I could, I began pool exercises in Sacramento through the Red Cross at a nominal fee, making the drive from Amador County. Happily, I learned that my mom was also doing pool therapy for her RA so we began attending class together. It was very difficult for me at first, but I was amazed at how fast the swelling in my legs was reduced, and I had more energy. I started to attend support groups offered by the hospital, classes that I had spurned before. From anger management and learning about foods and their effect on our bodies to cholesterol classes, I went to all of them. I learned about portion control and which foods had hidden dangers for diabetics and even which foods aggravated my arthritis (milk, chocolate, oils, gravy, fried foods).

I couldn't believe how heavy I had become

I learned coping skills and healthier ways to eat. I was out of that wheel chair, interviewed and secured a job as an Administrative Assistant for the Deputy Director at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, CA where I worked for 2 years until early 2007. However, I couldn't take the stress of lock-downs at the prison or walking past the prison yards where inmates jeered and taunted me, as part of my duties any longer, although I loved working for my boss, Reuben. I interviewed and then began work for Franklin Templeton in Rancho Cordova, with higher pay and benefits. I now had a round-trip drive of 3 hours daily. A few months later, I happened to see an Ad online for a job with the AT&T office in the same area, but with better benefits, more money and opportunity for advancement. The job entailed working with sales and graphic designers on Ads which was appealing to me. So I applied, interviewed and was hired. Surprisingly, I began the new job within two weeks, with full medical benefits, and thus began a daily round-trip commute which I drove alone until 2011.

I had reduced my A1c from 13.3 to 7.3 by reducing sugar, carbs and fried foods. However, after landing this new job, within a year, I had become very lax and returned to poor eating habits... besides enjoying daily snacks and a Starbucks' Carmel Macchiato (seemed like everyone had a desktop Keurig machine). The various potlucks seemed to be happening in the break room during my breaks! I couldn't resist the sweets! I quickly gained back what I had lost and even more! I was very overweight, the heaviest I had ever been by 2010; my knees and back suffered greatly. I was shocked to see a photo of myself at a friend's wedding later that year. That couldn't be ME! I had a double chin!

I then heard of these 'diet drops' from one of my newspaper reporters who I had met while at a Calaveras benefit show, Tammy, that promised weight loss via a strict 500 calorie diet along with special 'drops' before each meal (www.dietdropsonline.com). She had been encouraging me for ages to try it. I had nothing to lose but weight, and I had seen the amazing testimonials, so in desperation, I finally gave it a try. It was extremely restrictive, allowing only certain foods during the stages, but I was determined. I began to slowly see the weight come off. I didn't stay on the drops the entire time; that would not be healthy, but I did do several multi-week phases over the next two years.

By January 2011, I had lost 90 lbs, and another 30 lbs by 2012. This way of eating taught me control and the importance of low carb food choices. It was the jump start I needed. I then began a more normal way of eating but sadly, I fell into poor food choices again. Six years later and I had re-gained 30 lbs. It doesn't sound like much, but you have to remember this was extra weight on a small 4'10"frame. This, plus more, is what I now want to lose through our vegetarian diet. For now, I have to use a walker indoors as the various blood pressure meds I am taking daily cause dizziness, fatigue and greatly overwhelm my stability. I had a bad fall in January of 2019 and it took almost a month to heal from it. A new friend, Connie, gifted me with items to safeguard myself, from a 4-prong rubber tipped cane to indoor booties with rubber soles and a non-skid small rug for in front of my bed where I had fallen one night. Yes, it was an ordeal for my husband to help me up as I couldn't put any pressure on my knees to get up from the floor, and he could not lift me. I am so grateful for friends like Connie! I am looking forward to walking again some day... without pain, perhaps without a walker even! I must be patient to overcome the damage I have done over the years.

The Benefits of weight loss