Chapter 1: Courage

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it." - Nelson Mandela

I was shocked and scared to see my A1c at 10.3 but not necessarily surprised. 5 years prior, I was told that I am pre-diabetic like my mother and that this is a progressive disease. It will just get worse and worse over time and will need to take medication to manage it until I die. I had given into snacking and eating sweets during the Covid19 lockdown, so I expected it to be worse. "Maybe a 7", I thought naively.

Once I received the news and had a quick chat with my doctor urging me to jump into taking medication, thoughts of my mother's last few years of life flashed in my mind. I did quick math based on how old she was when she passed away and how old my kids would be when I would reach that age. They would barely be adults. I knew something had to be done.

Part of the fear I had was rooted in the fact that I knew I needed to make a lifestyle change. What should I change? How much? What if, despite my efforts, my condition gets worse? Or maybe my body needs time to reverse the momentum and I won't see results for a long time.

I was thinking all these things in November 2022. If you live in America, November represents the beginning of the holiday season where food and gluttonous eating and merrymaking happens with friends and family. My family usually partakes in at least 2 Thanksgiving feasts (with leftovers following) and 2 Christmas dinners. I knew I would have to change my diet, so I decided this would be my last hurrah with these holiday feasts. I would spend my time until the new year studying and researching what I should do to reverse my Type-2 Diabetes, if at all possible.

One thing was certain, I would have to make a decision on what makes sense and take action in January. I could not let this continue any longer. Knowing this, part of my research was on motivation and productivity. As I mentioned before, I was learning these topics in respect to work and modern leadership already. How can we change ourselves and inspire others to change for the better?

A large majority of us are affected by survival instincts by our sympathetic nervous system. This is often called "Fight or Flight" or "Carrot and Stick". I used this response to help give me the courage to take action. First I realized that I lean more to Flight than to Fight. So I used that knowledge to serve me. I would often imagine myself dying very young and going through the pains my mother had gone through in the last 2-3 years of her life. On occasion, I would also think of what it would be like to live a long life and care for my children as they navigate adulthood/parenthood as well. I think this step was a key step to keeping my motivation up even now.

Through my research, I learned quite a few things about Metabolic Syndrome and Insulin Resistance. While I knew that I would need to give up carbs, sugar, starches and begin exercising, I didn't realize that as we age, we are constantly battling inflammation. Its not something we see externally, but I think the symptoms are common enough. Achy joints, shoulder and back pain seemed like a natural part of getting older, but it doesn't have to be. Inflammation weakens the body and is linked to 50% of all deaths. So, when I learned there was a relatively quick, simple habit that builds courage, fights inflammation and something I could do right away, I was in.

The Answer: Ice cold showers. Cold shock therapy has many long term benefits psychologically as well as physiologically. I wasn't going to buy a tub and ice just yet, cold showers in January would be enough. This is where I would like to start with this series of posts. If you are affected by Type-2 Diabetes and want to make a life long change I recommend starting with cold shock therapy if you aren't doing it already. You will need to build courage, maintain motivation, learn stress management skills - all things that will also help you in business and work life as well.

Cold showers will help you focus during the day and get better sleep at night. I suggest that you start going the coldest the shower will go and after some time turning the water warm. This seems to work best for me. Some days I will go back and forth from cold to hot depending how I feel. This is a low cost method to increase focus, work out your entire cardiovascular system with quick contraction and expansion, reduce stress and get better sleep.

On a personal note, cold showers helped by blood sugar drop a lot initially. It was higher than 200 (very high) as you can see in the images associated with this article. In December, my blood sugar would drop about 20 mg/dL in 1 hour on average. In the image above, I was able to drop it 40 mg/dL after a minute cold shower. However, after a few weeks of daily cold showers, the drops were no longer as drastic, but this is a habit I continue to this day regardless.

Action Items

1. Determine, and be honest with yourself, do you lean more Fight? or Flight?
2. Envision a scenario that will serve you to take action - exaggerate the Fight or Flight response.
3. Get a Glucose Monitor - start measuring blood glucose (same time each day)
4. Get a Glucose Monitor measurement 30 minutes after a meal.
5. Take an ice cold shower for at least 30 seconds. Follow the Wim Hof breathing method to help manage the shock. (Take note of what you are saying to yourself before jumping in and how long does it take to jump in. "This is dumb", "I'll start tomorrow". These are things you say to yourself in your job and everyday uncomfortable situations.)
6. Take another Glucose Monitor measurement after the shower.

If you are following along with this, I would love to know if cold showers affected your blood sugar drop as much as it did for me initially.