Iron Will (Reversing The Diabetic Threat)

        I would like to take this opportunity to share in writing a very inspiring story about myself. I’m not sure hardly where to begin so I’ll take this back as far as I can to the beginning. For a little background information to start with, I have for the most part pretty healthy genetics from both my parents. The main problem area though with my dad’s side of the family is nearly the entire family has dealt with either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes that struck them at some point in their lives whereas on my mom’s side there has been little to no issues with it. Most of my dad’s side has been able though to deal with and maintain the condition with medicine and have lead pretty long lives considering. The only exception to that was I had a first cousin on my dad’s side that was about a year younger than me who ended up dying from very severe complications with Type 1 diabetes. In his middle thirties he ended up having a leg amputated due to gangrene setting in and just a few months after that he passed away. But he was a person who did not take care of his diabetic condition and would go right ahead and drink all the soft drinks he wanted as well as eat sugared sweets without limits. 

       As for me though most of my life I have not had to worry about what I eat or how much I eat until more recent years. Actually about two years ago was when I started noticing a strange fatigue that I would experience and feel nearly all the time. It started out not being real noticeable but as time moved on I started feeling the intensity of it increase. For quite some time I disregarded it as just the fact that I'm getting older and this is “normal”. Well back on the evening of July 13, 2017 when I came home from work I was feeling quite tired and rung out to the point I decided I should probably check my glucose level to see just where it stands. Well when I checked it that night it showed a reading of 318! I knew then I was in trouble. I immediately felt this huge weight of worry come over me wondering “Oh no, what am I going to do”. I’ve always feared diabetes and thought “I hope I never get it”. I knew at that given point that I was on the path to total destruction of my health if I didn’t quickly make some major changes. I knew I could go the route of going to the doctor and be put on medication for possibly the rest of my life but then I thought, “No Not Yet”. I thought, before giving into the idea of having to be under a doctor’s care for the rest of my life for this, I want to try something on my own first. To start with the very next day after getting that high sugar reading, I completely changed my diet and I don’t mean gradual either. I changed it very drastically and started doing a lot of in depth thorough research on what a diabetic can and cannot eat. Keeping in mind up to this point I had always been accustomed to eating any and everything at my disclosure without reservation. So starting July 14th and going forward I eliminated all sweet treats or anything with refined sugar. I eliminated any and all fried foods with no exceptions. I eliminated eating any kind of red meat due to high content of trans fats. I eliminated any kind of processed foods like frozen dinners due to the high sodium content. I eliminated drinking regular cow milk of any kind due to the high sugar content (lactose) that it contains. I keep my dairy intake to a bare minimum. I never touch any kind of soft drink which is one of the worst things any person who has a threat of diabetes could ever drink. I don’t eat anything “white” to include, white bread, pasta, rice, white crackers, baked potatoes, etc. As an example, I will never touch a hamburger and french fries ever again. Now with all that eliminated out of my diet here is what I do eat on a very regular basis and when I do eat I use reasoning and moderation and never allow myself to overfill or over indulge ever. I now focus on eating baked or grilled meat which includes chicken and fish of any kind (eg. – Ahi Tuna, Tilapia, Flounder, Cod, Salmon, White Fish, Mahi Mahi). I eat a variety of different fresh vegetables to include asparagus, beans (not canned), broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, cauliflower, and sweet potatoes (perfect substitute for baked potatoes). Also I eat cashew nuts, fresh blueberries, apples (one-two daily),  and unsweetened applesauce. Among other things I eat whole wheat bread in substitute for white bread. I now drink only organic type milk like vanilla favored sugar free almond milk in substitute for regular cow milk. I stick with whole grain type cereals and in my case have always liked plain cherrios with a few blueberries mixed in with almond milk. There are a couple of things I enjoy eating as a treat to myself when I want something a little different than just the usual. First, I have discovered a type of nut butter made by JIF called almond butter. Many times I’ll eat this on some wheat bread and it makes a nice sandwich. Almond butter has a lighter more whipped taste and texture than just ordinary peanut butter and it also contains more nutrients not to mention it is easier to digest. Also for a really nice treat I enjoy keeping on hand Dannon Oikos Triple Zero Vanilla Greek Yogurt that has no fat, no added sugar, and no artificial sweeteners. This is very acceptable for a person who is diabetic or even borderline diabetic. As far as portions are concerned a person needs to try to keep these things in mind -- Try to keep the intake of carbohydrates, trans fats, sodium, and sugar as minimal as possible. A limit of 45-60 grams of carbohydrates is a good range to spend on each meal and snacks like yogurt should range from 15-30 grams. Above all try not to eat more than 110 carbohydrates per day.

       Alongside completely changing my diet I also immediately started doing a very regulated, focused, exercise regimen. I started getting on the treadmill and walking very regularly. I started out slow and have gradually worked my way up to where now I walk 6 miles every other night for a total of 18+ miles weekly. When I walk, I always listen to choice songs through a headset that plays music to a beat that matches the cadence of my walk equaling a pace of 4 miles per hour. Walking at this speed is as fast as I can possibly walk without breaking into a jog which I refuse to do because of the impact jogging or running has on a person’s joints. It takes me over an hour and a half to complete 6 miles and at the end of the session I have worked up a dripping sweat equivalent to a jogger.

       Now here is what this old time formula (Hard Diet & Exercise) has done for me. After the first week of doing both, I quickly noticed my sugar readings dropping drastically down into the very low 100’s. After week number three I noticed my sugar readings reaching the normal range which would be anything between 75-85 after first getting up out of bed and then anything between 105-115 two hours after eating a meal. A normal reading right out of bed from a night’s rest is anything between 70-110 and a normal reading two hours after a meal is anything under 140. I have been monitoring my sugar now very closely for nearly 4 months and have been able to keep my sugar within very normal bounds. This past Saturday (10-28-17) after buying an A1C testing kit from Walgreens, I decided to take my A1C to see just where it stands after all this hard work I’ve been doing and was so very pleased to get a reading of 5.5%. Normal is anything under 5.7%. 

       As a few final thoughts – I am not too good to go see a doctor and there may come a day when I will have to let a doctor evaluate my situation but for now, as long as I can keep a tight grip on my sugar levels with focused diet and exercise, I will go that direction as opposed to having to take pills and/or shots the rest of my life. The main thing with me is that I realize I do have a weakness for insulin resistance but it has been proven with medical science that a high percentage of people like myself who recognize this early on can literally reverse the process of this progressive disease with hard focused diet and exercise. I give all the credit to God for blessing me with a very strong will of iron that I have been exercising now for the past nearly four months and have proven to myself with His help that I can and have reversed my symptoms to where now there is no sign of the disease. Granted I will have to keep on the straight and narrow path as I’m going now to keep everything in line and maintained but that will not be an issue for me due to knowing I can continue to reap the benefits that I have been so richly blessed with for the last 15 plus weeks now. Some of the nice added bonuses I’ve gotten also from this hard work is that I’ve lost 50 pounds so far going from 235 down to now 185 and would like to lose about 10 more pounds to reach a target of 175 so that I can fit into my 34 waist pants :). Also I have dropped my resting heart rate down to between 47-51 beats per minute when lying in bed in the middle of the night after arousing from a deep sleep and also having a nice slow heart rate while sitting at my desk at work during the day that ranges between 57-61 beats per minute. These kinds of heart rates show that a person is physically conditioned as compared to a person whose heart rate is higher due to being out of shape. One thing I forgot to mention is that after about the first three weeks into my diet and exercise with my sugar readings going down to normal, I regained a wonderful continuous surge of energy that I had not experienced in nearly two years. This newfound energy level that I am now experiencing is continuously ongoing and is so nice to be able to feel each and every day especially at the age of 52. Another thing I always do is never eat anything past 6:00pm so that my body has plenty of time to rest between meals and let my natural insulin have plenty of time to fully neutralize the natural sugars that I’ve taken in throughout the day from my meals. I’ve noticed if I do eat later in the evening past 6:00pm that I’ll have a slightly higher glucose reading the next morning just after I get up as compared to being a lower reading when I stop eating anything else before 6:00pm the night before. Also I make sure to drink at least 64 ounces or more of water throughout every day to keep the kidneys flushed.                                                                                                                               

        When I realized how high my sugar reading was the night of July 13th, I decided also to write that date as well as that reading down on a piece of paper and carry it with me from here on in my wallet. Anytime I think about it or get that piece of paper out and look at it, it is a constant reminder of why I will always need to stay very tightly focused on both my new way of eating as well as my exercise regimen of walking on the treadmill. That alone will always be the driving force of what will keep me motivated to stick with and stay focused on this new way of life. I know from seeing complications in my own family of just how nasty, devastating, and serious this disease can really be and I do not want any part of it if I can help it and my plan will always be to stay the course that I have now set for myself. I am just so thankful that I caught this early on and have been so blessed to be able to successfully reverse the process of insulin resistance to where now my natural insulin is once again working normally.

Kevin Hash