I’d like to bring you into my current process of reversing my alarming ‘pre-diabetes’, also referred to with the hip name of ‘Insulin Resistant.’ Please feel free to reach out to discuss!
Type 2 Diabetes, people. I know it’s a bummer, or worse, boring. Also referred to as ‘adult onset’, it’s the kind that you acquire over time.
It is a slow, silent, surround-sound beast that comes by way of sweetness. You don’t feel it. It slips into the engine of our cells –our heroic mitochondria. Eventually our metabolics change as there becomes …a situation. Engine problems tend to affect many departments.
When sugar is dripping consistently and slowly, it’s easy to acclimate. Each little bump of a new normal feels normal and one goes along one’s merry way.
The warning signs are (literally) eaten or not even seen or not understood.
The upside of this being an epidemic is that we know more than ever across the spectrum –from all of the drugs that actually don’t work, to the link with the liver department (cholesterol production), to the self defense of the cells when faced with glucose overload (‘quick make a fortress, make that special brown fat!‘), to the social sciences that have caught on how to best to help people reset, reverse, and put this disease into remission for themselves in a lasting, for-real life way.
The medical world is a system like any other. It is slow to change, has competing pressures, and has to figure out how to operationalize everything. It’s good that it’s conservative. I really don’t want anyone rashly trying unproven methods on me.
If I can help, then let it be so. Let me spread the good word.
My snapshot: In Oct 2022, my 3-month glucose average (affectionately known as ‘A1c’) of 5.9 was flagged bold along with –also in bold– high lipid, too much ‘bad’ cholesterol. I’ve never ever had high cholesterol; have a deep, deadly family history of diabetes. And my (cough cough) weight gain in the last few years has collected around the belly, the middle –like so many of us of a certain age.
I wish I could blame it on the blip of the pandemic, but I can’t. Lurking on the pre-pandemic, 2019 lab results was the same 5.9 number (lipids were normal however back then) with no comment or follow-up –in spite of the fact that my medical record is very clear on my family history. The new flag of high lipids means that I had slipped into a stage of ‘problems in other departments.’
After a few days of quiet reckoning with the bad news, I came across some mind-boggling good news and hope.
Life isn’t worth living if it means being puritanical. I love sweetness and vow to enjoy it until the bitter end. A non-negotiable condition of my reset is that it is sustainable and includes guilt-free eating of beautiful things like this Boston Cream Pie, made by my I-must-bake-once-in-a-while, wife.
Since I’ve been an armchair follower of nutrition and health news for many years, I’ve collected people whom are up on data-driven nuances and whose passion goes beyond demonizing one ingredient or touting supplements or food that is only found on a mountain top in the Himalayas or wherever.
Know this: My 3-month A1c lab retest results in January 2023 went down 1 point! I’m now at 5.8. Woo Woo! Still in the pre-diabetes zone but I’m on my way. Lipids were down too! (Even though I paid zero attention to reducing meats, dairy, and whatever else is ‘bad’ for this metric.) I’m still in the flagged, high zone, but I’ll take it. I’ve lost weight too but that is not my goal, just a nice side benny.
Reference Desk
Below is short summary with links of what has helped me so far. I’ll keep you updated on my progress. Please do feel free to reach out to discuss or commiserate or question.
The Doctor’s Kitchen – I love this UK guy, Dr. Rupy Aujla. Such a wholesome, benevolent, eagle scout whom took a turn as a medical student when he got very sick. He experienced the compounding injuries of ongoing terrible eating, sleep deprivation, and extreme stress. He was a young buck and smart enough to listen to his mother when she questioned what he was eating! When he saw results and got better, it led him to include ‘food as medicine’ into the medical paradigm. He’s got another cookbook just out and it looks to be one his best (I have not yet purchased it.) Thank you Dr. Rupy for these two key podcasts:
This 30-minute conversation Dr. Unwin was the start of my awakening. An older guy about to retire and felt dejected about not helping people with diabetes. He did the default and prescribed medications. Then one of his patients, got really really mad at him when she learned (from someone else) about nutrition, that the disease is treatable with some updates in diet. She proved it to him!
This podcast with Jessie Inchauspé kicks it home about the mechanics and why a balance of protein, fiber, and fat are the keys to the kingdom. Reset on those ratios, use some well-documented hacks (like ‘don’t eat your carbs naked’), and you’re on your way to remission. Here is the awesome podcast/youtube between her and Dr. Rupy.
Her first book is just out, which I haven’t yet picked up. Also, she’s on Instagram as Glucosegoddess. (I just started following her.)
Post Script:
I started following Mallory Nowak, a functional nutritionist from California. She seems solid on the advice, though there are non-stop pitches to sign-up for her online, live group sessions. Groups like this have proven to be an effective way to help change your habits. I may sign up for one. [edit: I unsubscribed from this particular person as I just didn’t jive with her vibe. Whom I did find and love: Dani Hamilton and Christa Biegler]
I haven’t yet reached that point or where I buy a continues glucose monitor (CGM). This toy is all the rage now. It does seem to be effective since it drives home the point of how your body responds to glucose spikes. Stay tuned. A part of me would be intrigued to use a CGM!
Boston and New England peeps: I’d love recommendations for functional nutritionists in the area. I don’t want to recommend anyone who gives medication first and then goes straight to telling someone the difference between white and brown rice!
Technical Note: A1c is an average reading. One can get false low and high readings, depending upon the life-span of your hemoglobin cells. Here is a 26 minute podcast by Dr. Ron Sinha on the nuances.
