The secret to finally losing weight quickly and sensibly…give yourself the fright of your life!
25 March 2011
Ok, haven’t been here for ages, but…things have changed, and I should explain – just in case anyone ever reads this – and it might help them. Now I ramble a bit – but please read it to the end, hopefully this cautionary tale will help someone!
Since I started writing this blog (a couple of months before my 50th birthday three years ago) I’ve been dawdling about, losing weight VERY slowly (about 30 pounds in those 3 years). Quite a loss, I guess, but still I was sitting in the “obese” category, with a way to go. But I’d always been pretty smug thinking that, because I kept well, didn’t eat junk, didn’t drink or smoke, was vegetarian, kept quite active, I was healthy…or so I thought.
Now last year was a very bad year for our family. Dad had to move into residential care as he has Alzheimer’s and Mum wasn’t coping with his care and her health deteriorated. Sadly, my mum passed away a few months later. Like I said, it was a very bad year.
After a Christmas of chocolate-comfort-eating and generally not paying attention to my food, things came to a head just after the New Year 2011. I felt well, but decided it was time to get back a little focus.
In the past I’d always checked my blood sugar about once a month, but with all that was going on, that was something else that had slipped. It had always been fine, so I wasn’t worried. So I did the test. The reading was VERY high. Convinced the blood glucose meter was broken or the test strips out of date, I did it again – same result. Slight panic but still thinking it was wonky, I got Hubby to do his. His was fine… I could feel the colour drain from my face as I realised what that probably meant. My Mum was diabetic and my liking for all things carby, combined with my excess weight – I was a prime candidate, a diabetic time bomb. I’m not sure now why I’d been so smug thinking I had the right to such good health, but I did. BUT THAT WAS THE FRIGHT I NEEDED TO MAKE ME CHANGE MY WAYS!
Now I probably should have gone straight to my doctor, but I was determined not to be stuck on drugs and given that dreaded Diabetic label, so I set about trying to bring down my blood glucose level first, nature’s way, with diet. I decided to give myself a little time to see if I could get it down to normal, THEN I would go to the doctor. There and then I stopped eating sweet treats and set about carefully measuring the “good” carbs I was eating. Now, being a vegetarian and having a gut loathing of the high protein Atkins type faddy diet, I was actually struggling to come up with a sensible eating plan that didn’t involve replacing the rice/pasta/potatoes/bread with cheese or eggs or processed rubbish. I spent ages analysing things. I decided to change the proportion of my favourite dishes, upping the veg and bean or legumes quantities and reducing the carbs. For the first time in my life I was struggling to find enough to eat! But I persevered. I didn’t feel hungry or even particularly inclined to waver. My husband is always a great support – but he didn’t have to nag me at all!
It worked. My blood sugar level quickly reduced to almost normal. My weight started to drop. But then, the weirdest thing happened, my eyesight went wonky. In the space of a week or two, I went from being able to read the newspaper without specs to not even seeing the headlines clearly! I was seeing double in the distance. I visited an optician who reassured me my eyes were “normal” and not to worry. Convinced it had to be connected, I looked online again and discovered the really helpful http://www.diabetes.co.uk/index.html and also some other articles which explained that dramatic changes in blood glucose levels (up or down) can result in the lens of the eye absorbing fluid and changing shape, hence the bad vision. The good news is that it settles back to normal, the bad news it can take weeks, months or even years! I’m happy to say I’ve been lucky and mine settled within a few weeks. The other thing I hadn’t realised was that just BEING overweight means your body struggles with the amount of insulin it needs to produce, amongst other things. There’s degrees of good health I know, but I’d never really acknowledged the danger I was in, despite my “healthy living”.
The other thing I did was re-read some of my “health” books that were lurking in the study. In particular “Eat to live” by Dr Joel Fuhrman, as I remembered him advocating the sort of diet I found myself on. I discovered he has a web-site http://www.drfuhrman.com/ with lots of great advice and some amazing “before and afters”. It probably isn’t for everyone (though it probably should be!!) It’s strict. But hey! It works!!
So I adapted what I was doing slightly to pretty much follow his plan. It’s refreshing that you’ve to eat “at least” such and such an amount of food, rather than a whole string of “no more than”s! I’ll not go into the details but please look at his site, or read the book. His arguments are very persuasive and, truly, the regime is much easier than it sounds!
Tomato and bean soup, lovely veggie stews, chillis & curries, some nuts & seeds, salads, fruit. There really is loads to eat and the most amazing thing is I don’t miss the excess carbs. I’ll not pretend that the sight of a big dod of carrot cake isn’t tempting, but knowing all the horrors that diabetes can bring, it’s just not worth the short-term pleasure of eating it!
So I’m happy to say that I am now another 20 or so pounds lighter in less than 3 months and my glucose levels are normal, so much so I’ve not gone to the docs as I said I would as everything is under control. (Don’t scold!) I’ve a way to go yet, but I WILL get there! I have already dropped out of the “obese” category for the first time in probably about 30 years! (I could never be accused of being a yo-yo dieter, my weight just snuck up on me over the years. But it’s well on its way now, for sure!)
Forgot to mention that I’m more active too. As my weight drops everything is easier to do. A brisk walk the mile or so up and down hill to town is a dawdle and the eliptical is no longer gathering dust!
Happy days, as they say!! My mum would be proud of me. That makes me smile. My husband IS proud of me. That makes me smile too! I’d be prouder of me if I hadn’t got in this state in the first place! But, I can’t change the past – only the present and hopefully the future!
So folks, if you haven’t already – check your blood glucose levels, even if you feel fine. I think some of the chemists do tests for free. And check out Dr Fuhrman’s site – it could save your life!
