As we come to the end of Diabetes Awareness Month, we wanted to share an account of one man’s Fit After Fifty change journey…
(Out of respect, the people in the story will remain anonymous.)
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Fighting Diabetes Wasn’t Exactly a Surprise…
A sedentary lifestyle and a love for large quantities of pasta and Italian pastries were already a recipe for Type 2 Diabetes in my husband’s future. But adding several generations of diabetics to the mix made it almost inevitable that my husband would develop diabetes.
I never quite understood how knowing his family medical history did not make him more concerned about his health or his weight. As I watched him staring at the blood sugar monitor and the prescription for Metformin in his hands with a look of horror on his face, I knew he was ready to finally take action in fighting diabetes.
Several nights in a row, I woke up around two o’clock to find him on the internet, studying everything he could find about his disease. Three days later, he announced that we were buying a treadmill.
After considerable research, we found a treadmill that would support his weight and had the other features we felt would help him. Two days after that, the treadmill arrived. The next day, he started walking fighting diabetes, and never stopped.
He was very disciplined about taking his medication, and staying in close contact with his doctor. But even more than that, he got up every single day at 4 am and walked for half an hour, working his way up from 2 mph at a 1% incline, to 4 mph at a 10% incline.
Needless to say, he also gave up white flour, potatoes, Italian bread, pasta and white rice. Our whole family was forced into his new regimen, since he does most of the cooking. He adapted favorite recipes to reduce the glycemic index, and finally embraced quinoa and other grains that I had been encouraging him to try for years.
Six months later, he had lost 70 pounds and had two tests showing his A1C levels to be at around 4%, a normal result for non-diabetics. His doctor canceled his Metformin prescription.
Now it is about two years later, and he has kept off that 70 pounds and is still walking on that treadmill four days a week for about an hour fighting diabetes. He is still eating sensibly. He is still not on any medication, and his blood sugar levels are normal.
