GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…TYPE 2 DIABETES #14: Just MOVING Helps…

For the first time since I started this blog eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me!

I remember a really, really old joke that as a kid, I used without thinking: “Yo mama's so fat, when she sits around the house, she SITS AROUND the house!”

The phrase and ones like it have a fascinating history – I’m a word-geek, so I liked this.
Anyway, it got me to thinking about the weight I’ve gained since I was a teenager. At my physically mature adult, the LIGHTEST I’ve ever been was when I returned from West Africa. Admittedly, I’d had malaria at one point, and the number of snacks and cookies and candy bars and popcorn and…well all the rest – was severely limited by, um…NOT EVEN BEING THERE. When I returned, I weighed in at 150 pounds.

At the beginning of the Summer of 2023, I almost crushed the scale at 260 pounds. I was, quite literally approaching "laying AROUND" the house!

Today, I weigh 244.2 pounds.

How did I do it? Did I drink Kombucha Fermented Tea Drink? I DID drink a 16-ounce bottle last week in two glugs. But, no. I’d lost the weight before then.

Did I join Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Livea, Noom, Optavia, Mediterranean Diet, Atkins, Whole30, New Mayo Clinic Diet, GOLO Diet, My Fitness Pal, LoseIt!, FatSecret, Fooducate, Strides, PlateJoy, Fitbit, Cronometer?

Nope. I HAVE done Weight Watchers and use their meal tracker right now; I was part of a Nutrisystem study designed to entice men into the program; I use several Atkins products (most notably their bars; and that’s about it. I started using Strava two years ago – I love biking, and for free, it tracks my route, how many miles I’ve ridden and how much time I’ve spent on my bike each week, for the past year, and total back to when I started biking. (My longest ride was 14 miles. My current average weekly mileage is 24 miles; my average number of rides/week is five. Since early spring (March 27), I’ve gone out riding 76 times, for a total of 47 hours and 27 minutes; and I’ve gone 398 miles!

All of the above is NOT to toot any horn I might have. My intent is to encourage you to move in the way you love most: walk, swim, bike, dance, yoga, ANYTHING THAT GETS YOU MOVING. Then figure out what a good pace is for you. For the first year, I rode every other day, once around the Lake (4.09 miles).

Later, that got boring, so I discovered four rides that were LONGER than four miles – 7.65 (Old Farm); 9.04 (Golf Course); 5.14 (Library) and 8.66 miles (River). I’d ride the Lake one day; skip a day, then one of the other four. Skip a day, a different one of the other four. This Spring, I found THAT was boring – this past summer, I rode the Lake, the next day I rode one of the Four; skipped a day, then did Lake, different one of the Four. I’m doing around 20 miles a week!

It's made a difference in my A1c as well: January 23 = 7.6; April 23 = 7.1; June 23 = 6.7…

So, my secret is to find something that gets you moving AND you love. Add together, repeat.

I don’t offer a Money-Back-Guarantee; but I CAN offer hope. I don’t offer a Program, but I’m offering a suggestion and the possibility that you CAN do it yourself! (Oh, BTW, my wife and I occasionally have a Dairy Queen treat! Based on my Weight Watcher tracker, ONE medium Peanut Buster Parfait hits me with 38 points! That’s ALL of my daily Points!

But, what-the-heck. Once or twice a month? I’m not beating myself up. I’m Human. And I’M slowly gaining control over my Type 2 diabetes. Wanna join me?

Source: https://www.forbes.com/health/body/best-weight-loss-program/; https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/best-weight-loss-apps; https://www.strava.com/get-started?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=RSR_B_SR_AllUser_US&utm_term=strava%20app%20running&utm_content=Brand_Running&gclid=CjwKCAjwjOunBhB4EiwA94JWsF16_TZQzNj_PLwpzbtVxjn9_zc1CioOgsDmIhxUoMm6eXyQoNjI0BoCHv4QAvD_BwE (Stick with the Free stuff. That’s all you really need – or go crazy! There’s plenty of crazy stuff there to pay for!)
Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg

DIABETES RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #9: “RADICAL” New Approach?????

From the first moment I discovered I had been diagnosed with DIABETES, I joined a HUGE “club” that has been rapidly expanding since it stopped being a death sentence in the early 20th Century. Currently, there are about HALF A BILLION PEOPLE who have Type 2 Diabetes. For the past 3500 years – dating back to Ancient Egypt – people have suffered from diabetes. Well, I’m one of them now… Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Diabetes research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: “Radical New Approach to Managing Type 2 Diabetes Receives $3.5 Million”

OK, in today’s pop-a-pill-get-a-shot world, this study IS radical! In the real world, this strikes me as eminently a smart move smart people would take. But when it comes to Diabetes, how many of US are smart?

Think about it, I KNOW A Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Parfait® is NOT good for me; I know it will have a negative impact on my blood sugars the following morning. It’s not good for Olympic athletes, either. It’s not even particularly good for your average teenager But, does that matter?

Nah! I go ahead and get one anyway and hope my Type 2 Diabetes won’t notice it. Which is, for me, RIDICULOUS! I have a BS in Biology, I was a science teacher for 41 years, I also have an MS in School Counseling. I ain’t stoopid! But I AM when it comes to my Type 2 diagnosis.

Reading the first article explains not some kind of RADICAL new program. It outlines what I SHOULD have been doing all along. Possibly what we ALL should be doing anyway in today’s Fast-Food Nation: eating right. Simply put, this “radical new program” just received a $3.5 million dollar grant to do a large STUDY of “Glucose Everyday Matters, or GEM – aims to prevent blood sugar spikes via educated food and drink selection. This is coupled with physical activity to hasten recovery when blood-sugar spikes do occur. So someone might indulge in a piece of fruit or a small, sweet treat, knowing how it will affect them, and then go for an evening stroll to help even out their blood sugar.”

We all know how to eat right and of course exercise. I can do it myself. People all over the world eat right and exercise. Those people have normal blood glucose levels. They don’t need to take Metformin or Glipizide, Insulin, Ozempic, or any of the other drugs that are being coopted by obese people who want an way to get thin AND keep eating at MacDonald’s for four-square meals a day (“But I get a diet Coke with my double Big Mac Attack Burger!”) [PS – I AM an Obese People who wants a way to get thin and keep eating…].

BUT all that advertising is so…motivational! Even the weight loss clinics, and the fad diet foods (I KNOW of what I speak! I use Atkins food products; so if I sound disparaging, I’m SELF-disparaging!) It makes is sound easy.

When we try them, we discover much to our horror that they DON’T WORK. The way to lower my glucose levels and my A1c is by eating right and exercising.

That’s what this RADICAL program is supposed to test: to see if “GEM [Glycemic Excursion Minimization] was self-administered, [and] with the aid of a 4-chapter pocket guide…diary, automated motivational text messaging, and feedback from an activity monitor, as well as a Constant Glucose Monitor [CGM](an in-arm needle/sensor device that is read by the participant’s cell phone at any time), supplies for the 6-week intervention and the 3-month follow-up. Test subjects were instructed in the use of all technology.”

Anyone who is NOT in the program can ALSO do this. In fact…well, I have some opinions about the $3.5 Million that this program was granted to experiment with…I will try very, very hard not to judge. But this is something that I have managed to do myself. I DO take Metformin twice daily and finger prick to take my blood glucose levels. My wife and I encourage each other…and a simple English translation of “Glycemic Minimization Excursion” might be “how quickly foods affect blood sugar” + “the reduction of something you don’t want” + “a short journey or trip”…so this GEM program might more simply be named: “a trip to get rid of bad foods that hike your blood sugar”.

I’m pretty sure that anyone can do this – without a cash incentive, along with a little help from our friends/spouses/family members (we DO have to ask) and a bit of effort to reduce the number of those Dairy Queen Peanut Buster Parfait®s from three a week to only one a week…and if THAT AIN'T a Radical New Approach, I don't know what is!

Links: https://newsroom.uvahealth.com/2023/08/31/radical-new-approach-to-managing-type-2-diabetes-receives-3-5-million/, (The ACTUAL study with data, charts, and methodology) https://diabetes.jmir.org/2022/1/e34465
Image: https://asploro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Diabetes-Research_Open-Access.jpg