I’m not going to be talking about how “DISCOVERIES IN TREATING TYPING 2 DIABTETES ARE GOING TO ROCK YOUR WORLD!!!!”
I’m talking about changes I can make in myself that can alter my Type 2 Diabetes. While not one of them is something you haven’t heard of or thought of at one time or another, they ALL bear repeating, because I get tired trying to remember all of the “the tricks” I need to play on myself to convince me that my blood sugars ARE NORMAL. They are NOT NORMAL! (NOTE: I avoided saying that somehow I’m “Not normal”, while realistically, “Type 2 diabetes affects approximately 10% to 11% of the total U.S. population, as type 2 diabetes makes up 90% to 95% of all total diabetes cases.” (https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/about/about-type-2-diabetes.html).
So STATISTICALLY, I AM NOT NORMAL. I need to make MORE of an effort to drag my rotten habits back into what would be considered “normal” – in other words: not taking several medications to keep my blood pressure and blood sugars in what my doctor considers "normal” – though less NORMAL than HEALTHY…for me. I’ve known my doctor for several years and we have a good relationship…firstly because, as a science teacher, I spent over fifty years being indoctrinated into recording DATA and reporting it AND using it to prove or refute whatever it was I was testing. I have sheets where I not ONLY record my BP and sugars – but what TIME, where, how, as well as averaging three blood pressures instead of just writing down one, and doing it every day. I hand the sheets to him every visit. Being a one-time-“biology major” before he ever became a doctor; and me being the same before I became a science teacher – I know what’s significant.
Now, does that mean I’m doing everything RIGHT?
Duh. No. It does NOT. It means I can not only report on my behaviors and trends; but I can actually UNDERSTAND what I’m doing wrong. While this isn’t a “silver bullet” I can out in the head/heart of the figurative “vampire of Type 2 diabetes”, I CAN monitor myself and he can make suggestions – while pointing to the evidence that my behaviors affect my health! So, I HAVE lost weight since I started keeping daily records. When I started, I weighed in at a hefty 253 lbs…today (literally this morning), I weighed in at 220.0 lbs.
It’s NOT magic – it’s AWARENESS. The data was clear: I had to become more active…which is, I’m sad to say, a continual push and pull. For example, my phone-steps-exercise application (STRAVA) now that I’ve learned to take it with me and turn it on and off -- tells me in painstaking detail how many steps I take or miles I bike; and annoyingly when I DON’T do anything.
I try to limit how often I get a DQ each week…lately, it’s been about once every two or three weeks. Then I DO make sure to bike the next day – I know it’s more like shutting the barn door after the horses have gotten. Don’t mistake me doing this as me ENJOYING EXCERCISING AND DIETING! It’s not.
It comes down to this simple desire: I want to see all four of my grandchildren walk down the aisle if they choose to get married. My chances are SMALLER if I do whatever I want with my weight and my health…so I watch my eating and I exercise. And you know what, KNOWING that I’m doing SOMETHING to see those future weddings...which are approaching possibility faster and faster every day! My oldest grandkid is now 16; (and driving…but that’s an entirely different fear!), next it 14; third is 7; youngest is just over a year.
Source: Personal Reflection
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