Diabetes and Your Future

“What you are is what you have been. Who you will be is what you do now.” Buddha

What I am is the result of what I did yesteryear. What I will be tomorrow is what I do today. Raised in a family of the working poor, I am thankful that I don’t recall a day that I was hungry and had nothing to eat. My parents were employed during practically all my developmental years. My older sister and I took my three younger brothers to the day nursery, then walked to school. we lived in public housing called the Projects.

I was taught to eat what was put on my plate and to eat all of it. My favorite foods included potatoes, sweet potatoes, greens, green beans, pork chops, hog jowls, pigtails, pig snouts, chitterlings, pig feet, pig knuckles, bacon, chuck roast, rice pudding, all types of cakes and pies. One of my favorite snacks as a youngster was white bread with margarine, sprinkled with sugar.  I continued eating these foods when I became an adult because I enjoyed them.

I was average size until I entered my forties. Suddenly I couldn’t control weight gain. I developed diabetes in my forties and was prescribed medication by mouth. My diabetes progressed in successive years to the point that I needed insulin in addition to pills. Move forward twenty years and I developed diseases that are common among older people. I was diagnosed with hypertension, irregular heartbeats,  inflamed blood vessels in my eyes, loss of feeling in my lower legs and feet, and shortness of breath (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-COPD).

I tried to eat healthier by following the recommended diets published by the National Heart Foundation.  I continued to gain weight, however, and was prescribed larger doses of insulin. I was told by medical doctors that my diabetes was chronic and I would be taking insulin for the rest of my life. No matter how hard I tried to lose weight, each year I gained more weight. I felt like a failure because my health continued to get worse and I was helpless to control it.

One day I saw an interview with a former athlete talking about weight loss. He was treated medically for obesity by Dr. Fung but abandoned the program because he could not tolerate the strictness of the program. I googled Dr. Fung and read about his weight reduction program. The program suited me perfectly. I purchased and read his book and began using the weight loss program. I immediately lost twenty-five pounds and gained control of my blood sugar levels. I am still 25 pounds lighter after six months following the program. My A1C (average 90-day blood sugar levels) decreased from 11 to 5.9, pre-diabetes level. I no longer have irregular heartbeats, inflammation of eye vesicles have decreased, and I have improved sensitivity in my legs and feet. The symptoms of diabetes have reversed.

I am sharing my medical history because I want the world to know that we can take control of our health and improve it by what we do today. I have a few pains though I am in my seventies. I have abundant energy to do whatever I desire for a person my age. My wife and I enjoy outside activities including church attendance, shopping, vacations, and walking in our neighborhood (All curtailed because of the Coronavirus).

I thank God for good health – for leading me to discover solutions to health problems. It was God who gave me a desire to seek better health, to see the TV interview about weight loss, to become intrigued with the possibility of healing of diabetes, and to pursue the weight loss and blood sugar control program.

You can win your battle with diabetes, increase your general health, and live a longer life. Check out Dr. Fung’s book, The Diabetes Code, and fashion his program in a manner that you can live with for the rest of your life. I could not sustain his rigorous program of fasting as written. I designed a fasting schedule that suited me while following his menus.

During this time of the Coronavirus, Black people are especially vulnerable due to health complications like diabetes, obesity, heart disease, hypertension, etc.

Let’s take control over that which we can control. Let’s get healthier by changing our diets, increase exercise, and do what we can to reduce stress. I am what I am medical because of what I did yesterday. I will have improved health tomorrow because of what I do today to conquer diabetes. It is possible to maintain normal blood sugar levels consistently, but it requires making informed decisions and discipline to follow through every day. Our bodies have a natural ability to heal themselves under the right conditions. Eating healthy food, exercising, resting, and reducing stress provide ideal conditions for our bodies to heal themselves. More about this at another time.