Thankful Thursday

Gracie girl giving a nosekiss to her idol and big brother Ping.

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The kitties said it was OK for Mom to take over the blog for a posting today. I have to do a very "thankful" posting. Nearly two years ago, my health was spiraling out of control. I did not want to accept that; and in fact I simply buried my head deeper into the sand. I kept noticing things that weren't right but I refused to do anything about it. Each visit to the Doctor only brought more bad news. What I couldn't accept was that I was doing it all to myself. I was pure and simply eating myself into an early grave. It took a diagnosis of Diabetes in July of 2007 to truly wake me up, rattle my spirit and make me embark on a new journey. That is the road I am on: a new journey. By being forced to monitor my own blood sugar levels I was able to see what high calorie, high fat food was doing to my body. In addition to the pounds it had added, it was doing horrible things to my insulin levels, my cholosterol level, and my blood pressure levels. I researched a meal plan to put myself on and found that what the ADA (American Diabetes Association) recommended was a low carb plan. Strangely enough it was very similiar to the plan I had had when a former Weight Watcher member during my teenage years (when I lost 65 pounds). I knew I could adhere to the plan because I had done it before. But what was so different was that this time I wasn't simply trying to lose weight I was fighting to regain my health back. Weight is one thing you can rush. It doesn't all of a sudden appear, and it won't all of a sudden disappear. This time I realize that I am in this for the rest of my life. Every other time I had stepped up to the plate to shed unwanted pounds I have always slid back into the old eating habits because I did not realize how toxic food was to the body. Oh yes, you read and hear about these things in the media, but until you are holding a blood sugar monitor with the immediate results of what a meal will do to you, well let me just say it's life changing. My vision has been changed forever.

In August when I first saw the Endocronologist he offered me two options, one was drug therapy the other was diet and exercise. Like so many of his patients I told him I would beat this back with diet and exercise. I could tell from his reaction (and I am sure from his perspective looking at me his expectations were low) that he thought I was full of beans. Well three months later when I saw him I had lost 31 pounds and I had dropped all of my numbers into the normal range. He didn't want to see me again until April, and I saw him this week. Well my weight loss is now at 66 pounds and my blood sugar level is 80 with an A1C of 5.1. Let me tell you what he said to me. He said he wished all of his patients were like me. I told him that I wanted to thank him for helping me gain my health back and that he had really blessed me and I was eternally grateful. Everyone in the Doctor's office was thrilled with my results, even the receptionist said Oh he doesn't want to see you for another year?! Like wow that's not the norm around here. In fact, the one thing he did tell me was that essentially now I am NOT a diabetic. But, I also realize that it is something which could so easily reoccur if I began eating in my old patterns.

I have a new relationship with food. I have always struggled with food, I just love it. Well it loves me back too, but this time I have fallen in love with the foods that truly do love my body. My track record for the past few decades belie what my actions once were. I believe in my reformation of being a former foodie. I feel good. I can't believe how much different I feel, in fact I feel 20 years younger.

Forgive my diatribe today. I just wanted to express my deep gratitude for being given the opportunity to turn myself around. I am on a journey, a new journey. One that is not just a physical transformation, it's a spiritual one as well. I feel like I am undergoing a cleansing. It starts on the outside but it's going all the way through to the inside. So my gratefulness is for the chance to begin again.