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Did A Diabetes Diagnosis SAVE Our Lives?
A DiabetesTeam Member asked a question 💭

As soon as I left home my (diet) start deteriorating.

Fast Food, high carb, sugar sweetened, and I couldn’t even spell calories much less count them.

I ate when/what I wanted, no breakfast, crap for lunch, and overate at supper.

Evenings were time for “wolfing the real crap”.

I got married and started a family and started eating meals in a more structured fashion but I also worked shift work so many “meals” were a couple of donuts, a bag of chips and lots of Coke.

Hey, I was young, fit… read more

posted February 19, 2022
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A DiabetesTeam Member

Yes, very little red meat. Mostly fish, turkey, chicken, greens, vegetables, and nuts. Eggs and vegetarian bacon a few times a week. No potatoes, rice, white bread, chips, or sweets.

posted February 19, 2022
A DiabetesTeam Member

@A DiabetesTeam Member the Mediterranean is the absolute top rated diet for blood sugar control AND overall health.

I wish it had been closer to how/what I like to eat so that I could have leaned that way.

But when I considered all my options I quickly saw that the LCHF (low carb/high fat) diet, albeit a little harder on the cardiovascular system, was the one I would be "most likely to stick with" without feeling the need to cheat on it or be dis-satisfied, so went that route.

But if you like it that is the entire battle and it should serve you well.

posted February 19, 2022 (edited)
A DiabetesTeam Member

Yes, being on a modified Mediterranean diet has increased my stamina, kept my weight in check and also kept my BS in check.

posted February 19, 2022
A DiabetesTeam Member

Very little red meat and Veggie (not real) bacon are two "no go's" for me 🤣

But I am also fully aware that my LCHF Diet, while excellent for blood control is also known to cause an average loss of 4 years of life expectancy.

I did consider that carefully and decided I would rather die choking on a pound of well cooked bacon (zero carbs) then having to live for those 4 extra years eating Kale and washing it down with a veggie smoothie. 😀

And while that is meant to produce a smile it really is not far from the actual truth and it's all something we have to recon with ourselves as Type 2's.

All the choices we make can have great effect on both our life expectancy and our level of function in the years in between.

The days are gone where "we can get away" with making a few bad decisions and not having a specific consequence tied to them.

A low carb Mediterranean Diet will add a few years to your life expectancy.

Just about every other low carb diet will shave 4 years off of it.

But if you don't stick to "whatever you choose" then you are back into the 10 to 20 years "less" life expectancy.

That is the price of "falling off the wagon" and every time you have had to say "I will get back on track" that has taken some amount of time from your remaining days.

Every action that effects our diabetes control negatively "has a consequence".

So we usually are faced with a whole slew of less than ideal choices.

I could "force myself to eat Mediterranean" and am sure I have the (drive/dedication) to do so, but I would be miserable.

So "for me" I'm willing to give up 4 years in order to better enjoy the 20 years I might have left.

But I am not willing to give up say an extra 10 years of life and 10 years of good function to eat pizza and tacos during March Madness or wolf down cake, pastry and cookies during those periods like Christmas and Thanksgiving just because "everyone else is" and I would feel left out.

For me that is a "price to high".

But for some, maybe that would be considered a worthwhile trade off....

posted February 19, 2022 (edited)
A DiabetesTeam Member

Hey yes ironically when I put in all my weight was dealing with a mother with type 3 diabetes only with Heart failure on her third pacemaker and neuropathy. Well at least she kept her toes unlike her dad but she has so many complications it terrified me. By the time I got to my endo they diagnosed me with metabolic syndrome to include diabetes.My AC was only 6.8 but that is over the line. I have lost 63 pounds in last year and a half. I do worry about how much damage have done eating this sad diet. I do have one complication. I have something called recurrent per-orbital cellulitis
And with dry eye sumdrome..So if your family members have complications you need to be more vigilant to avoid complications. I plan to do it all to battle the breast on every level....I use a strict diet of 100 carbs daily, along with six days of exercise for 45 minutes of walking and two days of 25 minute tonnimg.
I also take Jardiance 25 mg and metform 1000 mg in one pill daily.
My attitude is keep an intergrated with a tight diet and 6 days of exercise and my medicine all focused to keep my AlC 6 or under.
I do not care of part of my plan has medication as tool in combined efforts to reduce or prevent more complications. I do want to loose my mental cognition along with heart function and neuropathy due to diabetes. I think my goal is to use very tool I have in my tool box and I consider medicine s tool as part of battle. I have no shame about my goal.

I see my goal is definitely more specific because after you start down compli ctions road you a broad and far reaching plan to best up the beast..So for some of us this choice of meds or no meds is not as pressing as living to prevent complications that is real pressing issue in my opinion.
Colleen L

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posted February 19, 2022

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