I thought I knew most of what there is to know about diet. After all, I often read articles about diet, nutrition and health in general. But lately, my blood sugar had been creeping up, up, up and during my last physical, the doctor had increased my diabetes meds. Apparently, I didn't know everything. I was ashamed of myself. What was I doing with diabetes? I started having nightmares about amputations, blindness and deafness. This was not what I wanted to deal with in my future.
Desperate, a month or so ago i began researching the link between diabetes and nutrition. I'd read here and there that type 2 diabetes is reversible. If so, I wanted to accomplish this task for myself. My father suffered from type 1 diabetes for over 40 years, often taking two shots a day to control his blood sugar. He wasn't overweight but he wasn't much of an athlete either.
I came across Dr. Joel Fuhrman's website (http://www.drfuhrman.com/default.aspx) and his book, Eat To Live. I was impressed with the amount of information posted on his web site, the stories of his patients who'd reversed their heart disease, asthma, arthritis, lupus and diabetes as well as lost tons of weight. His book looked like a sensible guide to changing your life, so I ordered it. I read Eat To Live in a few days and passed it on to my husband, who'd had a heart attack about 10 years ago. Dennis is in good shape, compared to most people. He's thin and runs marathons but heart disease is in his family, as diabetes is in mine, putting us both at greater risk for these two deadly diseases.
The diet is a radical departure from the normal recommendations. Fuhrman proposes that we need to completely change our way of eating, putting aside all meat and dairy products, all our refined grains and oils. That means no croutons on the two big salads I now eat daily, no cheese on my chili or eggs for breakfast. Yes, I am a vegan or, as he puts it, a nutrarian. That means that I try to eat the foods with with the most nutrients per calorie so my diet now consists of vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts and some whole grains. Instead of Cheerios for breakfast, I eat oatmeal with fresh berries. I've been following the diet for a little over a week and my blood sugar has dropped precipitously - about 40-50 points, on average. I've also lost weight, though I'm unsure how much (because we don't have an accurate scale in the house). I know that my clothes are looser and I have less of a belly (yay!). Though I fall well within the standard norm for weight, according to Fuhrman, I should weigh about 107 pounds. There's a number I haven't seen since college! I'm excited. Next week I go for my A1C test which gauges how well I'm managing my blood sugar. Since I'll have only been following the diet for a few weeks, I won't expect miracles but I am hoping to see a bit of a drop.
I know this whole post sounds like an ad for Dr. Fuhrman, but so far his diet is doing something I hadn't expected - working. I'm suspicious of most diets because they often call for doing without important nutrients. This diet, however, seems to be right on track. Over the next few months I'll learn whether or not it really will change my life by reversing my disease.
