A week or so ago, I learned I was pre-diabetic. I'm on the bottom cusp between pre-diabetic and diabetic, which isn't bad. Nevertheless, I am alarmed. Type 2 Diabetes runs in my family. If I don't make changes now, my life could get uncomfortable.
My doctor recommended reading The Diabetes Code by Dr. Jason Fung. His concept is that Type 2 Diabetes is a dietary disease; therefore, the only way to cure it is to change your diet. How do you change the diet? I'm only 20% through the book, but the main idea it to eat less sugar, including the sugars in bread, white rice, potatoes and dried corn. He also believes in intermittent fasting, which I have yet to try.
Yesterday, I went to Mod Pizza and got the cauliflower crust, which tastes better then it sounds. I was so proud of myself, until the staff asked if I was a Mod member.
"If you download the app, you get a free cupcake," she said.
Right. Cupcakes. Sugar and flour and free? I broke down and got the cupcake.
It was delicious because it was a cupcake, but I was slightly disappointed in myself that I didn't say no. I want to have strong will power and discipline. My friend T went on a green juice cleanse for ten days and she never felt better in her entire life. She was alert and energetic.
"So why didn't I stick with it?" she asked.
"I have no idea," I replied. "But that is a great question."
This morning, I read more of The Diabetes Code, the chapter on all of the bad things that will happen to your entire body if you don't take care of it. Everything will fall apart and you will go blind, have a heart attack, get Alzheimer's, lose feeling in your limbs, get infections, and possibly have amputations. You will never have sex again because those parts won't work, but also because who wants to have sex with a blind, demented, numb, infected amputee?
Tonight I went to dinner with a friend. We went to a neighborhood French restaurant which brings the best, most delicious baguette and butter to the table before dinner. I watch my friend butter her bread and eat it all.
And I had none.
Not a bite, not a crumb.
None.
Now I know how alcoholics feel watching other people drink, enjoying a glass of wine or cocktail in moderation. I know that bread is good and awesome, but I want to feel better long-term. So no bread for me. I left the red potatoes on the side of my dinner plate. I only ate a few bites, and snuck three small bites of cake for dessert.
A few weeks ago, I read The Abascal Way about how to decrease inflammation. Many of the suggestions are the same as in The Diabetes Code: avoid flour, sugar, rice, and red meat, and see how you feel. While the author is pretty strict about diet, she concedes on alcohol. To paraphrase, "You've gotta live."
You've gotta live.
I need to decide what that is going to look like. Do I want to be infected and blind and whatever from diabetes in ten years? Not at all. Before, I'd eat all the bread and all the dessert and all of the potatoes and rice. Now I see these foods differently.
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