Obesity is Such a Thief

I'm leaving shortly for Chicago to bury yet another relative who died too early from the complications of diabetes and obesity. This morning I'm upset - really upset - at what obesity steals from so many people.

The relative who passed away was one of my mom's first cousins. She was 73 years old and actually passed away over a week ago, but they held her body and waited until today for the visitation (the funeral is tomorrow) because her son and his wife were expecting their first baby, her first grandchild. The plan was to induce his wife last week so he could be with her for the birth of their baby before he left and traveled to Illinois to bury his mom. His mom had very much looked forward to the birth of her first grandchild, but she didn't make it.

She had been overweight and diabetic for years, has been legally blind due to diabetic complications for a long time and spent the last several years of her life on dialysis. Her older sister is obese, diabetic and now on kidney dialysis three days a week.

My mom has another first cousin whom we'll see today who is in his 60's and who lost a leg due to diabetic complications a couple of years ago and has been fighting to keep his other leg.

My mom's brother lost a leg due to diabetic complications 6 years before he passed away 18 months ago. One of my great-grandmothers also lost a leg due to diabetic complications.

Almost all of my mom's first cousins are now diabetic. Everyone assumes this is the "family curse," but nobody seems to understand that the REAL family curse is obesity, and it's the obesity that enables the genetic predisposition for diabetes to ravage my relatives.

My 80 year old mom has been diabetic for over 23 years and on insulin for 9 years; she has lost part of her vision and has diminished kidney function due to complications from the disease.

That's a snapshot of my mom's side of the family. My dad's mom, my grandmother, died after falling into a diabetic coma, so the devastating consequences of diabetes have hit hard for me on both sides of the family.

This is why I was devastated when, at 268 pounds, I was also diagnosed with diabetes, and why I am so passionate about Take Shape for Life/Medifast. I not only lost 126 pounds and am maintaining my weight loss, but I REVERSED my diabetes!!! This program not only gave me my life back, but praise God, I believe it has saved and extended my life!

When I'm tempted to throw caution to the wind and go back to my old way of eating (and yes, I AM tempted to do that sometimes . . . ), all I have to do is think about my relatives. I think about those who are legally blind, who have lost a limb, or who are on dialysis. I think about those whose lives have been cut short, of those who have a very poor quality of life, and do you know what? I RUN to my Medifast packets, so thankful for these wonderful little meals that help me to keep my weight down and help to keep my blood sugar normal.

All of my diabetic relatives spent decades as overweight and obese adults before diabetes finally hit, then spent years as overweight and obese diabetics before the complications came. Had they been able to bring their weight down to a healthy BMI, I can't help but wonder how many of them would never have become diabetic at all.

I mentioned my mom and talked about the complications she's experienced due to her diabetes. The amazing thing is that after losing over 40 pounds this past year on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, her diabetes is now so well controlled that she seldom needs any insulin during the day and her HbA1c is terrific. She can't reverse the damage diabetes has already done, but keeping it so well controlled means diabetes is not continuing to wreak havoc on her body. I can only wonder if she could have avoided diabetes and her own complications if she'd lost weight and changed her eating habits years ago.

The problem with the health complications of obesity, including diabetes, is that they take years to develop, and they are often silently doing major damage before we're even aware of them. Because obesity is a silent killer, it can be easy to put off losing weight and making healthy choices for "just one more day," choosing immediate gratification over long-term health benefits. We don't think about it that way, but boiled down, that's the choice we're making.

You've heard it before, but it bears repeating again: this is NOT a diet; this is a program designed to help people get healthy. For most everyone here, the first step in getting healthy is getting to a healthy weight, but that's just the first step, not the end. Learning healthy habits and committing to incorporating them into our lives means we will live longer and healthier, with a lot more quality to our lives.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend years of my life obese, sick, and tethered to a dialysis machine. Choosing healthy choices that enable me to stay at a healthy weight seems like a small sacrifice, if it can even be called a sacrifice. I am committed to NOT dying from an obesity-related disease, and I am committed to not having the quality of my life compromised by obesity. I can't think of anything I could eat that would be worth a shortened, compromised life.

Your healthy future begins, or continues, today, as you commit to staying on plan today. Are you committed to an on-plan day today?