Choosing a Healthy Tomorrow

Last night my brother and his family, who are still visiting from Chicago, came over for dinner, along with my parents.  Before they left, my mom checked her blood sugar level, as she's been diabetic for over 24 years (she's 81-1/2).   Her diabetes is now well-managed and she rarely takes insulin during the day after losing 40 pounds on Take Shape for Life/Medifast (she used to take 4-7 units after every meal) and she continues to eat small meals throughout the day.  However, she still checks her sugar levels before meals and before she goes to bed and usually takes an injection of long-acting insulin at bedtime.

As Mom checked her blood sugar, she commented that she's so tired of diabetes, so tired of checking her blood sugar all of the time and having to be so careful.  Mom has experienced complications of diabetes, including partial loss of vision in one eye and diminished kidney function, and she's seen the devastation of diabetes in family members (her brother and one first cousin each lost a leg to diabetes, as did her grandmother, and several cousins have been on dialysis; a number of relatives died prematurely due to diabetes).  She understands the need to be diligent, but she hates it.  She's had numerous instances of her blood sugar getting dangerously low and a couple of times paramedics had to be called, including once when she was unresponsive and having a seizure.  It's scary stuff.

What hit me last night is the reality that no one else in our family has to ever become diabetic.  This disease can end now.  By making healthier choices, by getting to a healthy weight and staying active, by eating six small meals a day, my family has the information they need to never be diabetic.  This family scourge can end, if my family chooses to go a different route. 

I know it can end because I reversed my own diabetes and I've worked with a number of diabetics who have had a remarkable improvement in their blood sugar, reducing or completely getting off medication, including insulin.  I've read the clinical studies done by Johns Hopkins and the National Institute of Health that repeatedly show the positive impact Medifast has on diabetics. 

When I was growing up, it was assumed that at least some of us would eventually become diabetic because it is strong on both sides of my family (my paternal grandmother died at age 68 from complications of diabetes and, as I've already shared, it's rampant on my mom's side).  Our pediatrician told my mom that at least one of her four children would undoubtedly have diabetes because of the strong family history, and both my sister and I were diagnosed with diabetes, my sister in her late 40's and I was 53.  It seemed to be unavoidable, given our genetics, but as it turns out, it IS avoidable and it IS reversible . . . if we're willing to make permanent lifestyle changes.

I'm pretty passionate about this, and I expressed my strong feelings last night about stopping diabetes in our family so that it doesn't impact another generation.  I probably talked too long and spent too much time on my soapbox, but I hope my family members heard my heart:  I don't want anyone else I love to have to deal with this very preventable disease!

Diabetes rates across the country have skyrocketed, right along with obesity rates; the two are inseparable.  Not every overweight person will become diabetic, but the likelihood of developing diabetes increases dramatically as weight increases.  The cost, both in terms of health care dollars and personal suffering, is staggering . . . and we can end it here and now, if we choose.

Even 2-1/2 years after reaching my goal, sometimes I don't feel like making wise choices in what I eat, and sometimes I don't.  However, watching my mom and listening to her last night was a good reminder to me that the choices I make today will have an impact on my health tomorrow.  I've already had a peek at where obesity and poor eating habits will lead me - right back to being diabetic.  I choose to make different choices today because I choose to be healthy tomorrow.

What choices are you making today?  They will impact tomorrow . . . choose wisely :-)