My diagnosis: Prediabetic
How to get out of pre-diabetes
HEALTH
In 2020, a few months after the CDC declared the pandemic, they began terming staff at my job. It was managing the pandemic and job uncertainty and having the children and husband at home.
In October 2020, I returned to my office with somewhat stressful security measures of maintaining social distancing, wearing a mask in common areas, wearing gloves, and cleaning surfaces such as printers and microwaves. I felt happy to be able to work a few days away from home, but at the same time, I enjoyed that I could have eggs for breakfast at home and eat better quality food.
It's time for my annual wellness checkup, so I made an appointment. My biggest surprise was that a week after my appointment, I received a call from my doctor, who told me that my A1C glucose test showed prediabetes levels. A memory from my childhood immediately came to my mind, seeing my mother crying when a relative called her to tell her that her mother had passed away. My grandmother died at 57 years old. I can barely remember her face; however, I had never forgotten my mom's face and crying when she received that call. I started learning about Prediabetes by following doctors and nutritionists on YouTube.
First, I incorporated short 15-minute walks two to three times a day. I also swam in the summer. I started cutting back on carbs and completely cutting out sugar. I was beginning the change to recover my health. Almost twelve months after the diagnosis, I started two or three Yoga sessions as a practice, and I felt better.
However, at my 2021 annual checkup, the A1C index percentage had only slightly dropped, and I was still in Prediabetes. I felt frustrated, to the point of almost asking the doctor to prescribe me medication. It was not until November 2022 that I witnessed a niece losing more than 25 Kilograms in 8 months. She told me that she did not use medicines or injections, that they did not eliminate food, that she had lost weight by eating rich, healthy meals, and had not gone hungry. I decided to start the RetoFit21 Challenge with the support of my husband, who told me that if it lasted only 21 days, they would indeed use neurolinguistic programming techniques.
I am writing to you today because after finishing the challenge, I went to have my A1C blood test done, and to my great happiness, I was out of the prediabetes range and not even close to the limit!
My lessons learned have been many:
- Stress affects our body, thoughts, and decisions and can cause severe or chronic diseases.
- I learned that breathing and meditation were one of the many tools that I could do even during lunch hours in my office or in times of stress or work pressure.
- I learned that sugar is in almost all processed foods, even called "light." I started noticing that eating something with sugar made me more hungry, and I had anxiety attacks. I even felt fear and even panic at negative thoughts. Eliminating sugar was a big decision, and starting to eat unprocessed foods was a blessing. I stopped feeling hungry and started feeling so energetic that I no longer use the alarm clock.
- I learned that many diseases, including prediabetes and cancer, can be reversed when your heart and mind commit to feeling healthy, happy, and active. It was clear that I did not want to become a burden to my husband and children, and I dreamed of seeing my children grow up.
- Changing habits and maintaining them requires commitment on my part, and it has to be something that does not cause pain, anger, or feel that you have to suffer. It has to be a process you like that makes you feel happy and more agile.
- The commonly indicated laboratory test is glycosylated hemoglobin A1C if this index is between 5.7 and 6.4.
Finally, in this learning path, I understood that prediabetes is the door to diabetes and that I may have a genetic condition to develop this disease. However, only changing certain habits and behaviors in my lifestyle will help me live longer and better.
My best advice for you, who read my story, is that you can change habits. If you do it with the best attitude, loving and accepting yourself, eating rich and more food from the land or the sea, exercising daily, and smiling more, you will avoid being told: you are prediabetic!
Rosy Viaje