In late September 2011 the nurse at my doctor’s office called saying that the results of my blood work from my annual physical were in and the doctor wanted to see me. The next morning I was sitting in my doctor’s office.
The conversation went something like this: Me: “Hi”. My doctor: “Hi, how are you?” Me: “I don’t know. You summoned me!” He then went on to say that my numbers for weight and cholesterol were trending in the wrong direction. Added to this was the fact that I was quickly approaching being pre-diabetic.
What immediately registered in my mind was the word “diabetic”. So after pushing away the mental image of a needle going in to my arm, I stared at my doctor. The conversation continued: My doctor: “Here’s what I want you do to. Give up pasta, bread, potatoes and rice until February and since you like milk so much take it down to drinking skim milk (I was drinking 1%). Also, get moving … exercise; lose weight and then go for blood work again in mid-February; here’s the lab slip.” Me: “Thanks. Can I have cheese?” Yes, I said that; I was shocked … how did I let my health get away from me? BTW ... if you're wondering what my doctor's response was to the question about cheese, he said “yes” and then got up and walked out of the room.
So what did I do next? Drove to our local health food store and immediately became overwhelmed. Almost as quickly as I walked in, I walked out.
Over the next month I became best friends with Google. What ‘s a good substitute for pasta; for bread and lets not forget about those French fries I love so much! And I started to exercise … working my way up to walking our dog, an 8-year old honey brown colored lab named Ellie (who also needed to lose weight so I was in good company) at least 2 miles per day 5 out 7 days each week. And when I could get a Jazzercise class in I would do that too. Oh yeah, I also signed up to learn how to run.
Fast forward to mid-November. Did I start losing weight? Was I feeling better? You would think I would right? NOT! My health actually took a turn for the worse with lower back pain that radiated down my right leg and out through the sole of my right foot. By Thanksgiving I wasn’t walking Ellie any more, forget Jazzercise and learning how to run became a distant memory.
I’ll stop here since this is where my health flat-lined. In my next blog, I’ll share what steps I took to dramatically turn things around … steps that you too can take which are manageable and measurable by something other than a scale! For now though, it’s time for that action I’d like you to take … don’t put off taking care of yourself any longer! And you decide the benefit for you … is it more energy? Is it getting the carb cravings under control? Perhaps it’s being able play with your children without becoming tired in the first 5 minutes (or maybe it’s playing with your significant other <smile>)!
Last but not least, I’ll sign off with something my dear friend Rosie Bank (who is also a Certified Nutrition and Wellness Consultants and who I’ll introduce you to in my next blog) says, “To your radiant good health!!”
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