ymoore4health

Today I feel compelled by recent events in my own extended family to write about the demon that is diabetes. As I have expressed several times in this blog, I am a pre-diabetic with a strong family history of diabetes. I was a child at the time but I remember as if it happened yesterday the day my father took me to see his mother who was in the hospital. What I did not know was that my paternal grandmother had suffered gangrene in both her legs from her out of control diabetes. As a result, she had to have a double above the knee amputation! I can still remember vividly seeing her in that hospital bed with nearly half of her body missing. I had never seen or heard of such a thing and it absolutely horrified me!

I knew that my father had diabetes as well because I had watched him give himself insulin. He had the notion that if he took insulin every day, he could eat and drink whatever he wanted. Never was I ever told that sugar was the poison that took my grandmother’s legs, let alone that the same thing could happen to me!

I am not sure when my love affair with food started but as a child I loved two things, books and food. I come from a long line of great soul food cooks. I can remember sitting at my grandmother’s kitchen table eating fried chicken, rice, gravy and biscuits and having to unfasten my skirt so I could eat more. There was a little store right up the street that sold “two for a penny” cookies. I could get 10 cookies for a nickel and eat them all before I got home. By the time I was 14 I tipped the scales at 185 lbs on my small 5’ 5” frame wearing a women’s size 18-20!

It was as I was about to enter high school that I discovered dieting. I found that by skipping breakfast, having a salad and diet soda for lunch, I could still eat a “normal dinner.” Throughout high school, college, med school, residency and for most of my adult life, I was the queen of the yo yo dieters. My motivation was the fear of becoming a size 20 again! You name the diet, I have tried it. I also had a large collection of exercise videos that I used pretty consistently thinking they would help me keep the weight off. The problem was that I still loved to eat and always drifted back to the foods I loved as a child. I have lost and regained the same 20 pounds countless times.

It was not until I was well into my 50’s with persisting hypertension and developing a growing knowledge of how dangerous that could be that I joined a local fitness group for accountability and to get healthy. We were required to do a number of 5K races each year and I started to enjoy them. After doing several of those I took on the challenge of the half marathon distance and started doing them regularly. Ultimately to my own amazement I ended up doing a Half Marathon in every state! The fat kid had morphed into a distance interval runner! Who would have thought such a thing was possible?

Somewhere in the middle of training for and doing all of those half marathons, I found out that I had developed pre-diabetes. That means that I had elevated blood sugar levels not high enough to meet the criteria for diabetes but abnormal nevertheless! My genetics and my love affair with food had finally caught up with me! All the running in the world could not change my DNA! As the saying goes, you cannot outrun a bad diet. Over the last few years, I have taken the time to educate myself on the PERMANENT lifestyle changes that I have needed to successfully reverse my own health issues. I have used what I have learned as the basis for this healthy living blog.

It has become my passion to teach others what I have learned from the mistakes I have made with my own health. The incidence of diabetes has skyrocketed in recent years and places many of us, especially persons of color, at increased risk of heart disease, kidney failure, blindness and amputations. This rise is strongly related to our increased rates of obesity and our continued overconsumption of simple sugars, starches and processed foods. While genetics are a major factor, diabetes is at its core a dietary disease that can be improved and in some cases reversed when we stop eating simple sugars and starches like potatoes, bread, pasta, rice, cereals, deep fried foods, as well as highly processed “junk” foods.

If you are risk of developing diabetes, it is important to know the classic symptoms so you can seek treatment should you have one or more of those symptoms.

As I have counseled numerous patients in the last few years who are pre diabetic or diabetic, I have been asked how I manage my pre-diabetes without medication. What works for me might seem too restrictive to some but I encourage you if you have either pre-diabetes or diabetes to consider it as a blueprint for your own lifestyle change. What Hippocrates said centuries ago is true: “food is medicine.”

I have created my own low carb plan to keep my blood sugar under control and maintain a healthy weight. I have a list of foods in my head that I GET to eat as a part of my low carb lifestyle. If it is not on the list, I will only have it on a special occasion like a birthday. Over time my taste buds have changed and the sugary treats, starchy foods and deep fried foods no longer appeal to me (Praise God!) I still eat cheese and raw nuts but keep them to 4 oz and 2 oz a day respectively. Outside of that, I do not really count anything. What could be more simple? I am also a huge fan of 16:8 intermittent fasting aka time restricted eating because it helps my mental clarity. When you only eat twice a day and stick to a list, there is a freedom that is so much better that all those years of yoyo dieting that I did for most of my adult life. As a stress reliever (you will need this once you give up the “comfort” foods) I use brisk walking and exercise videos on YouTube and have a daily step goal of 15,000 steps per day.

My list:
Baked, roasted or grilled meat, poultry, fish, and seafood
Eggs
Non-starchy vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, kale and collard greens. I use toasted Outer Aisle cauliflower thins if I want a sandwich (Only 3grams total carbs per 2 thins).
Salad greens
LIMITED amounts of cheese, raw nuts, zero carb pork rinds, raw carrots and berries.
Healthy fats like those contained in avocados and olives
Limited quantities of heavy cream, sour cream, mayonnaise, sugar free free yogurt and sugar free jello.
Sugar free condiments including all types of mustard, salsa, hot sauce ketchup and low carb salad dressings.

I drink lots of water and unsweetened green tea instead of sugary drinks and I use stevia and a little sugar free creamer in my coffee.

It is my prayer that if you are reading this and have a family history of diabetes or if you already have pre-diabetes or diabetes you will take the steps necessary to take control of your health. I am happy to help in any way I can. Please leave your questions in the comments.

Be Blessed,

Yvonne Moore, MD

“Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit”

3 John 1:2 (NLT)