Overcoming Type 2 Diabetes with Diet

On August 16, 2012, I received an email from a woman who I had worked with two years ago. She said, “Wow...what can I say. Things have really spun out of control for me. I just received the call from my doctor saying I have Type 2 Diabetes. I have felt like crap after those last two rounds of Prednisone. Now this!”

This news from my former client was very surprising. She had experienced a lot of success in my health program. She had lost weight and had identified many of the foods that were triggering food allergies which caused severe respiratory, body pain and skin reactions. She had been doing so well that she had entered into a master’s degree program to work towards her professional dream. She had no prior history of blood sugar issues or had ever been diagnosed with diabetes.

Upon viewing her blood test results, her doctor wrote a prescription for insulin and sent her to diabetes educators for training. Throughout her appointments, these health care providers all informed her that she would need to take insulin for the rest of her life. Naturally, she was extremely devastated by this news and felt hopeless. She contacted me immediately and requested an appointment that same day.

During our meeting we discussed the impact Prednisone can have on a person’s health and that it can cause considerable weight gain and diabetes. She had been prescribed the medication by her doctor to treat an allergic reaction to poison oak. The Prednisone caused her body to swell, she gained 14 pounds and she felt “like crap.” Additionally, she was now in her second year of her master’s degree program which was very rigorous, stressful and required a lot of late night hours, and irregular eating habits, and she was also spending a lot of time in the car driving long hours back and forth to her classes. All of these things were the recipe for her decline in health and led to her weight gain and elevated blood sugar.

Since this client’s blood sugar levels were not extremely high, she decided to try dietary changes first because she did not want to start taking insulin. Because we had previously worked together, she already had a lot of knowledge regarding healthy eating and was able to quickly hone in on her problem areas as she realized what things she had been neglecting. She left her appointment with me that afternoon feeling positive and empowered to take control of her health situation and knowing that she could make better choices that could help her regain her health. She then wrote me and said, “Thanks for seeing me. I was not in a good place yesterday. I just wanted to give up, because it seems like "what's the use?" But, after seeing you this didn't feel like such a monster…Thank you for empowering your clients, Danielle. I felt run over yesterday. Today, I'm not going down without a fight...and I do feel like I can do this.”

This client’s desire to overcome her health crisis triggered the dedication that was necessary for her to make all of the recommended dietary changes that she received that afternoon during her session. She diligently tested her blood sugar throughout each day and kept a food dairy so that we could review it together in following sessions. She began to feel better almost immediately and we continued to tweak her diet to help her make the necessary recommended changes. Her blood sugar immediately stabilized into the normal range and she proceeded to lose 25 pounds!

By September 9, 2012, less than one month later, she wrote, “I can’t wait to show you these numbers. They are unbelievable. They are as normal as normal can get. Really...the numbers are not "diabetic normal" or "acceptable good"...I mean they are normal!” So she continued on very happily and diligently eating healthy and taking good care of herself.

Recently she went to her doctor for a medical checkup. Instead of receiving praise from her doctor for lowering her blood sugar and losing 25 pounds, her doctor was very ANGRY at her for not following her orders to take insulin. Her blood work showed an A1C within the normal range and that she was no longer diabetic. At no time did her doctor ask her what she had been doing to improve her health or congratulate her for taking control of her health. She left her appointment feeling that her doctor had let her down.

It is important to note that doctors are hired health consultants and are not entitled to dictate to us. They should be supportive partners in our care and not controllers of our bodies. If any doctor ever gets mad at you like this one or doesn’t treat you the way you want to be treated, you should fire that doctor and find another one!

Another client recently told me that he is very intimidated by his doctor and can’t express himself because of the intimidation. It should not be this way! If you ever feel this way, find another doctor! This is why the medical community is often failing people and why holistic health counseling or coaching is becoming more popular. Holistic health counselors take the time to assess the overall health and lifestyle of a person, and listen to them and then empower them through health education. But as with doctors and other health care providers, each holistic health counselor also has their own specialization, professional experience and skills working with people.

Diet and lifestyle change is helpful in every health situation because quality nourishment and care affects the health of every cell in the human body. The food that we put into our bodies affects us at the cellular level. Food speaks to our genes and can trigger immune system reactions, an elevation of harmful hormones and disease. Without the proper nutrition, the body does not have the right building blocks to create health or heal.

I congratulate my client for embracing food as medicine and choosing to give herself the care needed to reverse her Type 2 Diabetes. Now she is empowered with the knowledge that she needs to keep herself healthy and well and free from diabetes.

We have a choice. We can choose to own a disease and live with it until we no longer can and die, or we can choose to do everything we can to empower our body to heal itself. What will you choose?

To read client testimonials, click here.

Artemis in the City Helps People Live Healthy!

If you would like to create a more vibrant and healthy life and need personal support and assistance to help you get started, please contact me today! I can help you 866-330-5421. Services are provided nationally via telephone sessions.

Thank you very much for reading my blog and please continue to visit often.

I wish you good health, happiness and love!

Danielle

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