Wanted to share my mom's personal journey that I kind of forced her into.
All of my life my mom was diabetic. She 'controlled' her disease for years with meds. Now she's getting older and seeing half a dozen different kinds of doctors that don't know their ass from their elbows. Her physician says one thing. Her kidney doctor (she has 3 BTW!) says the opposite. How is a girl to know what to do?
Shortly after I started my health journey, my mom was hospitalized for surgery and had to have 8" of her colon removed, as a colonoscopy proved she had some rather large polyps. When she returned home is the day I bum rushed their home and ransacked their pantry. I chucked about half of their food, pissing off dad as he watched his Rocky Road Ice Cream melting into the trash. Then, I shoved about 4 bags of groceries from our health food store at them, pinned a paper with What To Eat and What Not To Eat on their fridge with a magnet and left. Tough Love. Tough Shit!...Ill be damned if I'm gonna stand by while a friend or family member is slowly killing themselves without even knowing it!
Fast forward a couple of years and her health is still not great. She claims she's eating healthy but when I see her restaurant orders or the food she makes at home, I know she's not following My Rules exactly. That was until New Years this year. My mom's New Years Resolution was to go vegan, finally. Well...not really...but to eat how I eat and finally say a final goodbye to her much loved dairy. Farewell!
About a month ago she went to the doctor who tested her blood for the first time after the holidays when she still ate junk. The doctor informed her she would need to go on insulin. Major Fail! She informed the doctor that she was trying to be more vegan and explained to her how her FAVORITE DAUGHTER (lol....jk) eats and shockingly, her doctor told her to talk to Little Ol Me.
She gave her 1 month to turn things around after 30 years of living with this, so needless to say, I had my work cut out for me. Armed with my advice, Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Diet book and a great cookbook from The Happy Herbivore, she got to work cooking and discovering new foods!
Less than a week ago my mom showed up at my door to inform me that after visiting the doctor again, she was removed from all but 1 pill and was told that the way things are looking, she will likely be off of that one too! For the first time in over 30 years my mom may actually be off meds!!
This is her letter:
(Note: when she says Vegan, she means Almost Vegan. Small amount of seafood and some other non vegan ingredients are in her diet, but only in small quantities)
"For 30 years I have been a Type 2 diabetic. Over these years I have really never been successful at controlling it. I've been on numerous diabetic medications, combining some for an extra "punch". A couple of month's ago, my primary care doctor suggested that I go on insulin. Doing this would move me up in status from Type 2 to Type 1 Insulin dependent. I swore to myself that I would never go on insulin without a fight. I asked my doctor if she would give me one month to try and control this. This statement was almost laughable since there had been no success in 30 years!!!! "One month, that's it" she said. When she asked me what I was going to do that would be any different from what I've done in the past, I told her that my daughter, Megan, was vegan and extremely knowledgeable on the subject. To my surprise, my doctor gave me her approval to try this. "But just for a month"!!!! she repeated. I went from the doctor's office straight to my daughter's house. I got a crash course from Megan and knew I could go to her with any questions I might have. During this time I was also seeing a kidney doctor. My kidneys have already lost function from the diabetes. I told this doctor that I was going vegan and, surprisingly enough, he too, had no objections. Well today I went for my appointment with. the kidney doctor. So far one diabetes medicine had been eliminated and today another medication was cut in half. My doctor's next statement made me do a "happy dance"!!!!!......."don't be surprised if I take those away completely next month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".Damage has already been done to my kidney's but the diabetes will not rob me of more. I'm going to work on trying to increase the kidney function. I've had this disease for 30 years, and a simple, healthy, way of eating has made all the difference in the world. To think I might be medication free in another month!!!!!! I also have more energy than I've had in years. I can't thank Megan enough for her guidance. Being vegan ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
-Linda Dice (my mom)
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-Linda Dice (my mom)
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I'll keep you posted on how she does. Since last week, she is down another few pounds and is walking at least a mile a day. After I got tired of listening to her horror stories of doomsday doctors, she made an appointment for a holistic health care provider in Orlando that specializes in diabetes and other diseases.
Have a Happy Healthy First Day of Spring!
Have a Happy Healthy First Day of Spring!
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