Wake Up Call

In January, I scheduled a physical to get a baseline reading on my health stats for the Engine 2 28-day challenge. When I got the call with the results, a lump formed in my throat. The nurse said "you have diabetes." I'm 32 years old and had just been bad mouthing Paula Deen's public announcement about her diabetes diagnosis and that she would not be changing her cooking philosophy and would be promoting medications. Karma's a b@#$, I guess. The news came about a week into the January Engine 2 28-day challenge, and I found myself fighting the depressing idea that I was marked with this illness at the very time I was really focusing on what I could do in changing my habits to reduce my risk of diabetes and other illnesses impacted by lifestyle. To be clear, lifestyle is not the sole contributor to diabetes, but it can play a pretty important role in reducing the risk of getting the disease and managing the disease.

As I begun to learn more about my diagnosis, I realized that it wasn't a foregone conclusion. I was right on the line with my test results and the test results needed to be confirmed. This was, and is, a huge motivator in my lifestyle changes. The test is the A1C and it is a snapshot of your average blood sugar over a 2-3 month period. If it is 6.5 or higher, you are diagnosed with diabetes. If it is 5.7 or higher, you are considered to be pre-diabetes. I am ecstatic to report that my test results this week were 5.6. The diagnosis of diabetes has been removed, and I am currently in the normal range (not even pre-diabetic). I have to go back in for tests this summer to monitor the situation, but I have been very fortunate to get the wake up call when I did.

My doctor was very real with me. He said a lot of people have a religious moment when they have a health scare and make temporary changes that improve their situation, but most eventually resort back to their old habits. I know this is true. I know this is a big possibility for me because I witnessed some of it during the 3 week break between the January and March Engine 2 challenges Whole Foods Market in St. Paul are offering. Old habits die hard. That's part of the reason I'm doing this blog and signed up for the second round of the Whole Foods challenge, I'm in a fight for my life, quite literally, with my old habits. Today, I'm winning.