Over the last six months, I haven’t been maintaining my eating and exercising routines that have helped me rectify some health issues. My weight has been creeping up, along with my blood sugar numbers.
This hasn’t happened all at once, but slowly, over time. I don’t know about you, but it’s easier not to think about it if changes happen over weeks and months versus hours and days.
This past Saturday, I had lunch in Washington DC with one of my professors. He was getting ready to leave for vacation, and I needed to return a bunch of books to the library, so we got together to talk about my doctoral project. It will be focused on helping people prayerfully transform their health, the target audience being folks who are overweight and have type II diabetes.
With the click of my mouse, I’ll be emailing the last of my class papers this morning 🙂 Going back to school hasn’t been easy, but I am grateful for the experience, and grateful that my classes are over until next year.
Now, it’s time to take a breath and then get back to business. I hope you’ve been to your local farmer’s market by now. There is so much great stuff to buy, but I’m still waiting on a few things to appear. Maybe next week…
When I wrote my post about control the other day, I didn’t think that I’d be writing a part two. Something happened yesterday got me thinking, and I wanted to share it with you.
I was meeting with my chiropractor yesterday, and he was asking me about the medications I take on a daily basis.
One of those that I have to take each and every day is called synthroid, and it makes up for my slow-functioning thyroid. Before I realized I had thyroid issues, I was feeling really run down all the time, and it seemed like no matter what I did for exercise, I just couldn’t loose any weight.
Once my doctor put me on this medicine, my metabolism kicked in and I started to feel much better, and the weight came off pretty easily.
Now, here’s the reason for today’s post. When I told my chiropractor about the medicines and supplements I was taking, he asked me how I was taking them. First thing in the morning, all at the same time. That was not the answer he was looking for.
He told me that I shouldn’t be taking my synthroid with my daily vitamins, because the two don’t react well to each other. In fact, the synthroid more than likely isn’t being absorbed properly. Instead, I should take the synthroid, then wait a couple of hours and take my daily vitamins. That way, everything will be absorbed into my system properly. Wow, I wish my regular doctor would have mentioned this to me, especially because he is aware of everything I take. That being said, I’m going to make an appointment with him to review what the Chiropractor said, just to be sure he’s right.
So, the point of this is that the control I spoke about the other day can be spun many ways. We need to look at our lives, especially those areas where our care has been intrusted to others, and review things from time to time. This will ensure we are maximizing our potential to live healthy lives. Sound like a good plan?
If you or someone you know has diabetes, you can sometimes feel a bit like this mountain climber.
It takes tremendous discipline and control to reach the summit, and the risks involved might be enough to keep you off the mountain all together. Fear of failure (falling, dying) probably has something to do with it.
When dealing with diabetes, most people start out great after receiving their diagnosis. They eat right, exercise, keep close tabs on their blood sugar numbers, and check in with their doctor on a regular basis. In the end, its a lot of work, and if the person doesn’t get the results they want, they quickly give up. They end up coming down the mountain of diabetic life, tired and exhausted, just burned out. I’m told that’s how it goes with the vast majority of people who deal with this disease on a daily basis. Maybe it’s gone that way for you. If that’s the case, there’s hope!
I had the chance to attend a wellness seminar last night led by Dr. Laura Ruby. Dr. Laura works primarily with women to help them understand the relationship between chronic symptoms and core nutritional imbalances, environmental factors and poor lifestyle choices.
I was one of the few guys there to hear what she had to say, and I left impressed with what I heard. When I got home, I jumped on to her website and found the blog post below. I wanted to share it with you today, as a gentle reminder that good health is one of the keys to a happy and fulfilled life. We all have to work with what we’ve got, but simple, everyday changes can make a huge difference in our overall health. Even though the post focuses on women, guys can also benefit from putting her tips into practice.
Two experiences I had this past week are prompting this post.
On Tuesday, one of my fifth graders told me that she had a blood test done earlier that day. That prompted me to ask her why she had to have the test done. “To check my blood sugar. I have to change what I eat, because my doctor said I’m on the road to diabetes.” Wow. This girl is not obese, and to me, she appears to be just a little overweight. But diabetes runs in her family, and her doctor was concerned about the extra pounds she is carrying. Fifth grade. Ten years old.
I had the chance to have lunch with a young friend today. He’s been working on finding a job for several months now, and he’s finally gotten an offer. I was really happy for him, and to celebrate, I took him to a local Italian restaurant.
It will take some time for him to actually start, but right now, the offer letter is something to get excited about.
One of my friends is getting ready to become a pharmacist 🙂 She is one of my subscribers, and I’m always grateful for her insights. I asked her to fill us in a bit about the various medicines used in treating diabetes.
As you know, this chronic disease has reached epidemic proportions here in the United States, as well as most other developed countries. Taking control of your health is one of the key concepts on Making All Things New, regardless of whether diabetes is an issue for you or someone you care about.
I hope you find her thoughts as informative as I have.
The other day, I realized that it had been a very long time since I posted anything about type II diabetes. Recently, one of the people from my church asked me to meet with her.
She had just been diagnosed with pre diabetes, and she was scared. She asked if it would be possible to sit down with her and her son to talk about diabetes and how they could prevent it. Their desire to get back on track while there is still time is pretty common. Actually doing something about it is not.