The Wait is finally over!

Ok I know you are saying to yourselves...IT IS ABOUT TIME BIG GUY! Well hopefully I can make it worth your wait!

Things have been going along quite smoothly for the last month or so, I have been good, very good, sticking to a low fat, low sugar diet and the results have been quite remarkable. I have been back to the doctors and he was very, very surprised by the results....more on that soon.

Firstly some practical stuff. As you are all aware I have had to take a serious look at what I eat and the lifestyle that I lead, it has been tough, very tough as this change in lifestyle had to coincide with the starting of a New Job and having to continue to work through certain relationship issues as well. Giving up the one thing that I could turn to was at first very difficult – you all read my angry, angry man post so I guess you can get a kind of idea of what things may have been like. Not only is it difficult to cope with on the physical level, it is and has been very hard on an emotional level as well. Fact is I love my food! I love cooking it, I love cooking it for others and I love consuming it! My life has been based around the notion of good food and good company. In many ways it was actually more to me than that as well. I knew if I was feeling down that happiness was only 3 King size packets of Reece's Peanut Butter Cups away! Although I have gone cold turkey on the sugar and fat content in my foods that I eat now, I have to say...I miss it, I sometimes crave it...now I am not sure whether I really do want it, but something inside of me triggers and Says....”mmmmmm I could do with a packet of Mint Slice Bikkies right about now”, especially since there is a packet in the fridge for my wife and the rest of my family to enjoy. I could have easily reached out and grabbed on, could have put it in my mouth and given in to the temptation, I mean seriously how bad could one Mint Slice Biscuit be in the grand scheme of things....right? As much as I desired it, as much as I craved it, I found myself with a bowl of tomato, cucumber, some sliced Kalamata Olives and some low fat Cottage Cheese. Will Power? Nah not even close! Sense of knowing that one Mint Slice can have an impact and how that could impact my future made the decision much easier. So the daily struggle with knowing what is right and doing it continues, I am not sure how long it will last, hopefully not forever, but for now I am winning the battle and hope to, in the end, Win the War as well.

So how have I been going? In a word....Great!.

I did have a nice 8 hours at 4 different specialists with the following results:

· Optometrist – Eyes – Fine

· Podiatrist – Feet – Need some work

· Diabetic Educator – I think I learned more from my mum

· Dentist – Need lots of work!

I still have the Dietitian to go to at the start of September, but that one I am really looking forward to.

I have to keep a diary of my daily food intake on three separate days to give the dietitian an idea of what I eat and when I eat. Since changing my diet (lifestyle) a typical day for me is as follows:

Break fast: Porridge – low fat Milk and a couple of teaspoons of Benefibre (oh how that stuff work)

Morning Tea – Small handful of Nuts (Almonds & Brazil) & an Apple

Lunch – Can of Tuna mixed with 3 bean mix and a couple of slices of multi-grain bread

Afternoon Snack – small can of baked Beans (or some sushi with my sushi buddies)

Dinner: Steamed Chicken, Cous Cous, steamed Vegetables (sweet potato, broccoli, squash)

Of course there are plenty of variations, My wife has been awesome selecting meals from cook books that have recipes for Diabetics and I have been pleasantly surprised by just how tasty they are. I try to make sure I thank my wife for all that she does, it means a lot to have support and I can rely on to help me and so far my wife has been awesome (love you huni)

Ok so what you have all been waiting for the Doctors Report on my Blood test (you know there is a scroll function, you did not have to read all of that to get here!)

Just in case you forgot -

My results from last time were:

Blood Sugar Level – 17.4 (fasting) – Normal levels between 4 - 6

Total Cholesterol – 18.6 – Normal levels from 0 - 4

· Triglyceride (bad Cholesterol) – 17 – Normal Levels – 0-2.5 (in my first blog I said 1.5, I was wrong)

Ok so my latest results are........drum roll......

Blood Sugar Level – 6.4 (fasting) – Normal levels between 4 - 6

Total Cholesterol – 4.8 – Normal levels from 0 - 4

· Triglyceride (bad Cholesterol) – 2.8 – Normal Levels – 0-2.5

Very Happy with the results as is my doctor and to top things off, I have lost close to 10 Kilos (which means I have no excuse not to really start putting in the hard exercise that I should be doing as well...I am sure I will think of some other excuse though!)

I am close to the upper limits, but as my doctor said – this is no cause to celebrate just yet. The journey still has a very, very long way to go....I am inspired to do better though, I certainly wasn't expecting such good results. My doctor told me that as I lose more weight and my levels come down to normal then he would look at reducing or stopping some of my medication...oh how I look forward to that! Still as I said, a long, long way to go, but at the moment I am just happy that the light at the end of the tunnel is visible and so far it is just a light and hopefully not an oncoming train!

Will be back soon (yeah you have heard that before haven't you!) Still not sure whether I should be posting some pictures of the changes etc...let me know what you think!

Will finish off the Essay with the following inspirational quote:

“Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?” (John Bender – Breakfast Club)

Cheers!