Introduction to The Foodland Chronicles

October 16, 2009 in Diabetes, Foodland Chronicles, Mediterranean, Nutrition by Joyce Bunderson

Other topics – managing diabetes.

My husband Vic was diagnosed with type II diabetes in March 2004.  We will both refer back to the story of how he lost 30 lbs within 5 months, stopped taking any medications, and thereafter has managed his diabetes with diet, exercise, and know-how that seemed to work better for him than some of the diabetes education advice he was getting.  I hope that my experience in getting what we need out of Foodland, while avoiding the traps, will benefit others. Which is why I started the whole Dr. Grandma’s ‘thing’ anyway. I must say that it was very fulfilling to have helped Vic so much with his diet and ultimately with his health; and to think that we could help others is very motivating.

A good friend of ours, who is younger than Vic, was diagnosed with diabetes at the same time as Vic (March 2004). The sad part of the story is that he believes that you should just enjoy the time that you have – he did not make very many changes.  Unfortunately, he has already had several heart attacks, and by-pass surgeries. Vic maintains a healthy blood sugar and takes no diabetes medication. His doctor says that he is no longer a diabetic. We know that will only be true for as long as he’s committed to his nutrition and exercise. It isn’t just what I did for Vic; a big difference was that Vic was motivated to stay healthy. He will tell you his own story from his perspective – and to me, his telling, is fairly funny at times. The bottom line is that nutrition (what we actually eat- not just what we know we should eat) and exercise can make a difference in our quality of life. Vic took the excess weight off and kept it off.  Vic changed his way of eating. Let’s face it; WE changed OUR way of eating.  I’d not be honest it I didn’t say that every so often I say to him, something like, “Wouldn’t it be fun to just go back to the way we used to eat?”  ‘Cause it takes effort!  It’s not really perfectly easy to make a life-style change. But I can tell you in all honesty; it can really be worth it.  We can do things many people our age can’t do. We’re in our tenth year of a wonderful love story and I want it to last lots longer, so we’re committed to health and are, of course, still learning also.

Some of the things that I believe:

  • Eating real foods help keep your body healthy.
  • If food doesn’t taste good, you will probably not want to eat it often. So I want to help you, if you need help, make ‘good for you’ foods taste good. {more}
  • If you have delicious, healthy foods in your environment, it increases your chance of actually eating delicious healthy foods. (Conversely, having easy access to unhealthy foods GREATLY increases how much of them you will devour).
  • Maintaining normal weight is not easy; but I believe strongly that it is a worthy goal.
  • It’s impossible to have optimal health without exercise.
  • Changing your diet is not a one-step ‘done deal.’

So Vic and I have been through several years of changes. We’re now flexitarians – our particular spin on flexitarianism is that we sometimes eat a meal with no animal protein. We do eat fish and chicken frequently, infrequently have red meat and rarely have processed meat. Family reunions 2009 included sausage, bacon, ham, and cold cuts; and plenty of beef and pork which we try to control in those situations by careful portion control. Most of the days of the year, however, that is not what we eat. By the way, we’ve not reached the, “I can’t stand the taste of bacon” stage. J We hear that it can happen.  Usually, we’re not missing the bacon; it’s not in the fridge or on the table – we’re having other delicious foods.

There are so many interesting nutrition results, studies and subjects that are released almost daily.  I’m going to start trying to ‘shrink down’ some of them. I hope this will help you – just let me know what will help.

Don’t forget, “Good Health Can Be Yummy”

This is where I will start.  Sending good thoughts from my American Mediterranean kitchen,

Joyce

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