When I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at 55, my endocrinologist wanted me to take Metformin.
He wasn’t wrong.
I had diabetes. He had a medication that could help control my blood sugar. That’s what doctors do.
But I wanted to know something else.
What could I do?
Not instead of medicine for everybody.
Me. My body. My situation.
I was almost 100 pounds heavier than I am today. I hadn’t exactly spent the previous few decades treating my body like a prized possession.
There were things I could change.
So I changed them.
Ninety Days Later
I changed how I ate.
I started paying attention.
I moved more.
And within about 90 days, my blood sugar was back in the normal range without medication.
That’s my experience. It isn’t a prescription for you.
But what happened afterward has always stuck with me.
My doctor told me he knew patients could do what I’d done.
Most wouldn’t.
I think he was probably right.
Changing your life can be considerably harder than taking a pill every morning.
And sometimes you need the pill anyway.
Those two things can be true at the same time.
Maybe We’re Asking the Wrong Question
I used to look at this as medicine versus lifestyle.
I don’t anymore.
Medication saves lives.
Insulin keeps people with type 1 diabetes alive. Blood pressure medication can prevent strokes. Cancer treatment saved Peggy’s life.
Thank God those things exist.
But I also think we should be asking:
What can I do to help myself?
Can changing what I eat help?
Would moving more make a difference?
What about sleep?
Stress?
Losing some weight?
Getting stronger?
Sometimes the answer may be yes. Sometimes it may be yes, but you still need the medication.
That’s okay too.
The goal isn’t to prove that you don’t need doctors.
The goal is to become an active participant in your own health.
At 55, I discovered there were things I could do that changed the direction of my life.
That’s probably why, nearly twenty years later, I keep talking about it.
Not because everybody can duplicate my result.
Because I’d hate for somebody to assume they have no influence over what happens next without ever finding out.