I am a 52 year old male, one of 8 children, father of 3 and husband to Sue for 31 years.
Growing up, I was always active; playing baseball, hockey, football, riding my bike…always outside doing something…in good health and fairly athletic. After I got married things started slowing down and although still active, I started putting on weight. I am 5’5” and weighed 145 lbs. at my high school graduation. Last year my weight soared to 202 very unhealthy pounds. Over the last 25 years I’ve tried several products and programs to lose weight…even the Atkins diet. I ate a lot of meat and worked out but really didn’t lose any significant weight.
I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 15 years ago and have been taking Glucophage, Lantis and Humolog for about 10 years. Ten years ago, at 42, I underwent a quadruple bypass operation. Three years ago, I had a stent put in. I was on medication for cholesterol, blood pressure, depression, and diabetes. I ate what I wanted and didn’t really care. I would just take more insulin if I was going to have a high carb meal. So there I was, sitting at my desk, 188 lbs of me, when I came across an ad for The 30 Day Diabetes Cure.
Out of curiosity I listened and was drawn to the fact that Dr. Ripich seemed very sincere and what he said made sense to me. So…I bought it to give it a try.
The first thing I did was read every word of every page up to Day 1. Understand, I’m the guy who throws away the instructions and builds things by intuition. I don’t have time to read instructions! I don’t have time to watch 18 DVDs to learn how to lose weight or get in shape. My motto: “Keep it simple, stupid.”
I found the format of the book and the way that the chapters were laid out to be very logical and conducive to learning and applying what you’ve learned.
I also appreciated Dr. Ripich’s stern warnings about the consequences of not managing/defeating diabetes. In fact, it was the frankness with which Dr. Ripich attacked the issue of diabetes and the commitment that it takes to overcome this that motivated me to see it through to the end, no matter what it took. After all, it was only 30 days!
Day 1. Eliminate Sugar
Being a severe sugar addict, I knew this was going to be a challenge. So I made it a game; to try to succeed getting through the next 24 hours without having any sugar, bread, pasta, pastries, candies or any other sugary food. Very early on I determined that the best way to not be tempted was to not have any of the old foods that I used to eat lying around the house. So I asked my wife to hide everything and to be careful about what she baked and where she stored it after baking it.
It is vitally important to get your spouse or any other housemates to buy into what you are trying to do. Not getting derailed by those who love me, even though they didn’t mean it, just could not be allowed to happen. But it was up to me. So the first day I put my blinders on and didn’t eat anything I shouldn’t eat. I made it through pretty easily by drinking a lot of water and eating veggies and good snacks during the day. I felt pretty proud that I didn’t give in to the temptations that popped up during the day.
By Jim Healthy
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