"You have diabetes. Your blood sugar is 311. The doctor wants you to take two medications. Where can I call the prescriptions in?"
The nurse on the line delivered the news with a matter-of-fact tone. I felt like I'd been gut-punched. I knew I was overweight -- more than I'd ever been, but I had fooled myself into thinking I was reasonably OK. Then over Christmas I started having upper abdominal pain. My lifestyle was catching up with me, and I was worried about what was going on.
You see, I'd had a gall bladder sonogram years earlier with this same pain, but the sonogram was negative, and I lost a little weight and I felt better.
After a severe fall in 2004 where I crushed my wrist, I lapsed into a very sedentary lifestyle, and my horrible eating habits overwhelmed me. My weight steadily climbed to 220, 230, 240, and finally to more than 250 pounds. I read a couple of Zone books and was convinced that this way of eating was the thing I needed to do to avoid the chronic illnesses that were surely headed my way, but I couldn't commit to actually doing it. Then the abdominal pain started again, and I got scared. I ordered some of the OmegaRx capsules. The day before they arrived, my abdominal pain became severe. I thought I'd herniated something. I finally went to the doctor. No hernia, but he ordered several tests. The next day I got that phone call. Diabetes felt like a death sentence to me. My aunt had battled it and had many complications and chronic illnesses. I did not want that life for myself.
That moment I decided to change. I was convinced that the Zone would help me out of this pit I had fallen into. I told the nurse I didn't want to take the meds. and that I wanted to talk to the doctor before I did anything. He called the next morning at 7 a.m. I told him that I knew that meds were probably the right thing to do, but I wanted to try diet and exercise first. He was skeptical, but he said he'd give me one week to make a difference in my blood glucose level, or on the meds I'd go. I dove into the Zone with a passion. I planned my meals for the entire week. I began eating the Zone way and taking OmegaRx that very morning. I ordered SeaHealth Plus and added that to my regimen when it arrived. My blood test after one week showed a blood glucose level of 161. The nurse called me with the news and said the doctor wanted me to keep doing what I was doing because it seemed to be working. He scheduled me for a follow-up the next week. That visit showed me down 8 pounds. My blood pressure was down to 122/88 (from 150/100 two weeks earlier). The nurse who took my blood pressure couldn't believe I wasn't on blood pressure medicine and that diet alone had made that drastic a change. The tests also revealed that the abdominal pain was caused by nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. It's a fatty liver disease that can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and worse. The doctor said that the best thing for this condition was to continue to eat better and lose weight. The doctor scheduled another appointment for five weeks later. I continued to eat the Zone way and take OmegaRx and SeaHealth daily.
People began to notice my weight loss, but other small things began to change as well. I no longer had almost nightly heart burn. My skin became better. It was no longer dry and grey but took on a healthier pinkish glow. One day I noticed that I could see better. I had been having diabetes-related blurry vision but had just assumed I needed new contacts. My abdominal pain subsided. I began to exercise a little each day. Nothing major, but at least it was some movement.
The day for my next doctor's visit came. The numbers were, well, amazing. After seven weeks on the Zone, I had lost 16 pounds. More importantly, my blood glucose level was 90. My A1C was 5.9. My total cholesterol was below 200 for the first time in a decade. My triglycerides went from a whopping 438 to 79.
The doctor wants me to lose another 30 pounds, but I am not on any medications. Without the Zone I would be on at least three: diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol. More importantly, I feel better than I have in years. Far from being the ultra-restrictive diet I feared the Zone would be, it has been easy. In fact, it's difficult to eat all the food I'm supposed to eat. I'm sometimes tempted, and I've eaten my way out of the Zone on some occasions, but I know I'm always one meal or snack away, and I don't let setbacks become major detours on my way back to a healthy me.
I can't thank Dr. Sears enough for giving me the tools to reclaim my life and my health.
-- Maury