Diabetes and Your Pantry

  Part Two in Daniel's Diabetes Chronicle

You may remember me telling you about my friend who was recently diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes….

Let’s meet Daniel quick. In a nutshell:

72 year old male. Overweight. Active, but not excessively athletic. Diet consisting mostly of processed foods and sugary sodas. Water? That’s what you wash your hands with, right?

I went to the local co-op and outfitted his kitchen pantry… Over the weekend, I spent a considerable amount of time with him going through his fridge and cupboard. … Let’s just say his cupboard looked nothing like mine. I have become an avid label reader and know what to look for hidden in plain view in the little tiny letters somewhere on the packaging.

This time, though, I was not looking for hidden gluten — I was looking for hidden sugars by many different names.

I found the back of his fridge and cupboards and literally filled up his trash bin for next week.

The biggest surprise (and I have to say I am surprised I was surprised) was Smuckers something or other pretend marmalade. .. (If you’ll also recall, I mused if there was such a thing as diet jam?) … It had two or three ingredients with *** behind it — stating this ingredient not typically found in marmalade… and then the best of all: red dye. I forget the number. That doesn’t matter. All those shit ingredients and then they throw in dye. Lordly, lordy.

I had bought him two kinds of delicious jams without added sweeteners. I wonder if he’ll like them ….

But here, here is the most exciting thing I’d like to share with you: your diet (not A DIET, but rather your diet — that which you choose to eat) MATTERS.

In TEN DAYS, his glucose levels went from dangerous levels near 600 to under 150. 150!!!

Granted, he is on medication and insulin. But he has drastically changed his eating choices. This scared him enough to turn his back on processed foods and sugary drinks.

This validated my work. Your food is important. Food is important.

I hypothesize that what you choose to put in your body impacts your ability to connect with the Divine. That’s what my Nourish Your Way Home course is about. (and it’s launching soon!)

I wonder now how this health crisis and his new food/lifestyle choices will impact his spiritual self…..

We will see how it unfolds.

And I’d like to take you with me, if you’d like to come along.