Diabetes in Our Faces: Day 1 of my family's journey to veganism.

I believe that all things happen for a reason and we need to heed the signs. One day I saw of Facebook that one of my cousins was struggling with her health and it was very serious. She has diabetes and, like a few of our family members, has lost limbs, some eye sight, and was beginning to lose kidney function as a result of the disease. Thankfully, she is getting better, but will still fight daily for her life. 

The same week we heard the news of Cora’s illness, I received an email to join the class Diabetes Undone, presented by our local Seventh Day Adventist church and a group of health professional expert in reversing diabetes through lifestyle change. This group of experts promotes an evidence-based vegan diet, exercise, and spiritual well being program that has been shown to allow the body to heal itself. It really struck home that if I could again subscribe to this lifestyle, I may just protect my family and myself from the ravages of diabetes. 

As part of this class, we are shown how to prepare a vegan entrée, side dish, dessert, or snack. We are given a sample to eat, which is key, because most people who understand the value of the vegan diet have real fears about the taste of the foods. I was bound and determined to make some changes in our diet, so, together my husband and I decided we would eat one vegan meal a day.

That was on Friday. Saturday morning we had pancakes. He was proud he had cooked a vegan meal. Well… it was a start. He was on a roll right up until he slathered his pancakes with butter. But, it was a start. To make a very long story short, eating a diet designed to reduce the pouring of sugar into our blood requires more than simply not eating meat or dairy. Actually not eating meat or dairy may not directly affect blood sugar, but in a secondary fashion, can make a huge difference. Processed flour, sugar, corn syrup, potato, in fact any processed food tends to break down into glucose very quickly and enters the bloodstream, elevating the blood sugar. As it turns out, the more complex, or as I like to say, unprocessed, the carbohydrates are when you eat them, the longer they take to digest, and the slower the glucose enters the bloodstream. That is the key. 

Admittedly, you can eat several small meals that meat that criteria throughout the day, and supply your tissues with glucose in small doses and all would be good with the world (your body). But, and this is a big but, who can do that? We work, sleep, exercise, and have been trained to eat three meals a day.