This is an old herring but I thought I would throw it in the ring as it might help somebody. After my blogging about my weight and my diet and my diabetes etc which I covered in a series of postings in December 2013 regarding weight loss and diet and my posting Justice, Big Money and Big Pharma on the 16th May this year, I thought I would return to the subject again on the advice of my superb consultant endocrinologist, Dr Wilma Lourens. It was she who planted the seed of transformation in my head 18 months ago. I had been treated as Diabetic Type 2 since 1995 with doctors ramping up my pharmaceutical intake by the year but I had good control over my sugar levels and at one clinic I attended she told me that if I lost weight I would probably find I was not diabetic. Immediately that advice was like water off a duck’s back and it was a few months later faced with my third daughter’s wedding that I recalled this pearl. I slowly started changing what I ate and especially veered away from carbohydrate consumption. The weight started to slide away by not really trying that hard so that a year later whereas I was 120kgs, I am now 105kgs, a loss of 15 bags of sugar or 33lbs of spuds.
I can do things now that I would not have considered 18 months ago however looking at recent photographs of me in Belgium there is still a way to go albeit then I was slightly bloated by that delicious and sinful drink Belgian beer.
At my last appointment at Dr Lourens clinic in Sligo Hospital both herself and her nurse were amazed when tests proved that whereas once I was a diabetic, I am no longer. By then I had been off Big Pharma’s books for eight months. Dr Lourens, although amazed and delighted understood her cure had worked As old age has crept in I have been full of Damascene moments like this, whereas once I was a Catholic I am no longer of that ilk, once I could not think but now I am enlightened, once I trusted everybody, now I trust just a few, once I never questioned, now I question everything. I am slowly but surely empowering myself, putting the governorship of my life into my own hands and mind and not relying on any other person to save me. When I go, I will decide and not let Big Pharma who fill everybody with poison decide for me. I was on two 850 mgs of Metformin, a 50mg of a beta blocker, 150mgs of Irbersarten for kidney function and blood pressure and around 8mgs of warfarin for my atrial fibrillation. On October 7th 2013 I kicked the lot into touch, Helen, my wife, did the same. She was taking tablets for blood pressure and some other quackery.
I have to say I have never felt better. Fuck off Big Pharma I say, can I hear you echo the same. This feeling of contentedness as not come without some thought, my diet has improved remarkedly. For breakfast I normally eat what is left over from the night before. For lunch I either have a bowl of fruit and a big dollop of Lidl’s Greek yoghurt or a tin of squid in tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes and for dinner I have meat three days, fish twice and a vegetarian meal on the other two days something like dhal cooked with onions, tomatoes, garlic and spices. With all meals I have grated raw vegetables, like celeriac or carrots and a big portion of salad leaves and tomatoes. Potatoes I eat rarely, pasta probably once a fortnight, bread probably three slices a week. The milk in my tea and coffee is raw milk from a Jersey cow called Molly who pastures up the road, her milk is probably 30% cream and some days if the milk is undisturbed it will not pour from the bottle, the cream acts as a stopper. When I get delivery it is still warm from her udders, it is neither pasteurised, homogenised or sterilised. It is milk of 60 years ago, milk I was used to on my grandads farm in Denton. Google it to discover the life giving qualities it possesses. However the supply has just stopped for a while, she is about to calf and mother and child need more attention than me. I am going to visit her today at the start of her confinement and I will give her a kiss from you
What I do not stint on is refreshing drink. Most nights it is a large tumbler of vodka, sparkling water and fresh lime juice prior to my meal followed by a bottle of Malbec from the Argentine. I do not like losing weight too quickly so my alcohol intake acts as my parachute. I go to bed tired at about 8.00pm and awake refreshed at about 3.30-4.00am and onto my desk top computer picking up the news from the internet. I breakfast normally about 9.00am. We do not have a television and I do not buy or read main stream newspapers. I do not like being led up the garden path or wherever media types and politicians would like me to go. I am completely independent of any one or anything. I am my own master and I love mischief especially with authority, but that is the story for another day.
Of course I am not 100% cured, I still have atrial fibrillation but I will live with that and take my chances, rather that than swallowing rat poison and of course Dr Lourens, understanding my intransigence, is advising me how to live with it naturally. My blood pressure is slightly high but at my age who gives a toss. I am living how I want to live, my guardian angel and Dr Lourens are looking after me. Dr Lourens has asked me to keep a diary of my journey as she wants to use me as a role model, she wants me to be a model for GPs in the area, so that they can see the benefits of healthy eating amongst diabetics. I will not keep a diary as such but I will update as best I can using this vehicle
Nice one Paul, the content brought a wry smile to my face.