Author Topic: Everything Starts With Nutrition  (Read 2628 times)

Offline Getback

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Everything Starts With Nutrition
« on: February 04, 2025, 04:49:23 AM »
On Tuesday, December 19, 2023, I was diagnosed with Diabetes. The Monday before I woke up dizzy and when I went to get my clothes out of the dryer and fainted. I felt myself falling but I couldn't stop it. Lucky me I bounced off a stack of toilet paper and only tweaked my elbow. No broken bones! Yaye! However, I couldn't get up. I had to crawl to my office across the foyer to pull myself up on the office couch. Still, it took all the strength I had. If you like irony my job was to drive people to doctor appointments including dialysis. Yet I sat on the couch for 20 minutes trying to decide if I should go to work. I finally called into work and cancelled for the day and then the rest of the week. I was just so weak.

I made a doctor appointment, and they got me in the next day. They immediately tested my blood. My A1C was 14.7. The nurse practitioner said I was diabetic, and it was the highest A1C she had ever seen in the office. I found out later it was in the range where they start cutting off toes. They went over very thoroughly on what I needed to do. The jest of it was cutting carbs and sugar. They suggested no more than 70 carbs per meal. She also suggested that I join the Wellness Center for 60 days. It's a gym and more. They have dieticians and therapists. I joined. They brought out the divided plate and the food pyramid (More on that later). Right after the doctor's appointment I went to McDonalds twice and Hardees once. That was the last of those visits.

That night I was about to eat a nice bowl of Spanish Rice with smoked sausage when the Nurse Practitoner called. "What are you eating now?" "Spanish Rice." "No, no, no! That's starch!" I threw it out. Then went to the fridge and threw out 2 other starchy pots. The next day I threw out all starchy foods in my cupboard and cleaned out the fridge. I gave some away. I never went back to that way of eating. It wasn't easy. I used to eat up to two loaves of bread each week. Every time I made Bacon and Eggs; I would look at the toaster. Then I finally put the toaster away.

Prior to the doctor's visit I had been losing weight. Every time I ate, I got sick. I thought restaurants were serving me bad food. As it turns out it was the bread and French fries. I would be sick for about 2 days after eating out. Then there was the unquenchable thirst. I had all the signs of diabetes and failed to realize that I had diabetes. My doctor pointed out that she spent $200,000 to know these things.

I thought 70 grams of carbs per meal was a low bar. I guessed that was because the doctor was used to people not taking responsibility for their health. I did a ton of research about diabetes and carb intake. I never saw one person recommend anything more that 50 carbs per day and everyone suggested going lower. Most experts on YouTube also suggested fasting to get the fat out of your liver. Fasting! Never! That attitude changed. I found a channel on YouTube that I strongly recommend, "Beat Diabetes".

I started eating Keto. I ate more meat and no starchy vegetables. There went some of my favorites, potatoes, corn, carrots, and peas. I started eating spinach, mustard greens, and similar items. Three months later I went back to the doctor for another A1C test. It had dropped from 14.7 to 6.3. My doctor had written a note to herself to prescribe me Insulin. She tore the note up in front of me. For those who don't know it Insulin will actually make you fat. Dr. Fung said I can make anyone fat, just give them Insulin.

While at that visit my doctor urged me to get a colonoscopy. They have been urging me to get one for 20+ years. They found blood in my stool when I had Pneumonia in October of 2021. Oh, okay. I was tired of being nagged. I really thought I would cancel, I didn't. Afterwards the doctor explained that this was a polyp, and this was a polyp, and this was cancer. I was in shock! Try going through your day with that over your head. I held myself together for 2 whole days. Then I went to work. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I just wanted to go out to the van and do my job. One driver noticed I wasn't joking around like usual. He followed me to my van and asked if I was okay. I said no, barely holding myself together. He went to get another driver. I was sitting in the van when Bob came up to me His wife calls him Saint Bob. Ron, what's going on. I started bawling and told them what was going on and apologized for being such a wimp. Saint Bob said Ron, go home and gave me a hug. He took over my schedule. I had to walk through the office to get to the HR office to let them know. It seemed like an eternity.

My son went with me to the Colonoscopy because I wouldn't be able to drive. He was in shock as well. I teased him about getting a tube shoved up my rear while they gave him gift cards to Starbucks and the hospital cafeteria. I still do.

Within 30 days I was in the hospital getting a Colon Resection. Once again that changed the way I ate. I couldn't have fiber or residue. That means no veggies! Well, I could have fermented vegetables. My kids and my brother all came up for the operation. Prior to the operation I thanked the hospital staff and told them I was scared. The Anesthesiologist said were just giving you a little oxygen, I was out!

The operation went extremely well, no colonoscopy bag, no infections, and no leaks! In fact, I was out of the hospital the next day. My youngest daughter and brother stayed with me for a couple of days to make sure everything went well.

Two weeks later the surgeon called. I was cancer free! The relief was incredible! I have never felt so much stress!

The whole experience changed my way of eating drastically. I now eat mostly meat. For a month after the surgery I couldn't have fiber and never went back to it. These days 90+ percent of my diet is meat, mostly beef. My A1C is now 5.6 which is in the normal range.

I have now lost nearly 128 pounds. I tell people I lost half of my weight because I was sick and the other half because I wanted to live. I'm 71 and now can race my 4 year old grandson. I always lose but I'm in the race.

I weigh 222 pounds. At one time I was over 350. I don't know how much because the sliding scales only went to 350. I would guess maybe 370-375. I just count the 350. My BMI has dropped from 49 to 31. My blood pressure is in the normal range. My pants size dropped from 56 to 38. I don't believe it. I think more clearly and feel the best I have in years.

Back to the food pyramid. One doctor had this to say about the food pyramid, "You live by the Food Pyramid, you die by the Food Pyramid, and along the way you look like the Food Pyramid. The Divided Plate is an abbreviated version of the Food Pyramid in my opinion.

Your mental health and your physical health all start with Nutrition. It was a tough lesson to learn. As mentioned, I take people to dialysis. Some are missing toes, fingers, legs, losing vision. I've had 5 die in my short tenure on this job. Several quit going to dialysis. It's not a pleasant experience. My ex-wife quit going to dialysis and passed away. It was horrible to watch. All of these things impacted my resolve to get well.

The last thing I will say; One of my first thoughts throughout this experience is that, "We are the cure we've been looking for!" Our health is our responsibility. Though it sure doesn't hurt to have some great surgeons and doctors.



« Last Edit: February 04, 2025, 05:02:06 AM by Getback »

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Offline Eagler

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2025, 07:34:31 AM »
Glad to hear you are doing better Getback!

Your health is everything as you know more than most of us

Move if/when you can..exercise is paramount

Best of luck with the new lifestyle sir!

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Offline Maverick

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2025, 09:45:44 AM »
Yep getting a cancer diagnosis will quite literally scare the crap out of you. The first experience I had with it was with my Mother. Later on my Wife and then me, twice. I've pretty much run out of organs I can live without now.

I started exercising after the kindey cancer. To me I didn't bounce back like I thought I should have. My urologist that removed the football size tumor thinks I'm nuts for that as he damn near cut me in half to get it out. My BP is good, my cholesterol is great and I am working to lose weight. While I was not morbidly obese I was up to 230 and at 5'10" that was too much. I'm down to 215 and hitting a plateau there. I'd love to get back to the 185 I was at when I got back from my first Army school in 76.

You are doing all the right things so keep at it. Are you having issues with constipation since you have cut out virtually all fiber?
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Offline xanax

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2025, 11:08:27 AM »
I ate more meat and no starchy vegetables. There went some of my favorites, potatoes, corn, carrots, and peas. I started eating spinach, mustard greens, and similar items. Three months later I went back to the doctor for another A1C test. It had dropped from 14.7 to 6.3. My doctor had written a note to herself to prescribe me Insulin. She tore the note up in front of me. For those who don't know it Insulin will actually make you fat. Dr. Fung said I can make anyone fat, just give them Insulin.

Good on ya! Even the ADA and other organizations for diabetes are starting to realize you can reverse and send diabetes into remission by cutting out the carbs. Rather than "managing" diabetes, you can lower that A1C to normal levels under 5.7% and be done with the meds and be diabetes free. The side benefit is the weight loss and reduction of all the inflammation caused by the over consumption of glucose.

The food pyramid is a lie designed by big food and big pharmaceutical companies. They got to sponsor the studies and they got to be the big lobbyists. Then they got to tell us what we should be eating.

Keep up the great work, Getback. It's never too late to feel good again and you're doing it in spades.
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Offline Getback

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #4 on: February 04, 2025, 11:41:09 AM »
Yep getting a cancer diagnosis will quite literally scare the crap out of you. The first experience I had with it was with my Mother. Later on my Wife and then me, twice. I've pretty much run out of organs I can live without now.

I started exercising after the kindey cancer. To me I didn't bounce back like I thought I should have. My urologist that removed the football size tumor thinks I'm nuts for that as he damn near cut me in half to get it out. My BP is good, my cholesterol is great and I am working to lose weight. While I was not morbidly obese I was up to 230 and at 5'10" that was too much. I'm down to 215 and hitting a plateau there. I'd love to get back to the 185 I was at when I got back from my first Army school in 76.

You are doing all the right things so keep at it. Are you having issues with constipation since you have cut out virtually all fiber?

Surprisingly it's fiber that causes constipation. I had no fiber at all for a month and then made some allegedly diabetic baked beans. I became constipated and it hurt as I was not completely healed from the surgery. Humans just don't fully digest plants. Corn going in looks like corn coming out.

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Offline CptTrips

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #5 on: February 04, 2025, 11:43:44 AM »
On Tuesday, December 19, 2023, I was diagnosed with Diabetes.

I've stopped discussing nutrition with people for the same reasons I no longer discuss religion or politics.

But if I run into a fellow traveler, I'll compare notes. ;)

Over the years I've tried to get more paleo\keto.  The further I go the better I feel. 
I finally just did a 1.5 yr stint on 99% Carnivore and NEVER felt better. 
All my blood markers across the board improved drastically.  BP, glucose, A1C, cholesterol were all getting worrisome at one point.  Perfect after 3 mo of Carnivore.  So initial arthritis I was starting to get in back, knees and hands, gone.  Lots of headaches, gone.  Sleep quality much improved.  The effects took about 3 months to manifest, but were surprising and awesome.

Then real life got in the way and I've gone through a couple of years of chaos and having to travel alot and be in environments where it was near impossible to control my diet and menu and things kinda fell apart and I started eating like an American again and feeling like crap.

Now life is stabilized and I am getting back on the wagon and feeling much better.

I eat a mess of eggs and a little bacon in morning.

My only real cheats most of the time are 2 cups of black coffee and 1 slice of toast in the morning.  Life isn't worth living without at least 2 cups of black coffee. ;)  And my one slice of bread is in the morning so I have all day to burn it and at least it is a great vehicle to carry a big glop of Kerry-Gold butter.

Later lunch (Lupper?)  around 3-4pm of water, sea salt, ~1lb of animal flesh (mostly beef, sometimes fish, chicken, pork).  I try to have nothing else the rest of the day.

I occasional plan a cheat day but I find it's never as satisfying as I dream it's going to be.

I try and get in a 24hr fast once a month.

It drives me crazy when I know people having problems I think that diet would help with, but people get so locked into what they told them in the 70's was healthy or what Dr. Oz tells them.

I say look, just give it a full honest try for 3 mo.  Run all your panels before and after and comeback and tell me it didn't improve your health drastically.  3 months is not going to kill you.   Even Veganism wouldn't kill you in 3 months.  Just try it honestly 3 mo. and see how it works for you.  I'm never known anyone who gave it a honest try who wasn't amazed at the results.

The only problem I've ever had is getting my electrolytes dialed-in.    I take some supplements to make sure I get proper electrolytes and micro nutrients.  mainly because I don't like organ meat very much.

$0.02.


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Offline Getback

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #6 on: February 04, 2025, 11:45:54 AM »
Good on ya! Even the ADA and other organizations for diabetes are starting to realize you can reverse and send diabetes into remission by cutting out the carbs. Rather than "managing" diabetes, you can lower that A1C to normal levels under 5.7% and be done with the meds and be diabetes free. The side benefit is the weight loss and reduction of all the inflammation caused by the over consumption of glucose.

The food pyramid is a lie designed by big food and big pharmaceutical companies. They got to sponsor the studies and they got to be the big lobbyists. Then they got to tell us what we should be eating.

Keep up the great work, Getback. It's never too late to feel good again and you're doing it in spades.

The ADA is corrupt. They had a Black Woman doctor who reversed diabetes by cutting carbs and posted about it. They fired her. She settled out of court for a million dollars. The Director of Nutrition at the ADA is a morbidly obese woman who was recommending the divided plate. One person responded said she looked like she's been taking her own advice.

Thank you all for the encouragement!

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Offline Getback

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #7 on: February 04, 2025, 12:08:07 PM »
CptTrips that is the most honest assessment I have ever seen. You may want to search "No Carb Life" on YouTube.

As I said before my job is to take people to Dialysis. None of these people are doing the right thing. One guy is going blind but takes sugary soda to dialysis with him. One lady that is missing fingers and a leg told how good this donut shop is. It's heartbreaking and tragic.

I could have written a book. However, most of you seem very aware. I like that. I like hearing about your experiences too.

CptTrips, like you I try to refrain from conversations about diet. People have been brainwashed, and I was among them. I've heard nurses tell me that I was doing it wrong and that I need vegetables. Then I tell them I've lost 128 lbs. They go quiet.

Exercise is great! I'll be off to the park in a few minutes to walk and then to the Wellness Center. I will tell you this, you cannot out exercise a bad diet! I've tried. Everything starts with nutrition.

I actually cut out 3 items: carbs, sugar, and seed oils. It takes up to 3 years for the inflammation from seed oils to leave the body. It's a forever chemical.


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Offline CptTrips

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #8 on: February 04, 2025, 12:13:19 PM »
I actually cut out 3 items: carbs, sugar, and seed oils. It takes up to 3 years for the inflammation from seed oils to leave the body. It's a forever chemical.

Yeah.  No Frankenstein oils for me either.

Kerry-Gold or,  I make my own ghee, I strain and save my bacon grease, I have a jar of beef tallow.

Toxic, psychotic, self-aggrandizing drama queens simply aren't worth me spending my time on.

Offline Getback

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #9 on: February 04, 2025, 12:20:14 PM »
Yeah.  No Frankenstein oils for me either.

Kerry-Gold or,  I make my own ghee, I strain and save my bacon grease, I have a jar of beef tallow.

You are definitely aware!

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Offline xanax

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #10 on: February 04, 2025, 12:32:18 PM »


I eat a mess of eggs and a little bacon in morning.

My only real cheats most of the time are 2 cups of black coffee and 1 slice of toast in the morning.  Life isn't worth living without at least 2 cups of black coffee. ;)  And my one slice of bread is in the morning so I have all day to burn it and at least it is a great vehicle to carry a big glop of Kerry-Gold butter.

Later lunch (Lupper?)  around 3-4pm of water, sea salt, ~1lb of animal flesh (mostly beef, sometimes fish, chicken, pork).  I try to have nothing else the rest of the day.

I occasional plan a cheat day but I find it's never as satisfying as I dream it's going to be.

I try and get in a 24hr fast once a month.

It drives me crazy when I know people having problems I think that diet would help with, but people get so locked into what they told them in the 70's was healthy or what Dr. Oz tells them.


The only problem I've ever had is getting my electrolytes dialed-in.    I take some supplements to make sure I get proper electrolytes and micro nutrients.  mainly because I don't like organ meat very much.

$0.02.

Black coffee ain't cheating or hurting unless caffeine is bothering the bladder or something. I drink 3 cups in the morning before noon.

I quit carbs years ago. My labs are excellent and I feel fantastic at 56. I still mountain bike and road bike like a fiend, golf, play softball and pickle ball. Had to finally give up skiing due to multiple previous knee injuries but it's too expensive anyways.

The greatest benefit to me is the dramatic reduction of inflammation. It's amazing when all those maladies I would just put up with-the aches, pains etc. just up and disappeared after a few weeks without carbs.

Electrolytes: I drop a packet of LMT brand electrolytes into a glass of water every few days and take a B-12 tab daily.

I splurge and do a ribeye once a week....just enough to not get sick of them. And my smoker is rarely idle. I'm prepping a pork tenderloin in a few minutes for a nice 6 hour smoke.

I gave up trying to tell people too. Lately, the word is getting out though.

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Offline CptTrips

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #11 on: February 04, 2025, 12:35:59 PM »
You are definitely aware!

On the constipation issue, part of that is initially people may also be having electrolyte issues that interfere with things.

Also, people might THINK they are constipated, but they are not. 

Unlike a lot of the plant material that the body rejects,  pretty much 100% of that ribeye is completely and totally absorbed by the body and used for fuel.  On Carnivore there is just a lot less rejected material the body needs to eliminate.  You volume is just going to naturally decrease.  That is not constipation.  That is a sign the body accepted all of what you gave it as useful fuel.  That reduces wear and stress on your gut systems.  You'll still have some because the body is constantly eliminating old blood and intestinal lining cells and old lymph fluids. 

I have a friend who's health is crap.  He has various bowl an autoimmune issues.  He has had a quad by-pass and he tells me my diet is going to kill me.  He is one of those whole food plant based diet people.  Won't even give Carnivore try 3 months as a science experiment.   Hmmmmm OK.  Everyone has to choose their own path.   :rofl




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Offline Eagler

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #12 on: February 04, 2025, 12:41:32 PM »
Yeah.  No Frankenstein oils for me either.

Kerry-Gold or,  I make my own ghee, I strain and save my bacon grease, I have a jar of beef tallow.

They had to do something with all of that engine oil...



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Offline xanax

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #13 on: February 04, 2025, 12:43:32 PM »
The ADA is corrupt. They had a Black Woman doctor who reversed diabetes by cutting carbs and posted about it. They fired her. She settled out of court for a million dollars. The Director of Nutrition at the ADA is a morbidly obese woman who was recommending the divided plate. One person responded said she looked like she's been taking her own advice.

Thank you all for the encouragement!

Absolutely corrupt, no argument here. At least they now have added this in their website after all the backlash:

"People with type 2 diabetes should be considered in remission after sustaining normal blood glucose (sugar) levels for three months or more, according to a new consensus statement from the American Diabetes Association® (ADA), the Endocrine Society, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes and Diabetes UK."

Quite remarkable and money down the drain for big pharma and big fooda if people want to reverse the disease rather than manage it via drugs and flawed diet.
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Offline xanax

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Re: Everything Starts With Nutrition
« Reply #14 on: February 04, 2025, 12:51:18 PM »
Yeah.  No Frankenstein oils for me either.

Kerry-Gold or,  I make my own ghee, I strain and save my bacon grease, I have a jar of beef tallow.

The Kerry-Gold with the sea salt added has been a boon of me, good stuff. I need to start saving my bacon grease more.

There's only one thing better than a bacon wrapped scallop......bacon wrapped bacon!
New cpid: Dreadly
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The Damned
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