My passion for nutrition came about in an interesting way. Like most people, I was trying to lose weight but I wanted to do it in a healthy way. I saw the advertisements for the Special K diet and I thought that it would be a great place to start! It encouraged eating multiple times a day, I already ate cereal on a daily basis, and I enjoyed their protein bars when I had tried them at my mom’s house. So, I decided to do the Special K challenge. That was in 2009.
Within four days of doing the challenge I started having all of the symptoms of pre-diabetes: blurred vision, tingling in the fingers and toes, muscle weakness, increased thirst and hunger. It was a terrifying time and I was so confused! I saw my doctor and my blood sugar levels were high, she asked me what I had changed because I had been tested for diabetes earlier in the year since I was overweight and everything came back normal. I told her about the diet. She told me to get off of it because of the amount of sugar in it.
That’s when I decided I needed to take charge of my health and what I was putting in my body. I wanted to lose weight, I knew that I needed to, because diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic diseases run in both sides of my family. My first objective was understanding diabetes since I experienced symptoms of high blood sugar first hand. That’s when I came across an independent documentary on YouTube called Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days. The documentary follows six people with diabetes, most of them Type 2, over 30 days as they go through a program at a holistic, raw food camp. I don’t want to spoil the video but in the end, those who finished the 30 days lowered their insulin intake requirements, including the man who has Type 1 Diabetes! I wasn’t sold on the idea of reversing it fully, but the prospect that through diet changes and exercise they could see dramatic health improvements, not weight improvements but HEALTH improvements, got me hooked on the idea of helping others improve their health through food and physical activity!
Fast forward to today and now I’m in college pursuing a degree to do just that while working a job that improves people’s health through diet and exercise! The topic of diabetes has stuck with me and it’s an area I want to focus on during my master’s program. A study, Lifestyle changes may reverse development of insulin resistance syndrome, posted in the Diabetes Journal supports the results seen in the Simply Raw documentary but the study took place over a year. They found that diet changes AND exercise is key to lowering insulin resistance and over time this combination could reverse insulin resistance. Another study, Effects of exercise and diet on chronic disease, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology also supports this idea of reducing insulin resistance through diet changes and exercise.
Studies like these give me hope for my future clients and patients as a registered dietitian. My main focus will be preventing chronic diseases like diabetes but to know that we can improve the lives and maybe even reverse insulin resistance leaves me feeling excited for the future.
References:
Roberts CK, Barnard RJ. Effects of exercise and diet on chronic disease. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2005 Jan; 98: 3-30. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15591300. April 19, 2015.
Torjesen PA, Birkeland KI, Anderssen SA, Hjermann I, Holme I, Urdal P. Lifestyle changes may reverse development of the insulin resistance syndrome. The oslo diet and exercise study: a randomized trial. Diabetes Care 1997 Jan; 20(1): 26-31. Retrieved from http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/20/1/26.short. April 19, 2015.