Unhealthy - How I Got There

March 14, 2009

As children and young adults, we don’t think much about how fragile our bodies really are and how diet, exercise, and stress affect us in the long run. Then, one day we wake up middle-aged and realize that we haven’t treated our bodies very well. We can’t go back and re-do our early years but we can take steps to ensure our remaining years are relatively healthy ones.

The early years

As a young child, I was so skinny that my mother took me to the doctor to find out if there was something wrong with me. I was quite healthy, the doctor said, just give it some time and I would fill out. I had so much energy back then — nothing would slow me down and I could eat all the junk food I wanted without so much as a roll of baby fat.

In my teen years, I was still very healthy but my diet grew progressively worse. I didn’t worry about it too much back then because it didn’t affect my outward appearance, and that’s all that mattered during the teen years.

The adult years

Over the next couple of decades, I went through periods where I tried to eat healthy and exercise but it never lasted very long. My weight fluctuated up and down but diets quickly became boring and I hated to exercise. I tried running, racketball, and walking but nothing ever stuck. By the time I was 30, I was overweight, eating way too much fat and sugar, and had a stressful job, a young child, and a new marriage. It never occurred to me that I was doing long term damage to my body. By 40, I had tried every diet on the planet and nothing worked for very long. I was tired of the roller coaster and frankly, just didn’t care.

This year

Fast forward to November 11, 2008 when I was at my heaviest weight ever, led a sedentary life style, had a terrible diet, and had no work-life balance. The morning started out pretty much like any other — get up, get ready for work, stop on the way to work for breakfast (that day it was a Chick-fil-A biscuit, hash browns, and a diet coke), and head in to the office. I parked my car in the garage and started walking to the office but something strange was happening. I was having a hard time walking in a straight line — like my equilibrium was off. I bumped into a couple of cars and walls but managed to make it in the building, up the stairs, and to my desk. I turned on my computer and tried to type in my password but my fingers wouldn’t type what my brain was thinking. Now I was scared. About that time, I got call from one of my co-workers; she said I sounded strange - slow, slurred speech like I was on drugs. Now I was really scared. I called my husband and asked him to come and get me — he thought I was having a stroke.

I spent the entire day in the emergency room subjected to every test they could think of. After an EKG, CAT scan, multiple ultrasounds, chest xrays, blood work, etc, I got both good news and bad news. The good news was that it did not appear I had a stroke. The bad news was that my blood sugar and blood pressure were dangerously high. The doctor said I was not at the point that he would officially diagnose me with diabetes and hypertension but that if I didn’t make changes in my lifestyle, I would be there soon.

November 11, 2008 was my wakeup call. Since that day, I have completely changed my eating and exercise habits. I’m nowhere near perfect but I’ve lost 28 pounds and lowered both my blood sugar and blood pressure to near normal levels. I still don’t like to exercise but I’m finding ways to work it in. And my new healthy eating is not a diet — it is a new way of life — and my husband and I are actually having fun with it.

The future

So, what’s different about this time? Why do I think I can stick with it now when I never have in the past? Simple - because I don’t want to spend my golden years sickly and dependent on medications and insulin. It doesn’t mean it is any easier this time around, just that I am more aware of what’s at stake.

I am telling my story and sharing my life changes in the hopes that someone else will read this and be inspired to make healthy changes before their life gets out of control.

Comments

• Search for:

• Cookbooks