Sometimes, the road of life isn’t as straight and even as you’d like it to be. My road has a bend in it that I have been ignoring for a little while. It is time to make the turn, for my health’s sake.
When I was expecting daughters two and three, I had gestational diabetes. Both times it went away as soon as the girls were delivered. Since then, my doctors have gently reminded me that if I don’t take care of myself, the diabetes could return. Here it is, 23 years later, and the warning is a little more urgent.
I try to get in for my yearly physicals in the fall, after harvest is complete. This past fall, we were fostering a little guy, which meant I put off going in. That may have turned out to be a blessing. A few weeks before my appointment, I was noticing some things were different, and not in a good way. Turns out, I have two out of three issues that accompany metabolic syndrome. Combine that with the history of gestational diabetes, and I am considered pre-diabetic. It is time to admit that I am not invincible – as painful as that may be to my ego.
The treatment for this little bend in my road is easy and difficult at the same time. My prescription is to move myself up on my priority list, and exercise a minimum of 30 minutes every day. I now watch my food portions as well, and have cut certain extras out of my diet for the most part. The goal is to lose weight through portion control and exercise, and drop my glucose and triglyceride numbers back down to where they should be. Sounds easy enough, but the week I was diagnosed, we had 8 graduation receptions to attend. Nothing like having your resolve tested right away!
I have been on this journey for just over a month now, and I feel great. I am getting to where fitting in exercise has become a priority over watching TV or catching up on social media, and I’m not constantly worried about what I can and cannot eat when I go out to a restaurant. I’ve lost some weight, and am confident I will hit the goals I can control by my 3 month checkup. The only unknown is how my blood test will be.
So, you may see more postings about exercise, eating frustrations (looking at all the fried foods out there that are calorie bombs, but oh, so tasty!), and other things I encounter on this little bend in my road. And, hopefully, you will be seeing a smaller, healthier version of me this fall.
Share this:
This post resonated with me for a couple of reasons…
I’m at that age where things are catching up to me as well and I have been doing my best to beat the same outcome I know is coming, just as you’re fighting it back now. One thing that really keeps me on track is having a dog that needs walking. It’s just not as fun going for walks alone – although taking a camera does help a LOT, and I can highly recommend that too if you don’t have someone/dog to tag along with you!
You’re very courageous to post these kinds of personal struggles, but it’s helpful to others who run across your blog, even if you’ll never know it. Kudos for that!
Another reason I stopped and focused on this post was the graphic and message you added about turning with the road.
The message is profound and the meaning can be ‘bent’ to so many aspects of life it isn’t funny! I agree, if we don’t take notice of the direction things, like the road we’re on, then we can definitely take a hard landing. My personal journey – and posts on my own blog, illustrate just that. Well, not only the hard landing, but the resultant lesson – we watch the path more carefully now… and in fact this very week noticed the ‘road was turning’ and we’d better turn with it! Seriously, makes me wish we could fly, and get out of that aspect to life…
.
Thank you for your comment. I really appreciate it! You are right…you never know who will run across your blog, and what impact your words may have on them. Wishing you well as you follow the bends in your own road!