The Change That Changes Everything, Part 4
Carole is about the most un-kooky person I know. While I don’t know all of her opinions or practices on diet and “alternative healthcare” and natural things—I never have—I do know that my impression of her has always been that she is scientific, she is methodical, she is “medical,” and “she don’t mess around.” She is no-nonsense, and she dismisses out of hand—quickly—anything that smacks of quackery. (I, on the other hand, have been secretly in the closet for years with things that many would consider wacky—chiropractic medicine, home birth, essential oils, skipping the circumcision and vaccinations for my children, homeschooling.)
But we’re not talking about me right now. We’re taking about Carole, and she is not any of those things. She is reasonable and conventional, and she was reluctantly trying this eating plan because she figured, “What have I got to lose?” Like me, I think she was curious to see what—if anything—would happen. I couldn’t escape the fact that I trusted my friend Gloria and her daughter, Rachel, and I knew they weren’t lying or even exaggerating about the benefits they'd experienced. Much as Carole wanted to doubt this whole thing, she knew and trusted me, and she knew the drastic changes I’d experienced eating this way were real.
So, the next morning (after the steak dinner), Carole and her husband began this new way of eating. Doug, the diabetic, tested his blood sugar and took his insulin as usual. They ate a full day (of berries and vegetables and legumes, presumably) and went about their lives. The next morning, Day 2 (after only one full day of eating this way), Doug took his blood sugar reading as usual, and it was really low, almost dangerously so. So he took only half of his regular dose of insulin and went about the rest of his day eating the new way. The next morning, Day 3—remember, at this point, they've eaten this way for only two full days—his blood sugar was again almost dangerously low. (And remember, Doug took only half a dose of insulin yesterday!) He became concerned and decided to call his doctor and 'fess up about what they were doing, and ask about his insulin. They told him to just stop taking it, if his blood sugar was no longer high, and to give them a call back if his blood sugar readings went back up. So, since Day 3—after only two days of eating this way—Doug has been off of insulin for the first time in 15 years.
Believe me, I know that sounds like complete BS. I get it. If I heard me telling this story as a stranger, I'd think it was a gimmick and that I was selling something. And totally making up these "miraculous" and "magical" results. But I'm not. You'll just have to trust me on that. Doug, diagnosed with diabetes 25 years ago and taking insulin for 15 years, was totally off of his insulin on Day 3 of this way of eating.
It's easiest to tell you about it the same way I discovered it, which was over text exchange with Carole on 9/24/21:
Me: How's it going? Seriously, I'm dying to know if you're sticking with it and if your pain is improving...
Carole: We are midway through Week 3. Doug has been off of insulin since Day 3. His blood sugar isn't perfect, but it isn't terrible either. Every day he thanks me for saving his life.
Me: And you? Noticing any improvements for you yet?
Carole: I feel great, never hungry, tendon pain mostly gone, no IBS issues at all, Zero. Incredible after 2 decades. (Carole had confessed to me during our lunch that day, that she herself had suffered from terrible digestive issues, including digestive pain and unpredictable diarrhea, for the past twenty years. She never went anywhere without a spare change of clothes in her car, which she often had to use. All of those issues have gone away for her since this switch, just as they have for another friend, Pete.)
Me: I KNOW!! It really is unbelievable to me!
Carole: It's insane. Our diet is, amazingly, even more restrictive than yours, though.
Me: I know. I thought of that! Can he have any grains of any kind?
Carole: Extremely limited (1/8 C). Also no fruit except berries.
Me: Berries are my favorite fruit by far! I'm glad I was willing to seem like a kook that day as I vulnerably shared the weirdness! LOL
Carole: I'm grateful.
Me: I really wasn't setting out to have ANY "converts"! Honest!! LOL
And four days later, on 9/28/21:
Me: How are y'all doing?
Carole: Great. You?
Me: Chugging along. It's getting easier and a little more natural/intuitive (to cook this way).
Carole: I feel like we turned a corner in Week 3 where all of a sudden, it didn't feel oppressively hard.
Me: I felt that way, too! It was really overwhelming for me at first. At least two weeks, maybe three, of feeling it was just way too much. Now it's becoming more natural and intuitive. Still can't think about “forever and ever” and never having the old foods again. I just think about what I can have, and eat this way each day, and the days go by. We feel great! That helps! Are you still thinking in terms of three months, or will you just eat this way for the foreseeable future? I am the latter, I think. Can't think of going back to that pain voluntarily!
Carole: We said 3 months and then reevaluate, but right now I don't see any reason we would stop.
Me: That's how I feel, too. Isn't that crazy? Just like that, our lives are totally changed! LOL
Carole: Becky [her daughter] came over this weekend, saw my kitchen, and said it looks like a health food store! LOL
Me: How's your pain?
Carole: No pain. You?
Me: None! (WHAT?!!) I still can't believe it.
Carole: It is genuinely hard to believe that this simple solution is all it took.
Me: It makes me rather furious about the state of "health"care in our country...
Carole: Yes!!!
Me: I have spent tens of thousands of dollars in tests and procedures and pills over the past dozen or so years, with little relief. And this stupidly easy shift in diet has me pain-free with high energy in a matter of days?! WTH is THAT?!
Carole: I wish some doctor had told us about this when Doug was first diagnosed, before he spent 25 years as a diabetic and 15 years on insulin.
Me: It is infuriating. And not the least of which is the kooky natural people being right! LOL (And I put myself kinda loosely in the kooky natural category, and share my fake scorn with all affection!)
Carole: LOL I think we're both firmly in the kooky natural camp at this point
Me: Yes, I meant that I was "loosely" in that category before. Now I feel like the poster child! It's a little embarrassing, really, when I hear some of the things that come out of my mouth. But I can't not share it if it comes up! It's too life-changing and effective! Did you watch the Clint Paddison TED Talk? The Game Changers on Netflix? Evie [my daughter] had us watch the latter a couple of years ago. I watched politely and then secretly rolled my eyes inside and just put to rest the little internal voice that said, "Hunh. Wonder if I should look into that at all?" But it was just too outside of everything I'd ever heard about health and healthy eating, so I never thought about it again until I found us back here again this year.
And that was our conversation. Carole and I met again for lunch about two weeks later, when Carole was a little over two months into this way of eating. She had lost 30 pounds, has no IBS issues, her pain is entirely gone, and her diabetic husband has been off of insulin since Day 3.
If you're thinking, "What?! How can this be?!" you're thinking the same thing as both of us.
So far, I have personal friends who no longer suffer from any of the symptomatology of their discomforts, disorders, and diseases, the list of which is growing by the day: rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, IBS, migraines, depression, and chronic debilitating pain, so far.
We've also collectively lost hundreds of pounds, without trying, and without ever being hungry—in any way—for even a moment. My friend Rachel says that the weight loss will be steady, though not necessarily in a straight line, until one day it will just stop. You will continue eating the exact same way, in the exact same quantities, but you will level out and no longer lose anymore weight. She refers to it as your body's "base weight," and she says it is something your body chooses for you (i.e., you don't choose it), usually right around the weight you were in high school. (Her mother, Gloria, went from a size 10 or 12 to a size 2, then leveled off and has remained there for several years now.) My husband and I are experiencing the same thing. So far I have lost 40 pounds, and it hasn't stopped yet. The amount of food I eat is obscene. And still the pounds drop off, steadily, week by week.
I really do feel like anyone who has any sort of physical complaint whatsoever has absolutely nothing to lose by giving this way of eating a try. You never know! If we're any indication, this way of eating can help improve lots of different ailments.
Read Part 5, Getting Started with Only Notes from a Phone Call (and a Word About the Weight Loss Piece)
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Start the story at the beginning with Part 1.
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