My name is Fozail Raja and I am a diebetic. I would like to share my story with you. Diabetes runs in my family, so as I was approaching 40, I started to ask the doctors during my yearly tests to order an A1C test for me. At first, all was good, and then it happened. There I was, sitting at the doctor’s when he broke the news to me that I was pre-diabetic and I needed to watch my sugar. Since my twenties, I always worked and tried to stay in shape, so I knew genetics were to blame. So, I told the doctor I would watch my diet for three months and then do a test again.
A couple of months into this, one day, I thought, why wait to go back to the doctor? Let’s just buy a glucose monitor and check my sugar. I still remember that night, I had just eaten a meal with some white bread, and I did the test; to my surprise, my sugar was over 400 mg/dL! At first, I thought something was wrong with the monitor; I then checked my spouse’s sugar, and even though she had the same meal, her reading was under 100 mg/dL. And there you go, that’s where this all started.
Another factor to keep in mind is that before this, for a couple of years, my stress levels were high because of my job, and to this day, I still feel that if that was not the case, I probably would not have been diagnosed with diabetes till later some time. Everyone told me those types of sugar levels could send you to the hospital, and they inquired how I felt at the time, and my answer was that I felt my usual, which was kinda tired all the time because of the hours I was putting into work. So, of course, back to the doctor; as you know, they always want to put you on meds. I believe my A1C at the time was 7.5. I told the doctor to please give me three months, and I will try my best with exercise and diet to manage my diabetes. The doctor agreed!
I remember one of our friends who was a diabetic referred me to a nutritionist. The nutritionist provided a long list of food alternatives I could try. Even though I always ate healthier, e.g., I did not eat hamburgers and pizzas, but I did eat out at work. The good thing was that I was not big on sugar but loved bread. I wanted bread in every meal, and that was the main challenge. So, long story short, I remember going back to the doctor after three months, and my A1C came out to be at 6.5 mg/dL. The doctor was amazed by my progress. Of course, I was very happy, but after that day, I started not paying too much attention to my diet as if I had fixed the problem. So, of course, that was a big mistake.
I remember doing my A1C test about a year later, and my A1C was at 8.2, way higher than my first-time reading, so that day was a real eye-opener for me. This is something I cannot fix, but I can manage it. So, since then, managing diabetes has been a constant battle. I’ve had times when I did not pay attention to diet and exercise for one reason or another, and my A1C spiked to higher 6.x and sometimes even slightly above 7.0. But for the last couple of years, I have managed to keep it below 7 and around 6.4-6.7 ish, to be precise.
All that I have gone through inspired me to share my knowledge with the world, so I created this blog. Hopefully, you will find it helpful. Stay Healthy, and don’t let diabetes bring you down!
Couple of months into this one day I thought to myself that why wait to go back to the doctor, let’s just buy a glucose monitor and check my sugar. I still remember that night, I had just eaten a meal with some white bread and I did the test, to my surprise my sugar was over 400 mg/dL! At first I thought there was something wrong witht the monitor, I then checked my spouse’s sugar and even though she had the same meal her reading was under 100 mg/dL. And there you go, that’s where this all started.
Another factor to keep in mind is that prior to this, for a couple years my stress levels were really high because of my job and to this day I still feel that if that was not the case I probably will not have been diagnosed with diabetes till later some time. Everyone told me those type of sugar levels could send you to the hospital and they inquired how did I feel at the time and my answer was that I felt my usual, which was kinda tired all the time because of the hours I was putting into work. So ofcourse back to the doctor and as you know they always want to put you on meds. I believe my A1C at the time was 7.5. I told the doc that please give me 3 months and I will try my best with excersise and diet to manage my diabetes. The doctor agreed!
I remember one of our friend who was a diebetic referred me to a nutritionist. The nutritionist provided a long list of food alternatives I could try. Even though I always ate healthier, e.g I did not eat hamburgers and pizzas but I did eat out at work. Good thing was that I was not that big on sugar but I loved bread. I wanted bread in every meal and was the main challenge. So long story short, I remember going back to the doctor after 3 months and my A1C came out to be at 6.5 mg/dL. The doctor was amazed by my progress. Ofcourse I was very happy but after that day I started to not pay too much attention to my diet as if I had fixed the problem. So ofcourse that was a big mistake.
I remember doing my A1C test about a year after and my A1C was at 8.2, way hight than my first time reading, so that day was a real eye opener for me that this is something I cannot fix but I can definitely manage it. So since then managing diabetes has been constant battle. I’ve had times when I did not pay attention to diet and exercise for one reason or another and my A1C will to higher 6 and even slightly above 7. But for the last couple of years I have managed to keep it below 7 and around 6.4-6.7 ish to be precise.
All that I have gone thru inspired me to share my knowledge with the world and so I created this blog. Hopefully you will find it helpful. Stay Health and don’t let diabetes bring you down!