The timeline goes something like this:
On an unspecified date in the late 1950s (I won’t get more specific to evade identity theft), I was born in a hospital in small-town Montana at 11 pounds, 12 and 1/4 ounces. Two weeks overdue — but still, that’s mighty big. Only recently did I learn that my mom had gestational diabetes when she carried me, & in fact my large birth weight was an indication of that.
Fast forward to about four years ago: my naturopath diagnosed me as being prediabetic.
Fast forward to just a little more than a month ago: Mom died, at age 76. Her death was not expected, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected either: she’d had health problems for many years stemming primarily from Type 2 diabetes.
Fast forward to December 21: at a winter solstice celebration at a friend’s house, I walked the labyrinth that had been laid out in an upstairs room, taking my feelings about Mom & her death in with me. (Walking a labyrinth is a sort of walking meditation; for more about them, see the Labyrinth Society’s page explaining what a laybrinth is.) There were, & are, a lot of feelings within me about my mom; but the one that seems to be having the most immediate effect in the Real World has to do with my health.
Two days later, on December 23 at the Natural Pantry, our local natural foods grocery store, I bought a book called How to Prevent and Treat Diabetes with Natural Medicine by Michael T. Murray, N.D. and Michael R. Lyon, M.D. On December 27, at Costco, I bought a glucose monitor, & only half-watched my family’s DVD viewing of “Madagascar” while I learned to use it. And since then, I’ve been reading other books about the glycemic index (GI), prediabetes & diabetes prevention, & related stuff, while simultaneously applying that knowledge to my diet & physical activity.
There’s a lot of recording one can do, & that for me is helpful to do. There’s the little diary that comes with the glucose monitor for recording blood glucose readings, there’s the food/exercise diary I downloaded for my Palm Tungsten T5 handheld computer, & now there’s this blog.
Addendum: It’s been pointed out to me that I don’t explain anywhere what terveys means. Well, it’s the Finnish word for “health.”
