Day of the Boar

If I'm going to stick to my new exercise and diet regimen to fend off diabetes as well as for general health, I'm going to need two things: a routine and positive feedback.

So far, the routine's come pretty quickly.  A few trips to the supermarket and some comparative nutrition shopping has got me on a daily menu of almost totally sugar-free and low-carb food. Plain Greek yogurt and berries for breakfast, leafy green salads for lunch, baked chicken breast or fish for dinner. Nuts and fresh fruit for snacks, black coffee and water as beverages.  My cupboards and fridge are now appropriately stocked and I'd actually have to venture out if I wanted to break my diet.

I was working my way toward the exercise routine even before the prediabetes prognosis came down. I now don't even have to push myself or think much to go outside every other day for my four-mile, 10,000-step walk.  I plan to gradually increase the distance and the frequency as the year progresses.

As for positive feedback, well, my fat-ass body still looks about the same to me. But since last July, I've been taking daily blood pressure readings every morning. Despite taking an angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB) for most of that time, my blood pressure has bounced all over the place, from normal to elevated and up to stage 1 and 2 hypertensive, and then back down again.  But since returning from Big Ears and pursuing my new diet and exercise in earnest, my blood pressure has been much lower, generally in the normal to elevated range.

To be more specific, last year my elevated blood pressure averaged 143/86. The doctor put me on the ARB meds, and after 8½ months, my blood pressure averaged 140/84 - a decrease, to be sure, but still higher than I wanted considering all those months of medication. I was convinced there was something going on in my body elevating my blood pressure rather than unblocked angiotensin receptors, but my doctor insisted the medication was working ("Look, the average is lower!"). 

But in the two weeks since starting the diet and exercise regiment, my blood pressure has averaged 128/77 and dropping.

Blood pressure is not an indicator of diabetes, but is an indicator that my diet and exercise are having a positive effect. It gives me motivation to stick with the new routines, and even to step them up to see if I can keep my blood pressure down. or even lower it further. No more pork or pizza, no more barbeque or beer, but who knows, after enough time, maybe I could tolerate the occasional indulgence. 

Maybe after a long enough period of conscientious eating and exercise, I might even be able to do away with the prescription drugs altogether. Now there's a goal!