Now I Know I Am One of Them
More than 29 million Americans have diabetes. One in four don’t know they have it. Now I know I am one of them.
As an 18-year-old, I learned a valuable lesson when I attempted to cut costs and pumped leaded gas into my first car — a car that required unleaded gas only. It did not take long before I realized the gravity of my error. The car sputtered and stalled repeatedly until I finally pulled into my family’s driveway. Mr. Jones, our family neighbor for more than 35 years, watched as I came to a stall and said, “Eric, you put bad gas in your car.” He went on to tell me that the fuel I give my vehicle will determine how well it would run and how long it will last.
I thought of that important lesson when I learned I had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. My A1C level, measuring my blood sugar, was an unbelievable 17; this dangerous number is three times the normal level of what is considered healthy. Let me put this into perspective: Not only was I placing the wrong fuel in my body, I was pouring sugar into the gas tank. A visit to my eye doctor revealed that the sugar had reached my eyes and the pressure caused my vision to blur. Left unchecked, diabetes can have a devastating impact on your body and can lead to blindness, heart disorder, kidney failure, limb amputation, as well as the possibility of lifelong dialysis. My internist immediately placed me on two medications, and one doctor who I visited informed me that I need to go on insulin injection right away, which I refused.
You may be asking yourself: What does diabetes have to do with fuel? My answer is everything. Just as gas is to a car, the food we eat is our fuel. The quality and type of that food will determine how well our bodies run. As Hippocrates, the father of medicine, stated: “Let food be thy medicine.”
Although the diabetic trait can be handed down from your parents (my mother is diabetic), the reality is that diabetes is a dietary disease. We cannot simply take a pill and think that our diabetes will disappear. Far too often, the treatments start out with pills, but before you know it, pills give way to insulin injections, and insulin injections are the gateway to amputations, dialysis, and eventually death. If we want to get diabetes under control, we have to get our diets under control.
At that moment, I decided to take control of what fuel I allowed inside of my body. By doing so, I learned that one of the most important roles in overcoming our diabetes is the one we, the patients, play ourselves. It was clear to me that I had to make up my mind: Did I love that large piece of chocolate cake washed down with coffee and cream more than I loved my life? The answer was no.
Immediately, I began reading everything I could get my hands on that examined treatments and even cases of reversing the disease. The amount of information out there can be daunting, but I started to see some common denominators that everyone agreed on. One was that the over-consumption of processed foods and sugar was an egregious, aggravating factor to the disease.
After doing all this research, I decided a major lifestyle change was in order. You’ll notice that I did not say “go on a diet,” because I made the decision that I would change how I was living. This lifestyle change included removing all processed foods and sugar from my diet. As Brooklyn borough president, I constantly attend dinners and gatherings, many of which have a lot of fried, rich, and starchy foods. I stopped eating at these. Instead, my daily diet became plant-based with occasional fish for protein. I also began making my own cereal and bread using chia, flax, and hemp seeds with a measured amount of fruit. After learning about “glycemic index” and “glycemic load,” I began to understand how different types of vegetables and fruits can impact my blood sugar.
Three weeks after the modification of my “fuel,” there was a dramatic change in my health. My vision cleared up and my sugar levels began to normalize. The doctor took me off one of the medicines I was prescribed, and we will look at my next blood sugar test (in three months) to determine if I have to remain on a low dosage of Metformin.
I have never felt better and more in control of my health. I am not hungry or irritable because of a lack of food. In fact, I am just the opposite. I am now actually eating real food and not the food-like items that I consumed before. A helpful documentary for me was “Forks Over Knives,” a 2011 film that deserves a viewing from everyone. It is my goal to show other Brooklynites how they, too, can take control of their wellness. Brooklyn has one of the highest populations of individuals affected by this dietary disease, and many are not aware.
It is my mission to show fellow Brooklynites that food can be our medicine, both through my ongoing “Cut the Salt, Curb the Sugar” campaign as well as forthcoming public health initiatives.
I wish my neighbor, Mr. Jones, who taught me the important lesson about placing the right gas into my car, would have taken the same advice about the fuel he put inside of his body. While writing this article, my mom called me to tell me that Mr. Jones had passed away…because of complications from diabetes.
