It was Sunday when I started writing this blog entry, as I wanted to capture some thoughts about my progress. Friday saw my effort at fasting that technically started the evening before when I finished dinner at 6:30 on Thursday. I made it exactly 24 hours before eating again at 6:30 Friday night. This was, in so many ways, a magic day as I woke with a blood glucose level of 160, but by midday and then for the rest of Friday, my blood glucose never went over 120. Keep in mind that this was just seven days after my doctor’s appointment when my 2-hour-after-lunch reading was 239.

In my Wednesday entry, I noted that I was adding a fasting day, but over the course of the next few days, I was learning a ton about the current theories and amazing results that are coming out of the work of Dr. Jason Fung and Dr. Valter Longo. Dr. Fung is a proponent of fasting, and he seems particularly fond of intermittent fasting, now known as IF. Dr. Longo, on the other hand, has been exploring the Fasting Mimicking Diet, of which he is the pioneer. It’s incredible how far my knowledge has grown about the health benefits of allowing the body to do what used to be a normal process, that is, allowing it to go hungry.

What’s important here is that the day after my fast, my blood glucose after eating breakfast was 96; after lunch was 103, and after dinner was an astonishing 89. Mind you, my restricted caloric intake was just under 1,200 calories for the day, with only 23 grams of carbohydrates finding their way in.

Another big win for me this week after learning my diabetes was running out of control was about the health benefits of bone broth. I was looking for tips about fasting when I came across a video titled “Bulletproof Bone Broth: Quick Recipe for After Fasting” by Thomas DeLauer. The rabbit hole opened, and while this bone broth sounded intriguing, I wanted to know more, and that brought me to Dr. Kaayla Daniel and a video titled “Bone Broth and Health: A Look at the Science.” Cell health and anti-inflammation are topics the diabetic should be aware of, and this got me curious enough to head to Whole Foods for some marrow bones to start a pot of bone broth.

While I’ve been counting calories this week, I’ve come to learn that this is frowned upon in some circles and appears to be mostly irrelevant. I needed to count them, though, as a bit of side knowledge while monitoring amounts, which was something I didn’t do back when I was first diagnosed with diabetes. Back then, I was content (not really, but…) to quit products made with flour, sugar, potatoes, and white rice. Then, by splitting meals with my wife and not paying attention to much of anything else, my diabetes started to come under control fast. Being creatures of habit, like I said in my blog post a couple of days ago, I let some of the glucose offenders back into my routine. Seeing the relationship between portion size and calories gave me a better idea about the amount of food I can reasonably eat, remain energized, and hope to pull my glucose level down rapidly. It worked.

So now I’m here trying to sift through a ton of information regarding the continuation of eating healthier, fasting, and wondering why the healthcare and food industries are apparently reluctant to push the 100 million Americans with pre-and full-on type 2 diabetes to start a serious examination of alternatives rather than taking the path of maximum suffering. I can assure you that after witnessing 40 years of fad diets come and go, I’m skeptical of this fasting, calorie reduction, carbohydrate reduction, and exercise regimen. While it seems reasonable to eat healthy meals and less of them, I’ve been conditioned, like so many other Americans, to the idea of prosperity through abundance and happiness through gluttony.

I’m not writing this for anybody else but myself because someday I might need to remind myself where my mind was when I was rational enough to know how to deal with this horrible affliction and, if need be, to Google “Diabetic Gangrene” for images that remind me of what I’m trying to avoid while doing my best to maintain the ability to get out and enjoy life and my time with my wife.