Insulin requirements coming down. Eating delicious fruits you haven’t eaten in years. Feeling so much better mentally and physically, no longer feeling tired and plagued by joint pain.
It certainly sounds like a dream, but for Lara, the road to mastering her diabetes was one fraught with a ton of misinformation. Fortunately, Lara was persistent, and with a little research and a few changes to her life, she saw some huge changes. And now, in her words “the proof’s in the pudding” and she’s not going back.
Doing the Best With What You Have
At 44, Lara was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, though she would later learn that she’d been misdiagnosed. Despite her relatively active role as a full-time nurse, Lara tended to follow a mostly sedentary lifestyle – going to work, coming home, and not paying a ton of attention to her diet.
But when this diagnosis came through, Lara took it seriously. Like so many before her, she was recommended to switch to a low-carbohydrate keto diet and started running.
And like so many before her, the initial results were promising! She lost 30 pounds, ran her first ever half marathon, and has now run upwards of 20 since her diagnosis. But despite the fact that – according to her doctors – she was doing everything right, there was a curveball coming.
A Surprising Turn
For the next few years, Lara was doing better, but when she turned 49, her numbers all took a turn for the worse. As we mentioned above, Lara didn’t have type 2 diabetes. She had Late-onset Adult Diabetes (LADA), also sometimes known as type 1.5 diabetes.
Despite the fact that Lara had worked for years as a nurse, she had no idea this condition even existed, but once she did, she sought out an endocrinologist and got a C-peptide test at 50.
Realizing her efforts had been seemingly for naught was a big hit. Lara had thought her diabetes was under control, and now facing LADA, things started to take a bad turn. Her blood glucose levels were getting worse, she had to use more and more insulin, and she felt fatigued and sore.
Her low-carbohydrate diet wasn’t working – she was eating tiny amounts of foods that she didn’t like, missing the foods she loved, and she still felt miserable.
“There’s Got to Be A Better Way”
Lara refused to believe that this was going to be her lot in life, so she dug into the research, and started dipping her toes into vegan/vegetarian options. She learned from experts in the industry like Forks Over Knives, started to do her own “Meatless Monday”, and sought help from other vegan friends.
The true game-changer though, was when she found the Mastering Diabetes book. Seeing the results of thousands of people before her, Lara decided to go all in – switching entirely to a low-fat, plant-based, whole-food diet before her next doctor’s appointment, and waiting for the numbers.
And to her amazement, not only was she feeling healthier than ever, but her numbers were the best they’d been in years, and her insulin use started going down. It was then that Lara knew she’d found her solution.
Persistence Pays Off
Today, Lara is loving everything about her new lifestyle. She loves fruits, vegetables, minimally processed oats, and whole grains and feels better than ever.
Her insulin is down from 1.8 to an average of .9 (a 50% reduction), and her insulin-to-carb ratio is up from 1:6 to 1:25! In fact, her results were so amazing that Lara’s endocrinologist was inspired to change her own diet too.
And Not Just For Diabetes
And the best part about Lara’s results was that they weren’t just confined to her diabetes health. Lara had a long family history of high cholesterol and had been on statins since she was in her early 20s.
No matter what her diet had been to that point, her cholesterol had been around 200, reaching over 300 without her statins. Her doctors’ answer had always been to add more medication, but that had come at the cost of liver damage, and Lara had resigned herself to her cholesterol challenges.
But with her new diet and lifestyle, her cholesterol dropped from 200 down to 130 between just one appointment, and at the next, it was down to 120. Literally life-changing results.
An Extra Trick | Amla Green
And like many people in the Mastering Diabetes program, Lara also added one of the most powerful medicinal plants on the planet – amla, as a part of Amla Green.
Amla has some pretty amazing benefits for anyone, but it has even more impressive benefits for people living with diabetes or cardiovascular problems like high cholesterol. And with just a little scoop in her first cup of water in the morning, the results had Lara hooked.
Today, it’s an indispensable part of her routine, and she’s introduced all of her family members to it – who have started to show results themselves!
“Give A Plant-Based Diet a Try!”
From 200 cholesterol down to 130. An A1c from 7.1% down to 6.4%. 20 lbs and counting of healthy weight loss. Cutting insulin requirements in half. And feeling like your life has completely changed.
When Lara looked at the science, she knew that it was theoretically possible, but it was another thing entirely to live it. She keeps finding fruits that she hasn’t eaten in a while, fruits she wouldn’t eat on her old diet, and each one is a celebration!
People around have seen a difference in her energy, how she feels, how she looks – Lara calls herself a walking testimonial to the success of the Mastering Diabetes method.
And to anyone out there, she offers this advice – “Just give a plant-based diet a try! You don’t have to be a fancy cook, you don’t have to do it super fancy (though you can). But you’ll see a change in the numbers, and you’ll feel awesome!”
And if that sounds like something you might be interested in, keep listening! There's a reason that so many people are talking about the Mastering Diabetes Method – it really works.
We have a range of programs from group coaching to private coaching, which can all help you take control of your life.
In order to find out which option is best for you, we suggest booking a free discovery call. Simply click the link here and you’ll be directed to a page where you book a time that works for you and speak with a member of the Mastering Diabetes team!