Uta Sievers's Page

I am a beginner when it comes to my body. I never thought that anything was wrong with me, nothing ever really hurt very much so I thought I must be doing fine. When I got diagnosed with Type 1.5 (LADA), after the shock etc., I started changing my lifestyle (it's a long process) and at the moment, it seems that for the first time in my life, I know how it feels to be healthy... ironically.

For that lifestyle change, I got some good ideas from "The Spectrum" by Dean Ornish but those were just the basics which I tried to apply creatively.

So - for the first time in my life, I am doing something that could be called exercise: I walk to work one or two mornings a week (1 hour). I am also doing something that could be called relaxation or meditation: I do yoga in a group twice a week. And I eat the way I always knew I was supposed to eat: organic food, mostly raw, wholegrain, water. I still don't know how to cook (I never have) but throwing together a salad doesn't seem like such a boring thing anymore.

The part that I most enjoy is actually *finding* the kind of food I consider healthy - the right wholegrain bread (100%), the organic vegetables, the occasional organic meat. It's the kind of "hunt" that gets me a lot more excited than clothes shopping!

My levels of everything have been steadily improving, so I figure right now I'm at the good end of my honeymoon phase. My fasting bloodsugar has gone down from 258 when I was diagnosed to about 70 most mornings, My A1C went from 11.2 to 7.6 in the first month and should be around 5 now (haven't go the last results yet). I take 3 units of Lantus at 11pm now, down from an inital 5 (first month), then 4 (second month). Plus 500mg Metformin at every meal. And I have started putting on weight again, after an exhilarating loss over the 6 months before diagnosis (I was truly happy at first, not knowing the reason...). I had to buy a new pair of jeans and it's the only one that doesn't fall down to my ankles when I run to catch the bus! My cholesterol levels were also really low, so I have made a real effort to eat fat. Sounds weird, doesn't it?

However,,, diabetes is what I have, not who I am, so here is "something else" about me: I like languages, books, organic food, Rome (I LOVE Rome), the Jesuits, public transportation, cappuccino, archeology, my job, un-dogmatic Catholicism, British English, social justice, psychology, migrants, the sea. (tbc)

Oh, and I loved this video! (found it on this page)

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