I was looking through old photos today and found one from a camping trip from several years ago. I look miserable! I was miserable! I was so obese that I barely fit into my camp chair, my legs and feet were swollen and the skin on my lower legs was dark brown, red and even purple in patches. The skin on my lower legs was painful to touch and I worried constantly that I would develop ulcers that would not heal. My feet were constantly calloused and would crack and bleed no matter what I tried.
My blood sugars back then were considered “well controlled” as a Type 1 diabetic and my A1C’s were always around 6.5 to 7 which is considered good. My doctors were pleased and told me to keep doing what I was doing – “keep aiming for blood glucose of 140mg/dl”. They did suggest losing some weight – eat less fat and walk more! There was never any mention of reducing carbohydrates. I was still following the recommendations of 40 carbs per meal.
I was having daily blood glucose highs around 220-300 mg/dl and frequent sudden lows around 40 mg/dl. I was drinking 4-6 juice boxes per week to treat hypos. Digesting food was a struggle – I never could seem to get my digestive timing and insulin timing right. Doctors told me that I was still doing well and that I had a gastric delay and gastric insufficiency and that it probably would never improve. It was just something I would have to deal with. I had serious concerns about the future and worried that I would suffer the fate of so many other diabetics who had lost toes, feet, and even legs. It was a hopeless feeling.
Now I look at another photo of me taken this past June, after a year and a half on a ketogenic”Keto” diet. I have lost 128 lbs at this point and I am feeling great and my blood sugars are stable and within the normal range (70-100mg/dl) more than 90% of the day.
But the thing I notice most in the second photo – is the skin on my legs! My skin has improved tremendously. Changing my diet and eliminating carbs, vegetable oils, and reducing my insulin requirements is actually helping my body heal from the damage that had occurred from all those prior years.
The swelling is gone, the painful feeling in my skin is gone, no more petechiae (bleeding into the skin), the brown patches are nearly gone, (they just look like little freckles now instead of big dark patches) my callouses are gone and I have not had a split on my feet in well over a year now. It is an incredible transformation.
Feeding my body the right kinds of food -eliminating the majority of carbohydrates and reintroducing healthy fats has changed everything. It feels amazing and to look down and know that my body is healing from the inside out and that now, I have a much better chance at living out the rest of my life with all my toes and my feet.