Living life outside the fence!
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Oat milk. Who knew?
A couple months ago, I had my annual physical and labs. Everything looked great with one exception.
My A1C is up to a level that is has gone past the mild concern of past years. While not officially “diabetic,” it’s higher than it should be, and increased since last year.
As I approach the last year of being in my 50’s, my health is a priority. The A1C level is a blotch on an otherwise healthy report.
My daughter Mindy didn’t accept the report well. As a medical professional, she “gently” encouraged me to get that under control. I concurred that cutting down on sugars would help. She educated me that it was really about carbohydrates. I never really knew the difference. What Mindy taught me was that all carbs are sugars. This caused me to do a full review, and the results surprised me.
The main culprits were foods that had become staples for me. Let’s start with breakfast – cereal, waffles, sweetened creamer and oat milk are all carb bombs. Oat milk! Turns out my favorite non-dairy beverage packs a punch with carbs and sugar as compared to the very skinny unsweetened almond milk, which has none. No wonder I like oat milk more!
Lunch piled on with foods like Mac and Cheese, bread, and a variety of quick microwave “healthy” meals that oozed carbs.
Throw in some dinner that often included French Fries, more bread, and a glass of wine and I was basically living on carbs.
The good news I learned was that my libations are very carb friendly (I drink them neat), so I had that going for me.
As it turned out my A1C was more negatively impacted by oat milk than by whiskey!
I made a quick and dramatic change of diet. While not eliminating carbs, they were reduced by about 80% or more. Barb and I started doing more advance and strategic planning about what was going in our mouths. The carbs had to be reduced and it had to be done now.
The results?
In less than two weeks, I dropped six pounds. I felt better and had more energy. While I kept some carbs available as treats, my regular eating plan has changed significantly and I’m actually looking forward to checking my A1C in a few months to see the improvement.
In this week of Thanksgiving, it’s easy to be thankful for my wife and family, my career, my friends and colleagues, and my charmed life. However, it’s important to look deeper. I’m thankful for lab results that punched me in the face with a reality that I had over the course of a few years basically dismissed. I’m thankful because those results forced me to make changes that will ultimately improve my life even more.
What about you?
What are you thankful for that you’d have never guessed you would be?
My recommendation to you this week is to dig deeper into your gratitude bucket and find those gems that get overlooked. Tell your loved ones how thankful you are for them, but don’t leave out the valuable lessons that can go unnoticed. They are important, too.
Final thought: If you own your business, you are the most valuable asset to your company. Take care of yourself as if you were an athlete, because that’s what you really are. If you don’t own your business, but your career is important to your lifestyle, consider yourself the boss of you. The same concept applies to you. And even beyond your professional life, you are important to others. Make the effort to cut out whatever “sugar’ is impacting your life. You will be better for it.
On behalf of Barb and me, we wish you and your loved ones a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Keep chasing unleashed.
Quote of the Week:
“Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.”
~ Karl Barth (20th century Swiss Theologian)
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