Friday, October 19, 2012
No, Dude Working at Vitamin Store...
Earlier this week I was shopping in a local franchise of a nationwide vitamin store chain, and the saleswoman there asked me about my tee shirt. I was wearing a "Team Diabetes" shirt from a marathon several years ago.
The vitamin store woman told me that her mother was a type 1 diabetic "Red Strider" and that they were going to do the Step Out Walk to Stop Diabetes together in Griffith Park on October 27th.
We had a nice talk about diabetes-related events. I told her I couldn't do the event in Griffith Park in LA because I was planning to go to the TCOYD Conference and Health Expo in San Diego. I told her about Insulindependence and some of the events I've been involved in with that organization.
So then the guy at the cash register said, "You know another web site you should check out is ..."
And he helpfully told me about a raw food diet web site, and assured me that it was helpful to many diabetics.
I started to explain that I was type 1, and he said he knew about type 1 and type 2 and the difference. He didn't seem totally ignorant. But as I tried to tell him that diet can only do so much, he would agree, then start telling me how good this raw food diet is.
So I started to tell him about this guy from Phoenix, a type 1 diabetic who earlier this year was convinced that a spiritual healer could cure him with a drastically modified diet, herbal detox, reducing his insulin...
While I told this story, the vitamin store dude kept saying, "Yeah!" "Uh huh." like it all made sense and sounded right to him.
I knew he wasn't getting the point of the story, but the look of shock on his face was so profound it shocked me when I finally said, "... then he died."
"He died?!"
"Yeah, he died."
Yes, vitamin store dude, he died. Yes, this is serious.
No, I can't cure myself by eating raw food.
I think the saleswoman smiled. She may have tried to have a talk about diabetes with this guy before.
.
The vitamin store woman told me that her mother was a type 1 diabetic "Red Strider" and that they were going to do the Step Out Walk to Stop Diabetes together in Griffith Park on October 27th.
We had a nice talk about diabetes-related events. I told her I couldn't do the event in Griffith Park in LA because I was planning to go to the TCOYD Conference and Health Expo in San Diego. I told her about Insulindependence and some of the events I've been involved in with that organization.
So then the guy at the cash register said, "You know another web site you should check out is ..."
And he helpfully told me about a raw food diet web site, and assured me that it was helpful to many diabetics.
I started to explain that I was type 1, and he said he knew about type 1 and type 2 and the difference. He didn't seem totally ignorant. But as I tried to tell him that diet can only do so much, he would agree, then start telling me how good this raw food diet is.
So I started to tell him about this guy from Phoenix, a type 1 diabetic who earlier this year was convinced that a spiritual healer could cure him with a drastically modified diet, herbal detox, reducing his insulin...
While I told this story, the vitamin store dude kept saying, "Yeah!" "Uh huh." like it all made sense and sounded right to him.
I knew he wasn't getting the point of the story, but the look of shock on his face was so profound it shocked me when I finally said, "... then he died."
"He died?!"
"Yeah, he died."
Yes, vitamin store dude, he died. Yes, this is serious.
No, I can't cure myself by eating raw food.
I think the saleswoman smiled. She may have tried to have a talk about diabetes with this guy before.
.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I'm also a type 1 Diabetic. I do follow the raw diet and while it is by no means a cure it does help my control. My A1C went from 12.3 to 7 in the last few months. My energy is up and my running recovery time has improved as well. I am not going to push raw food onto anyone because I realize it isn't for everyone, but I wouldn't put people down who are trying to help. I still take insulin, but I have to take 75% less then I did. It's not a cure, but it's a way to stay healthy longer. Don't put it down unless you've tried it. Sounds to me like the guy was trying to be helpful and was just very passionate about Raw.
Hi, JennyR!
It's always great to meet another diabetic runner.
I know that this guy was trying to be helpful, but I wasn't trying to tell him, or readers here, that a raw food diet couldn't be beneficial. I told him that I was sure it would have benefits, actually.
I was simply saying thet there's only so much you can do with diet.
And he, as a non-diabetic, was assuming he knew something I didn't know about my diabetes.
When you say your A1C went down from 12 to 7, I say that's great.
When you say your insulin use went down, I ask why anyone should care.
Reduction of insulin as a goal in itself makes no sense to me, except of course to save money.
Yeah, its hard for non diabetics to understand fully what it is like being a Diabetic, especially a type 2.
As for Insulin lowering... well the higher in insulin in anyone's body the higher the risk of vascular disease. There are a lot of studies out there are insulin in general and how the amount of insulin your body requires is related to how healthy you are in general. A highly active and healthy eating person requires less insulin in their body for it to function properly. I got fed up with my doctors never giving me the full picture so I started studying human anatomy and physiology and the medical side of Diabetes.
Post a Comment