Is There a Best Way, Part 3?

What works for me, may not work for you. Your mileage may vary. These phrases are used by many people when talking about diabetes and a few other chronic diseases. Why? Because they understand that people are looking for quick fixes, rules to follow, and simple answers when none exist. But, these people will generally ignore these explanations, because for them there has to be some cure, rule, and reasonable answer that they can latch onto and use.


Understanding that each person can be different or unique is foreign to them. All they see is male and female, that one male is just like another male, and that females are different. They forget that males come in a variety of heights, with varying head sizes, waist sizes and strengths. Even those that know this, forget this when talking about diabetes. They want only the simple rule or a pill that will make them right with the world and let them return to the life they were living.


Sorry folks, but diabetes will not fit this way. It is not a disease that you can take a pill for in the morning and you are set for the day. Even some will claim there is a pill or natural herb that will cure them. What they will not admit is that they were able to beat back prediabetes or even at the early stages of diabetes with diet and exercise and some of the other lifestyle changes and by maintaining this regimen are preventing the onset of full blown diabetes. Now they have this pill (probably a sugar pill) or natural herb and they will sell this to you for a fantastic price. I see people suckered in by this more often than I like.


Diabetes or prediabetes can be stopped and managed with lifestyle changes with emphasis on diet and exercise and managed that way for many years. Even the number of years a person can manage their diabetes without medications is unknown. Some can do it for a few years and others are capable of this regimen for decades. Some have good retention of their beta cells and for others, well, their beta cells start giving up sooner.


There are so many variables that affect diabetes and how different people handle these variables that projections are impossible to make. While this blog is by a person that has type 1 diabetes, he discusses some excellent points that will apply to people with type 2 diabetes. I do like this statement that he uses in his last paragraph - “There are many roads to take living with diabetes. So don’t worry if your road looks a little different from my road.”