Rewrite Our Destiny

Although genetics plays some role in our health, our life style plays a much larger role.

Jose Cortez is a Hispanic. When he was in the 20's, his mom died of type-2 diabetics. It seems that type-2 diabetics runs in his family. When he was 61, he did not feel well. An initial examination concluded that he had both type-2 diabetics and high blood pressure. His glucose reading was over 500 (should be under 125). His blood pressure was 166/99 (should be under 120/80). The doctor told Jose that he was a candidate for major heart attack at any moment.

Besides taking the medications that the doctor prescribed immediately, Jose began his life transformation journey. He stopped fried food and soda and replacing them with healthy alternatives. He started walking, then running; first up to 10K then latter a marathon. Six years latter, his blood sugars are between 115 and 130, his blood pressures is 130/65. Jose's story was published by AARP (American Association for Retired People), June/July, 2016.

In September, 2015, I went to a routine blood test and found out my fasting blood sugar was 111 (should be below 100), a pre-diabetic fasting sugar reading. I was surprised and very disappointed because I ate very carefully; I was actually a vegetarian. Although highly disappointed, I finally told myself that I did not do enough to control my insulin resistance issue. I reduced my banana rations from several banana a day to just one banana a day; my grape ration from a bunch of grapes to just 10 of them at a time; switch from ‘red delicious apple’ to low sugar ‘Glen-Smith’ apple. I replace most of the missing fruits to berries: blue berry, strawberry, etc. I add ‘aerobic exercise’ such as ‘Body Attack’, ‘Body Combat’, ‘cycling’ and ‘high intensity interval training’.

In December of the same year, I went back for blood sugar and lipid panel check. The fasting blood sugar dropped 10 points to 101; and HDL increased 15 points from 53 to 68. It is a personal triumph although I still have several battles to fight for: such as my blood pressure is in the range of 140/70; I am shooting for blood pressure below 120/70. I belong to a high risk group of getting gastrointestinal cancers as I have per-cancers in my stomach and in my esophagus. Few years ago, I was very upset about all those ‘bad’ things with me, now I feel ease at these messages my body is telling me. My body wants and can heal; just don’t let my mind to interfere. I also consider every day is actually a gift. All I need to do is to treasure this gift and to get the best out of every day.

My story and Jose's story tell us something very true. Although we cannot change our genes, we can take control of our life style to re-write our destiny.