Hi guys, I have decided to do a post about high blood sugar content because a few weeks ago, I had a blood test and my blood sugar content is considered in the 'pre-diabetic' stage. Likewise my blood pressure is also slightly normal than usual, so I've been marked as susceptible to hypertension. So recently, as a part of a routine medical check up, they tested me for everything including blood sugar content and it came out at 43 mmol/mol - now anything below 42 is considered normal, from 42 to 47 it is high and you're at risk of developing diabetes and if it is above 48 then you have diabetes. So I am just one step into the danger zone and I've been given a stern warning to bring that down by changing my diet and lifestyle. I was shocked at first and it was quite telling that I ignored that text from the clinic for at least an hour as I went into denial; but then I realized, okay I simply must take this seriously and one way to do that is by talking about it publicly like this. I now have a clear objective to lower my blood sugar content over the next few months and since I didn't make any new year's resolutions this year, let this be my one resolution for 2023 - to lose some weight as well as fix the situation with my blood sugar levels and my high blood pressure. So here is the frustrating combination: I am not overweight, I am not fat (well, not yet anyway) but I clearly still have health issues that I have to address urgently.
So why did I go into denial? Well, I had been very ill for the last week as I had been down with a bout of winter flu - it was a mix of fever, runny nose, cough and sore throat. So I was already feeling rough when I went for my blood test and work had been stressful that week, so when they did a blood pressure test, then I had a few excuses as to why my blood pressure was higher than normal. But with blood sugar levels though, that's far more to do with my diet and lifestyle rather than the fact that I was sick or stressed from work related matters. It was me having to admit to myself - you have no excuse for this, your blood sugar levels are high because of the poor choices you make. The second stage of denial was me thinking, okay I know I am not a stick insect, I'm not that thin but there are so many people who are far fatter than me. So surely they would be the ones at risk of diabetes rather than me? I thought of quite a few people who could be classified as obese and honestly, I'm nothing like them. But of course, two wrongs don't make a right. I thought I was doing okay as I exercise regularly (six times a week), I don't take the bus or train to get around town, instead I cycle around London. I look in the mirror and I don't think I look that fat. But nonetheless, I have a weakness: I eat too much. I enjoy good food and since I work from home, I actually take a lot of effort to make really nice food for my meals and if I may be totally honest, I don't make healthy choices. My meals contain way too much carbs and fats - whilst I do not add white sugar to the coffee I drink, I do treat myself to cakes and ice cream way too often. My metabolism has slowed down with age and therefore I can no longer eat what I like without any consequences, thus something has got to change now.
So I gave myself a goal to lose some weight, I'm not classed as overweight (not yet anyway) but in order to reduce my blood sugar levels, the best thing to do is to lose approximately 10% of my body weight and that's going to be weight loss of about 7.8 kilograms which will bring me down from 78 kgs to just 70.2 kgs. I realize that this sounds quite ambitious and I so I am splitting that into two steps: to first get to the halfway mark of 74 kgs then, finally70.2 kgs is the final target I wish to achieve eventually. Hence to do so, I will be implementing four key changes to my life: firstly, I am eliminating all unhealthy snacks that are high in sugar and carbs. Secondly, I am decreasing the amount of carbs I have in my diet and replacing that with more fruits and vegetables, along with protein. Thirdly, I'm going to drink more soups and teas to prevent feeling hungry, so I will not feel the urge to snack between meals. Finally, I am reducing portion sizes - I'm basically going to have to eat less than I did before. The fact is I am in the cook in my household so I know exactly how much pasta or rice I would cook for each meal and I am going to have to figure out how far I can go in terms of reducing portion sizes before I feel hungry. The one thing you might think is missing from this is more exercise and the answer to that is that I already exercise six times a week - that doesn't even include the fact that I get around London as a cyclist. I definitely exercise more than most people my age despite the fact that I do have a desk job and spend much of my working day sitting down, but I do make up for that with visiting the gym practically everyday. But evidently, as I got older, my metabolic rate has slowed down and so I am no longer able to consume as many calories without putting on weight.
I am also forced to reduced the amount of salt I consume in order to reduce my blood pressure - I know I consume way too much salt. It's easy to make food tasty by adding more salt and not feel as guilty about it given that unlike sugar, salt doesn't make you fat but it still wrecks havoc on your body. I have to break the habit of liberally chucking salt over the meats I roast in my air fryer or just adding it to my soups and stews to make them more tasty. Being Asian, I have resorted to using spices to give my taste buds stimulation they crave so that means adding an insane amount of chili to most of my dishes these days, which is fine by me but I still crave for saltier food no matter how much chili I add to my dishes. For some people, they are quite used to consuming food which is very sweet thus they are in the habit of adding sugar to their tea and coffee but for me, I have become accustomed to very salty food and the doctor has told me that this was a habit I simply must break for the sake of my heath. So when I am preparing my meals, not only am I trying to make them a lot healthier and reduce portion sizes, I am also having to change a lot of my recipes but there's also a point where I have to just bite the bullet - I may think, "this soup is a bit bland, it's not salty enough". That's when I have to tell myself tough shit, just drink it, you are not allowed to make it more salty now. In the late afternoon for example, I tend to get hungry around 6 pm when it is too early for dinner but I want to have a snack - in the past I used to have something very unhealthy like cake or ice cream but now I have oats with unsweetened soy milk, topped with a bit of dried fruit and nuts. Feasting is one of life's greatest pleasures; but for my health, it's something that must be sacrificed.
So it has been three weeks since I started this new healthy regime, I am pleased to report that my weight has fallen from 78 to 74 kgs pretty quickly but it has been stagnating there stubbornly for a few days now. I suppose a drastic weight loss is not healthy, so I am not going to stress too much about losing the next few kilos in the meantime. The doctor did reassure me that it is possible to reverse a lot of the damage and that with the right changes to my lifestyle and diet, I can bring both my blood sugar levels and my blood pressure down to the normal range in due course. I have yet to measure my blood sugar levels (that's a blood test I need to do in few months) but my blood pressure has fallen back to the healthy range already and I can always monitor my weight and that's a pretty good indication of whether things are going in the right direction or not. So far, it has been promising and it is reassuring that all these sacrifices and effort that I'm putting in right now has resulted in a small weight loss - I feel like I am in control, that I can change the situation for the better. In life, we cannot avoid problems but it is empowering to know that there is something I can do to solve these problems. Then again, I look at my parents - my dad is in his mid 80s and my mum is turning 80 this year; they have no concept of healthy eating at all. My father has a list of health conditions as long as his arms yet they hardly do any exercise at all, they have so many terrible habits like adding a lot of sugar to every cup of tea they drink. Yet somehow, they are still alive and kicking - they're not healthy, they have plenty of health issues but that has not really affected them that severely. So perhaps this is just my desire to solve all problems in my life as soon as possible when most other people simply learn to live with all these health problems? After all, it is not like my life is in danger at the moment, is it?
This is going to be a long journey and I intend to share it here on my blog as I know there are people out there who have similar health issues about their weight or maybe it is something as specific as their blood sugar levels. It's okay, I understand - I know exactly what it is like to feel anxious about the issue and yes I even felt the urge to ignore it or go into denial. I'm not a doctor trying to give medical advice, I'm just a 46 year old guy struggling to cope with the changes to my body as I get older and I'm trying to create a safe space for us older people to talk about it. A lot of the frustration I face stems from the fact that I really want to solve the problems in my life quickly but this is a long journey that will take a lot of effort before I see the results that I need and I thank you for being a part of this journey with me. Okay so that's it from me for now on this topic, I will check back again with you guys rather soon for an update. Many thanks for reading.
I am having health issues as well. My annual health screening turns out that I have high cholesterol (too much LDL). I know I had borderline high cholesterol for awhile so this is not a big surprise. So I had to take drastic measures like cutting down on 1 meal a day (2 on weekeneds) and cutting out basically most carbs. I'm also counting calories and trying to get more exercise in whenever possible.
ReplyDeleteYou see I take a look at you and I don't think you look fat or unhealthy, I would have never suspected you to have those issues but of course, obesity is just one cause of all these things going wrong with our bodies and there are so many other factors that can affect these functions - I wish you courage and strength on your journey as I continue with mine to take control of our health issues.
DeleteWould you believe that when I was in my 20s I was severely underweight? I can show you pictures the next time we meet up. And if you told me back then that I would be overweight and having a high cholesterol problem I would have laughed in your face. But the fact is that due to constant unhealthy Asian diet I am at this stage now. Nothing I can do in 1-2 years could undo decades of damage already done to my body.
DeleteYes I am learning the hard way that we can be thin/normal weight and still have all kinds of health conditions to deal with, even if we're not fat or overweight at all.
DeleteI believe diet has a very important part to play. So garbage in garbage out. Cheap hawker fare is mostly processed carb and low nutritional density. So we pay less money but spend more on healthcare later in life. I don't bat an eyelid now on spending $10 for soup or $12 for salad because I know the nutritional value can't be compared to a $3 plate of chicken rice.
DeleteLIFT, thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSeems like your parents have good genes - they are not having a healthy lifestyle and yet does not have too many health issues.
This is like what I heard - smokers smoking all their life but live to ripe old age, and yet some people who never touch cigarettes and suffer from lung cancer.
Healthy living helps but I think it is more important to be lucky to have good genes.
Well my parents do puzzle the doctors, my dad is in his mid-80s and has outlived a lot of his younger siblings who have succumbed to the same diseases and conditions he suffers from but my dad is still going strong - he isn't healthy, he has all these conditions but nonetheless, he just keeps going surprising even the doctors. Same can be said about my mother who has outlived her younger siblings. Like you said, good genes, it's the genetic lottery again - it's not what they're doing, it's what genes they have so perhaps by that token, I can take comfort in my genes? Still, I'm on this strict diet - my weight is down to 73.7 kgs and that's down from 78 kgs when I started but still not quite there yet as my target weight is 70.2 kgs and it's a mighty long way to go.
DeleteYou're making tremendous progress with your weight reduction! Wished I can be as discipline as you. Here I thought exercise as an elixir. Eating unhealthy food/ soft drinks (or snacking) is also a guilty pleasure of mine, but as we all get older, we have to be more selective with our daily intakes.
ReplyDeleteHang in there, and we are all cheering you on every step of the way.
Hi there and thanks for your kind words. I'm not overweight according to my BMI but it is over 23, so given my ethnicity it does still put me at risk of diabetes and I'm like if you want my BMI to fall to 23, that would mean I have to get my weight under 68 kgs and I'd be like not just fit but really thin then. But the science says, you're Chinese and older, you have to be that thin or else you're at risk of all these horrible diseases and conditions when you grow older. Urgh. But then again, a part of me is thinking, wouldn't it be nice to be that thin as I would look more attractive. But the sacrifices when it comes to my diet is a price to pay for that.
DeleteI would challenge you to ignore BMI and instead concentrate on bodyfat percentage. I'm buying some bodyfat calipers to track my bodyfat now.
DeleteHmm but genetically you are not entirely Chinese.. And you are a former national gymnastic champion.. BMI is just one indicator, surely we should be scientific by considering other indicators too. Then again, I acknowledged that Hyperglycemia is also highly correlated to our diet.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but at this stage, I think I am not gonna argue with my blood sugar level which is simply the results of a blood test - you can't argue with statistics. I suppose what my ideal BMI would be is up for debate of course but what is clear is that I have to reduce salt, fats and sugar in my diet and eat a lot more healthily if I want to keep diabetes at bay. The fact that I was extremely thin and fit like 20 to 30 years ago doesn't help, I have to be thin and fit today. There's a former British gymnastics champion (not naming names - seems a bit cruel to name & shame) who was super thin and fit in the early 1990s, like he was winning gold medals at the Commonwealth games then. He's still involved in gymnastics today as a coach and I saw an interview with him last year- woah, he is now completely bald and VERY fat today. Clearly, he's gonna have health issues associated with his obesity. So there's no point in him telling his doctor what a great gymnast he was in the early 1990s - the doctor is going to remind him that this changes nothing, he still needs to lose weight urgently or get all kinds of medical conditions associated with obesity. At least I'm not as fat as him today, phew.
DeleteAs for genetics and the fact that I am mixed, well, again, that's neither here nor there as I am still in the prediabetic range for my blood sugar levels and that's the same measurement that we use for everyone regardless of their skin colour: black, white, Asian etc we all use the same measurement and therefore I have already accepted that this is all part of growing old. I have to adapt. I want to stay healthy, I want to make sure I don't get diabetes.
DeleteOh speaking of former gymnastics champions who got fat, there's another American champion from the mid-90s, she was number one in the USA back then and she is still coaching today. I saw her recently on social media and I was like woah she is massive today! I'm sorry but there's no other way to describe her, she is fat today. I think most professional gymnasts usually gain some weight after they stop competing - now that's normal, they go from being super fit and thin to 'normal', that's exactly what happened to me. But some actually do go from being super thin to very fat; I suppose there's an element of "great I no longer have to starve myself as I am no longer competing, so please pass the desert menu as I'm going to treat myself now."
DeleteActually I haven't been drinking sugary drinks for close to a decade now and have gotten used to it. Eat salad for lunch and dinner is more painful but sacrifice need to be made. My resting metabolism is about 1.5k kcal/d which means I can blow past that if eat one huge meal.
DeleteThere are two approaches that I have taken - the first one is the straight forward calorie deficit. If I consume less calories than I use through my activities, then my body will have to use my reserves to get through the day and I lose weight. But if I consume more calories than I need (if I am doing Zoom calls all day), then I will have excess calories and that leads to gaining weight. But I also look at it from a reasonable time frame: so if I go to a birthday party and have a slice of cake, I will eat it, knowing that I can make up for it in the following 24 hours. So it's not like the moment I put one piece of chocolate in my mouth, I will die immediately of diabetes - it's more a question of creating a situation whereby my calorie intake is so freaking low that having a little treat once in a while wouldn't send me to an early grave with diabetes.
DeleteBtw Alex and Choaniki, do you believe in superfoods? Do you take supplements? My wife advised me that I should see a doctor to take blood test to see what I lack in my body and get prescription accordingly.
ReplyDeleteNoooooo no no no I don't even believe in vitamin supplements or superfoods. The fact is you have to address the root problem - if you have an unhealthy and/or unbalanced diet that is lacking in certain nutrients, then fix the diet in the first place. If you do eat a balanced diet that's very healthy, then you wouldn't be lacking anything. I don't mean any disrespect to your wife but she's totally wrong - such blood tests will only cost you a lot of money and you'll end up spending thousands on supplements that you really don't need IF you have a proper healthy, balance diet in the first place. If you are suffering from a serious medical condition, say you have a skin condition, or if you're recovering from a serious bout of illness, then sure by all means get a full medical check up to see what is wrong with you. But if there's absolutely nothing wrong, then you're just falling prey to the multi-billion dollar vitamins supplement industry trying to convince you to spend money on stuff you just don't need in the first place. I'm prediabetic, I need to lose weight, I need to lose a lot of weight FAST. That means going on a strict diet and avoiding stuff that's bad for me (sugar, carbs, fats, salt etc) - now that's stuff I need to take out of my diet in order to fix the problem. Adding anything like an extra mineral or vitamin supplement ain't gonna fix my health issues if I still go on consuming all that stuff that's bad for me. I am actually doing a follow up article on my health situation and talking about some of the mistakes that my parents make when it comes to their health - they have bad judgment and have made some very poor decisions. Look out for it as I think your wife is making the same mistakes.
DeleteOne more point about superfoods - sure we all know that certain foods like broccoli, blueberries and avocado (just naming a few common ones) are high in nutrients and good for you, they can form part of a well-balanced healthy diet, but there is a common misconception to think that they have 'medicinal' properties that can cure health ailments that you suffer from. There is a lot of retarded bullshit that uneducated older folks from my parents' generation got wrong about food & nutrition and if I were to start listing all the things my parents got wrong, I would still be typing by tomorrow morning - like I'd be here all night listing all the things they completely misunderstood. There's a lot of misconception about the medicinal values of these superfoods - the bottom line is that there's absolutely no short cut. You need to have a healthy diet, you need to starve yourself to stick to your allocated number of calories a day, you need to suffer and feel hungry & miserable as you don't get to eat what you like, you need to exercise a lot more and create a calorie deficit. I am not enjoying this process of literally starving myself and feeling so fucking hungry all the time, but it is a painful sacrifice I have to make in order to lose enough weight to control my condition. I need to suffer if I want results, I accept that there's no way around the suffering. If anyone is looking for a short cut to avoid the pain, then they're being completely unrealistic and not taking charge of the situation. There's no such thing as "simply take these pills three times a day and you'll be fine, no need to change anything else with your diet or exercise regime". No, miracle cures like that don't exist, not in the real world. Sacrifices have got to be made, I must suffer constant hunger and feel so fucking wretched everyday as I dream about what I want to eat as I starve myself to my ideal weight. Sigh. No supplement or superfood is going to allow me to avoid this suffering.
DeleteOh and if you think I'm sounding cranky, yeah I am cranky. I can put on a brave face and say I'm taking charge of the situation by fucking starving myself until I am thin enough and hit my ideal weight of 70 kgs. But holy fuck, starvation is not nice. I have food in my house, I have money in my bank account that I can spend on the food I wanna eat, it takes so much self-control to say, "no fatty, get used to it, embrace the hunger, go listen to some music to take your mind off it as you're not allowed to eat anything until dinner time." It's a horrible process, I don't enjoy feeling this hungry for most of the day but I have no choice.
DeleteI don't believe in superfoods. That is something that the corporations selling superfoods will have you believe. So stuff like acai, quinoa, etc I don't believe in the hype. For supplements, I take fish oils and sleep supplements. Not that it is really scientifical basis for those supplements so I wouldn't recommend people take supplements if you have a well balanced diet (which I don't).
DeleteNo offence taken at all! It's my fault for not presenting the full context. My wife had a health checkup as she wasn't feeling well.. And through that we found out her body is lacking iron. Hence the doctor prescribed her some iron pills. What she told me was that I should find out what nutrients my body is lacking and take a targeted approach, instead of buying supplements blindly.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, the best way to ensure my body get the necessary nutrients is through a balanced diet. Thanks much for your advice! And definitely cheaper than buying supplements and vitamins which I might not even need.
There are no shortcuts to success. Your predicament reminded me what the Hollywood stars have to go through. Hugh Jackman is pumping iron and on strict diet again toreprise his role as Wolverine in the next Deadpool movie. He isn't young anymore.
OK now we have the full context, sorry I'm constantly hangry these days and when things get really bad, I allow myself something like an apple or a pear but I still dream of fries, laksa and pizza. If your wife has an iron deficiency, that's actually not diet related but it is due to a loss of blood - women have periods and pregnancies, those are the main factors that can cause women to lose so much blood that they end up with an iron deficiency. I hate to point out the obvious that as a man, you don't get periods, so you're unlikely to end up with an iron deficiency unless your diet is really imbalanced. That is why it is a condition that can affect women even if they do have a healthy diet if they have particularly heavy periods. But I stand by what I said (hangry or not), if you are healthy, if there's really nothing wrong with your body, the first thing to do is to check things that are not obvious during a routine health check: your blood pressure, your blood sugar levels, your cholesterol levels etc - these are things beyond just your weight and BMI and more importantly, they are key health indicators that aren't that obvious. So for example, even though Choaniki looks very healthy (he's not fat - I have met him in Singapore) his cholesterol level is the problem. And whilst I'm not fat, I'm prediabetic and have hypertension - again I need a targeted approach to cope with these specific conditions. There are two different approaches though general: one is taking away stuff (eg. stop drinking alcohol, stop smoking, stop eating so much salt etc) where you take away or reduce the harmful factor. The other is to adding stuff that helps (eg. taking additional mineral/vitamin supplements) and right now, your wife is focused on the latter whilst I am focused on the former. Different conditions need different treatments - unfortunately, the supplements industry would want you to spend a lot of money with them so they want you to believe that you must always be popping pills and supplements to improve your health when really, a doctor can tell you that you need to reduce harmful activities - thus in my case, I consume way too much salt and that had to change. I couldn't just take some health supplements and still continue eating that much salt. The harmful behaviour with my salt intake simply had to change.
DeleteFemales lacking iron or calcium is due to their gender. Males usually have another set of problem. A low testosterone and high estrogen level (due to plastics leeching) causes accumulation of bodyfat and erectile dysfunction, amongst other issues.
DeleteIt's a pain to have to monitor what we eat. Definitely cut back on refined carbs and sugar. I lost 40 lbs just by doing that in the last 5 years. You can reshape your body and regain your health. You may have to watch what you eat for the rest of your life, but it's not the end of your life. Yes, you can treat yourself on occasions.
ReplyDeleteActually not so difficult if you know what you are eating. Like for example I know my resting metabolism is about 1500 kcal/d. So as long as I consume close to this number and move about I would be in a calorie deficit and slowly lose weight.
DeleteWell by watching my diet, my weight has fallen from 80 kgs to 72 kgs and it's now stagnating at around 72 kgs. I'm not too fussed as if is now within the acceptable range but I could be gaining muscle mass as well since I'm exercising so much. My target weight is 70 kgs and those last 2 kgs have been the hardest to get to. There were some low hanging fruits that I managed to get by changing my diet but now I am struggling to see how I can continue losing weight to get to 70 kgs. I do feel healthier and stronger now though, at 72 kgs compared to when I was 80 kgs.
DeleteThe last 10 lbs are the hardest, so having 2 kg more to lose is excellent. Hwaiting!
ReplyDelete