“That very afternoon my life was transformed”

Before and after

Jim was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and had a hard time controlling the disease and his weight. Eventually he ended up in the ER with a stroke, and he needed lots of medicines every day.

Then one day an acquaintance at church told him about a certain website, and Jim’s life was transformed. This is quite a story.

The E-mail

Dr. Eenfeldt,

The happy fella in the picture above is me in the emergency room being treated for a stroke on August 22nd, 2015. My wife Kelly snapped this picture in an inspired moment – she told me she never wanted me to forget this critical moment.

How did I end up on a gurney in the ER? Given the unhealthy road I was on, it really was just a matter of time.

I had been overweight already for a number of years when, in 2012, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Aside from providing me with a prescription for metformin and a few printouts on suggested diets, my doctor’s only advice was to cut carbs. Motivated by the shock of the unexpected diagnosis, I followed his advice and lost 40+ pounds (18 kg) by cutting carbs and walking 4 miles a day. I got my sugar under control, I felt much better and my doctor congratulated me. Problem solved, right?

Wrong.

As often happens after a successful period of weight loss, I began to believe I had things under control and I soon slipped back in to my old patterns of eating. I re-gained my lost 40 pounds and then some. My diet, fueled by stress at work and a tendency toward addictive patterns, was often the worst of the worst; fast food, sugary beverages, and lots of high carb / high sugar treats. So, bloated, stressed and exhausted, my system finally gave out and I suffered a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA, basically a small stroke) one Saturday morning at the age of 52.

Thank God, the damage was minimal. I was weakened but able to walk, but I now had permanent numbness in a patch of skin on my thigh, in my thumb and forefinger and also in my lower lip — all on the right side. My speech was unaffected and I felt clear-headed and very grateful that the effects were not more severe. I left the hospital after four days facing a host of health issues. Among them, hypertension, severe sleep apnea, GERD and of course type 2 diabetes.

It was in the hospital that I was first introduced to the joys of insulin; over 500 units a day taken in five separate injections. If you have never enjoyed the onerous task of giving yourself five injections a day, let me just say that it sucks. Plus, I was prescribed a whole host of new meds – blood thinners, statins, anti-hypertensives and a shiny new CPAP machine – yay!

As you’d expect, the emergency hospital visit got my attention. I began trying to accept my new lifestyle as a snoring, wheezing, diabetic, stroke victim with chronic heartburn. My post-stroke life was mostly spent trying to sort the after effects of the stroke from the side-effects of all the new meds — and fighting with that CPAP machine.

As I tried to return to normal life, I still wasn’t feeling very good. Then, a few days before Christmas, an acquaintance approached me at church and told me he had heard about my recent hospital stay and suggested a couple of websites that I might consult – one of them was DietDoctor.com. That very afternoon my life was transformed. At last! A place where I could get straight talk about what I was going through and a plan to reverse it.

Since that first day on DietDoctor.com I have adopted a low-carb high-fat lifestyle and I haven’t looked back. Gone are the metformin, insulin and the CPAP machine – along with 55 pounds (25 kg) of very costly belly fat. I no longer need to take a daily dose of omprezole for my heartburn and my fasting blood sugar comes in around 100. Oh, and my HbA1c (once over 10) is now 5.6.

I eat lots of great food that I truly love and enjoy discovering new LCHF recipes to try. I have shared the LCHF diet with friends and have seen them enjoy similar results. Thanks to you, Dr. Eenfeldt, and all of the courageous and pioneering professionals you have featured on this amazing website. DietDoctor.com truly changed my life for the better.

Thanks so much,
Jim Anderson

Comment

Congratulations on revolutionizing your health, Jim!

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