Cindy Reduced Her HbA1c from 7.8 to 5.1 and Lost 78 Pounds

I'm Cindy Pilbro and I live in a town called Ipswich in Suffolk in the UK, and I have Type 2 diabetes. Well, I wasn't particularly good at managing it. I, I would eat what the UK professionals call sensible, which is low carb and the usual sort of thing. Um, and but then weekends out, meals out, I would divert off to have whatever I fancied, the pastries, the cakes, the desserts, the usual things. Um, or sitting at home, I would bang into sweets that somebody had brought. So, um, yeah, I was very up and down. Um, to start with, I did manage to, um, control the diabetes with, uh, uh, just my diet, but then it gradually accelerated and I was put on metformin. Um, although I've never really felt that metformin did anything to help, but anyway. Um, and every six months, I would have a checkup, um, and quite often, I can't remember what my HbA1c was in the early days, but, um, it, I know in the last three or four years, it was going up to a seven, seven point five. Um, and the professionals always said, um, "Oh, that's fine. You're managing it okay." And one of the final times that... Well, I still go every six months, but one of the last times that I saw a diabetic nurse, she's saying, "Yes, you'll manage it. You always have managed it well." And I said, "I don't know why you say that, because I'm not managing it. Seven point five isn't where I would expect my blood sugar to be. It's not a healthy range. And not only that, to keep it there, I'm on three different medications," which I was at that stage. So, um, but she sort of dismissed it, and very soon afterwards, I, I started on a drug called Mounjaro, um, which I'm sure everybody's [chuckles] heard, and because I've also always been very overweight. I've often lost up to six, seven stone, but then gradually put it back on again because my eating habits haven't changed. Um, and, and so I'd heard about Mastering Diabetes, um, somewhere along the line. I can't remember how long ago, but whether I'd seen one of the guys on Facebook, either Bobby or Cyrus on Facebook, I don't know. But I ended up buying their book, and I did, um, join for a while, um, and I started looking at their podcasts. But I did find the food very difficult, to switch from eating whatever processed things that you wanted to, to then eating just plant food and beans and, um, all the healthy stuff, as I know it now. Um, it, I found that really difficult. The main thing being the food preparation and the amount of time that that takes. My day-to-day w- wasn't great. Um, I'd, I'd always been, um, fairly energetic, but I could equally fall asleep every afternoon. Um, and I... Yeah, I didn't always have the energy that I needed to get through the day. Um, I wasn't bothered by the normal diabetes, um, issues, like feeling thirsty and that sort of thing. Um, and to a great extent, I was able to ignore it, which is part of the problem with Type 2 diabetes is it, it's not often that, that you, especially in the early years, you are not aware of it, um, particularly. So was taking the tablets I'd been prescribed. Um, but then as I read the Mastering Diabetes book, I realized that all the things I'd been told were not, was not probably the best advice that I could've been given. I think one of the, one of the main things is that I started getting peripheral neuropathy. Um, and it wasn't bad, um, in terms of what I hear other people say. But equally, it's, it has got a bit worse, um, over the last couple of years, but it's still... I'm not overly troubled with it, but it was that. And the more I delved into it, I realized that unless I did something serious, I'd end up losing my feet, my legs. I would end up losing my sight. Um, and yeah. So I think that was... I think things started to creep in on me and sort of put a cloud across what, what I had been doing, and made me realize I'd, I'd got to really pull my socks up and sort myself out. Right. Well, before Mastering Diabetes, my, um, last HbA1c was seven point eight. That was in March of last year. And, and again, nobody created a fuss. Um, but I had, at that stage, been hearing about Mounjaro, which was, um, set up really for people with Type 2 diabetes. Um, and I was getting more and more annoyed because I couldn't get my hands on it. I had to jump through massive hoops to be prescribed it by, um, the UK NHS. And so, um-In the end, I decided that I would actually, um, buy it and pay for it myself. But I also realized from everything I read about it and from knowing myself, I realized that unless I learnt to eat differently, and I'd already found Mastering Diabetes at this stage, um, unless... and I, I'd, I'd read the book, so I knew that was the answer. Um, and so I thought, "I've got to go back and give this another go." Um, it was Bobby and Cyrus, the fact that they had both had Type 1 diabetes, which I know is, is different to Type 2, but they had mastered it. [chuckles] They had, um, they had been following the normal, um, guidance that medical people give you, which is low-carb, um, and it had made them not feel well at all. And so they had changed to, um, plant food, whole food, um, beans, seeds, vegetables, fruit, lots of fruit, and that impressed me 'cause I love fruit. And, um, so I was... I, I just sort of... they clicked with me. It all sounded right, and I had at that stage read the book, so I knew more about the intricacies of diabetes and what was happening in my body and what would happen if I didn't do something quite radical. The only thing, the only reservation I had was that, um, for the sake of animals, I had tried to become a vegan. Um, and I managed to stop eating meat, but, um, this is going back probably about six or seven years. I'd managed to stop eating meat, although I still love the smell of it, and if somebody has a roast dinner in the UK on a Sunday, I think, "Oh, that looks really good," and I think I could eat it, but I know I couldn't put that meat near my mouth. Um, and so therefore, I, um, I knew I could do that bit of it. It was more the dairy side that, um, was a bit of a hiccup to me, cutting out dairy. Um, so yeah, o-other than that, I, I just, I don't know, just by everything I read and, and seeing, listening to Cyrus and Bobby, it, it just struck with me that it was the right thing to do. But the thing that made me hesitate really was knowing that I'd tried to become a vegan, and the bit that I found difficult was this meal preparation. Everything meat means chopping and preparing fruit and vegetables and, um, and it needed a bit more effort, a lot more effort on my part. [chuckles] Well, it was good because I had got the support of Marco, um, and I was part of a weekly coaching group. Um, and that support has all the way through been absolutely amazing. Um, it's been wonderful. Uh, y-you know, you can ask any questions that you want to. We support each other. We talk about recipes and, um, Marco advises on, um, various things that you can do to make life easier. And, and so I've learnt to batch cook, and I've always got something in my freezer. Um, I'm not reliant on food prep every day at all. Um, I prepare stuff that, that I can keep in the fridge for two or three days or stuff that I can keep in the freezer and pull out. Um, and I know what I can grab if I, if I'm having a lazy day, I know the things that, that I can do to get through it. Yes, both of those things actually. My energy was improving, um, and I felt more energized. I f- um... My numbers were improving. Not a great deal to start with, but they were slowly coming down. That fasting blood glucose in the morning was coming down. Um, and, um, well, this is, you're talking about 15 months later, and I, my last checkup at our doctor's, um, my HbA1c was 5.1. Okay. Um, what surprised me about the plant-based recipes was that there were so many of them. [chuckles] Um, there's actually six weeks on Mastering Diabetes University, um, and that's just the start of it. Um, but I've also learnt to adapt other recipes that I see. There's lots of vegan recipes that, that get posted online and also the people in my group, we all tell each other about vegan cookbooks that we've found. And of course they all use oil and things that we don't want to use, but, um, it's, um... I've, I've learnt to adapt to not actually using oil. Um, I can leave oil out of those recipes. Um, I generally felt healthier.Um, and I knew from all the reading I'd done and the, the things that I'd watched that I was just filling my body with good food so that I could look at things that I used to, um, eat in the past and, and I thought, "I can't put that in my body." I've watched people eat a bit of toast with butter on and I thought, "How can you put that in your mouth?" Because it's-- I just know that it's not what's good for your health and your body. There's not enough vitamins and minerals and that in there to sustain you. So, um, yeah. And as time went on, I've... Since March last year, I've lost... Well, I was 18 stone 8, and I now weigh 12 stone 12. So I've lost a lot of weight. And also, as I say, my HbA1c has reduced from 7.8 at the start to 5.1, um, about six, eight weeks ago. So, um, there's, there's been big changes. Right. I'm, I am restricted in what I can do because I've got spinal stenosis and I'm waiting to see a consultant, a surgeon who's-- has said... About six years ago, he said he would operate if I lost weight and started to manage my diabetes, um, which I've obviously now done. And so I've gone back, and I'm just waiting for an appointment to see the surgeon. So because of that, my mobility is restricted. Um, but I can walk up the stairs more easily now than I could. Um, the pressure on my joints, particularly my knee joints, has, um, improved a great deal. I, I don't have pain from them. The-- I still feel really stiff when I stand up when I've been sitting for a long time. But, um, yeah. And, and I always get a good night's sleep as well. As long as my husband doesn't wake me up. [chuckles] He's very good at getting up to make hot chocolate during the night. So as long as he doesn't disturb me, then I get a very good eight, nine hours' sleep every night. Um, the investment I've made was definitely worth it. Um, I'm... Well, because it's, it's changed my life. It has given me a new way to live, a healthier way to live, and I fully expect to live longer now. Um, you know, barring accidents, uh, you know, um, I'm less likely to get cancer and other things wrong with me because I'm eating a really healthy diet. So, um, that investment was, was really good from that point of view. Um, and I'm not ready to part with Mastering Diabetes yet, and the same with the rest of the people in our group. We've all got on amazingly, and we are going to keep in touch, even though the majority of them are... There's one other girl in the UK, but the majority of them are Americans in all sorts of places and, of course, Marco in Costa Rica. Um, so we are going to keep in touch, and I'm going to, um... I probably won't keep on with the, the groups, but I am still going to maintain Mastering Diabetes University 'cause I can't-- I think it's good to keep going back and, um, re-listening to the podcasts that are put on there and being able to see, um, the girls, um, the coaches cook recipes, new recipes, um, because it, it's developing all the time. So I'm not parting with it yet. If you're considering working with Mastering Diabetes, um, just don't doubt it. Just give it a go because you've got nothing to lose. And in fact, you're likely to keep various parts of your body in working order that you might otherwise lose if you, you know, carry on with your old habits. Um, and I know that if, if I hadn't have joined Mastering Diabetes, then it would-- Once I'd lost this weight and perhaps pulled myself back into, um, a normal glucose level, then it's no good me going off and thinking I can eat the other things, the, the other types of food again 'cause it's just not going to work. Um, I've actually got a friend who has developed Type 2 diabetes, and she-- I did lend her the Mastering Diabetes book, but at the moment, um, she's, she's really bought into what her consultant and everybody has been telling her. And it's very hard when the rest of the country, including, um, the diabetes group in the UK, when, when they're all telling you to eat keto-type diet, um, it's hard for one voice like me to explain it to them. Um, and I think the book is possibly not the place to start. I think listening to Robbie and getting some information from him via Facebook is a good start because he, he gives you little snippets of information. Um, probably one of the biggest things I learnt was that it's not the sugar that I eat, it's the fat, um, and that I need to reduce the fat in my body so that my pancreas and, um, insulin and everything can get to work. Um, and I'm still working on this friend, [chuckles] so, um, because I know she's just heading in the wrong direction. Okay. Uh, before I joined Mastering Diabetes, when I started, um, my HbA1c was 7.8, um, which the UK people seem to be quite satisfied with, but I wasn't prepared to put up with that. I knew it wasn't how it should be. And now, um, it's on the last check, which was probably about April, um, it was 5.1. So it's worked. Okay. Uh, since being on the program, I've stopped all the medication that my doctor was prescribing for me, metformin, gliclazide, and one other that I can't remember the name of. Um, and I think they'd got others up their sleeve if I needed them. So I've, I'm not on any diabetic medication at the moment.