Type 1 Diabetic for 60 Years Achieves Lowest A1c Ever via Low-Fat Plant-Based Nutrition

Michael Goldberg, the San Francisco Bay Area, and I've had type 1 diabetes for over 60 years. in a lot of ways, things were good. I mean, I had been eating a Whole Foods plant-based diet with no oil, no added sugar, no added salt for 15, 16 years. ⁓ You know, and that worked pretty good. But the problem I was having was ⁓ sometimes I would take ⁓ insulin And it was, I was basically, was having insulin insensitivity. And what I didn't know was, you know, I was having peanut butter on crackers for snacks. I was eating all kinds of different nuts, ⁓ you know, avocado. I didn't know, I should have, but I didn't know that, you know, fat can cause insulin ⁓ insensitivity. And so it was really a problem. mean, I would sometimes I would wake up in the during the night and I would need to like my blood sugar would be a little high and I would need to take a unit or two of insulin. I take the insulin and it just wouldn't nothing would happen. You know, I'd wake up two hours, three hours later. And if anything, I was even higher blood sugar. It just wasn't working, So, you know, basically I got one of those ⁓ emails from, you know, God, what's, let's stop for just a second. Okay, what's the name of the guy who runs Mastering Diabetes? The owner, you know, I mean, was first it was those two guys and then they split up and now it's just the one guy and. Yeah, I got an email from Robbie at Mastering Diabetes. And he was just going to do like a little presentation. did I, you know, it was just a reach out, you know. And ⁓ I watched his presentation and I was very impressed with it. And ⁓ I thought it could really help me. And ⁓ so I signed up initially, I signed up for individual ⁓ coaching. for I don't know what it was, three months, six months, whatever the, you know, and then I started ⁓ eating the Mastering Diabetes meals and I'm going through the whole recorded program that they've put together and you know, and basically probably three, four weeks after I started, And I went 100 % to mastering diabetes meals. And three or four weeks after I started, the insulin was reacting. I I take the insulin and it was working right away. And so that really was the problem. It was too much fat. was causing the insensitivity. But also I really liked these meals. so I've just switched over completely to ⁓ mastering diabetes meals. ⁓ let's see, what else can I say? ⁓ Well, that had been, I mean, for a while, I had been ⁓ basically, you know, thinking and talking to my wife about the fact, you know, there's a problem here, you know, and I can't remember now whether, because see, she had read the Mastering Diabetes book, I think I had skimmed the Mastering Diabetes book. ⁓ And, you know, I kind of thought I was already doing everything that was in there. But obviously I wasn't. ⁓ But, ⁓ you know, I was sort of, I think I might have known that Mastering Diabetes had some kind of programs. I don't know, but basically I was looking for something and then that day when I got that particular email, it was like, great, let me check this out. This sounds like it might be what I need. Well, I mean, we already have the book, I mean, I was familiar with those two guys at the time, you know, because of the book and because of maybe emails or things they were doing online, maybe even they were, ⁓ you know, someone else had interviewed them as part or one of them or something as part of a program on health. ⁓ I'm not sure at this point, I don't really remember, but it was that...day that I got that particular email and followed up by watching the presentation, ⁓ that was like, this is worth doing. I'm gonna spend this money. It's a lot of money, but I'm gonna spend the money and see what happens. See if this, because it'd be well worth, basically my attitude was, it'd be well worth it if I could solve this problem. If I could get my body reacting to the insulin within 15 minutes or so of taking it, that would be great. So would be well worth it. Well, for me, it wasn't really hard, ⁓ but I know it could be. I know for somebody who was not already eating a whole foods plant-based diet, I could see that being a challenge. I do see how it's a challenge for some, because now I'm in a mastering diabetes group, small group. ⁓ with, there's about... five or so, they're all great people. But I can see how sometimes it's just challenging for them to just be able to make the meals all the time. And especially if they have somebody, like if their husband is not into eating any of this stuff, things like that, it a challenge. For me, because I've been eating whole food plant-based diet for like I say 15, 16 years, basically I was just switching from this food that I'm making for myself, but whole food plant-based to these specific recipes. Because I wasn't making specific recipes before. So that was new. It was, especially at the beginning, it was taking a lot of time because, you know, just, okay, I've got to, you know, I need arugula. I need ⁓ to get all these different berries. need, you know, I need to get all this stuff to make my breakfast. And then I need to, I need to cook, you know, something for lunch. And then I need to cook something for dinner. And the thing was that some of the recipes, you cook them and it makes you makes two servings. Sometimes it makes you three servings. Well, I wanted to figure it out so I could make four servings. So I did, you know, that took a little bit of time. you know, probably within within two, three months, I mean, I had it. I really, had it down and I had, and the other thing was, ⁓ you know, cause I'd be meeting with my coach every week and you know, I could ask her, I would ask her all kinds of different questions. Like for example, okay, is it important for me to eat different, different mastering diabetes recipes every meal or Could I have the same thing for dinner for four nights in a row? Or all week if I wanted to. And she was like, no, it's fine. As long as you're eating, as long as they are the Mastering Diabetes recipes, it doesn't have to be different stuff. That's just because most people like to do that. So that was great because then I could, each week I could make, let's say, two recipes for dinners, and that would give me eight dinners, two recipes for lunch, and that would give me eight lunches, and then just breakfast is easy, because breakfast is like arugula and cups of berries. Just put cups of berries and arugula together and mix it up, and there's the breakfast. So that one's real easy to do from scratch every morning. But. Yeah, that, you know, it just, it was pretty relatively easy for me to get into the hang of it. And actually, I I found, I've tried, I don't know, maybe 10, or at least 10 different ⁓ dinner, lunch type meals, maybe more, and basically like them all. So there's lots of stuff that I like. And there's a whole bunch more I haven't even tried yet. So ⁓ I'm not worried at all about getting bored with the meals or anything like that. That's not really where I'm at anyway. I'm really, ⁓ my main focus is I wanna be really healthy. I want my diabetes to be in as good control as possible and. So that's my number one, those are my number one priorities. Whatever I need to do to make those things happen, I'm gonna do. Well, okay, after about three months, I had a new A1C. And my A1Cs, I have to tell you, for the past more than 10 years, I don't even know how far back, because Kaiser gives you about 10 years worth, they have all been, mine have all been in the fives, except one that was like 6.1, I think. All the other ones were... ranged from 5.3 at a low to, you know, 5.6, 5.5, 5.8, all in there. But my last A1C had been maybe 5.9, know, something like that. So after doing the Mastering Diabetes for three months, I did an A1C and I was 5.3, which is the lowest I've ever had other than one time, you know. previous. ⁓ So I was really excited about that because that was telling me, well, even though what you've been doing has been really good, this is better. And that was what I wanted. And also, yeah, mean, was just, this was making a difference. Okay, well, the higher numbers in recent years have been 6-1, 5-9. Those have been my highest. Well, my new standard is now 5-3. That's what I mean. I would really like it if that's what, you know, my A1C was. And I think I'm trying to remember, I might have done another A1C that was also 5-3 since then. I mean, I'd have to go look, but I think I might have done a second one. Well, the number is great. The thing that's really, you know, I'm 72 years old. And like I said, I've had diabetes for over 60 years since I was eight. So that's a long time to have type 1 diabetes. A long time to be taking insulin three, four times a day. ⁓ Sometimes more if I need. an extra unit here and there. know, times when your blood sugar is high, times when your blood sugar is low, just all of that really takes a toll on your body. ⁓ You really, you know, and so at this point, you know, in the beginning of my 70s, ⁓ I'm, you know, I feel it, you know, I don't have as much energy as I had when I was younger. ⁓ Even in my 60s, I had more energy. But what I found was ⁓ I basically, I get exercise two or three times a day. I have breakfast and then I take my dogs to it. We have a huge dog park near here and we walk for two to two and a half miles. And so I do that every morning. that's really important. Exercise after meals is really important because everybody pretty much, right after they eat, their blood sugar goes up, but then it comes down. But if you get exercise after you eat, then it comes down really fast. Because if you're out there walking for two and a half miles, then that combined with the insulin you've taken, that's just what happens. Your blood sugar is lower quickly. And then after lunch, I would say at least five days a week, I go to the gym and I get on the treadmill for an hour. And at between two and a half and three ⁓ miles an hour pace right now. ⁓ so that also, I mean, I've had to lower the amount of insulin I take at lunch because of that. ⁓ And because the insulin is now, I mean, is taking effect when it's supposed to. ⁓ You combine that with the exercise. It's really, really good. Really works. And then after dinner, ⁓ if my blood sugar is some days, it goes up some days. I mean, it goes up a little. Some days it goes up more. If it goes up more, I have a stationary bike at home and I just get on the stationary bike for 15, 20 minutes, whatever I need to do till it kind of kicks in and it comes down. So the combination of the exercise, the ⁓ lower A1C, these meals, less insulin, taking less insulin, all of that is really good and makes me feel good. Well, I have lost a little weight. it's not like I... I I weigh usually... Before this, I weighed at the most 155. And I'm like 5'11", 6", you know, right around... I mean, I was 6, but now I'm a little bit shorter. But I think now I think I'm maybe 150. So I've lost a little bit of weight, ⁓ but I've been trying not to. I don't need to lose any weight. I really need to maintain my weight. So if anything, ⁓ I'll eat a little bit of extra to, so that that doesn't happen. eating these low-fat meals that are really, really healthy, ⁓ also, I'm eating a lot more greens than I was eating. I was eating vegetables, cooked vegetables, like a bunch, I like a big bowl of them with my dinner. ⁓ But... I wasn't eating so much greens. now, I mean, I'm eating practically every dinner. have a big plate of ⁓ mixed greens with ⁓ Bombay potatoes on top or Ethiopian ⁓ chickpea stew on top. ⁓ You know, one of those mastering diabetes meals on top of The greens, that's really, really good. I'm having greens three meals a day. That's really good. That's ⁓ an improvement over what I was doing before, for sure, in addition to the lower fat meals. After working with Mastering Diabetes, I feel a lot better than I was feeling before. And I had insensitivity to insulin, and now I don't have that anymore. And that's because of the meals that I'm eating, the Mastering Diabetes meals. So, I mean. And, you know, if I was talking to somebody who had type 2 diabetes, I would tell them that it was likely that if they were to go do the Mastering Diabetes program, that they would be able to stop having diabetes after, within six months. Because with eating this, this, eating these meals, ⁓ I don't see how that could not happen, because I know about the fact that with a whole food plant-based diet, you can just reverse type two. ⁓ So, you know, I would really be recommending to ⁓ the person if they had type two, and if they had type one, I would just say, ⁓ I would just tell them all about my experience and that I felt like it was really valuable. because I want my blood sugars to be as normal as possible. I want to have really balanced ⁓ blood sugars. And ⁓ you can't do that if you're insulin resistant. I don't think, I don't see how you can do it. You know, you're taking more insulin than you really need to take. It's not kicking in when it should. ⁓ Yeah, so that's why, because I want my blood sugars to be as normal as possible. All right, I'll say it. For me, it's not going to be so dramatic, you know, because, but I mean, you know, before mastering diabetes, ⁓ my blood sugars were sort of in my A1Cs were in kind of the higher fives and one time 6.1. But after ⁓ three months with a Mastering Diabetes, eating the Mastering Diabetes diets, ⁓ recipes, ⁓ my A1c now is 5.3. So it's substantially lower even from what started as a fairly good number. ⁓ Yeah, it's definitely worth it. ⁓ I really, really valued and continue to value having a coach who also has type 1 diabetes and who has had it for, I think she's had it for 30 years maybe, something like that, a long time. ⁓ You know, I wanted to be I wanted to definitely have a coach who had type one and I was really glad. You know, Amanda is a great coach and ⁓ and she's had type one for decades and so you know this was the first time that I had someone who was kind of in a almost a doctor kind of role, you know. But you know, definitely a role as a professional person who knows about diabetes that I could talk to about my diabetes. I'd never had a doctor who really like I mean, I know way more about type one diabetes than any doctor that I have ever had. And ⁓ basically, ⁓ you know, to have someone where, you know, I could talk to her about what was happening and she'd have the same experience or she, you know, she could talk about that, could talk to it. And that, that has been great. And even though, you know, like I did the, initially I did the one-on-one and then I felt like after the, that was up, I didn't feel like I needed to do the one-on-one anymore because I had really accomplished what I was looking to accomplish. But I wanted to do the small group with Amanda because that way I could continue to, you know, I could continue to ask her questions. And I also thought it would be beneficial being in a group with other people who have diabetes. And that's really a nice experience too. ⁓ So that's another thing about mastering diabetes that I like, is that because it has these small groups, because you're kind of out there on your own to a large extent. mean, you can find ⁓ diabetes Facebook groups and stuff, but it's different having that has, you know, like Amanda, for example, as a coach. I knew before I was involved with Mastering Diabetes that a Whole Foods plant-based vegan diet was a really, really healthy diet. mean, I've read, you know, three books by Michael Greger, you know, I've read books by the late John McDougall. I mean, all these, I've... You don't even know how many books I've read about this stuff. It's like it's endless. I was in a vegan book group. I'm still in a vegan book group, but I mean, you know, 10 years or something in a vegan book group. ⁓ So basically, I knew that a Whole Foods plant-based diet, you know, with lots of greens and vegetables and stuff was going to be good for diabetes. What I didn't know was that I needed to get rid of the nuts, get rid of the peanut butter, just lower ⁓ the fat content. That's what I did. I didn't know ⁓ how beneficial that would be. Well, all these recipes were really good. I really, you know, I like the Southwest bean salad, the green bean chili, the, you know, I mentioned Bombay potatoes, the Ethiopian chickpea stew. ⁓ There's a, it's like ⁓ tuna fish. Except it's made with chickpeas. And it's really, really good. And that's another one. ⁓ There's a lentil, I think it's a lentil vegetable soup. There's, you know, there's just, you know, there's, there's, they're just really good. The recipes are good. And so I, so I like that a lot. And, you know, you know, You know everything that you're eating. And you know. The more this encourages you to stay home and eat and eat food at home and not go to restaurants, the better. Because. It's pretty hard to go to a restaurant. And get. A low fat whole food plant based meal. that doesn't have too much salt in it, that doesn't have sugar added to it. I mean, it's really hard to do that. So, yeah, I mean, I would say I was probably surprised that these meals were as good as they are. Yeah, I mean, it just makes it easy. You spend your hour or whatever making the food every four days, and actually five days. You cook and then you've got dinner for that day and for the next three. So that's four days and then on day five, then you spend an hour and then there you go. You've got enough for the, you know, and I would typically make a meal, the four dinners one night and then the next day make four lunches. And now I've got, you know, meals. for three more days and then just start over.