Mike Lowered A1c from 11.5 to 6.1 and Lost 60 Pounds

I'm Mike Hodapp. I live in Aurora, Colorado, just outside of Denver, and I have Type 2 diabetes. I was diagnosed at about 50 with diabetes. They stuck me on metformin and a few other medications, and I am now 78, and it's getting harder and harder to deal with, with a normal diet. So I went ahead and joined Mastering Diabetes, and, uh, it's working. Well, I was younger back then, so I did have more energy than I have now, but, uh, all things considered, I did not have what I probably could have had back then because I didn't eat right. Um, when I was younger, I had the attitude that I would eat anything that didn't eat me first, and that was probably all right, except, uh, it kind of started eating me after a while. [laughs] Okay. Actually, that moment would have been about seven, eight years ago. I was very active outside. I was doing a lot of, uh, um, horticultural growing, plant growing, um, very active gardening stuff. And then my wife got, uh, uh, kidney problems that we had to put her on kidney dialysis. I started, uh, spending eight hours a day doing her kidney dialysis and working. We did it in our home instead of the hospital. And because I wasn't as active, I suddenly found myself getting more and more trouble. The doctor asked me what happened because I had such great numbers, and suddenly I'm way up there. Uh, and, well, A1C, I think, was, uh, around ten or 11 at that time, and that was almost overnight that this happened. So that's when I started looking. Unfortunately, she was a vegan. I said, "Well, I'm trying to eat my three items like I'm supposed to, you know, meat, vegetables." And, uh, she says, "Well, I probably shouldn't say this because this isn't part of the normal practice, but I'm a vegan." And she's the one that turned me on to you. [laughs] Well, it was as high as 11.5. Uh, I had managed to control it through medication, and, uh, before I joined here, I was actually at 7.5. I was on metformin. Uh, glycopyrronium, I was using as a, um, PRN, as I needed it. And I took that whenever I started running over 200, 250 on my, uh, finger pokes, and I started feeling a little strange. That's when I'd do a finger poke, and then I'd take glycopyrronium. They also had me on, uh, I forgot, began with an R, and then one other medication. Um, since I joined the Mastering Diabetes, not only did I get off the glycopyrronium, I didn't have to take the other one. They were talking about insulin being the next step. I haven't had to go to insulin, but I've also lowered my blood pressure down, and I've lost almost 60 pounds. Well, the doctor that I told you about, she told me Robbie's, uh, name and gave me a website to go to. I went to it, and it's basically is a bunch of YouTube videos. I first started to try to just eat better and do some of the things he did. That helped a lot. But about the time my wife started going through her dialysis, no matter what I did, I was running way... The numbers were getting up there. And that's when I decided, after she passed away, I decided it was time to do something, and that's when I called up and joined the Mastering Diabetes. A lot of it goes against what I think and what the doctors used to think. Uh, for instance, uh, uh, carbs. Uh, foods are loaded with carbs, and you guys say I can have all I want. Uh, that was wonderful. I, I couldn't believe it. Uh, doctors say, "No, watch the carbs. Uh, uh, eat more fats." That's actually the worst thing I can do. [laughs] Uh, so modern medicine actually has it totally backwards, for me anyway. And I don't hit like some of the people do. I've seen you on there were bragging their 90s, and I hit 90s every once in a while. Matter of fact, this weekend, I had three days in a row where I was in the 90s. But my average is, uh, right now between 100 and 110, and I'm still very thrilled. So, you know, even though I'm not 90, that's a wonderful number for me, particularly at my age. Uh, my body doesn't do things quite as well as it used to. [laughs] It was hard to get used to at first because I still wanted to eat meat. I still wanted to have, uh, sugar, things that I had before. And, um, so getting used to that, being able to substitute things I found, uh, worked good. Um- Finding dressings that I like, 'cause a lot of the sugar-free, fat-free dressings are kind of blah, tasteless. Um, can I give a brand name? I, uh, I, I found out the G. Hugher salad dressing is wonderful. Fat-free, sugar-free, it's very thick and very rich, and there's a lot of flavors and different varieties to it. So that was one of the things that helped me a lot. Uh, I even use it when I make beans. I eat a lot of beans and rice, and I like to... I like their, uh, um, sweet chili, they call it, and, uh, a little on the Mexican side, and it puts a little spice back in the flavoring it for me. Uh, you know what? I don't have the time that I used, uh, that, uh, for me to sit down and make a big meal just for me. Uh, so I always keep beans and rice, and that's my main go-to meal. But, uh, by using the, uh, sweet and spicy dressing, that gives a little extra flavor for me. My energy started to improve about halfway through, once I, uh, got used to the idea that my diet was changed, and I, I was eating actually more. In fact, that's my biggest problem now. I've settled at 140 pounds, and I have to force myself to eat and not to stay there. Otherwise, I'm gonna lose more. I don't want to get too much thinner. [laughs] People tease me now that the wind's gonna blow me away. Plant-based foods are wonderful. Uh, so the ones that I buy that are pre-prepared, uh, they're okay. I'm finding for myself, I like to make it myself. My biggest problem is that I don't have the time to sit down and spend an hour to two hours cooking meals every day. So that's why I eat kind of a sparse diet. I like beans and rice. I love them. So that's my main go-to meal now, and I'm very happy with it now. Well, before, my fasting glucose would run me between two and 250 in the mornings. Uh, where now I'm down to in, uh, lower hundreds. Every once in a while, I hit the 90s. So that's much better. Uh, energy-wise, I am much, much more apt to keep moving around. Uh, I like to get out. I do all the shopping for myself. I've got six special needs kids here that I take care of. And so I do all the shopping for them, which keeps me very busy. [laughs] Since starting Mastering Diabetes, I have more energy. I check my glucose every morning. My glucose is always low. Um, I'm very busy. Uh, where before I had to force myself to do the things I'm doing now with no effort. Uh, even my daughter, who is in special needs, I put her, she's also type 2 diabetic. And she's not having the success I'm having, partly because she's got a lower IQ. She's about a five-year-old IQ, even though she's in the 30s. And she's, with a lot of her friends, they want to give her no sugar, but what they don't stop to realize is they give her sugar-free cookies, sugar-free candy, things like that, which they substitute fat and they substitute chemicals, which are just as bad as the sugar. So she's having a little more trouble than I am, but she's doing wonderful too. I'm able to get around and keep the kids happy, keep everybody moving. Uh, everything keeps me going. I realized that watching the videos was good, and I did get some good health, uh, good, uh, good kudos and things when I started doing that. But there were things I just couldn't quite follow through with. Um, having a coach talk to me about things, uh, asking me what my diet was like, eating, uh, the foods that I was eating, uh, making suggestions, not really getting down on me for eating something that I shouldn't have, but suggesting that it was probably the reasons my numbers weren't going down as fast as I thought they should be. And that really made a difference for me because I, I was able to, uh, analyze these things. Uh, before I could look at things and, like most people, I could look and say, "Oh, there's very little sugar in here." And one of my favorite things is, uh, Member's Mark, uh, crackers. It's got zero sugar in there, and it's made with almond flour. It sounded really good. I couldn't understand why my numbers started going up. And then I le- uh, started looking, and they had more fat because they only had six grams of fat. But I started to look, and that's for 10 crackers. [laughs] So I was eating quite a bit of fat without realizing it. And, uh, my coach was able to point things, uh, things like this out to me. Um, when I had questions I didn't always understand, I could ask her. She'd research and give me some ideas. So if you're thinking about working with Mastering Diabetes, the main question I have for you is don't look at the cost. Or stop and turn around the other way and say, how much is it worth for you to get your diabetes under control? Because the cost is not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is learning how to eat and live right. Before Mastering Diabetes, my A1C was between nine and 11. Now it is at 6.1. Since I've been on Mastering Diabetes, I've stopped taking my, uh, Glimepiride. I don't take losartan anymore. And I'm to a point where I'm gonna talk with the doctor about cutting back or stopping my metformin. I haven't yet, but that's one I'm thinking about.