<\/p>\n
In the spring I prepared my plot in a community garden. I was eager to plant hot peppers, Swiss chard, tomatoes, and at my son’s request, even jack\u2019o lantern pumpkins. I wanted to try baby watermelons, too. But gardening proved slow this year in Michigan. It rained so much in late spring that I couldn\u2019t plant anything until mid-June.<\/p>\n
Most of the plants have been growing at a leisurely pace, and yesterday evening I harvested my first vegetable: arugula. The leaves were unblemished, tender, and milder than what I buy at my local famers\u2019 market. The precious green handful of arugula practically melted in my dish of warm (low-carb) pasta, fresh tomatoes, olive oil, and garlic. I felt the great joy that comes with eating summer\u2019s fresh food, more so because I’d planted the seeds and tended the plants. Then I realized that a year ago I had never eaten arugula at home and didn\u2019t even know what to do with it.<\/p>\n
Last July at age 48, I learned I was a type 2 diabetic.\u00a0 I had family members with diabetes (whose complications served as an ominous warning), but I always figured that my whole grain eating habits and regular outings to the gym and hiking trails would allow me to escape their fate.\u00a0 I was wrong. \u00a0In the months before my annual ob-gyn exam I had been peeing more frequently than usual and drinking a lot.\u00a0 But it was hot and… water simply tasted good. Knowing these were diabetes symptoms, however, prompted me to request a fasting glucose test; my nurse-practitioner thought that was silly. I reminded her of my family history and essentially demanded the blood test.<\/p>\n
A call from the doctor\u2019s office came a few days later.\u00a0 I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My blood sugar was 404 and my HbA1c was 14.2%.\u00a0 I wasn’t the only one who was shocked. \u00a0My friends and family thought there must be a mistake.<\/p>\n
A wave of disbelief and anger followed my diagnosis. I had done all the things you were advised to do to avoid diabetes, yet I had it .\u00a0 And despite the headlines you often see – my new health care team told me, diabetes was not reversible.\u00a0 I now had an illness and I was going to have to take care of it.\u00a0 \u00a0As I learned more about ways I would need to change my eating habits, I felt more anger and sadness, too. One third of a cup of brown rice was a serving?<\/em> I envisioned perpetual hunger. No more ice cream on summer nights? No cider at the orchard in the fall? How would I enjoy Rosh Hashanah without chunks of challah and honey?<\/em><\/p>\n In August I started keeping a food log and looked up carb values. I was disturbed to find that even healthy foods like fruits and many vegetables have significant amounts of carbohydrate. The lovely acorn squash growing in my garden were not free<\/em>, and would need to be portioned and recorded. But many greens such as lettuce, spinach, and arugula, I learned, were free<\/em> with negligible carbs. So, facing the August bounty at the farmers\u2019 market I looked at the bulging bags of arugula with a new eye. I could eat a lot of this stuff, I reasoned, and started bringing it home. After a quick recipe search, arugula turned into ample salads that seemed like a novel, gourmet treat. Arugula, I told myself, was food that fancy people ate in toney restaurants. By fall I sheepishly decided to purchase radicchio. I felt embarrassed\u2014this was something that trendy foodies ate\u2014not people like me. Yet a friend convincingly reasoned that with so many verboten foods, why not add to what I could eat?<\/p>\n As the seasons of my first diabetic year passed, I have balanced my mourning for \u201cforbidden foods\u201d with an appreciation and passion for the unfamiliar. Aca\u00ed, red quinoa, and dark chocolate from Tanzania have all found a way into my pantry. Being open to new things has proved essential to keeping a healthy outlook. Caring for myself as a diabetic requires getting enough sleep, limiting stress, exercising (almost) every day, and eating sensible amounts of healthy foods. My doctors were pleased to see my A1c drop to 6.5% in five months, but I am equally proud that the entire year passed without a single cold or infection. I have to admit that diabetes has forced me to live better. For me, being open to new things and altering parts of how I define myself in the world has been essential to living and thriving*with diabetes.<\/p>\n And every two weeks this summer, I will plant my arugula seeds and harvest their goodness all season long. Maybe I\u2019ll even plant some radicchio next year.<\/p>\n *Thank you Riva Greenberg<\/span><\/p>\n As I learned more about ways I would need to change my eating habits, I envisioned perpetual hunger….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":41494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1449,1435],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n