she started the program she was close to sixty years old, and we were accustomedto livingin a particular way." Lorraine: "We have grandkids , we've been married forty-five years , we have sixkids andseven grandkids, andthey come over for chocolate chip cookies and icecream." Lou:"The program works , " Lorraine: "Because I'm still here." Lou:", but it's difficult to do, becauseyou reallyhave to be dedi cated." Lorraine: "Let's put it this way.
There are no hot fudge sundaes here.
Ever.
Not for Thanksgiving, not for Christmas, birthdays, an niversaries, there are no deviations from the program.
The first week, because of the change in diet, I lost 15 pounds.
You looked at what you were eating, measuredit , " Lou: "It was a combination of things.
The amount of insulin changeda lot.
She wastaking sometimes 80 to 90 units of insulin on a dailybasis, and now she's taking 13^2 units.
Insulin is the fat-building hormone, so reducing your dosage changes things substantially.
And you're changing the amount of carbohydrate you'retaking in, and so she lost allthis weight." Lorraine: "Altogether, I lost 85 pounds.
I wear junior size clothes.
Call me stubborn, but I still resent being told what to eat." Lou: "Let me put it this way.
You five a quality of life and give up what you have to , " Lorraine: "Like fudge." Lou: "Or potatoes.
The point is, you have to decide somewhere along the line.
Are you going to live and enjoy the rest of your life without problems,or are you goingto fightthe realityof the situation and go down the tubes?
It's a choice." Lorraine: "It's an attitude.
I don't like his program, but it works.
I'm still here.
I miss the goodies I givemy grandkids, allthe cookies, candy bars,ice cream.
And the holidays.
Everything's kind of restricted." Lou:"The irony of this is, my wife, sinceshe lost allthe weight, she dresses in very sporty clothes.
Now, I'm a racewalker.
She doesn't exer cise, but because ofheredityor whatever, shehasbeautiful,stronglegs, and so she wears these spandex tights and such, and people ask her, 'How much do you run?'" Lorraine: "He's a champion racewalker, very self-disciplined.
Not me.
I had a conversation with God, and He said, 'Don't sweat.' I'm Lou's cheerleader.
I stayhome and readbooks."
Before and After 25
Lou: "She walks with me sometimes. ButI laugh my ass off." Lorraine: "It's fun to go shopping and buy junior sizes with my granddaughters , but I don't let them borrow my clothes. Before I started the program, I neverthought about how I looked,how I felt , allI know is,the clothes I wasbuying wereone size fits all." Lou: "Now look at her." By the way, Lorraine's cholesterol/HDL ratio has dropped from a high cardiac risk 5.9 to a verylowrisk 3.3.
It isn't unusual for people with diabetes to make major changes in other aspects of their lives once their blood sugars have been restored to normal after years ofpoor control.
The changes that we see include marriages, pregnancies, and reentry into the workforce.
The story of Elaine L. falls into the last category.
She also points outthe disablingfatigue thatshe ex perienced when her blood sugars were high.
This problem has led other diabetics, desperate to retain their abilities to function productively, to abuse amphetamines.
Elaine is a sixty-year-old mother and artist.
Her story is not unusual. "When I developed diabetes twenty-one years ago, I began a fruit lessodysseyto learnallI could about this disease and to have the tools to be able to deal with the psychological and physical roller coaster that I was experiencing. "The hardest thing to cope with was the total loss of control over my life.
I was told that I was a 'brittle' diabetic and that I would just have to endure the very high and very low blood sugars that were to tally exhausting me.
I feared that my eyes would be damaged.
I'm an artist, and this frightened me the most.
I knew that this diseasewas de stroying my body every day and that I was helpless. "We went from doctor to doctor and to major diabetes centers around the country.
I never could get a handle on how to become 'controlled.' I was given a gold star for'good' blood sugarby one doc tor; told I 'had imbued the number 150with mystical significance' by another; informed that if my blood sugars werehigh afterlunch today, I could correct them before lunch tomorrow.
All the while, I was feel ing worse and worse.
I stopped painting.
I was just too tired.
I was so scared to read any more of the diabetes magazines, because I kept learning more and more about what was in store for me. "I'd been diabetic about five years when an uncle in Florida advised me to read Dr.
Bernstein's first book.
It made a lot of sense, but when
26 Before andAfter
I read it, I thought,'Diabetes has robbed me of so much already, I don'thave anymore timeoreffort to give to it , andwhowants to be a professional diabetic?' Of course, there was alot of anger anddenial andevenattempts to forget about being diabetic.
Maybe I could forget about it for a while,but it never forgot about me. "Aseedwas now planted, however, in spiteofmyself.
I knew that no matter whathappened down theroad, I needed to feel that I hadtried everything possible, so that I would never have to say, 'I wish I had done more.' "I was very wary of my first visit to Dr.
Bernstein's office.
I really thought I would hate having to change my diet yetagain.
I didnot rel ishthe idea of multiple daily injections, testing my bloodsooften,and keeping records.
The fact isthatI didhate all of thatuntilI found I was recording better andbetter bloodsugars.
The diet wasn't anymorere strictive than the American Diabetes Association diet I had been fol lowing, andmost important, I was feeling better andmuch less tired.
In fact, I began to paint again and soon rented a studio.
I now paint full-time, but this time I actually sellmy work. "The regimen that I feared has, in the end,given me the freedom of which I had dreamed." Although Elaine does notmention it inher story, her cholesterol/HDL ratio dropped from an elevated cardiac risk level of4.74 to the "cardio protective" level of 3.4, as her long-term blood sugars approached nor mal.
Furthermore, her weight has dropped from 143 pounds to 134 pounds, and her hemoglobin A1C has dropped from a very high 10.7 per cent to a nearly normal 6.0percent.
Carmine DeLuca is in his early sixties and has hadtype2 diabetes since about ageforty-five.
Like many ofmypatients, hehadbeen in"standard" treatmentandfound hiscondition gettingprogressively worse. "I wastaking pills, tried some diet changes, but afterabout ten years my diabetes justgotworse.
Through the years, as a diabetic, I had seen some articles about Dr.
Bernstein, and he had appeared several times in the local newspaper.
A colleague at work mentioned this Dr.
Bern steinto me, the sameguywho had been in the paper.
She said, 'If you ever want to go to someone, go to this guy' And I heard from a few other peoplearound the area who said, 'He'sexcellent.' "Over the years, I've had trouble with my eyes, my feet, and my hands, but that was before Dr.
Bernstein saw me.
I had tried to watch
Before andAfter 27
my diet, but beingItalian, you know, you're always involved with the pasta, the bread, andso forth, andsoI really didn't do verywell on di eting.
Apparently the pill that I was taking was hterally burning me out.
I was just going to a general doctor, an internist, and what did he know?
I used to keep blood sugar about 140 to 160, and then all of a sudden it started hittingthe200 mark, andit was starting to hit it con sistently, and then closeto 300,and then over 300,and the nerve end ings in my feet were gone, and the feeling in my hands.
I did have, at age fifty, two cataracts.
I don't know if you want to blame it on dia betes, but I guess you can.
Finally, when it was so high, I said, 'Well, something hasto be done.
What have I gotto lose?' "And so when thetimecame, Ithought, let me go tothebest.
Every bodytalks about how excellent he is, so I made an appointment.
My blood sugars were very high,in the high 300s, like 375.
When I sawDr.
Bernstein, I hadno idea whatI was getting myselfinto.I hadjustheard that he was one of the best, and so I said, 'Lemme do it.' He struck me as very, very knowledgeable.
I learned an awful lot , he told me things about diabetes that I just never heard about, even from people with diabetes.
He made you feel good, because he Hterally grew up with it.
He was very professional, yet you could sit down and talk to him.
He said he was always available, available 24 hours a day, and he has been,no matterwhat.
You gointo that, andyou feel prettygood. "I've lost weight since I started seeing him.
A few pounds here and there, but the thing is,even though I haven't taken off a lot of weight yet, everybody says, 'Hey, you look great.' But you could see, priorto seeing Dr.
Bernstein, that it was tearing me down, people could see I wasn't looking that good. "Starting the program was tough, but it was carbohydrates that were killing me.
He put me on the diet.
I never had a problem with cholesterol, but for some reason, every time you turn around, people are talking about high cholesterol this, high cholesterol that, so I thought about it.
But I didn't give a damn about carbohydrates; no body talks about carbohydrates and cholesterol.
At least until Dr.
Bernstein said,'You don't eatthis, you don't eatthat,'and I said,'These are all carbohydrates.' And so I'm on the diet and,boom, I startlosing a little weight. "The thing wasto get usedto doingwithout the carbohydrate, but it's okay, because I like meat, I like salad, I like vegetables.
I can eat all the cheese I want , I mean,within reason.
My blood sugar hasbeen good, averagingunder 100, and I feel like a million.
28 Before and After
"I'm strictly on insulin and one pill, and we've reduced the insulin, and as my blood sugar improves, I think we'll reduce it even more.
I see him now every two monthsor so, and for aweek prior, I measure my sugars 4 timesa day andbring the chart to him.
He really analyzes it , youknow, 'All right, take this, don't dothis.
We'll reduce this.
Don't eatthat.' He's gotasystem all hisown andit'sgreat.
It works.
It canbe a pain in the neck, but hey.
He tells me I'm a good patient.
I'm here to prove thatit's not impossible to change, and the results are there."