Fighting my own fight.

Sometimes you seek guidance from others instead of trusting what you are already doing. This was my experience this week when I sought out help from a nutritionist in my fight against diabetes. Here's what happened.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have been taking a nutrition course online. It has been great; I have learned a lot and as a result have been able to make some changes to my diet. Now I know the balance I must have between carbs, protein and fat, and I have been adjusting my meals to try to keep with that goal. This has meant that I have had to let go of some foods that I liked but that were not contributing anything but empty calories to my diet. I have moved away from refined grains to whole grains, I am looking at foods with a low sodium count, and I am making sure I get my recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. All in all, it has been a great course...until two weeks ago.

Constant companions: fresh fruit and
a scale to weight my food.

The week's topic was Diabetes. I was happy because as a Type 2 diabetic, I felt that I was going to learn a lot more to help me keep my illness under control. So far, I have been able to keep mine controlled with diet and exercise without the need for medication. And yes, I did learn. The class reinforced my knowledge of carbs counting, and the impact of physical activity and weight management in diabetes care. I learned about glycemic index, glycemic load, dietary fiber, and sweeteners. So when it came time to complete my assignment, I thought I was ready. Ha!

The homework consisted of creating a meal plan for a diabetic. It had specific requirements in terms of total calories distributed between carbs, protein, fat and fiber. I was not able to do it; I was not able to find the right balance. When I adjusted one area, the other one became either too high or too low. It was frustrating. I figured I needed to have a good command of this, so I scheduled an appointment with a nutritionist to get help in creating an individualized meal plan.

Making sure I have my share of vegetables and fruit.

I went to the appointment packed with reports. I have been using MyFitnessPal to keep track of what I eat, and it provides great reports on your daily caloric and nutrient intake. Upon arrival, I completed a questionnaire which asked about my eating habits, height, weight, etc. I then met with the nutritionist who proceeded to ask me the very same questions that were in the questionnaire I had just completed, and jotted down the information in a different piece of paper. I have no idea why the need to duplicate information. She went on to ask me about my goals. I was very specific: I wanted an individualized meal plan that would help me keep my diabetes controlled while at the same time help me lose the weight I needed to lose. I shared my reports which showed what I eat regularly, and let her know that I had made some other changes, like adding more fruit servings daily, changing my favorite cereal for one that had a better nutritional value, and adding yogurt (not a favorite of mine) to increase my calcium intake. I was very excited. I thought that with this information we were going to be able to create a real plan that fit my lifestyle. But that was not the case.

The nutritionist asked me "what do you want from me?" Again, I repeated my request: a personalized meal plan. She got up, opened a drawer, pulled out a cookie-cutter meal plan, and gave it to me, looking as satisfied as if she had come up with the plan herself. I had come to the meeting expecting a lot and left very disappointed. This person was supposed to help me but at the end of the day, it was just a waste of my time. This made me wonder how other people with less information than I have are able to deal with situations like this. I believe in empowering people to take control of their lives and their health. But I guess not everybody share this belief. They have a "one size fits all" mentality that do not take into consideration lifestyles, income, and cultural differences, among other things.

I came back home determined to continue learning and working on my health on my own. I have sought out the support in a community of people that are in my same situation. And in just a couple of minutes I received more valuable information than what I received with the so-called professional yesterday. I still have a long way to go, but I know that I will get there.

This is my fight. I will fight it. And I will win it.