I was diagnosed to be a borderline diabetic in January 2006. I went to work on myself dropped some weight and became active. The diabetic condition went away since I moved to Iceland. I ran my first marathon to raise money for Diabetes. I have run 8 marathons since then. I try to eat balanced meals and I watch for signs and signals from my body. I have done regular medical checks ups i.e blood test, cholesterol etc To give a little bit of context, both my parents were/are diabetic, my dad passed away due to a Cardiovascular Disease in 2011, I am pretty sure it was exasperated due to his diabetic condition. I have always known my dad to be disciplined about food. He never smoked and was a teetotaler. Since 2011, I have been getting regular checkups on my cardiovascular and heart conditions. I have been taking some Statin medication. So far so good, well of course I will not be writing about this if there was not a twist.

Three weeks back I went and got my regular blood test and consultation with my heart doctor. Actually due to the strikes of the medical staff in Iceland some of my tests were delayed so my doctor was going to call me about the results. I got a call on a friday evening from my doctor, that can never be good. He said that everything is fine with my blood work except my Blood Sugar level, my diabetes is back, I mean back with a vengeance. I was asked to go for more blood and urine work, I am still waiting for the results… you guessed it because of the Strikes in Iceland. My heart doctor is great, he already made an appointment for me with an Endocrinologist and I am meeting the best endocrinologist on June 15th. The prognosis is that I may have to inject myself with Insulin. Let me be honest with you, I just hate taking medication and the thought of injecting myself with Insulin everyday just boggles my mind. I really don’t know what my endocrinologist is going to say. Lets see.

This brings me to Food, our body and diseases. I am convinced that there are too many secrets to be uncovered about our body, the food we eat and the causality of disease. Yes, we are living longer but our society and community has become addicted to pills (i.e quick fixes) and not really taking a closer look at food and our nutrition and how it impacts our bodies. Sebastiaan Hooft, one of the speakers at Startup Iceland 2015, inspired me to start thinking seriously about Food, our body and disease, not that I needed any motivation given the call from my doctor. The funny thing is I am not overweight, I actually have an active lifestyle i.e I run regularly, take the stairs instead of the elevator, I do sit and work in a desk more than I like. Anyways, coming back to my inspiration. Sebastiaan asked me to check out the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead by Joe Cross and I did. It really inspired me to rethink food.

 

Of course I am going to consult with my doctors before I take on any change to my food or medication.

So here is a question for you, what important truth about our food, body and disease do very few people agree with you on? Here is my answer, I believe fundamentally changing what we eat will lead to healthier body that can eliminate taking medication. Our bodies are healing machines if only we allow it to do its job. I am not taking stabs at our medical establishments or doctors, I deeply respect and admire our medical community. However, just like everything else, there is very little #Startupthinking in our medical profession. I really want to get good at understanding food and how our bodies work. No, I don’t want to be a doctor. I just want to understand how our body heals. How can we enable self healing of our bodies. I refuse to accept the notion that because my parents were diabetic I will have to take the fatalistic approach that I will have to take medication and inject insulin for the rest of my life. Can I train my body to fix itself? It is perfectly capable of producing insulin, why did it stop? what did I put in it that made it stop producing the insulin. I believe answering some of these questions can solve one of the largest epidemic that is sweeping through the globe. I believe it all starts with what we eat! What do you think? let me know.