I was diagnosed with Prediabetes when I was 33 or 9 years back. This was just when we had decided to move to Iceland. I was able to go on a South Beach Diet for 2 weeks and lose some weight. That more or less got my blood sugar under control. I took up running when I moved to Iceland in 2006 because I realized if I did not do some form of physical exercise no amount of control on the diet is going to make me feel better. I was right, after keeping Diabetes out of my system for 9 years it came back with a vengeance this year. It has been a roller coaster ride for the past 6 months, battling depression, diabetes and a whole lot of other things that has been disrupting my rhythm.

I took a month of Paternity leave in November and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I have been able to connect with both my daughters and I am a lot more grounded, I think. I also have a lot more clarity on what I really want to do. You will hear more about it as I am back to blogging more regularly. Anyways, coming back to Diabetes, I think I have beaten this disease again. I have lost more weight, I feel great actually I don’t think I have been fitter. I wanted to document what made the difference for me and hopefully this helps someone else as well.

I have dramatically changed what I eat. I also bumped into Wim Hof, the Iceman and I saw the documentary about his journey, read the book Becoming the Iceman, listened and saw everything there is about him on the internet. I have become a believer because I have been able to control my diabetes with his method as well. If you need to understand what our bodies are capable of doing watch Wim Hof. This is no magic, I think there is scientific proof that Breathing can change your body’s biochemistry and your body has all the medicines that you ever needed. I am not a doctor and I am not suggesting that you should not listen to your doctors. When I went and saw my Endocrinologist, she admitted that she has no idea how I have been able to get my blood sugar under control. Now, my morning ritual is deep breathing for 3 minutes, followed by pushups and then taking a shower in cold water in Iceland, yes, it is possible and no, I am not crazy to do this. I have been doing it for almost 3 months now and I have not felt better in my life.

Here is Wim Hof’s story:

I have also started doing more research about food. I have to thank Tim Ferriss for all the experiments that he has been doing on himself and the podcasts where he has brought experts who have been thinking about Nutrition, Diet and Strength. Especially, I would like to point out the following two podcasts which totally changed my view on how our body, food and nutrition works:

  1. Dom D’Agostino on Fasting, Ketosis and the end of cancer
  2. Dr.Peter Attia on Life-Extension, Drinking Jet Fuel, Ultra endurance, Human Foie Gras, and more

I have also been practising meditation and becoming more mindful. I think this is something that is a high leverage activity. I am a big fan of the late Dr.Steven Covey, who popularized the philosophy of Victor Frankl through the following statement.

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom. – Victor Frankl

If you have not read Victor Frankl’s book , I highly recommend you do. In my humble opinion, after doing meditation more regularly I understand what it means to be mindful. Meditation allows you to expand on the space Victor Frankl refers to above. It allows you to detach from what is happening to you and observe as if you are outside yourself. I am not going into any mambo-jambo stuff, it has been enough work scientifically that meditation and being mindful allows you to get out of your head. I would say that this last 6 months has been cathartic and self discovery for me. I have struggled with many challenges, but as my friend and mentor Jerry Colona would say, I have humbly bowed my head to each of the demons and asked them to eat me. The surprising thing is that once I do that all the demons vanish.

Our body, mind, heart and spirit are all interconnected. You cannot do bad in one area and hope to do good in another one. I think like every system, you need to work on all parts of your being. I think I have been on this journey long enough that I feel confident that I have walked the path, I am not claiming to be an expert, actually far from it. I feel like I am just starting to discover this truth. I feel I have learnt a lot about myself and hopefully this experience helps those Founders I work with to learn from my mistakes. I remember a good quote about learning from others

A Smart people learn from their mistakes and Wise people learn from other people’s mistakes.

I sincerely hope that those who I have the privilege to serve learn from my mistakes.