A happy Monday story: Patient goes from high-risk to healthy (and you can, too)

Dear Reader, Is anyone else slightly unsettled by the fact that Apple has a new iPhone called the 6 Plus? I won't buy a plus-size anything, let alone a phone. When did Apple succumb to the madness that is America's obsession with "supersizing" everything? But I guess when your main place of business is a country where 70 percent of the population is overweight or obese, you go with the flow. Well, that's not how I run MY business. (And by that, I don't just mean my practice. I also mean my interaction with you--both here in the Reality Health Check and in myLogical Health Alternatives newsletter.) So, today, I want to share a wonderful patient story with you, to start your week off on a happy--and hopeful--note. I will call her Amanda. She came to see me about a year ago because she was about 150 pounds overweight and finally wanted to do something about it. I did my usual panel of bloodwork and, sure enough, she was pre-diabetic, with an elevated HgbA1c of 5.9. Amanda is certainly not unusual. Current estimates indicate roughly 84 million Americans (yes, you read that correctly) are pre-diabetic. Yet the vast majority of their doctors never tell them this--or even look for the problem--until it's too late. And then, presto, they can "come to the rescue" with plenty of drugs. Well, I assess each one of my patients for this condition. And Amanda was certainly no exception. So at our very first appointment I turned to her and said, "I know you're here to lose weight, but it's much more than a conversation about looking good. You will become a diabetic if you don't do something about this now." Sure enough, no one had ever told her that before. None of her other doctors had bothered even to utter the word "diabetes"--let alone warn her that she was well on her way to a dangerous case of it. Well, I guess it was the wake-up call she needed. The other day, she came back for a follow-up, exactly a year after that first visit. And she was 74 pounds lighter than when we began. She looked fantastic. But even more importantly, she'd completely transformed her health. She wasn't diabetic (or even pre-diabetic), her heart was completely healthy, and she wasn't on medications of any kind.  Unfortunately, during our visit, Amanda let me know that she had to scale back on appointments with me because her insurance company wasn't paying for my services, and she was in a financial crunch. Imagine that: I saved Amanda's insurance company hundreds of thousands of dollars by turning her life around and they wouldn't reimburse her a few hundred dollars. It's crazy. Yet, sadly, that's healthcare in America.  But Amanda wanted me to know that she'd remained committed and followed my advice all year. And that my New Hamptons Health Miracle has become a new way of life for her.  She went on to explain why she'd been able to stick with it. She reminded me of the first day we met--and my dire warning to her about her future. She confessed that the possibility of becoming diabetic had terrified her. She'd seen diabetes ruin so many people's lives--and she'd had no idea how close she was to the same fate. But she decided that very moment it wasn't going to happen to her. And now that she's focused on staying healthy, it won't.  I was thrilled. This attitude is what I hope to inspire in all of my patients--and in anyone who reads the things I write (the Reality Health Check, Logical Health Alternatives, and my books), or sees me on TV. Amanda is a living--and thriving--example of what happens when you make positive lifestyle changes and stick to them. Like I'm always telling you, those little steps add up to something big.  Until next time,    Dr. Fred