Aside

Thanks for stopping by Flawed yet Functional today! If you don’t know, I am a Type 1 Diabetic managing my diabetes through diet, exercise, and healthy habits…that means no insulin. Crazy, yep, who knew it could work?? For more info on insulin-free diabetes management, check here. The name of my current diet is the Autoimmune Protocol plus a few reintroductions, and this diet would not work if I was not eating lots of fat. I would have insatiable cravings and be hungry all the time. So while it might not seem intuitive to you, if you are looking for the next step to eating healthier food, try introducing more fat into your diet.

Did you miss the first four posts? Check them out below!

• Choose a New Lifestyle
• Stock Your House with Healthy Food
• Eliminate Gluten and Processed Food
• Eat More Vegetables

Doesn’t fat make me fat?

Now I know what you are thinking, doesn’t fat make you fat? If you’re old enough to have lived through the 80’s then you probably well indoctrinated into fat = bad philosophy. I believe this is flat wrong. Bad science and analytics came up with these conclusions, and they’ve been proven false many times. However, big pharma makes a killing on the general population believing fat is bad.

When you don’t eat fat, you replace it with carbs or just straight sugar. Do you know what sugar does? It makes you fat, and excess fat in the body creates a whole world of health issues.

If you aren’t on board with me yet, do a quick Google search for “Is fat bad?” “Does fat make me fat?” or anything similar. Read several articles, follow footnotes and sources. Don’t believe the first thing you read. You will be convinced in short order.

Why should I eat more fat?

Now that you know fat is good for you, why should you be eating it? Why is it a part of these Baby Steps to Eating Healthier Food?

You will be hungry and insatiable if you don’t eat enough fat. Incorporate fat into your diet so that you will be content with your food changes and stick to your new lifestyle long-term.

Recall back at Step 1, this is a new lifestyle. This is not a fad diet or a desperate attempt to ditch 20 pounds fast. You are taking control of your long-term health now and for the rest of your life. Whole, real foods will allow you to live the most full, energy-filled life you ever thought was possible.

Don’t ditch all that effort you’ve made so far because you are hungry all the time. If you are hungry, that’s your body telling you that something is wrong. A well balanced diet high in fat will not leave you hungry between meals.

How do I eat more fat?

Alrighty then, so how do you go about adding more fat to your diet? Actually, it isn’t as hard as you think. Here are the ways I do it, personally. If you’d like more ideas and recipes, check out my Keto boards on Pinterest. (Keto is a high fat, low carb diet so “keto” recipes are usually high in fat.)

Eat Fatty Veggies – Avocados are your best friend. Eat a half of one with your breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Wrap the other half in plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge to eat at the next meal. It will barely turn brown, trust me. It will last!

Add Fat to Plain Veggies – Want an extra dose of yum or just to help swallow a cooked vegetable you don’t like? After you’ve served up your plate, put a generous tablespoon of coconut oil over the roasted vegetables. You won’t believe how good vegetables taste when they are drowning in coconut oil, and you won’t believe how satisfied you are after the meal! Don’t like coconut oil? Try olive oil, butter, or even bacon fat!

Oil the Pan – Don’t skip greasing the pan when you begin cooking! Not only does this help the food not to stick to the pan, it adds good-for-you fat right from the beginning of the cooking process.

Snack on Fat – Going out on a limb here, I’m not saying that pork rinds are healthy to eat all the time, but if you are having a craving in between meals, try reaching for a high fat snack (or water, don’t forget to drink that!). My go-to high-fat snacks is pork rinds, whole almonds or pecans, nut butters, and olives.

Eat the Fat on Meat – Gasph! Did you know that you can eat the fat on your meat? Not all of it is delicious, but here are some that are: crispy chicken skin, fat surrounding a broiled pork chop, bacon, and nicely marbled steak. Basically, if there’s just a bit of fat surrounding your meat, try to eat it. Don’t trim off every speck of fat. Your meals will taste better for it.

Other ideas – Cheese and eggs are also a great source of fat, and while I, personally, can’t eat them, if your diet allows it, then go for it!

So that’s the low-down on fat. If you want your diet changes to stick then do yourself a favor and eat more fat. Fat will help fill you up at meal time, and it will keep you full between meals. Don’t take my word for it though! Do your own research, and when you do, come back here and share. What did you find? What did you learn? How are you going to change your diet in regards to fat intake going forward?

Don’t miss out on the other Baby Steps to Eating Healthier Food! Take a read and begin changing your diet today!

• Choose a New Lifestyle
• Stock Your House with Healthy Food
• Eliminate Gluten and Processed Food
• Eat More Vegetables

Welcome to Flawed yet Functional! My name is Emily, and I’m an adult-onset, Type 1 Diabetic forging a new path for diabetes management by controlling my blood sugar levels through diet, exercise, and healthy habits. If you’re new here, hop on over to my Insulin Free Type 1 Diabetes Resource Page to get more information on what I’m doing, how I discovered it, and how I manage diabetes. Today, I’m going to get on my soapbox a bit and flesh out some of the positive impacts of managing chronic health conditions without medication. Obviously, my focus is Type 1 Diabetes, but these ideas apply to any lifelong disease.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the other impacts of how I’m managing my health. What is the impact beyond my personal health and well-being? A common sentiment I hear is “Why are you trying so hard? Why not just take insulin?” In other words, “Why bother?” Well, I’m so glad you asked! Here are my thoughts on this seemingly simple issue that I believe is not simple at all in practice. 

Offending you is not my goal but rather to get you thinking. Your health and how you manage it affects more than just you. Changing how you manage your long term health could positively impact your life and the lives of so many others. While this may not be easy reading, I think these are things those of us with long-term health issues have to think about.

::deep breath:: 

Reduce Environmental Waste

I don’t consider myself to be a tree hugger type, but I do believe this beautiful world God created is ours to care for responsibly. Diabetic supplies are primarily made out of plastic and metal. The industry intends each syringe, lancet, or pen needle to be single use. If we’re being honest, I don’t know anyone, including myself that changes their lancets every use. So that’s less waste than the industry is instructing us to make, but still, TONS of materials making it into landfills to sit there for eternity.

By managing my Type 1 Diabetes through diet, exercise, and healthy habits, I have produced one 16 oz. bubble bottle full of sharps in one year. Yep, that’s it. It’s filled with about 20 pen needles and the rest of the bottle is lancets from checking my blood sugar every day, a lot of testing and not too much waste.

Food for thought: How is your health care affecting the environment? Are there non-medical steps you could be taking to reduce the use of these consumable medical supplies? If you changed your diet, could you throw away fewer pill bottles or order fewer prescriptions (paper and plastic galore!).

Reduce Health Insurance Cost

Diabetes is expensive for you, the insurance company, and your fellow insurance pool participants. The constant need for testing supplies (lancets, test strips, continuous glucose monitor supplies) and insulin supplies (vials, needles, pens, pen needles, or pump supplies) is costly. Other chronic illnesses require more frequent doctors visits, daily (sometimes multiples a day!) prescriptions, and other health management tools that are covered by health insurance plans.

So why should I care how much these supplies cost if I hit my deductible every year and the insurance company ends up covering it?

The health insurance company is a business not a benefactor. They are spreading the cost of your medical supplies over a large group of people, and you are one of the people in the group, including the amount that is spent above the deductible.

If your deductible is $1,000, but in a year the actual cost of medical supplies is $5,000, the insurance company keeps track of the overage! When the premium rates (the amount you pay out of each paycheck) are calculated the following year, the extra $4,000 is going to be factored in and spread throughout the pool of insureds. The company will raise deductibles for everyone in the pool and/or raise the premiums everyone pays to cover that $4,000. (This is very simplified, pricing is much more complicated but know that there is no such thing as free money, even for medical supplies.)

Food for thought: Have you considered your personal health management when it comes to insurance rates? What could you do to take control of your health, reduce your healthcare costs and reduce everyone’s health insurance rates?

Reduce Out Of Pocket Expense

Health insurance does cover some of the medical expenses for those of us with long-term health issues, but there is always a bit that will be out of pocket.

When I was first diagnosed, I had to hunt high and low for blood glucose monitors and strips that would be covered by my insurance. It was a nightmare, and in the end, I never did find a location that I could pick up test strips that would be covered (I failed at mail order too!).

My solution was to shop around and pay out of my Health Savings Account, so tax free but not run against my insurance. Did you know there are subscription services for diabetes testing supplies? I have an unlimited One Drop plan that is about $400/year. Many people compare per strip costs, so this is around $.22/strip. (Note: It looks like the cost went up this year to $480/year for unlimited strips. That’s from people like me using tons of strips! Again, business not benefactor!).

Even with paying for my test strips and lancets out of pocket and covering labs work and doctor visits, I came nowhere near hitting my annual deductible. That’s good news for my budget and your health insurance rates! You’re welcome!

Food for thought: Have you shopped around for the daily medical supplies you need? What about switching to different brands that costs less? Would you be willing to pay out of pocket for things your insurance company would pay for to save yourself and other insureds money?

Improve the Health (Current & Future) of Those in Your Household

As you’ve heard me speak about before, I believe the whole family should eat the same food. Not only for the support of the family member with health problems or food sensitivities, but it will improve the health of the whole family.

I should point out, I’m assuming that changing the diet leads the family toward fresh meat, vegetables, and fruit and less Cheeze-Its. What will not be good for anyone is switching from Cheeze-its to gluten-free Cheeze-its. Are you with me?

Short-term effects like stronger immune system, more energy, and more alertness/focus are huge perks. Likewise, there are long-term health benefits, from preventing diabetes to Alzheimer’s (now called Type 3 diabetes!), what we eat impacts the entire body from head to toe.

Food for thought: If you knew what would happen to your children/spouse down the road, health-wise, would you go through the effort to change now?

Improve Your Long-Term Health

Managing long-term health conditions without medication will improve your long-term health more than just taking medicine. This seems obvious to me, but it may not to you.

If you look for other solutions to your health issues than medication, you will be looking for and finding the root cause of your condition. When the root cause of the condition is discovered (gluten sensitivity, too much processed food, sugar intake, etc.), then real, true healing can begin. Not just relief/masking of symptoms, but actual healing of the body. Medicine does not heal. Medicine masks symptoms.

One area specific to diabetics is c-peptide levels. You body produces c-peptide as long as the pancreas produces insulin. When the insulin production stops, so does the c-peptide. Why does this matter? C-peptide improves circulation (a serious problem for lifelong diabetics!), improves kidney and nerve function, and more. Keeping the pancreas alive impacts more than just beta cells and blood sugar levels. Making an effort to keep the pancreas producing insulin will result in the kidneys continuing to produce c-peptide (I’ve spoken about this before) which is of long-term value to your health.

Food for thought: Would you be willing to put in the time and effort to discover the root cause of your health condition? Once discovered, are you willing to make radical changes to heal your body and change your long-term health?

As I write these thoughts out, I do see how this can seem offensive. I am not attacking you or your health. I only want to encourage you to think outside the box when it comes to managing your health, especially with a lifelong condition. Will it be possible for every person to get off all medication? Maybe not, but many could. Can every diabetic stop taking insulin? No! Not at all, if the pancreas has stopped producing insulin, the body must have insulin to function. Therefore, it must come from injections. What I am saying is if you are eating a whole foods diet that addresses any sensitivities you may have, there will be huge positive ramifications (even if you are still on some medication) beyond just your current health right now.

Are you offended? Did I make you think? What are your thoughts on health care management for lifelong conditions? If you have a lifelong condition, I’d love to hear your thoughts and discuss!