After hosting a seminar I often receive emails from participants thanking me for their success. Indeed, it is their success, because, they made the decision to join and follow the program. I’m pleased that this participant gave me permission to share her story with you. I am always so moved when I hear how the program is impacting people’s lives.
Hi Cheryl and Dennis,
In March 2015 my health care provider ordered lab tests on my blood, and for the first time ever, my A1C returned at 7.0. I’d been flirting for a few years with diabetes with A1C’s between 6.3 and 6.8, managing (or mismanaging) it with diet and exercise. I’ve never taken medication for it. My health care provider offered me medication or… and I declined medication saying, “No, thanks. I know what to do and how to do it.” He scheduled a follow-up blood draw on July 27 with a follow-up office visit August 3.
Having said that to him, I inexplicably and irrationally still just couldn’t move/push/drag myself out of the rut/hole I had dug myself into with my diet and exercise habits. Then I learned of your Diabetes and Weight Management Workshop through July at The Ark, which, as you know, I registered for and attended. Over the 4 week duration of classes I saw my morning blood check results reduce from a high of 135 to 104. But I wasn’t even really that ‘good’ – I still haven’t picked up exercising like I should, yet I’m not completely sedentary because I mow my own lawn (push mower, not power-driven), etc., plus I managed to finish the white bread (my own homemade) and crackers and cheese still in the house when classes started and even enjoyed a (vegan) beer at an office barbecue gathering one weekend.
So I felt I would be very happy if my 7/27 A1C could show just a little decrease: after all, I didn’t even TRY to modify my food until the classes started, so 2 of the 3 months this test measured had very little beneficial change. If my result could just be 6.9, or at best 6.8, I’d be very pleased and know I’m headed in the right direction and can really do it.
The actual results came to me in today’s mail. My A1C was 6.6!!! Needless to say, I was very pleased. And I want to thank you SO much for your program and recipes. They ARE responsible for providing the incentive I needed – at a time when I somehow couldn’t just do it myself – to begin again on the path to good health. Your recipes are down-home and make sense for busy people and are inviting to eat. Your demonstrations remove the “Ugh – I won’t be able to do all that!” from the mind that’s trying to resist change, and then you blow us away with how great the food really is. (I still want to know why I can still taste tofu in MY scramble, but there was no flavor of tofu in yours. J)
In less than a week I’ll be heading out of state for a couple of weeks on a bucket-list vacation: I’ve always wanted to visit Gettysburg, and that’s one stop on my road trip. Food will be a challenge, but I feel far better prepared to deal with than I did before your workshop, and will do the best I can. Water, water, water!!!
Thanks for everything!
Sarah Keith
If you’d like us to host an event for your business or in your area please contact me. cheryl@cherylfarley.com