Answering the Wake-Up Call: Empowered to choose wellness

by Kate A. Griffith

Director of Education

My father’s eating habits have always been astonishing. I distinctly remember some of his most disgusting, fat-laden concoctions – peanut butter and bologna sandwiches; chocolate chip cookies the size of a Frisbee; and, by far the worst, broken up bits of doughnuts stirred into a half gallon of ice cream refrozen to be eaten later by him and him alone. Yes, a whole dozen doughnuts, in a vat large enough to serve a salad to a family of 7.

My father often dieted throughout my childhood. I remember the grapefruit diet and other fads. Because he had a pretty good metabolism, all he had to do was cut out junk food to lose weight, but he couldn’t be without his junk food for long, so his weight would immediately yo-yo back up, oftentimes higher than it was to begin with.

Several months ago, my father was diagnosed with hypertension and Type 2 diabetes. None of us were shocked – both of those conditions are not only in his genes, his eating and lack of exercise habits put him in the danger zone for sure.

My father remembered his mother having to jab herself with a needle every day of her life (she had Type 1 diabetes) and take her blood pressure meds as well. He also

remembers the uncle whose Type 2 diabetes was so bad he was legally blind.

Because of what he had seen other family members endure, my father’s diagnoses of high blood pressure and diabetes was his wake-up call. He took nutrition classes, learned how to read food labels, and started taking his diet seriously. To date, he’s lost nearly 60 pounds and is not on any medications for diabetes.

Not only that, he walks during his lunch break every day, and several times a week goes walking on a rails-to-trails walking path between home and work.

Diet and exercise? My father? It seemed pretty unlikely to me until the first time I saw him after he had started his eating healthier. At that point he had lost about 30 pounds. He confesses it’s been hard giving up the junk foods he has enjoyed for most of his life, but he eats endless amounts of fresh veggies, especially cabbage, carrots and Brussels sprouts. He eats lean proteins and has totally given up margarine.

When he was obese, all he could do was go to work in the morning, then go home and sleep all evening and through the night. Now he has enough energy to walk and enough energy to stay awake when he comes home from work.

The improvement in his self esteem and disposition is nearly impossible to quantify. It’s as if he has a second lease on life, and he reminds me of this – if my father can lose weight on his own through exercise and diet modifications, anyone can. According to him, it’s as simple as having enough will power to make good food choices all day long. And when, on occasion, he cheats on his “diet,” he doesn’t let that pull him down the long, dark tunnel of entitlement and deprivation. He simply acknowledges that what he ate wasn’t the best possible choice, and later, when he’s ready to eat again, he works hard to make the healthiest choice possible.

I don’t know about you, but knowing that someone as unlikely as my dad was able to lose weight and keep it off is the ultimate inspiration. If he can do it, anyone can.