Family tradition

My mother has Type 2 diabetes, and so did her mother before her.  My father has it as well, but I'm not aware of a family history behind his.

I don't know much about my grandmother's diabetes, but she was a tiny woman who did not eat much at all.  My grandfather would often sneak her Hershey bars - even after she moved into a nursing home - and I remember my mother and her sisters being absolutely furious that he would do such a thing.

My mother and her siblings are all large people...unfortunately, I tend to take after her side of the family.  They do not eat well, nor do they always take good care of their health.  My aunt has also been diagnosed with diabetes and suffers from neuropathy in her feet.  My mother does not work and leads a sedentary lifestyle; she also suffers from back pain and is unable to walk more than a short distance without needing to stop and rest.  She bought a nice treadmill and it sits unused in a bedroom.

My mother was diagnosed in the fall of 1999 and has been putting on weight ever since.  It shocks me to look at pictures from my daughter's first birthday party a decade ago and compare that to how she looks today.  My mother, who has never been big on fruits & veggies, has not really changed her diet since the diagnosis.  Knowing what I know now, I don't know how she doesn't have more related health problems (or, maybe she does and hasn't told me...we are not on good terms at the moment).  My kids have come back from overnight visits and told me that Grandma ate a bunch of candy, or downed a bag of Lay's chips.  Reminds me of my grandmother's Hershey bar binges!

I've known for a while that I needed to lose weight so I wouldn't go down that same road.  I want better for myself and my family.  I tried out a great Bible study called Thin Within; I didn't give it my best shot and not much changed.  It wasn't until my diagnosis that I got serious about eating better, exercising, and getting weight off.  From my mother, I have learned what NOT to do when you have high blood sugar.  Diabetes is one family tradition that I don't want to pass on.