Blog Takeover!

Jaaaaaaaa! Ok.. so I haven't posted on this blog in like FOR-EV-ER, but I figured it was better than starting a brand new blog just to cover a few weeks of travel.

So if you didn't know.. I'm head back to South Africa. And Super excited about it!!!!!

Here's my FAQ's about the trip:

1) Are you doing the same thing you did last time? Nope. The work we will be doing is outside of Pretoria. Working with this ministry: https://bethesdaoutreach.org/
My previous trip was to the Cape Town area working with this ministry: http://www.campsonshineafrica.org/

2) Will you get to see the kids you worked with before? Maybe. We are going to vacation a few days in the Cape Town area, but still trying to figure out the logistics and feasibility of doing so.

3) Are you going with a specific group? Nope. But I'm not traveling alone either. Heading there with my good friends Mikel and Jessica Berger.

4) What are you going to do there? Well, Mikel, Jessica, and myself connected through our mutual love of education and computing. The school at Bethesda just recently got a computer lab set up. Jessica and I have done teacher professional development and camps for many years revolving around computing. Our original hope was to go do an inservice for the teachers, but decided we should probably ought to have a site visit, skill assessment, and lab assessment before we tried to put anything together. So we will be doing that in hopes of developing a training plan that can be implemented at a later date. The idea is to get these students some valuable computing skills that might help them succeed in secondary school or even in the workforce.

5) When are you going? Sept 30th- Oct 15th. It will take us 2 days to get there (long layover in London). We fly into Johannesburg, and then head straight to Cape Town for a few days of R & R before the work begins.  It will also take us two days to get back...sort of.. we leave on the 14th and get back on the 15th. My favorite is when Custom Officials ask you how long you have been gone and your legit answer is "I have no idea."

6) What else will you do there?  Um... love on kids, eat meat. Go to an Orphan Care Seminar. Visit with the host families who help care for the orphans.

7) Can you bring me a baby home? Um... probably not.

8) Is this a work trip? Nope. Not at all. That being said, the students at the school and orphanage are well acquainted with Purdue as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes group from here take a group of students there a couple times every year. They are well acquainted with David Blough- our quarterback- so please pray our football team keeps doing well. :)

9) Will you be able to stay on your Virta plan while there? Probably better than I have here lately. So here's hoping.

Ok.. I think that covers it for now..stay tuned as we get ready for our adventures!

Non-Scale Victories

So for those of you who have never been on a diet, the concept of non-scale victories may be foreign to you. Basically, you want to celebrate good things going on with your program, that do not relate to your weight fluctuation or any sort of measurement. So I used to think that was just a way for people to continue to brag on themselves and it was ANNOYING. I'd be like "yeah, we can see that your face is thinner, how can you not?" or "realistically you're never going to wear your wedding dress again, so who cares if you can fit in it again after 20 years." I think you get the idea.

Well, you probably get the idea for sure- the one that I was bitter and turned my nose up to others success. So I say that to give you permission to have the same attitude if you'd like because I'm about to bust out some non-scale victories for y'all....

1) Ok. So last week was the 7th anniversary of my dad's death. Every year, we had chosen to remember him by celebrating with donuts. Why donuts?  Well, he loved them. As I sit here, I was just thinking about my favorite ones he would get at the grocery store... they were boxed by some brand.. I'm thinking a yellow box, cake donut with chocolate on top. But more of a hardened chocolate. I just spent 15 minutes trying to figure out the brand online to no avail..someone will come through and help me... or perhaps they still sell them at Tysen's in Demotte and I'll take a look around the next time I'm there. But all that to say... I'm not sure I remember a day without donuts in our house. We know good donuts in our family. I mean, our kindergarten field trip was to the local bakery to watch donuts being made. The obsession started early. (That bakery sat where Schnicks currently is for those of you who have had the chance to visit the booming metropolis of Wheatfield, IN. ) So July 26th, I find myself in Denver. And having breakfast with friends at the Denver Biscuit Company in this lovely shopping plaza called Stanley Marketplace. And there just happens to be a donut shoppe there called Glazed and Confused too.  (I must admit, being in Colorado where pot is now legal, I wasn't 100% convinced this was a donut shoppe by its name.)  I avoid the biscuits at the breakfast location. But boy, those donuts looked good.  I think we walked by the shoppe at least 3 times.  My friend had offered to split one with me so I wouldn't eat the whole thing, but could still celebrate. So we walked by again. And again. But here's the funny thing... go to their website... http://www.gcdonuts.com/ . Do you see it? "Not your Daddy's Donuts". And that was enough. I didn't have a donut that day. (Had I, I would have opted for the root beer float donut though. ) It was that simple. Those weren't my dad's donuts. Non-scale victory. Instead.. I watched the Cubs that night. He liked them too....

2) Ok, so also while in Denver, I was there to attend a conference.  Most of the summer I have been wearing skirts and dresses to work- they are comfortable, don't require ironing, and just overall easy to wear.  But for this conference, I thought I might want to step up my game and bust out some of my dress pants and nicer tops. So I packed and off I went. What I tell you in the following is 100% truth... For three days of the conference, I was in a state of bewilderment. Every time I would wear a pair of the dress pants, I would be so perplexed as to why they seemed to be too long. For THREE DAYS, I convinced myself that it was because I was wearing summer shoes with them vs. the ones I might normally wear in the winter and that's why my pants seemed so long. These shoes must have shorter heels than what I normally wear, right?  On day three, it FINALLY occurred to me. My pants weren't too long, my waist was smaller and not able to hold the pants up anymore. This is the honest truth. Three days. And then it finally occurred to me that my pants might just not fit me anymore. I had hiked them up multiple times each day. It just never occurred to me as to why.  And I don't do belts- (maybe that will get its own blog posting someday) so my pants were left to my hips and bootie to provide structure. And we can tell how well that worked.

So anyway... there are two non-scale victories. Be Jealous. Be Annoyed. Be Humored.

Fandom and Fallbacks

So one of the things I like the most about Virta is that they really do get the concept of community. A lot of times when we make dietary changes, we think we only have ourselves to rely on, or that we are doing it for individual reasons, so usually there's no collective "we" in doing so.

I've mentioned before that one of the things that drew me to this program as the 24/7 health coach available to you to help encourage and guide you through the process.  And literally having that person in your pocket has been so valuable to me.

Going beyond the health coach as part of your community, Virta has set up multiple events for the Purdue participants to get together to get to know each other. So I finally went to one.

I have to say, recently I've noticed I have a bit of social anxiety that builds up in new situations. I suspect it's a result of lots of changes over the past couple years... friends moving away, new church, new job, etc. Or maybe I am at the end of my social graces entertaining students and parents so often. I don't know.  But friends, this was not an easy choice to go to this event. But I knew I had to. So I went.

The event was a dinner scheduled at Nine Irish Brothers. Dinner. At Nine Irish? Have you seen their menu? Irish food isn't exactly what I'd call low carb. Irish Soda BREAD. Pub CHIPS. Bangers and MASH. Fish (Breaded and Fried) and CHIPS. Shepherds PIE (Pie....ok not exactly what I'd label as pie... but still not low carb :) ) So I went in a skeptic thinking I'd just pick something up later if need be. But it was amazing! Many of the Virta staff were there to greet us and gave us a customized menu. They had highlighted things that were Virta friendly and gave suggested substitutions for things that were not. I ended up with the pan seared fish sandwich... minus the sandwich and subbed a side salad. Good sized portion of fish and a nice salad to round it out! Maybe that doesn't count as eating Irish food... but I survived a social and eating challenge.

Speaking of the social challenge, they had such an overwhelming response to the event, we were in two separate areas of the restaurant.  I was a few minutes late getting there and ended up in the area I called the kid section. :)  Overflow for sure... but it was nice. Smaller groups at the tables and gave you a chance to get to know people well.  I recognized one of the gentlemen at my table but could not place him. I finally asked him where I knew him from.... and turns out he was in the business office at my last job. Oops. How quickly we forget. :) (See ya later TLI!) There were about 8 of us at a table and conversation was easy. Virta staff would make their way around to mingle so that was nice too! And then, it happened.

A gentleman headed our way... and I immediately recognized him. Walter White in the flesh...

 my health coach Rich!!!!!!

Cmon.. they are the same guy, minus glasses added a smile. You see it right?

Anyway.. it was super amazing to get to meet him in the flesh! He's real! He's not just some contact on my phone anymore. And he's short. Didn't expect that. :) It was so great to connect with him and talk in person about my journey.

And then it happened again..... another gentleman walks in and I know him too. But cannot place him. And then I see his nametag. (Side note...do y'all know how much I despise name tags.... not a fan...but in this case... changed my tune. ) Dr. Jeff Stanley. Holy. Freaking. Crap. (sorry those are my cuss words, hopefully not offending anyone... ) He's my virtual doctor. In the flesh. You seriously would have thought Justin Timberlake just walked in the room and I turned into a blubbering idiot because I was so shell shocked to see my virtual doctor there. Serious fandom happening here.

Time out: Ok, you're probably like... what's the big deal? I occasionally run into my doctor while grocery shopping, etc.  Here's the big deal... Rich lives in Connecticut, Dr. Stanley lives in Oregon.  They flew in just to have an irish dinner with a bunch of Purdue employees. That's a big deal.

But the even bigger deal was that they had just made a decision to put me back on one of my meds. (sad face. ) No matter how vigilant I was in adhering to the program..my glucose numbers were going up. But here were these two dudes commenting on this change, without me prompting them, telling it would only be temporary, and being overly encouraging. In reality... I just met them.  Crazy stuff. So I'm back on a fallback med... it seems to be doing mostly what it's supposed to... controls things well during the day... my body has a mind of its own at night, so it's been a bit odd. But with their encouragement I'm still holding to the hope that it's just temporary!

A Star Spangled Cheat Day

 So cheat day #3.... 4th of July. I really didn't intend to... it just kind of happened.

Friends had a pool party/ cookout that day. I used my tools and tips they've given us which is to bring something with you that you know is Virta friendly so you have at least 1 thing you can eat. Well, knowing they were going to do a cookout, I figured the burgers would at least be something and that I would bring a Virta Friendly coleslaw to help round out the offering.

So upon arriving, it was pool time!  There was fruit out by the pool, which have learned from my first cheat is probably not a good idea, so I was actually able to not pay any attention to it and go about the day. Shortly after that came this traditional party corn dip that makes an appearance at most events with this crew. As it is a dip, chips are necessary also.  I considered having a bite... but then rethought that knowing we would soon eat dinner and I could hold out for my burger with cheese and coleslaw.

Victory!

And then came dinner.  I doubled up my burger, added cheese, a bit of mayo, and made a sandwich with two pieces of lettuce.  And then put a healthy helping of coleslaw on my plate and dinner was served.

Except it only took me about 3 minutes to finish my plate.  And my friends were still eating. And Eating. :)  It's really intriguing when you experience something actually in the moment that you've only had head knowledge about previously... but I am a social eater. I felt this internal pressure to continue to eat. NO fault of my friends.  No one said anything or did anything to make me feel that way... I just did. So... what did I do...I hit the dessert table.  Cookies and a brownie and a bit of dirt pudding - "just to try it".  And it was delicious.

But my numbers paid for it the next day. And the next day. And even the next. And I do what we all do... I get incredulous thinking ONE cookie couldn't possibly have that long of an effect. Justifying my actions by lessening the offense and not taking ownership of the results.

Why do we do that?

I don't know... but I do. But I value these events and opportunities because I'm learning so much about myself and having to face it. Like I previously said... I had the head knowledge of what I do, but was never fronted with it with some form of accountability. This is such a great growth experience!

Next time... my virtual world becomes a reality... stay tuned.

Berries.... The Gateway Carb

As promised, here is installment two of my struggles with staying on course...British Edition.

Months ago, a friend who is VERY into Jane Austen found this Jane Austen Regency Tea in Carmel, IN and asked if I wanted to go. If you've known me long enough, you know I don't really read, so can't say I had read any Jane Austen and my only movie memory of Jane Austen books made into movies is one that stars Kiera Knightly. And the only thing I remember thinking about that movie involved two male friends commenting on how long her neck was in a Pirates of the Carribean movie and me staring at said long neck. So... Brit Lit isn't really my thing. But... hanging out with friends for a fun experience.... THAT IS MY THING.

So we bought tickets in April, never imagining by June I'd be in a totally different meal plan world.  The event was at Tina's Tea House... this is a legit, owned by a Brit, tea house. She takes her tea seriously. Now, British tea is not just about the drink... there are traditional foods that come along with a tea. NONE of which were really Virta friendly. Finger sandwiches... cucumber and cream cheese, coronation chicken salad, and some cheddar with tomato jam.  Then there were sausage rolls. And then pastries. Cookies, Cakes, Tea Cakes, and scones. Lots of sugary coverings such as lavender jam. The only food 100% Virta friendly was clotted cream.  And boy did I like it. If you've never had it, it's sort of a middle ground between butter and cream cheese... super creamy, super smooth. And so good I brought a jar home with me.

So I tried to Virtafy my foods as much as possible, but have you ever tried to lick cream cheese off of white bread. It doesn't work. I had a bit of success with the chicken salad and pulled the cheese off the other ones. I released my sausage from its phyllo dough casing, and just tried to eat the sausage, but have you ever tried to get all the phyllo dough off of sausage? Not as easy as it sounds. When they came to collect my plate, it looked like I had massacred the pillsbury dough boy with high piles of discarded carbs. In retrospect (like 2 days later retrospecting, I probably could have asked them for sandwiches minus the bread... a few cucumbers with a dollop of cream cheese, a scoop of chicken salad, and a few slices of cheese....but hey..i'm really new at this. :) )

But then there was cake.  I love cake. They were small pieces of cake. Like 1inch by 1 inch. So that wasn't too bad. I only had two. And the cookies were small and only had 1.. but then there were the scones. I needed a carrier for the Clotted Cream... so I chose to just have half of a scone that someone had left behind. And it was all amazing.  For a night, I really didn't care how these choices might affect my numbers.

Virta tells you to expect lapses and relapses. I highly doubt they expect it to be planned.... but for the night that was preplanned, prepurchased, and full of fellowship I decided to put aside the meal plan for the night and play out our Jane Austen tea (sans costumes- some came dressed in full Regency garb, and to them I applaud your time and effort to leave the house wearing a bonnet! )

So I left the tea, happy and with no shame for making alternate choices... I want to live my life and realize I'm running a marathon and not a sprint... so this is all to be expected. The next day I was back on track.... well, until my next social scene... July 4th. Stay tuned for the Fireworks edition....

Cheating and Navigating the Social Scene

Well, we all knew it was bound to happen, right?  NO ONE maintains a diet to the 100th percentile, right? The word "Cheat Day" even appears as an entry in dictionary.com. It's there for a reason. We cheat.

But I thought I was going to be different. I get to eat foods I like, real foods, (not all the foods I like) so why would I ever need to cheat.

And then it happened.

We had an after work dinner outing one night.  Let me correct that. I was the one who planned the after work dinner outing one night. I chose the restaurant. I carefully combed the menu to find Virta-friendly meal options and ate a lighter lunch just in case there were hidden carbs*  in the foods at dinner.

*Let's take a moment to digress and talk about "hidden carbs." If I'm going to get to eat carbs, I want to choose what those are going to be! I don't want to go over on my carb count because that restaurant's version of ranch dressing had 3 carbs instead of 2! Or because they decided to dredge my meat in flour before they cooked it. If I'm going to eat carbs that throw me off, it better darn well be something I want to eat and am going to enjoy! Stupid Hidden Carbs!

OK- Back to the story.  So I have my meal well planned and I execute it well! Yay me!  Not even a crouton touches my lips!  Success! But then, one of my co-workers says, why don't we all go down the street for dessert!!!! Dessert! I love dessert! But... is there going to be anything on the menu I can actually eat? Will I look pitiful with my glass of water while they devour the Key Lime Pie or Sticky Toffee Carrot Cake? Maybe I can get a glass of hot tea and add some cream to satisfy? Sure.. I could just leave the group and go home, but I'm a joiner! I'm social! I don't want to miss the fun!  I'm going!

Upon scanning the dessert menu, I see an option for Fromage and Fruit! Fromage! Cheese! Fruit, not on the meal plan YET, so no fruit. But I can have cheese! I make the assumption that the "fruit" will be a bowl of like melon and oranges, etc. And, that I can just pass those off to someone at the table while I enjoy my Fromage. Bad assumption. The cheese comes out and it's a glorious wedge of cheese with fresh raspberries and blueberries piled high around it. It was almost as if I HAD to eat some of the berries to access the cheese! So I eat a few. And a few more. And you know, that cheese really tasted better when there was a bit of fruit in the same bite. So I eat a few more. Until all the cheese and berries are gone.

I cheated. I ate fruit.  Now, to many of you, you're like... um... there's a lot worse ways you could have cheated... you're probably ok... they are berries. The healthiest of the fruits.  And yes, I did feel a little ridiculous having to admit my first cheat was with berries... but at this point in the program, it's not about being able to eat 'healthy' foods... it's about the fact that we are trying to regulate blood sugars and to some extent, sugar is sugar. It created an insulin reaction in your body. So grrr....  I cheated with berries... the best tasting berries I've ever had. :)  But at least they weren't hidden carbs.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Cheating and Navigating the Social Scene Part 2... British Style.

But really?

Ok.. so you are wondering... can this really work? I know you're thinking, ok Mindy, you're eating BACON every day, cooking everything in BUTTER and adding extra butter just because you can...and your night cap is two spoonfuls of heavy whipping cream. Seriously? The fat will catch up with you soon, right?

The compelling part of this program was based on a 10 week study. 87% of people were off meds after 10 weeks.  Compelling. I decided to embark on the journey based on a 10 week study.  Figured I could do anything for 10 weeks... so why not give it a try, see how I skew their data, and if it doesn't work my beloved gummi bears will be there waiting to take me back in a heartbeat after 10 weeks.

So I've just ended week 4.  I see a trainer at the gym twice a week (something I've been doing long before this). On June 5th, I had him take baseline weight and measurements. Then on July 5th... I had him take them again.

Now, of course, part of the Virta program is a weigh-in every day and so I've seen the scale moving. There are days that you see the scale make big jumps to which my automatic reaction is "oh, I had a big poop last night, so some of that weight will be coming back" (TMI? Nah.. you've all been there... ) But it doesn't.

So what's happened in a month?

11 lbs have disappeared. Gone. They've landed somewhere else, but they aren't here.
BMI and Body Fat measurements are down 2 points each.
Chest, waist, and hips are all down 2 inches EACH.
Thighs down an inch each.
Arms and calves down around .5 inch each.

And, I'm totally off two of my meds. Crazy. Expensive meds. Gone.

I'm still in shock. It's all Just gone. Eating bacon. And butter. And a friendly reminder this is medically supervised (do not try this at home :) )

Why is it working? Because I'm not flooding my system with sugar everyday sending it into a tailspin trying to catch up. Kind of like insurance claims. You have some sort of intervention, it gets billed to insurance, you wait forever for it to clear through their desks and get processed, and then months later you pay a bill for a visit you have long forgotten about, but it's all still adding up. That's what I was doing with sugar in my system.

So no more sugar... body can heal and get caught up. It starts burning fat for energy (which there is plenty to burn) instead of trying to continually process those carbs.

So yeah.. really.

Bouillon? Bouill-off!

OK- so you want to know what I can eat?  Here it is...

30 grams of carbs. A day. 30. If you have no idea how to visualize that... just pick up any item that you normally eat and look at the nutritional information on the packaging. This plus this used to my my typical breakfast. OK... well we all know we don't actually follow the serving size on cereal boxes... so I probably had DOUBLE the total amount of carbs allowed on the new program in ONE MEAL prior to starting on the program.

So what carbs can I eat? Non-starchy vegetables. Pretty much if its green, its allowed. No grains. No fruit. No potatoes. No tomatoes. Did I mention no fruit?  We will come back to that. :) NUTS! I can have nuts.

So what else can I eat? ~15 OUNCES of protein. That's not as limiting as it may sound. You can eat a substantial amount at each meal - like you normally would- and it's not limiting.  I totally have bacon every day. Seems impossible and heart clogging... but they tell me its ok, so I'm going with it!

FAT- the rule with fat is to eat enough to satiate you. My fats of choice... butter... did I mention butter. And whipped cream. I bought one of the fancy whipped cream dispensers where you buy the heavy whipping cream and little cartridges that charge it to aerate the cream and then you magically have whipped cream. I've taken to doing that and adding a bit of water flavoring to it... and so then I have flavored whipped cream on tap! I eat a spoonful or two each evening and it tastes amazingly dessert-ish.

The final element is sodium. To get all science-y on you, there's something about when you cut carbs out of your diet, you need more sodium. Apparently, carbs normally hold the sodium in your system, but with low carbs.. your sodium can drop. So the Virta solution.... BOUILLON. Twice a day.  Like dissolve one cube in a cup of hot water and drink the resulting broth. Twice a day.  So right now there are two camps reading this- those of you that are like, OH, that's just like having a cup of soup each day. Awesome. I love brothy soups!  Easy peasy. And then the other half of you that are like What did you say? Drink some nasty hot bouillon? I don't get it. Why would you do that? And drink it?  No way, Jose.  Which am I, you wonder?

They tell you about this when onboarding and that you just bring it in a thermos and sip on it all morning, then do another one all afternoon.  OK, so I've never drunk broth before. Not a real fan of brothy soups.  But how bad could this be?

Enter Day 1: I bring my Mickey Mouse Tervis Tumbler with me to work... my Virta supplied bouillon cubes in hand (mine were all vegetable bouillion... they said they send a variety of chicken, beef, and veggie. I felt like Charlie Brown at Halloween unpacking my box... You know like where all the other kids are like, I got a lollipop, I got a chocolate bar, and good old Charlie... I got a rock. Three containers of veggie bouillon. Yum. ) But I'm full of hope and excited to get started.

I open a Bouillon cube and put it in the tumbler. Go to the work kitchen and start filling this cup with hot water at the Keurig. And here we go!  Upon taking the first sip... I swear I must have looked like I was being attacked by a roomful of spiders. My arms were flailing, total body shivers, stomping my feet.  That was the worst thing I've ever experience in my entire life. Veggie Bouillon is not really my type of drink.  But, the show must go on. So I get as straw. Maybe sucking it down through a straw the flavor will bypass my tongue and just get that sodium down. Nope. It was like drinking hot, salty celery water. (That actually sounds more appetizing than it was. )  So to finish off the day... I literally just started eating salt. Trust me, it was much more appetizing.

Day 2:  I add salt to everything (even my water.)  It quickly becomes evident that this isn't going to be sustainable (nor was the food enjoyable- just overly salty. )

Day 3: I put out a facebook SOS and hear from a friend who was in the pilot program for this and just went with Salt Tablets instead of the bouillon. Salt Tablets? Im gonna need to know more about those. They say you just ask your pharmacist about them and they will tell you where to find them. Field trip to CVS!!!!! They do indeed keep them behind the pharmacy counter (not sure how salt is contraband, but also not sure I want to know).

So now I'm officially bouill-off! And never been happier. Taking a pill of salt twice a day goes down much better than drinking the Virta kool-aid :)

What is Virta?

Yep... once again... not a cult.

So Purdue sends this invite for employees to participate in this program to REVERSE diabetes- free of charge, and involves some sort of health coaching. "Hmm." I think. Let me just click on this link to find out more....

So I dive deep into the research paper and am getting intrigued,  but, suddenly, hit a roadblock. There is it. The name of a local doctor here in town that runs a medically supervised weight loss program. She was part of the study.  I tried that program. And had NO success. Why? Because I was a sugar addict and they just kept telling me to add more artificial sweeteners to things. Ugh. I resign myself to the fact that this is just a modified version of her program and it's not going to work for me.  *sigh*

But then I keep reading... and see another name. One I'm not expecting... that of one of my Honors College students. He was a research assistant on the project.  And, seriously, the kid sits in my office for some amount of time EVERY. DAY. I had no idea that was his research. But...it at least perks me up to find out more. So I do.

And so sure, there are SOME similarities to the previous program I tried.. but they learned A LOT and this is truly different.  How is it different you may ask?

1) I haven't seen anything that says exactly where the name came from...but I have to believe it is because there is a VIRTUAL component to it. Yep.. I have online doctors appointments and a Health Coach who is available by text 24/7. I love it.

2) It's customized to me.  No cookie cutter meal plan. My health coach and doctor work together to decide what's best for me and how to best approach each barrier and goal.

3) It's free. :) Well, for Purdue employees. Purdue has opted in to offer this to their employees as a health benefit.  They quote it as a $5000 value. That may sound like a lot, but a friend recently told me that it typically costs an employer $30,000 to cover the health care costs of someone who is diabetic. So for Purdue, I'm sure it's a cost saving measure.

4) We are focusing on blood sugar, not weight loss. That being said.. sure.. I've lost some weight.. but its great to know there's no pressure to lose weight- its about getting the bloodwork in an acceptable range. In the past program I felt like I was scolded because I'd come in and have only lost .5 lbs and that wasn't sufficient.

5) They supply you with all the tools you need to succeed. Including a digital scale that automatically uploads your weight to an app so you can't cheat on recording it! Hello Internet of Things!!

So, what made me decide to go ahead and try it? Data.

I went to an informational meeting with a scoff on my face, expecting to hear a repeat of the medically supervised weight loss program and to prove to myself I DID NOT want to do this. But there was a free lunch. So there's that.  But in the meeting... there was a statement that caught my attention- the presenter says "are you tired of just going to the doctor and having them continually up your dose or add another med only to not see results? "  Um... yeah. You've got my attention.  Well, here's some data from our clinical trial... 87% of participants were OFF their meds by the end of 10 weeks.  WHAT? OFF OF THEM? Like no more?  That's crazy talk.  But, it's true.

So that's what made me decide to start my Virta Journey. Next time... what it's really been like...

My Virta Journey

OK.. so by the title, y'all may be thinking I've joined some sort of cult or clone club (that's a reference for all you Orphan Black fans out there), and while there ARE moments where I stop to consider if I did, that's totally not what this is about... so sit back and take a read...

Admittedly, I should have started this blog 3 weeks ago. Or even a month ago. But here I sit with bygone good intentions and am finally getting started.

My Story

So if you've known me for more than a day, you probably know my family doesn't have the best health history which means my sister and I have probably not won any genetic lotteries. And I eat an average American diet- which means I enjoy pretty much whatever I want to eat and try to throw some healthy food in there about half the time. :) But that being said- I try to overcome that by working out, having regular bloodwork, and visiting my doctor at a frequency that would send many of you running straight into a hypochondriacal coma. But even in creating interventions such as working out multiple days a week, there has been little change in my physical appearance nor my bloodwork numbers. And that's quite frustrating. So occasionally I give up and drown myself in a 5lb bag of gummi bears (Albanese Rocks!!!), only to perpetuate the situation and help me cut to the heart of the matter which is I'm pretty sure I'm a sugar addict. I am SOOOO an equal opportunity sugar eater! Yep- even the nastiest of the nasty candy- I'll eat it. (you know, the ones the old lady always gave out at Halloween and you were like, I'd rather she had given me pennies than this stuff... bring it on... ) And like it. Cake- it's my favorite. And never met a pie or cheesecake that I said no to.  Soda... yep that too. I was the generation that discovered Jolt- "twice the sugar"...remember that? We can have a different post about ice cream and cookies later... but the bottom line is, even though they weren't my favorites.. I still ate them.

So fast forward out of my sugar coma and basically I've had fluctuating blood sugars for YEARS.  By fluctuating, I mean I've had high highs and low lows. With no rhyme or reason... no consistency based on med dosages, etc. Just sometimes they were low.. and sometimes they were high.. and sometimes they were normal. People ask me if I'm diabetic, and my answer is "I guess so? " I do things diabetics do, I take meds diabetics take, but my body doesn't respond in traditional ways... so that's where the question mark comes in.

But for the past 6-9 months my blood sugar has been high - and no interventions are helping it come down.  Well... until now.... (more about that soon)

I had read a bunch about plant based diets and how they can regulate blood sugars and was about 2 days away from going full vegetarian-even if not borderline vegan. Of course, I had rationed in my head that the occasional bacon bit or cheese was not going to be harmful.... and so my plan had included "meat as a garnish" too.

But then... an email came from Purdue. They were offering a program to qualifying employees that could REVERSE diabetes and pre-diabetes, not just manage it like previous attempts. And I was intrigued... so what was it?

Stay tuned to the next post to learn more about Virta!