Diabetes literally gate-crashed into Thomas Franco’s life in 2016 at a medical camp organised for senior bank employees in Chennai. The now-retired 64-year-old bank officer was invited to the gathering to inaugurate the camp by being the first person to get his blood glucose levels checked. Little did he realise that his life was about to undergo a total upheaval as it was revealed that his blood sugar level was extremely high at 380 mg/dl.
Back then Franco was convinced that he was as healthy as one could be at his age, and this came crashing down on him after this random blood sugar test.
“I had no clue about diabetes back then and was worried,” he said. “I did not waste more time and took a diabetologist’s appointment the next day. I was put on an insulin prescription of 12 units in the morning and 10 units at night, coupled with oral medications.”
He also told Happiest Health that he had almost consigned to leading an antidiabetic medicine-laden life until he bumped into a friend who had managed to bring his sugar levels under control by adopting a healthier lifestyle – mainly diet and exercise under a diabetologist’s supervision.
“He suggested that I should adopt a sort of Paleo Diet since it mainly focused on lean meat and egg with minimum carbs,” Franco said. “But I decided to research further as I was also told by someone about the harmful effects of such a diet.”Franco decided to keep an open mind and adapt a diet that had the best of almost all major diets. His key objective was to avoid carbohydrates as much as possible, especially rice, the staple diet in south India. He also included more fresh vegetables, fish and meat. As per this customised diet plan Franco used to have three entire eggs from a country chicken and sprouted grams for breakfast followed by a mid-day snack of a couple of nuts around 11am.
“Lunch was mainly millet rice, lots of vegetables and meat or fish depending on availability,” he said. “At 5pm I used to have some more nuts. I also completely quit drinking milk tea and coffee, and was having just black tea occasionally without sugar.” Franco’s dinner used to be just a serving of boiled vegetables.
Apart from the diet, Franco also took up an exercise routine comprising of walking, yoga and a combination of breathing exercises.
“Once a week, I used a glucometer to check my blood sugar levels and noticed that they were slowly decreasing,” he said. “I gradually stopped taking insulin and other medications. I was on insulin for more than a year, and my diabetologist advised me to stop insulin in 2018.”Though Franco managed to put his diabetes in remission and get off his medications, diabetes once again popped up in his life during the pandemic as his daily workout routines and dietary restrictions went for a toss. He also had to restart his diabetes medication once again. Franco said in this second bout with diabetes, he is unable to follow his antidiabetic routine like he did in the past.
“I’m not always able to stick to my diet because I travel frequently,” he said. “Sometimes I eat whatever is available. I check my blood sugar levels, and if they rise, I take medication. As much as possible, I steer clear of carbs. My fasting blood sugar level is now between 140 and 150, and my HbA1c is 6.5.”
Franco’s case is a perfect example of how diabetes could be put into remission with sheer grit and disciplined lifestyle coupled with intelligent food choices. Ironically, it is also a testimony to the persistence of diabetes – how it returns if the required lifestyle guidelines (mainly avoiding carbohydrates and sugar-rich food items) are not followed.
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