Victory Steps To Overcome Diabetes

By Dr. Grace Isoken Ogala

In Victory Steps to overcome Diabetes, Dr. Grace Ogala outlines her remarkable journey of overcoming diabetes, one that took her from the perilous grip of diabetes to a revitalized life. This book is not merely a personal memoir; it is a profound roadmap designed to guide others on their quest to overcome diabetes.
This book reveals Dr. Grace's struggles and helpful tips which she used in overcoming diabetes in 2021 and decreased her hemoglobin A1C from 10.1 to 5.4 in 7 months. Her current A1C is 4.9 in 2023. She also decreased her blood sugar from an elevated blood sugar level of 428mg/dl to a stable fasting blood sugar range of 78 to 80 mg/dl.
But more than her story she explained her secret "Victory Steps Model" which she used as a compass in voyage to overcome diabetes. The "Victory Steps Model " includes discovery, determination, discipline, and doing.
This book also provides an extensive compilation of information from credible websites, books, and continuing education.
This book will serve as quick reference guide for people living with diabetes, those struggling to lose weight, as well as those living with hypertension, elevated cholesterol, and chronic kidney disease.
Step into the pages of Victory Steps to Overcome Diabetes and find not just a book, but a valuable companion for your health journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9781304386137

Book preview

Prologue

My Father’s Request

Spread the news worldwide about the management of diabetes to prevent its complications; don’t ever think it is so easy to manage diabetes because many have suffered and died from its complications.

—Venerable Godwin Aghayemwenre Okoh (blessed memory)

I wrote this book in obedience to my father’s advice and because I wanted to share the tricks of how I overcame diabetes within seven months in 2021.

A picture of my father and me

My Victory over Diabetes

My victory over diabetes was declared on September 8, 2021, when my doctor informed me that my hemoglobin A1C was 5.4 after I had been diagnosed with diabetes on February 11, 2021, with an A1C of 10.1 and blood sugar of 428. I had victory over diabetes by God’s grace, through my experience working as a family nurse practitioner, and through the application of the knowledge acquired from my doctorate research project at Wilkes University in 2019. My doctorate research project explored the benefits of patient education in decreasing hemoglobin A1C.

Introduction

I wrote this book as a diabetic and healthcare provider to help people worldwide learn how to manage diabetes effectively. This book will serve as a quick reference guide on the management of diabetes to decrease its complications.

The American Diabetic Association recommends patient education for everyone diagnosed with diabetes to improve self-care ability, compliance with treatment plans, and prevention of complications. In this book, I will therefore broaden your knowledge about the management of diabetes using the information retrieved from credible books, continuing education, and websites (such as those of the American Diabetes Association, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, WebMD, Cleveland Clinic, NetCE, Healthline, etc.). I will also share my secret tips on how I overcame diabetes in the simplest way possible.

This book will also benefit those wanting to lose weight. Two chapters in this book outline tips on how to lose weight because obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes. There are also helpful hints for overcoming hypertension, elevated cholesterol, gastroparesis, and chronic kidney disease in this book. Pictures of healthy meals and recipes based on the plate method are also included in chapter 13.

This book is a compilation of several diabetic educational pieces of information. It is interactive and filled with pictures to help you understand how best to manage your diabetes. Some information was repeated to explain specific content pertaining to the chapter. I have made every effort to indicate the sources of my information; please forgive me if I have not properly attributed something.

I truly hope you will learn a lot about how to manage your diabetes after reading this book. Thank you for reading this book and telling others about it.

Chapter 1: Personal Struggle with Diabetes and My Victory Principle

It felt like a stormy day in my life when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (with an A1C of 10.1 and blood sugar of 428) in 2021. I was working full time from home and recovering from COVID during the time of my diagnosis and had most of the classic signs and symptoms of diabetes such as blurry vision, dizziness, numbness and tingling in my legs, fatigue, darkened areas in my neck and armpits, polyuria (increased urine frequency), polydipsia (increased thirst), and polyphagia (eating excessively). I took insulin to decrease my blood sugar of 428 and received a prescription for metformin, but it took some months before my blood sugar started decreasing to acceptable limits below two hundred.

I overcame diabetes in seven months by taking prescribed medications, applying the knowledge acquired from my doctorate research project at Wilkes University, relying on my experience as a healthcare provider, and using helpful, credible tips and tricks. I also created the victory steps model to overcome diabetes (discovery, determination, discipline, and doing) when I was diagnosed with diabetes. This four-step Victory Steps Model (VSM) is discussed later in this book.

One of the most important lifestyle changes I made to overcome diabetes was losing about 7 to 10 percent of my body weight because I was obese (258 pounds) at the time of my diagnosis. My weight is currently within the normal BMI range (18.5 to 24.9), which I attained in about two years through medical weight loss, healthy eating habits, and regular exercise.

Some other lifestyle changes that I made were getting regular exercise for about thirty minutes to one hour every day and eating healthy food by using the plate method. In this method, half of the eight- to nine-inch plate is fruits and vegetables; a quarter of the plate is healthy protein (such as a Greek yogurt smoothie, or baked, roasted, or grilled chicken, turkey, and fish); and the remaining quarter is low glycemic carbohydrate (such as steel-cut oats, Uncle Ben’s brown rice, sweet potato, corn on the cob, etc.). I decreased my stress level so that my cortisol level would not be so high; elevated levels of this hormone can lead to high blood sugar. I also took multivitamins, and supplements (such as chromium), prescribed medications, adhered to follow-up visits with my doctor, checked my blood sugar with the glucometer, slept adequately, and performed required foot care and regular skin examinations. Additionally, I enhanced my dental care by brushing and flossing my teeth regularly and seeing the dentist at least twice a year to decrease my risk for tooth cavities (infection) and periodontal disease. This was important based on my history of multiple tooth extractions due to cavities.

My victory principle for overcoming type 2 diabetes is explained below:

Remember always that you cannot embark on a journey of one thousand miles with only one gallon of gasoline, and so goes the advice for living with diabetes: You cannot continue to eat large amounts of carbohydrates and sugary foods when you don’t have adequate insulin, which regulates glucose levels in the bloodstream and induces glucose storage in the liver, muscles, and adipose tissue" to prevent excessive amounts of blood sugar in circulation (NIH).

You already have enough sugar in the body, so you don’t need to eat excessive amounts of sugar. You need to work hard to decrease your high blood glucose instead of adding more. Understanding this principle of eating smaller portions of carbohydrates as advised by your doctor is a major step in overcoming diabetes. This simple principle helped me to overcome diabetes, and I still eat smaller portions of carbohydrates every day, even though I overcame diabetes in 2021 as confirmed by my daily blood sugar readings and A1C within normal limits.

My A1C is currently 4.9 (on 10/12/23), and fasting blood sugar is within the range of 78 to 80. Most definitely, God healed me so that I could help others. I am so grateful that you are reading this book, which will help you in the management of diabetes and maintaining a healthy weight. Thank you.

Chapter 2: Diabetes Mellitus and How Insulin Works

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease characterized by abnormally high blood glucose levels in the body. Diabetes is simply defined as a chronic disease with the hallmark of elevated blood sugar. The two common types of diabetes are type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. People diagnosed with type 1 diabetes are deficient in insulin, and those diagnosed with type 2 diabetes have inadequate insulin due to insulin resistance. The focus of this book will be on type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that results from the destruction of the beta cells in the islet of Langerhans in the pancreas. People diagnosed with type 1 diabetes account for about 5 percent of the US diabetic population. Children and adults can be diagnosed with this disease. People diagnosed with type 1 diabetes will remain dependent on daily administration of insulin subcutaneously because their pancreas makes little or no insulin.

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by abnormally high blood glucose levels due to the body’s resistance to insulin. People with type 2 diabetes have inadequate amounts of insulin due to insulin resistance, and the major risk factor is obesity. It is the most common type of diabetes and accounts for 95 percent of those with diabetes in the United States. It is often diagnosed in adults, but children are also diagnosed due to the global prevalence of obesity. People with type 2 diabetes will benefit from oral diabetic medications (such as metformin), weekly subcutaneous injections (such as Ozempic), daily subcutaneous injections (such as Saxenda), and daily insulin if the blood sugar remains uncontrolled.

How Insulin Works

Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas of the body. It regulates the amount of blood glucose in the body. The digestive system breaks down the food we eat into glucose, which is absorbed into the bloodstream. The glucose that enters the bloodstream triggers the pancreas to release insulin. The insulin then helps with moving glucose from the blood into the cells. When glucose enters the cells, it is either used as fuel for energy right away or stored for later use. Excessive amounts of glucose can build up in the blood if the body is deficient in insulin (type 1 diabetes) or has insulin resistance with inadequate amounts of insulin as seen in type 2 diabetes. The body will not be able to use the food the person eats for energy production if the body is deficient in insulin or resistant to insulin. This situation can result in serious complications in the body or even death.

Important Highlights

Chapter 3: Epidemic of Diabetes and its Global Impact, Diagnosis of Type 1 and Type 2 and Management of Diabetes at a Quick Glance

Diabetes is an epidemic that has affected millions of people worldwide. The prevalence of diabetes is soaring and alarming. The rate at which many more people have been diagnosed with diabetes and prediabetes has increased through the years. One in every three Americans currently has or is at risk of developing diabetes mellitus and the number of individuals worldwide with diabetes is growing at a soaring rate and is expected to surpass 550 million by 2030 (Burke, Sherr & Lipman, 2014). According to the American Diabetes Association, "In 2021, 38.4 million Americans, or 11.6% of the population, had diabetes. Two million Americans have type 1 diabetes, including about 304,000 children and adolescents. Of the 38.4 million adults with diabetes, 29.7 million were diagnosed, and 8.7 million were undiagnosed. The prevalence in seniors is also alarming and the percentage of Americans aged sixty-five and older remains high, at 29.2%, or 16.5 million seniors (diagnosed and undiagnosed). New cases of 1.2 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes every year. In 2021, 97.6 million Americans aged eighteen and older had prediabetes. About 352,000 Americans under age 20 are estimated to have been diagnosed with diabetes, approximately 0.35% of that population. In 2017–2018, the annual incidence of diagnosed diabetes in youth was estimated at 18,200 with type 1 diabetes, and 5,300 with type 2 diabetes".

Uncontrolled diabetes has been blamed for the deaths and disabilities of so many people around the globe. The cost of caring for people with diabetes in the United States is also alarming. According to NIH, the total estimated cost of diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. in 2022 is $412.9 billion, including $306.6 billion in direct medical costs and $106.3 billion in indirect costs. Therefore, more drastic interventions to overcome diabetes should be taken promptly to prevent its devastating consequences and complications.

Diagnosis of Diabetes

Diabetes is often diagnosed in the United States of America with a blood test called hemoglobin A1C, which provides an average level of blood glucose over the past three months. A diagnosis of diabetes is made with an A1C of 6.5 and above. The diagnosis of prediabetes is made with an A1C of 5.7 to 6.4.

A fasting blood glucose of 99 or less will be considered normal; a blood glucose of 100 to 125 is prediabetes; and a blood glucose above 126 is considered diabetes. Normally, before a diagnosis of diabetes is made, an elevated fasting blood sugar on another day is required in addition to a classic symptom of diabetes.

The