Rich Wood 4

Food is Fuel

A Journey Through Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Diabetes and Lifestyle Change

At this point, I am 45 years old, 275lbs., and I’m walking into my doctor’s office with numbness in my left hand and my vision is terrible.  He asks me what’s going on.  I describe my symptoms and he asks me if I’m trying to kill myself – I know that sounds dramatic, but that is what he asked.  Through how I was eating and living, I must have looked terrible to him.  I said “no, I’m not trying to kill myself, but I know my health is not good.”  Then he says, “I’m going to tell you what you have, before I even test you.  You have diabetes.”  I didn't get scared – my reaction was that this was the wakeup call that I needed.  On June 29, 2011, my A1C was 11.2; a healthy normal range is 6.0.  11.2 is really, really bad.  The next morning I decided to make a complete change in my life.  Because of my past history with my karate instructor and friend Sid Gee, and his academy being located inside Powerhouse Gym that is where I joined.  I started walking on the treadmill, riding the stationary bike, and going back to karate.  This was all preparing my body for what I knew I was going to accomplish this time.  I started my same diet again of nothing white.  No milk, no rice, no bread, potatoes, pasta, etc.  Nothing fried, and no more sugar.  Within a few months time I started losing weight at a really good pace.  I was put on a medicine called Prednisone but I told myself that I was not going to be on it for long.  I didn’t like the way it made me feel.  While working out at Powerhouse I would watch a personal trainer named Sarah Stinson work out with clients.  I approached her and said I would like to do MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) style workouts, could she help me.  I explained that I was concerned about hitting a wall with my workouts – I did not want to become bored with just lifting weights, I wanted to make sure I was challenged and that the workouts would always be changing.  I was not in great shape at this time, but I was losing weight.  She slowly helped me get my body accustomed to harder and strenuous activity.  I was very lucky because she came through with everything I had asked of her.

I still had zero knowledge of nutrition.  Sometimes during my workouts, due to me not eating properly, I would get extremely nauseous and dizzy.  I would sometimes come home from the gym and have terrible headaches.  I was having headache regularly. I would have to lie in bed because the pain was so bad.  Little did I know that this had to do with the food I was eating pre and post workout.  

One day after having a banana for breakfast and going straight into a workout with Sarah, I got really sick and had to stop.  While I was explaining to Sarah what I had for breakfast, a small, blond, force – that was all business, walked by us and said “the banana was your problem.”  That was my introduction to Debbie Portell.  I didn’t know it at the time, but Sarah would leave town in the next month, and that General Portell would be my new trainer/nutritionist. 

Next week: What Debbie Portell taught me about nutrition, and having a commitment to excellence, and how we would push diabetes out of my life.

Food for thought: Sweat is what happens when your fat is crying.
-Rich Wood