If you read yesterday’s post about me wanting a new drug, then you already know that I’m working on changing my lifestyle, specifically when it comes to diet and exercise. If you haven’t read it, go ahead, I’ll wait.

Done? Cool.

The first thing I chose to attack was diet since controlling what I consume is the easiest of the two. Consciously choosing to eat a banana over a snack bar filled with preservatives is infinitely easier than actually finding the time to work out – especially now that I’m home alone with two kids.

One of the biggest problems Americans face when it comes to diet is the preliferation of prepackaged, processed and convenience food products. There is a saying I’ve heard a lot lately that goes something like “if you want to eat healthy avoid the middle of the grocery store”.

For the most part I feel that this is true, as there are many dangers that lurk in the murky middle. Tasty dangers, which is also why I’m fat.

When I first dropped my weight from 319 to 250 I had been following a morph of the Body for Life program, which essentially was eat six smart meals a day. It worked for sure, but it was hard to remember to eat so many times throughout the course of the day once I got back to the working world. For a while I also started incorporating the “smart food” list from Men’s Health’s Abs Diet into what I ate.

I’ve never been one to jump on diet bandwagons or fads. I’ve never done Atkins or Zone or South Beach. I did do Jenny Craig a few times (once in high school and once when I still lived near Boston). The problem with programs like that is it doesn’t teach you how to eat right.  Rather, all you learn how to do is overpay for bland tasting, yet portion controlled, food that you have to reheat.

About two weeks ago I was chatting with Busy Dad on Twitter after he mentioned he was on the Paleo Diet. I had heard lots of stuff floating around the Internet about it, but really didn’t think much about it until he mentioned he was having steak for dessert. Let’s be honest, that sounds delicious.

For those who don’t know, or haven’t heard of it, the Paleo Diet is essentially a model of eating that replicates how our original ancestors ate. The main tenants of the program prohibit the consumption of sugar, dairy or grains because these are items that would not have been available to our paleolithic brothers and sisters.

Most grains in their unprocessed form are toxic, they didn’t have dairy farmers back in the day and they weren’t pouring sugar on everything to make it go down better like we do today. If you think I’m kidding just try and buy something that doesn’t contain sugar or an -ose. And you can all but forget about trying to eliminate soy.

The more I looked into it, the more it sounded a lot like how I had to adjust our diet when my son was diagnosed with his milk protein allergy. In order to keep my wife nursing we had to cut out dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts and tree nuts from her diet immediately. This essentially left meat, vegetable and whole grains. My wife lost all of the baby weight and then some. I also lost the bulk of the 25 pounds I lost post diabetes diagnosis, so we knew it worked.

The Paleo Diet is obviously more hardcore than what we had done, but I felt that I would run with the program for a few months to see how much progress I could make with my weight loss goal. So, other than the day and a half I was at the Modern Media Man Summit, I have been following a strict no dairy, no sugar and no grains diet for the past nine days.

In those nine days I have lost seven pounds and feel a difference in my energy level. As the father of an infant and being a night owl by nature I don’t get a lot of sleep. Still, I have rarely felt run down, nor have I needed a nap when my wife gets home from work.

I plan on keeping a strict adherence to as many of the rules of the Paleo Diet until I am back below 219, which is where I was at just over a year ago and the lowest I’ve been since my college days. Once I reach that goal I plan on adding in a few flex meals to reward myself.

Realistically I can’t say that I will never eat a dairy or grain product ever again. It just isn’t going to happen and I would be foolish to think otherwise. Because of my diabetes I was already limiting my sugar intake, which means the few processed foods I was eating were probably already out of my diet anyway.

I’ve done a good bit of research on the Paleo Diet, but in no way would I proclaim myself to be an expert on the subject. Therefore, rather than say I’m on it, I will say that I’m following the spirit of the Paleo Diet.

Besides, if I insisted on eating exactly like a caveman really did, I’d probably starve as there aren’t many animals roaming free here in suburbia for me to hunt, kill and cook over a blazing fire in my backyard.

And, just for fun, here’s a quick smoothie recipe that I put together for breakfast each morning.

Caveman Friendly Breakfast Smoothie

Makes one serving

• 1/2 cup coconut milk*
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries
• 1/2 cup frozen pineapple chunks
• 1 small to medium banana

I assemble my smoothie the night before in my blender’s carafe, then put it in the refrigerator to keep overnight. Then while my son is eating his breakfast and my daughter is still sleeping I give it a whirl in the blender and hard boil a few eggs to round out my first meal of the day.

* Use regular coconut milk, don’t waste your money on “light” coconut milk. All you are paying for is water, buy the regular one and add your own.

Disclosure: I’m not a doctor and I don’t play one of the Internet. Nothing in any of my Paleo Dad, Caveman Cuisine or Fun With Diabetes posts should be taken as medical fact or advice. I am chronicling my journey for entertainment purposes only. If you are in a similar situation you should consult your doctor, not a blog (or, at least read blogs by actual doctors and not me). If you choose to ignore this warning and consider what my musings to be advice, you should consult a psychologist.

Photo credit: Orin Zebest on Flickr

I want a new drug, one that won’t make me sick.
One that won’t make me crash me car, or make me feel three feet thick.

Now that that will be stuck in your head the rest of the day…

Over the summer I got into a bit of a blogging funk. Part of it has to do with a mild case of sleep depravation. Having a nearly three month old in the house along with a two year old that is working on some molars can do that to you.

Another part was keeping up with my professional responsibilities for my two clients while using toothpicks to keep my eyes open.

However, the third, and biggest part, was the fact that I was just in a foul mood. I had lots of content ideas, but little desire to put my fingers to my keyboard and knock them out.

It has been nearly two years since I was diagnosed with diabetes. I wrote a post shortly thereafter entitled “Paying the Piper”, as my diagnosis was entirely my fault. Ignoring my family history I didn’t make physical fitness or proper nutrition a point of emphasis in my life as much as I did trying to develop my now failed professional career.

I vowed to change, and change I did. In the months following that fateful day I quickly dropped about 25 pounds. However, it was still a far cry from what I needed to lose.

After losing the initial weight I got a little complacent, or maybe confident is a better word, and allowed myself a little more room in my diet. We resumed going out to eat occasionally, which obviously is rife with problems if you are supposed to be watching what you eat.

Another factor is the numerous drugs I have been on since then. I’ve been taking at least two different drugs to control my blood glucose levels, an ace inhibitor to protect my kidneys and a statin to protect my heart. First metformin and insulin were employed to control my sugars, then the insulin injections were switched out for a different drug that became problematic.

The new drug I was put on is a class of drugs that is currently under fire for its risk causing congestive heart failure. One of the biggest side effects, that I was unaware of at the time, is excessive weight gain. So, essentially a drug that is supposed to help maintain my blood glucose control could become a contributing factor in my demise by causing heart problems or by helping me gain more weight that was at the root of my diabetes to begin with.

Whoever said there was better living through chemistry is a lying liar that lies.

I have always been a big guy. I was the kid you probably made fun of in grammar school because I had to get my clothes from the “husky” department at Sears. At my worst ever I weighed 319 pounds thanks to a 80+ hour a week job, a sedentary lifestyle, a penchant for pizza and a high capacity for single malt scotch.

In 2000, when my business dreams collapsed I finally had the impetus to drop some weight. It was called the unemployed man’s diet – no cash, no food. I proceeded to drop around 70 pounds by the time I moved to Charlotte in late 2001 and I settled at that weight for a good long time.

At the time I was diagnosed with diabetes I was officially 244 pounds, which based on BMI charts is still significantly off my ideal weight. So, when I quickly dropped to 219 I was excited and things appeared to finally be moving forward for me.

Then the insulin was replaced by a new drug (in an effort to protect my pancreas from long term insulin use) and I ballooned from 219 to 263 in a matter of months. To be clear, I’m not dispensing with any personal responsibility for this weight gain, but my diet didn’t not change all that much. For the most part I had curbed my sweet tooth and was doing better with portion control. The drugs were clearly the main culprit, especially after my deeper research into the side effects of this class.

In order to fix this situation I had to change drugs yet again. This time I had to go back to an injection twice a day for a drug with an $80/month co-pay. This particular drug not only helps to keep my sugars in check, but it also has an appetite suppression effect. Another cool thing is it contains a synthetic protein derived from the saliva of Gila monsters, which is kinda cool.

The good news is that the drug has been effective and my weight dropped to 252 in about three months. With a diet change I enacted about a week ago I’ve managed to drop another seven pounds to get to 245. The reality, however, is that I still need to lose roughly double the weight of my son.

Not long after I was put on my new medication, my son followed me to where I would take the shot with his toy syringe from his veterinarian kit. He lifted up his shirt, pretended to inject himself along with me and said “taking a shot with Papa”.

If anything was going to make my situation more real for me, it was that. It absolutely destroyed me that he was copying me as I took my medication for a condition that I so foolishly allowed myself to fall victim.

After I disposed of my needle and returned my drugs to their proper place I gave him a big hug and told him that I was going to do everything I could to make sure that he would never have to do anything like that, ever.

In a way that could sound like an empty promise, but its not. He is a very active little boy and we have been vigilant with what he eats. He tolerates veggies, loves fruit, gets lots of whole foods and very rarely eats anything processed or prepackaged. We aren’t militant about it, but we read labels and won’t buy anything that we don’t deem appropriate – no matter what the resulting tantrum might be like.

I don’t want this for my son or daughter and it is up to me to lead by example. Over the next few weeks I’ll be talking about the things I’m doing to help be that example.

The new drug I want is no drugs.  The road I have ahead of me isn’t going to be fun and it won’t be easy, but it is something that I have to do.

Not for me, but for my kids.

Photo credit: Andres Rueda on Flickr.

For those of you that don’t know, November is American Diabetes Month. As a dad living with Type 2 diabetes I wanted to share some information on the disease and the importance of heeding the warning signs for it, as they may seem relatively harmless when viewed independently.

According to the American Diabetes Association 24 million children and adults in the US live with diabetes and 57 million are at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes. Even more alarming is that 1 out of every 3 children born today face a future with diabetes if things don’t change.

The fact that I have diabetes isn’t a surprise to me, as I have a long history of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in my family. However, the reason that I developed diabetes in my thirties is because I failed to recognize the warning signs, ignored my genetic disposition for the disease and consistently made poor decisions regarding diet and exercise (or, in my case, a lack thereof).

With the first anniversary of my diagnosis looming I felt it was important to share a little of my story. A few days before Thanksgiving last year I had an infection that got so bad that it ended up requiring me to undergo an outpatient surgical procedure.

At the first doctors visit to figure out what the mass was on the back of my head my new doctor decided to draw some blood and run a basic panel. During the course of our conversation I disclosed that it had been about four years since I had last seen a physician and that my lab results at that time indicated I was pre-diabetic with a fasting blood sugar of around 130 mg/DL.

A day or so later, as I continued to battle with this infection, I got the call that would change my life. The panel had come back with a blood glucose reading in the low 400′s and an a1c level over 10. My parting gifts at my doctors visit the next day were my very own blood glucose monitor and my first insulin pen.

After nine months of aggressive treatment and altering the way I eat my blood sugar is in control. Granted, I am on medication (two different insulin sensitizers to be exact) and sometimes feel like a walking pharmacy, but I’m off daily insulin injections. While I’ve made progress, I’m still no where near where I need to be for myself, my wife or my son.

I still don’t exercise much and I still need to lose a lot of weight. My goal for 2010 is to get under 200 pounds for the first time since birth (ok, maybe high school). It took me thirty some years to put myself in this predicament, so I realize that it will take me some time to work my way out of it.

If you take anything away from this, then do yourself a favor and don’t be like me. These are some of the warning signs that you may have, or be at risk for, diabetes:

Type 1:

• Frequent urination
• Unusual thirst
• Extreme hunger
• Unusual weight loss
• Extreme fatigue and irritability

Type 2:

• Any of the Type 1 symptoms
• Frequent infections
• Blurred vision
• Cuts/bruises that are slow to heal
• Tingling/numbness in the hands and feet
• Recurring skin, gum or bladder infections

Source: American Diabetes Association

After reading this if you think you might be at risk, check out this Diabetes Risk Test over at diabetes.org.

Even if you don’t have a history of diabetes in your family, or think you have any of the symptoms, go ahead and schedule an annual physical anyway, especially if it’s been a while. As men we tend to only seek medical attention when things are more urgent, such as situations involving drastic blood loss or missing appendages.

We owe it to our wives, partners and children to be around for a long as possible.

Somehow July slipped past me and after reading E. Payne’s post from Wednesday I realized that I haven’t held myself accountable by writing an update on my resolutions. With the year more than half in the bag at this point I’m a little behind on some of the goals, but am working hard to get back on track.  Still, I’ve decided to #blamedrewscancer.

Overconfidence will kill you

I started off the year strong towards my goal of losing 25 pounds by dropping 14 quickly. In a total rookie move, however, I arrogantly upped my own ante in April and revised my goal to 30 pounds. However, with birthdays, vacations and holidays I’ve actually put on a net three pounds this past quarter.  We all know what excuses are akin to, but I actually gained a total of eight and quickly lost five – so, I’ve got that going for me.

On a good note, my diabetes is solidly in control and my latest lab results were encouraging. My a1c level (basically a three month look back at blood sugar levels) was a 6, which is considered normal, as compared with the 10.2 it was at back in November. I’m still on two medications to control it, but the change in my diet has been a major contributing factor to my near normal result.

I need to work on the whole exercise thing so I can reach not only my weight loss goal, but so I can hopefully reduce the strength of the two insulin sensitizing drugs I am taking. I’d love to eliminate one of the three prescription drugs I’m taking if at all possible, as I also take an ACE inhibitor more to protect my kidneys than to regulate blood pressure. Lastly, as if I wasn’t happy enough with my a1c level, I also found out that my cholesterol was a solid 165, down from 215 just nine months ago, so there will be no statin in my immediate future.

Off the market

Our house was on the market, and now it is not. It is a long story and I am not in the right frame of mind to go through the all the details right now. As unemotional as I am about the prospect of selling our home, I’m also not going to give it away. I worked my arse off turning it into something nice for my family, so, like Forrest Gump, that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Bliggity blogging

Probably the biggest success I’ve had in reaching my goals has been with the growth I’ve had right here on this blog. I won’t recap everything, but my readership has doubled in the past month based on feedburner, networked blogs and google friend connect figures. And I’m really starting to come out of my shell on Twitter. I’m not sharp witted enough to hanging with the likes of Weaselmomma, MochaDad or NukeDad (to name just a few of the many), but I have my moments.

I definitely see areas for improvements in my social networking life. Comments are big with me and I try to respond to every one I receive here and do my best to always leave one on the blogs I visit. If I don’t, see the above regarding the lack of a sharp wit. I do need to share more between Twitter and my Google Reader and I’m trying to decide if I post too much. I generally only post during the week and if anyone has any feedback for me on this I’d really appreciate it. Just make it constructive, I know I’m funny looking and dress poorly already.

Finally, between my guest post series at Building Camelot, music column at Dad-Blogs and my Examiner gig, I’m feeling good about my improving skills as a writer. At least, I hope you all think so and it’s not just the voices in my head.

#blamedrewscancer

In case you were wondering about the title of this post, and why I chose to toss a Twitter hashtag in there, you need to check out Blame Drew’s Cancer. The site is the work of Drew Olanoff who found out he had Hodgkins Lymphoma in May and is determined to beat it down.

Since his diagnosis he has been blaming everything possible on his cancer and has invited everyone to blame the things that go wrong in our day to day lives on his cancer. He is hoping to find a sponsor that will donate for each unique Twitter user that blames his cancer for something in a tweet and I wanted to pass along this unique idea and awesome cause.

So, the next time you get cut off on the road, some dumbass decides to write a check for $6 worth of groceries or a Columbian drug lord makes off with your TV go ahead and #blamedrewscancer.

And so today marks the end of the first quarter of 2009. It is kind of amazing how fast these past three months have gone by, but it has been a good year for me so far. Back on January 1st I posted about how I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions, as they tend to be rather vague in nature and not necessarily realistic. Rather, I prefer to lay out some goals I would like to achieve for the year. Well, in an effort to hold myself accountable, I’m going to review my goals on a quarterly basis throughout the year and see what progress I have made towards achieving them. This year I had three major goals in mind, two with quantifiable means to verify their achievement and one that is very much subjective.

Weight loss

The first major goal I set out for myself this year was to lose 25 pounds and I am happy to report that I have made solid progress towards this goal. To date I have lost 14 pounds in 2009 and a total of 22 pounds since my diabetes diagnosis in November 2008. Amazingly, I am 102 pounds less than the highest my weight has ever been (I’m torn between being embarrassed I let myself go that badly and excited at the achievement). Now, this weight loss has been over a number of years and, after losing the first sixty pounds relatively quickly, my weight has bounced up and down within a ten pound range over the past five years to where I was back in November. However, I have significant incentives to get healthy not only for myself, but for my wife and son.

I am also happy to report that I am off the nightly insulin injections and am hoping by losing another twenty or so pounds that I can reduce the dosage of the two insulin sensitizing medications I am currently taking. Realistically, I need to lose about thirty pounds to get to an ideal healthy weight based on my conversations I;ve had with my doctor and what I felt would be an obtainable goal. I still have a lot of work left to do in this department, and, as a result of the progress I have made, I am revising my annual goal upward to a total of thirty pounds. That will still leave me with about fifteen to lose going into 2010, but I would be very happy to be that close to the ultimate goal.

House for sale

In short I haven’t made much progress in this area, unfortunately. This isn’t any issue with procrastination, but rather timing and opportunity. There are something like 28 houses up for sale either through agents or by owner in my small neighborhood and right now we don’t feel like we’re seeing enough sales go through that warrant putting a sign in the yard. While I would like to sell to take advantage of the home prices in the areas where we are looking to move, not to mention the great rates we have been seeing, we are willing to be patient in this area.

Blog growth and social network understanding

This has been an area that has been a lot of fun for me. I’ve gone from zero to about thirty subscribers in my feedburner account and from about ten to over sixty followers on Twitter. I still don’t utilize Twitter to its full potential. I’m still a bit of a lurker trying to figure out the best way for me to participate in the conversation, but I’m having fun with it. As far as my blog goes I started participating in Wordless Wednesday and Tell Me Thursday to get me going as far as some deadlines on getting new posts out. Just as I was gaining some momentum there I also started participating in Fatherhood Friday over at dad-blogs.com, which is a great group of blogging dads and moms.

Having deadlines for getting out new content on the blog has helped my planning and, hopefully, improved my writing. I now have about two weeks worth of blog post ideas and topics laid out for myself that I refer back to regularly. Many of these ideas turn into drafts and, ultimately, become what you see here on Real Men Drive Minivans.

I have been more focused on creating content that is interesting, funny and at times helpful, so my focus over the next quarter will be on getting the word out more about my blog and hopefully gaining additional readership. I have another idea for a project on fatherhood that I would like to launch, but I still feel that I have a lot of work left to do establishing my personal brand, if you will, so that I’m not starting a second blog completely from scratch.

While the results from this goal aren’t necessarily quantifiable, I am excited by the possibilities the knowledge I have gleaned from running this blog. I initially started RMDM as a creative outlet for myself. If you watched this past season of Top Chef one of the contestants was talking about how another contestant couldn’t “silence the creative monkeys”. Well, in my case, I need to give them a case of Red Bull because the next original idea in my head may very well turn out to be the first.

The ball has dropped and as we write the obituary on 2008 we look forward to the promise of a new day. Many things were amiss about 2008 from a global perspective, but, aside from the carnage in our 401(k), it was a pretty good year for us. Welcoming our son into the world and celebrating our second anniversary being among the biggest highlights.

As I look forward to 2009, I do so with a bit of apprehension. Looking back on things it seems that my best years have come in even numbered years. I met my wife, got married and became a father all in even numbered years. Conversely, some of my lesser moments have come in odd numbers years, specifically abandoned career paths and home renovation nightmares.

Regardless, I am undaunted as the calendar turns to 2009. I am encouraged by the prospects for my family and me, but there is one thing I refuse to do: make a resolution. Not because I am notoriously bad at following them, but because they are usually very broad and most times very unrealistic. Sure, I could always throw out that this year I want to be the best husband and father I can be. Kind of rings hollow, doesn’t it?

Instead, I have three specific goals in mind for myself for 2009, which are in no particular order:

1. Lose 25 pounds: Over the past six weeks I have managed to get my blood sugar under control through changes in diet and medication. However, by achieving this weight loss goal I hope to reduce my dependence on medication and control my diabetes through diet and exercise.

2. Sell our house: I put ten months of my life into this house tearing out walls, breaking my back over a hardwood floor nail gun and learning how to do tile, trim and case work. Still, even as we moved into the house we knew the reality was that it would be too small for our long term needs. So, despite my personal attachment I need to put my family’s needs in front.

3. Grow this blog and my understanding of social networking: These past few months writing this blog have been a lot of fun for me and I would like to see where I can take it in 2009. To do so I will also need to expand my understanding of social networking. Sure, I’m on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr, but that is merely the tip of the iceberg and I would like to learn the business case behind all the innovations. My hope is that by expanding my knowledge it will help me tackle my next big thing: the coming second career crisis.

When I first learned that I was going to become a father my mind started racing about all kinds of things. I started thinking about the kind of father I wanted to be and the lessons that I thought were most important for me to impart to our child. There are lessons everywhere in life and some of the most powerful and enduring ones come from the mistakes we make. If I am successful in nothing else I hope that I am able to teach my son to learn from the mistakes that I have made.

A few days before Thanksgiving I had to see a doctor on an unrelated matter, but managed to leave the office with the fun news that I have developed diabetes. Now, given my family history this news, while disappointing, is not terribly surprising. Nor should it have surprised me given my notoriously poor decision making when it comes to my personal health. I have been overweight most of my life and while I am eighty pounds lighter than the heaviest I’ve ever been I need to now more than ever get myself in check.

And so the time has come for me to pay the piper. With Lantus pen and Metformin in hand I now have no choice but to learn from the many, many mistakes I have made in my life. I not only owe it to my son who deserves a father that can be there for him, but I owe it to my wife who deserves a partner that can be there for her.

As I begin this new chapter in my life as a diabetic my greatest hope is that what has happened to me will serve as a lesson to my son. Make no mistake this diagnosis is my fault. Despite my knowledge of my family history I would regularly pick the wrong thing to eat at the wrong time and in the wrong amount. And what about exercise you say? Don’t even get me started. When it comes to exercise I’m like Paulie from Goodfellas – I move slow, if at all. However, regardless of my own complicity, genetics to some extent will be a factor for him. It will be my responsibility to educate him about what I will be going through for the rest of my life so he understands and will hopefully make better decisions to avoid a similar fate.

Despite the seriousness of my diagnosis I am confident that I will be able to get it under control not just for me, but for my family. For whatever reason I’ve always done a better job doing something when it is for someone else rather than for me. As an added bonus I now also have a greater measure of clarity as to who I need to be as a father to our son.