Friends wake up call or not so much

(Joe) #1

A good friend of mine recently got some horrible news. He is 34 and a member of the military. I first met him.after his first deployment 10 years ago he was fit and thin. He had put on weight gradually and is now pretty obese.

Long story short he was due to deploy again this summer and was just told he won’t be able to because his liver enzymes are 4xs the normal range and his A1c is pre diabetic. He had been seeing a nutritionist but he continues to eat Crapo food. He has tried addressing his weight with me before and we would go to the gym.

I have shared with him our WOE and he routinely says he is interested but I see no true desire to change his health. Despite all this he still eats taco bell daily. I almost feel like he is an addict who recognizes the problem but can’t make the changes. I fear the advice he will be getting will not help him long term and he is facing many chronic health problems.

Its a sad story of the SAD diet but I fear this is what most people will be faced with eventually. And thus as a country we will keep dying younger more expensive deaths.

Its a sobering reminder that I am lucky to have found my health through all the misinformation or there. Two years ago we were pretty much belly twins and I could have been right there with him.

(Rob) #2

I would treat that as a wake-up call.

When I was in my mid 30s I had 2x normal liver enzymes which was a symptom of Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). The cause of that I attribute to eating too much fruit/fructose. I cut back on the fruit and it subsided. In more recent years my A1C was steadily creeping up thanks to following “healthy food” guidelines based on the food pyramid. I had all the markers of metabolic syndrome and was pre-diabetic. That was enough for me to know that if I kept doing what I was doing I would end up the same way as my father currently is - Type 2 Diabetic, suffering peripheral neuropathy and being treated for incurable Myeloma. Not a good state to look forward to. I started Keto in September 2017 and have since regained a lot of my lost health and restored my weight to what it was when I was in my mid 20s (I’m 48 now). I gorge on delicious fatty meals which are made from real foods, not industrial food-like substances which adorn most supermarket shelves. I view carbs as a toxin to my body as they are truly destructive to my health.

For me, it was hearing of the many (and increasing) amputations performed by Gary Fettke, caused by Diabetes on the 2KetoDudes podcast that flipped the switch for me.

Keto works on so many levels. Please urge your friend to give it a fair chance, it might just mean that he grows old enough to see his grandkids without being in a wheelchair.

(Ron) #3

All you can do is be there when he needs and encourage when you can. I spent many hours in sessions about addiction due to family members and the one common denominator was always that “until they are ready” nothing will force them. Most of the time it takes a “rock bottom” or “life challenging scare” to move forward. Just be there!:+1::muscle:

(Marta Loftfield) #4

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/the-great-big-public-keto-before-and-after-thread/38545/159

@JoeG3383 perhaps you can show this link to your friend. Maybe seeing how another military man saved his job and health through keto would help.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #5

And there but for the grace of God . . . .

It’s easier to see with something more immediately destructive, such as alcohol, crack, or heroin, but sometimes we just have to step over the bodies and move on. As @mtncntrykid points out, people usually have to hit rock bottom before they are able to change. My experience, summed up by a guy I used to know, is “Once they’re ready, you can’t say the wrong thing; but until they are, you can’t say the right thing.” It’s hard, so hard sometimes. . . .

(Joe) #6

Good news on this front. He seems to have been scared straight. Told me tonight after our softball game he never knew it was this bad. He was counting on this deployment to get healthy and has vowed not to let this stop him. We will see how this goes.

In another note. My friend on the other side of me at a table shared he started fasting. We need to help the ones who we can. So far I think I have been able to hopefully change 4 friends eating habits through leading by example.

(Doug) #7

Took me until age 58, almost surely with 3 decades of pre-diabetic status (and the inherent damage) in place.

“Wake-Up Call” for sure.

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #8

The saying usually goes you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

I do know that some people just get so overwhelmed with information, along with their misunderstandings of the SAD diet and all the normal crap that goes along with it (red meat gives you cancer, high fat will raise your cholestoral)

The most difficult part of this diet is wading through the masses of information and comparing that to what we think we already know.

Have you tried directing him to some websites which explain keto in a detailed way and let him start choosing if it will work for him.

(Diane) #9

Maybe encourage him to listen to the 2 Keto dudes podcast (from the beginning). It’s helped a couple of my relatives get over the hump of misinformation out there and get inspired to give ketogenic eating a real try. Even though they had seen the changes in my health, the podcast seemed to be pivotal to getting them started.