trust is my good old trust is my friends all I work in the South Bronx as Nina said and have seen over and over people with very limited means reverse their Diabetes by changing the way they eat and here I want to introduce my very dear patient aala FM to come tell her story [Music] hello my name is aala eam and I'm from the South Bronx and I do want to share my story with you a few years ago I thought I was taking charge of my health I followed all the latest health advice I
switched out animal fat for vegetable oil I stopped drinking soda in favor of fruit juice and replace my white rice with brown I always followed the food parent and made sure each food group was represented on my plate most of you probably tried those things as well but it didn't work for me and I'm probably didn't work for you either after making all these healthy diet changes I was surprised when I started to feel sick it seemed like the healthier I tried to be the sicker I became I was tired all the time I was
extremely thirsty and foaming from my mouth and I couldn't be more than 5 minutes away from a restroom my doctor diagnosed me with type 2 diabetes she then hit me with the worst sentence I ever heard in my life there is no cure and you can only learn to manage your symptoms I was devastated by this but I was determined to control the S symptoms of the disease unfortunately it wasn't that easy my Doctor's first step was to prescribe about five different medications next we added a nutritionist who told me to eat overnight oats and
apples with peanut butter then a specialist showed me how to use insulin to maintain my blood sugar finally I was referred to a bariatric surgeon to discuss surgery but that was too extreme for me I did however make sure I took my medications every single day but as time passed my symptoms got worse my eyes began to fail I was having massive migraines but the worst part was my mind everything was cloudy and I was constantly forgetful the five medications I was taken became more than 15 medications still my health declined I had to use
a nebulizer multiple times a day for my worsening asthma climbing up a flight of stairs was like climbing the Himalayas I couldn't walk to the end of the street due to the swelling in my feet I needed a cane now I could no longer sleep due to the excruciating nerve pain in my legs and in an attempt to help me my doctors increased the doses of all my medications now I was at the highest possible dose of every medication yet my blood sugar kept Rising My Hope for managing the disease turned to despair despair became
depression I no longer fell I no longer left the house no I no longer left my bed I essentially gave up sorry in my depression I beat myself up thank you it's your fault I told myself because you couldn't do what the doctors asked you to do sorry I couldn't lose the weight I stayed at 296 lbs it's your fault I told myself because I can't exercise I used to play tennis I dance how did I become like this it's your fault because you can no longer be a good role model to your children my
kids became ill also they developed all my ailments I couldn't help but feel like I was letting everybody down my doctors who had all used up all their knowledge and resources helping me as best as they could decided that I should see a specialist I had to wait eight lonely and scary months my blood sugars would rise from 300 to 800 and then dropped back down to 30 I took insulin three to five times times a day but in November of 2023 I hobbled limping on the office with my king into the office of Dr
Mariela [Music] glant after hearing my story the first thing she said to me was it's not your fault and I can help you I knew then that she was different on the very first visit she took all of my of my medications away including the insulin that I thought I needed to survive what she did next was equally surprising she produced a food chop different from anything I had ever seen it was essentially a list of food that I would be eating she called it my new medicine her warm words positive encouragement and optimism that
day was the first glimpse of Hope in my soul that I had in a long time I was ready and willing to take a chance on her my family members on the other hand were very concerned they told me on a daily basis that I was doing a very foolish thing even my own primary care doctors caution me about following the the advice of Dr gland but as it turns out they were wrong because I got better I I got better and it didn't take years it was a mere few days before I was up
out of bed it was a few short weeks until I ditched the cane and a couple of Swift months before I lost over 40 lbs changing the way I ate changed my life I now have a life with a bright future ahead of me a long future ahead of me I am playing and dancing again I am able to pursue my dreams of becoming an entrepreneur I actually enjoy taking my new medicine because it's just simply delicious food it's crazy how my love of food got me into this situation and it's the love of food
that is going to get me out I will say that this journey to health has show me that getting healthy depends on getting the right advice because of Mariel I got it but I was one of the lucky ones I believe that all Americans deserve to know how to get healthy like I did thank you thank you thank you [Music] [Music]
