About 10 years ago, Aru Srivastava, while carrying her second child, was diagnosed with “gestational diabetes”. This kind of diabetes is a red flag, a precursor of sorts to the one which will be lifelong if the person doesn’t take it seriously.
“Coming from a family which could’ve won the Miss Couch Potato award, hands down, and where the genetic fabric was already weak, and of course the legendary love affair with rice and potatoes, it was no wonder that diabetes came calling,” says Srivastava, who works as a director in a life science firm SmartAnalyst.
After her delivery, her sugar level was in control and she was back to her normal routine work and food habit without realising that the problem would bounce back soon. In a chance blood test, she discovered that she was diabetic and needed treatment. “The medical fraternity is good at doling out meds and alphabet soup, DPP4s, SGLT-2’s GLP-1s etc. But no one pauses and shares advice on what really matters—your diet, your exercise and your emotional well-being,” she adds.
After having read the why, how and what of the disease, she wanted to understand not the symptoms, but the ways in which to address why the body cells have become insulin insensitive and are not letting insulin-carrying glucose enter them. “What was the key which would cajole these cells to let insulin in. I learnt that it was only exercise, exercise and exercise. Of course, a healthy diet plan is also a key.”
She adds, “After reading a lot of books, my true breakthrough in this journey happened when I finally came across a programme by Dr Pramod Tripathi called Freedom from Diabetes. This programme is based on the pillars of diet, exercise and inner transformation and believe me it’s the third pillar which changes the equation.” Srivastava says that from a patient, one starts viewing oneself as a person who can effect change on one’s condition.
“Your approach turns from a passive to an active one. The lessons you imbibe regarding your diet, monitoring, exercise and working on stress (the invisible culprit) are lifelong. So, if you’ve been dealt a lifestyle disease, then that lifestyle has to change, it has to go! And believe me a lot is in your hands and more likely in your head,” she adds.
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