Chad T. Lewis - Empower a healthier You: Doing Diabetes Differently

This book is intended as a reference volume only, not as a medical manual. The information given here is designed to help you make informed decisions about your health. It is not intended as a substitute for any treatment that may have been prescribed by your doctor. If you suspect that you have a medical problem, you should seek competent medical help. You should not begin a new health regimen without first consulting a medical professional.

Published by River Grove Books

Austin, TX

www.rivergrovebooks.com

Copyright 2022 Chad T. Lewis

All rights reserved.

Thank you for purchasing an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright law. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the copyright holder.

Distributed by River Grove Books

Design and composition by Greenleaf Book Group

Cover design by Greenleaf Book Group

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

Print ISBN: 978-1-63299-599-5

eBook ISBN: 978-1-63299-600-8

First Edition

To Drs. Laird Findlay, Irl Hirsch,
and Richard Bernstein, and Patty
people who saved my life

When insulin was discovered one hundred years ago, it was thought by many to be a miracle cure. Soon after, it was clear that wasnt the case. Fast-forward to the 1980s, and patients were told that, with the new insulin pumps and human insulin, they could eat whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. Again, sadly that wasnt the case at all.

While there are many diabetes books to read, few can give such a large amount of information and with so much detail as Doing Diabetes Differently. Warning: This is not a book to buy on the day you or a family member are diagnosed with diabetes. Many of the topics and concepts are more sophisticated, and in fact, you would think Chad is a certified health care professional with his knowledge. But Chads credentials are unimportant.

The greatest strength of this book is the attention provided for lifestyle, perhaps the least discussed topic when visiting a physician for routine diabetes management. The reason for this is understandable: In medical school or primary care residency curricula, very little attention is provided for nutrition and exercise as it pertains to diabetes management. When reading this book, it will become clear that some of Chads comments are controversial. This is a good thing! We will never have randomized controlled trials on each aspect of nutrition or exercise, and on how much of this can be related to items also important to overall health such as anxiety, guilt, depression, and yes, even finances.

Aims of any article or book include making the reader more knowledgeable in addition to providing a new way to think about challenges, in this case with diabetes management. The ultimate goal would be to cause behavior changes. Being newly diagnosed with diabetes or even starting a new medication for many does not result in changes in lifestyle. Doing Diabetes Differently challenges the reader to think more critically about what theyve been taught or how theyve been living their life with diabetes.

Irl B. Hirsch, MD, Professor of Medicine,
University of Washington School of Medicine

Taking charge of ones life and health is an aspirational goal of mature adults. Doing Diabetes Differently aims at empowering the busy adult seeking to balance a full life while maintaining effective control over the ever-capricious diabetes mellitus.

I first met Chad in San Diego at a national conference. Chad had read my book Sugar Surfing and attended the presentation I delivered on it at the conference. Afterward, we had several in-depth existential exchanges about our diabetes and the paths we had both taken through life with it.

Chad and I quickly recognized the common bond we shared in regard to wishing to share what we had learned through our experiences. In my case, it originated from blending my half-century living with type 1 diabetes with three decades as a clinician and researcher in the field.

Chads life experiences, combined with his deep intellect, academic accomplishments, and critical thinking skills, make him an ideal vehicle to challenge the status quo of current diabetes self-care paradigms. At the time, Chad shared with me that he was already planning a carefully researched and vetted book aimed at the busy adult with diabetes who is looking for more than a formulaic approach to self-care.

Chad approaches this focused book with a passion to share what he has learned. The book takes a refreshing approach that aims to challenge the readers assumptions about diabetes care. He clearly separates the wheat from the chaff with style and grace and successfully achieves his objective of helping the reader to frame good questions of their care providers. Those of us involved with diabetes care will also benefit from the reading.

Chads keen intellect and avoidance of common cognitive traps makes this an informative and insightful book. Its a must-read!

Stephen W. Ponder, MD, FAAP, DCES, Professor,
Joslin Medalist, and author of Sugar Surfing:
How to Manage Type 1 Diabetes in a Modern World

I write to all persons with diabetes. Although the disease has many faces, those of us with the condition are more alike than different in the challenges we face.

Maybe youre new to the disease, or perhaps its been part of your life for years. Either way, I assume youve picked up basic information and might be using medication to manage your blood sugar. But things arent working out. Your average blood sugars are too high. You may be insulin-dependent and experiencing too many lows. You may be on a glycemic roller coaster. Care providers may have added more layers of medication. Youre knocking yourself out with prescriptions to lower blood sugar as you try to eat correctly.

Youve found yourself insanely doing the same things repeatedly while expecting different, favorable results. Youre frustrated, distressed, and seeking answers, and you feel the need to do diabetes differently. If thats the case, this book is for you.

Doing Diabetes Differently offers answers in the form of carefully researched frameworks and perspectives, many of which are not taught in medical school. This book shows the importance of the mental part of diabetes and covers an approach for managing it that goes beyond just treating the symptoms of diabetes distress. Youll learn the futility of dieting and the what and why of dietary alternatives that work. The book also offers a new perspective on exercise and a doable way to make it happen. Youll learn why less is more when it comes to diabetes drugs, including insulin, and how this can help your pocket-book. Youll see how all the parts of a diabetes liferelated to mental demands, nutrition, exercise, and drugs and devicesfit together in a framework for healthy living.

The book doesnt offer up answers just from me. I realized that other voices were needed, including some that may not always agree with me. Accordingly, I invited diabetes experts to add commentaries that appear throughout the book. These experts and the foreword authors constitute a Whos Who in the US diabetes community: Dr. Randy Elde, Riva Greenberg, Dr. Irl Hirsch, Dr. Stephen Ponder, Dr. Jody Stanislaw, Ginger Vieira, and Delaine Wright.