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Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
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January 23, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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January 23, 2020
 
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p zipping right along. T op swimmer Shelton High School senior Tyler Youngquist swims the 100-yard breaststroke Jan. 16 at the Shelton High School pool during a South Sound Conference dual meet with North Thurston High School. Youngquist won the race with‘a time of 1 minute, 12.31 seconds. See more from the meet on Page 3-5. Journal photo Justin Johnson FAR POST f Making changes totake charge. of yourhealth s I’m writing this column on a drizzly Tuesday morning, it’s exactly three weeks into the new year. It feels like 2020 is just The time seems about used to evaluate the average amount glucose in the blood during an 8-12 week period Ilwas north of 12%. That’s way past the red line. (Comparatively, an A10 of below 5.7% is considered right to check in on those . normal and healthy). resolutions we set for our- 3 By JUSTIN And that’s not my only' selves as 2019 was fading JOHNSON problem either. into the twilight of the past. I’ve never been big on making complicated New Year’s reso- lutions. Mostly because, like many others, I never stick to them. That doesn’t mean I didn’t make a list of things that I’d like to do better this year. At the top? Well, that’s pretty easy. I need to make healthier deci— sions. ‘ " As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m in insulin-dependent diabetic and during the past few years, I have had pretty poor control of my condition. At my last Hemoglobin Alc test —— In April, I had a lipid panel done to measure, among other things, my cholesterol and triglyceride levels. At that point, my total cholesterol level was 730 mg/dl and my triglycerides were greater than 4,400. . Added together, I was a ticking time-bomb for heart disease. Admittedly, much of that comes from poor nutritional choices. Sugar is a highly addictive sub- stance, one that I struggle with every day. When I don’t feel wellfor when I’m feeling down or stressed, I reach for foods that make me feel happy, and many of those are loaded with carbohydrates that send my blood glucose level spiking. My doctor prescribed me with a blood pressure medication, 3 statin and a fibrate to help rein in my run- away health, but I couldn’t bring myself to start any of them. Even though I inject myself multiple times daily with insulin, I hate the thought of taking a mouthful of pills every day, no matter the benefit. Instead, I tried to focus on what I was eating. I still don’t eat very well, but I did make a few changes that had an incredible impact when I was tested again in November. I " I’d managed to drop my choles- terol levels by more than 500 points to 225 and my triglyceride levels were under 2,000. Those are pretty remarkable drops to accomplish by diet alone. .- I still need to get them lower. Both levels are still far too high, especially with the added heart «attack risk of being diabetic. I may have no choice but to use prescription medicine to get them into a healthy range. That brings me back to those goals and resolutions I was talking about. The key to successfully maintainj ing resolutions is to make them small and achievable. I need to make big changes if I’m going to get healthy again,‘but making a big change re- ally comes down to being conscious of making many smaller‘decisions. Three weeks into this year, I’m still not making great choices, but I caught myself starting to eat mind- lessly a few times and successfully walked away from it. ' I know I have along way to go, but changes have to start somewhere, g and I’m hopeful they’ll make a differ- ence. I Justin Johnson is the Sports Outdoors. Editor of the- Shelton-Mason County Journal. He, welcomesstory and column ideas by email at justin@ masoncounty.com. ‘ 7 _ ' . * 3;