Scripted - Page 7 September 2020
labels on the back of food packages to ensure she was staying within healthy carb limits. With COVID, her gym days have temporarily been on hold, but walking almost every day with a partner has kept her weight down and increased her energy. Five years ago, her A1c numbers were 8.6; today it’s down to 4.8. She also talked about how you think because your numbers are low you can stop paying attention to your diet and skip your medication, but she found out firsthand that having that chicken box with a biscuit can create a setback on your road to managing the disease. “I hear a lot of people saying you can reverse this disease. I asked my doctor about that and she informed me it’s not so much about reversing it as it is controlling it. Just because your numbers are low doesn’t mean the disease left your body. If I thought I could get rid of it, I would.” If you are newly diagnosed with diabetes, she wants to encourage you to learn all you can about it and make sure you talk with your health professionals about what is right for you, along with starting some sort of exercise that keeps the body moving. “You got to have some type of movement going when you're a diabetic because it helps you with your glucose levels, and it helps to keep that sugar out of your red blood cells.” Danielle wants to help others who are managing the disease. She wrote a book, “Let Go My Glucose,” documenting her diabetic journey. She also started a Facebook group, Diabetes Made Better, LLC, where she drops knowledge, resources, encouragement and frank conversations about managing diabetes. Danielle is definitely a survivor as she so expressively stated: “What makes me a survivor is even though I’m living with this disease, I never stopped living. I kept going. I conquered it, and I'm going to keep conquering it.” Danielle Batiste currently resides in Virginia and is an author, filmmaker, speaker, and entrepreneur. Visit her website at: https://www.daniellebatiste.com
Definitions: A1c stands for glycated hemoglobin. The A1c percentage measures how much sugar is attached to the blood's hemoglobin protein. (Google) A normal A1c level is below 5.7%, a level of 5.7% to 6.4% indicates pre-diabetes and a level of 6.5% or more indicates diabetes. (Google) Type 1 diabetes occurs when your body doesn't produce sufficient insulin, a hormone secreted by beta cells in the pancreas. https://bit.ly/3ksosrr Type 2 diabetes occurs when people are able to produce some of their own insulin, but their bodies are unable to use this insulin to completely control blood sugar levels, also known as insulin resistance. https://bit.ly/3ksosrr
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