My father got type 2 diabetes around the same age (late 30s) as my grandmother from my mother's side. My grandmother also had a full hysterectomy at a young age (just like her daughters, and just like me), so her risks were obviously higher.
Diabetes took my father at 52 years old, my grandma is fully cured and in her 80s, still tending her farms with chickens, fruit trees, and a vegetable garden. She looks younger than she is and is healthy.
Now I watched them both throughout the years.
One of them had a sedentary life, and thought if he just takes his medication and get his highly processed food with the label "sugar-free" he would be fine.
The other was physically active all her life, and never ate anything out of a package or a fast food chain. She even made her own yogurt and cheese etc. She also had no clue about going low-carb, so she ate all the fruit she wanted, straight out of her garden.
I watched the slow but significant changes in both. My grandmother started having hypoglycemic attacks often, so the doctors have slowly reduced the dose of medication and eventually she didn't need them anymore.
My father on the other hand, slowly piled up on more and more medication, and eventually needed large doses of insulin injections. None of it could save him however.
I was diagnosed with prediabetes myself at a very young age, coupled with PCOS, hypertension and other stuff. As painful as it was to watch my father slowly killing himself, he and my grandmother have taught me a really valuable lesson and I ended curing everything I had naturally (minus the uterine prolapse that needed a surgery 3 years ago), even my infertility and Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Constipation (IBS-C).
From sugar levels of 120 fasted and insulin resistance that caused a lot of issues for me, including skin reactions and migraines every time I ate a carb, I went to 70 after a meal and with enough insulin sensitivity to eat all the fruit I want and even regular bread without issues (although after my hysterectomy I needed to cut down on bread as I started having joint pains and worsening of my ADHD. Inflammation from the lower hormone production I guess).
I've also practically forced my husband and children to adopt the same healthy habits I have. Now if you paid my children to have anything from McDonald's they wouldn't eat it.
Occasionally some parents would bring things like cake, muffins, chocolates and all sorts of other candy at their school when their kids have their birthday, and even though I have asked both in writing and verbally to their teachers many times NOT to expose my children to this stuff, they fail to do so. So what happens is my kids would just say "thank you" and put them in their bag "for later". They come home with the stuff, still won't touch them, so I just throw them away.
I'm a proud mom of 2 kids who hate french fries with a passion, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
As much as I appreciate technology and some medical and scientific advances, nothing beats prevention and taking care of ourselves with old-school ways of living.
Disclaimer
I am NOT a doctor, personal trainer, registered dietician, nutritionist, athlete, influencer, nor at the end of my fitness journey. The content of this blog is based on what worked for me and is for informational purposes only, not a replacement for medical advice from a professional. Furthermore, we and our bodies are unique, so everybody is different. My results may not reflect your own. Any action you take upon the information provided by ZenGainz is strictly at your own risk.