Leo Ford – His Story

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My name is Catherine and my husband Leo is shown below in this blog post about his story

Leo was born just after the Second World War when life was very different to today. He was born in London England and there was still rationing after the Second World War. Sugar was the last thing to come off rationing and that was not until 1955.

So when he went to school in 1952 all of the children were stick thin. There were no processed foods and very few chocolates, cookies or cakes. Also in those days there were very few cars and everyone walked everywhere. So we can say his lifestyle and his diet defined his size and his health.

In that respect (being stick thin) he was like his peers, in another respect he was very different – he came from a family of diabetics. His mother was a diabetic as were most of her family members. Diabetes is not always genetic, but when over 80% of your maternal family are diabetic it is not random.

He was not himself a diabetic that is until he went for a routine blood test when he was 60, probably the first visit to a doctor in 30 years.

We had spent over 15 years travelling.

That blood test changed his life because it revealed he was now a diabetic. When he became a diabetic, no one knows. Certainly we travelled the world when he was in his 20s and whenever he had a scratch it never healed.

Whenever his skin was cut, because of the fierce heat, it refused to scab and there was a discharge which looked like you were making  caramel. When you heat sugar and water before it goes brown and caramelizes it is a thick white syrup. What oozed out of his wounds looked just like that, like sugar! So it’s highly probable he was a diabetic for 30 years, without treatment or diagnosis. Why neither of us picked up on this, I don’t know.

When he was diagnosed, he was adamant that it was a lifelong condition with no cure. I was telling him that this was 2007 and medical science had moved on since his mother had died of diabetic complications 30 years earlier.  Hee could reduce his medication, if not cure his diabetes.

He kept repeating that he was on the maximum doses of metformin which was four a day, I, like a long-playing record, kept answering that he had nowhere to go except becoming a type I diabetic if his condition worsened. Then he was faced with injecting himself daily with insulin.

That is in fact how Shirley the owner of this wonderful blog site and I met. She contacted me because she wanted to change her life. She so inspired me I asked to write his story for her blog.

One day, nearly 5 years ago, Leo had a massive shift in his mentality. By this time he had been a diabetic for two years. I think what changed his mentality was the fact that although he realized diabetes does not kill,l it does on average reduce your life by 10 years and the complications of diabetes can kill you.

He didn’t say anything to me or his doctor or his diabetic nurse, but I noticed a change in his routine. Already I had used my considerable nutritional knowledge to change our diet. He had learned what carbohydrates he could and couldn’t take to drive up your sugar levels. We had always eaten food as near to its raw state as possible. We did not eat processed white rice; we always ate brown. However, one thing he had found out about life as a diabetic was that brown rice drove his sugar levels through the roof! I don’t understand the science behind it, because it’s not supposed to, but for him it did.

For him the lifestyle change started with small walks. Every day he walked for 10 minutes gradually over the week he increased this to 30 minutes power walking a day.

He began to eat smaller meals more often. Once this had happened, I began to notice and I asked him what he was trying to do. and he replied nothing, it’s just an experiment. I think he was frightened to put his plan into words in case he failed. Yet I had known him for 30 years and I knew perfectly well what he was trying to do.

We went on like this for about six weeks and then he had his next diabetic blood check. The net result was he came home and said he only needed three metformin a day not four. He was very nonchalant, but I knew inside he was pleased as punch.

I asked him was he trying to come off his metformin? He said yes he had been reading about it and about 20 people in the UK had succeeded.

We sat down together and devised a different eating plan for him. I had changed my lifestyle when he became a diabetic; I stopped buying cookies, cakes, biscuits and anything that had processed sugar.

I did not have anything in the house that he could not eat on a daily basis. Now he decided he wanted to eat less, but more often. I said that was a step too far for me, because I don’t like to eat before 1 o’clock in the afternoon.

With this new regimen, he had already had breakfast and lunch by this time. So we devised a menu plan that allowed him breakfast and lunch for himself, and a dinner we could both share followed by a supper, which he ate alone. It didn’t have to be like that, it can be done in other ways, in fact I am writing a book now about how he did it but also how you can too.

Just less than 18 months later he had normal blood sugar readings. His doctor recommended he still take one metformin a day as a precaution. His diabetic nurse overruled this by saying this was an old view, he could come off his medication totally.

I can’t begin to say how proud of him I am, he was the 28th person in the United Kingdom to cure his diabetes. That was nearly 4 years ago and since then he has not been on any diabetic medication at all.

He has come off his blood pressure tablets because he now has the blood pressure of a 20-year-old. A few years ago he was taking 11 tablets a day. Today he takes the minimum dosage statin for cholesterol, I’m sure he doesn’t need that; his doctor says it’s only a precaution. He still keeps up with exercise and maintains his diet most of the time. If you would like to find out exactly how he did this so that you can reduce your medication then please visit our diabetic website.

Even, if you don’t want to control your diabetes, a lot of research went into his cure! I read and still do scientific papers on a daily basis. I keep other diabetics informed about what’s changing.  Because life for diabetics is changing, new research is proving that however bad your diabetes is, you can take control.

Thank you Shirley both for contacting me and telling your remarkable story. I know that you also have reached a crossroads in your life and you want to change for the better forever. I wish you every success although in my heart of hearts I know you don’t need it – you have decided to take control.

-Catherine Ford

Catherine, thank you so much for writing Leo’s story for my blog site.  This is a true inspiration for me, as I work to change my life and my health.  You can view Catherine’s web site at:  http://www.diabetescurediet.com
-Shirley

Comments

Thanks for looking at my site and coming to this page. I would love for you to leave any questions or comments below.  In addition, I’m open to new topics to research and comment on as they pertain to my own health and experience living with diabetes.  Please share your interests and questions in your comments.  I also love to hear others stories about how they handle their own diabetes issues.

– Shirley