Panic…
I’m eight years old and have just woken up. I have vague memories of the night before as I doze in and out of dream state… waking up to three chimes from the standing grandfather clock…Tick, Tok, Tick Tok…rolling off the high mattress bed to land on the soft beige high-pile carpet. Quietly making my way to the standup freezer where my grandmother always kept the Bluebell ice-cream sandwiches and fudge bar ice pops in the kitchen. As I opened the door the internal light from the freezer covered my face, slightly dilating my eyes from where I stood in the dark.
One ice-cream sandwich, she won’t notice. It is just one.
As I lick the leftover chocolate cookie stuck to my fingers, I open the freezer door…. another. This time a fudgesicle. I unwrapped it and made my way back to the bedroom, feeling for the armchair blocking the path. Second bite in, I hear a noise, it’s the creak of the house settling in. Someone is awake, I think. I wrap the fudgsicle back into the wrapper and throw it under the bed while darting under the covers, closing my eyes and pretending to be asleep. As light streams through the window my eyes pop open and I remember...Panic! Under the bed the melted brown goo covers the carpet; the empty wrapper crumpled with half the stick inside. I want to hide under those covers all day.
This is me, and memories growing up are marred with experiences such as these, intense food and sugar cravings as the preceding blood sugar crashes. I would spend all money I could get my hands on at the corner store buying candy. There were no doctor discussions, testing, or even words of what was happening to me. As I became a teenager, there was no connection for me to my metabolic health. My extreme acne, mood swings, shaky, sweaty and fainting feelings, and heavy, painful and erratic menstrual cycles felt unrelated. It would not be until my twenties that I was diagnosed by a doctor with PCOS (recently renamed Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome, PMOS) a multi-system hormonal condition with insulin resistance at its core.
Learning this did not change much and it took many more years of education to try and manage my blood sugar and now also my fertility. I gained a certification in Herbalism, took nutrition courses, and even worked for years as a supplement purchasing manager for a large Natural Food Chain, all in the name of learning more about my health and body and helping others learn about theirs.
All this added knowledge may have helped me get pregnant, but I still developed Gestational Diabetes and Preeclampsia during the pregnancy. I visited an obstetrician and a diabetes counselor every week at the hospital to check vital signs and receive diabetic nutritional counseling. Despite a difficult pregnancy and delivery, Sprout was born healthy and happy with five perfect fingers and five perfect toes and was the miracle child I did not think I would have.
I loved having this darling in the world, but my world turned upside down. Life did what life does and threw some curveballs. Sprout had Asthma requiring a lot of care, we experienced the deaths of my husband’s parents, and our marriage survived, but was going through the trenches. Between an over two-hour commute, ten-hour+ workdays and my newfound motherhood I slipped, or rather dove out of my healthier lifestyle. I reverted to binge eating at times, purchasing lower quality, higher junk filled products to save money and eating fast food more a default. I relied on the institutionalized foods from daycare and the schools to feed my daughter during the day, which is often not much better than fast food.
I read a statistic that 50% of women with PCOS (PMOS) get diabetes by the time they are 40. Well, I beat those odds. I made it to 42. Today I have Diabetes, just like my mother does, my grandmother did before her, a pattern that runs through both sides of Sprout’s family going back as far as I can trace.
And now, here I am with a front row seat watching my daughter struggle. My eleven-year-old daughter, Sprout, is reliving these symptoms and experiences I had. She began to gain weight over the last three years alongside insatiable hunger at times and strong sugar cravings. She developed acne at nine, just like I did. Test results show elevated insulin, low thyroid, high cholesterol and a high BMI. This can show up as fatigue, muscle and stomach aches as well as mood swings. I know what these signs can lead to, and I also know it doesn’t have to go that way.
Despite the genetic link as I think back about my journey, I must remember that just because you have the genes does not mean they are turned on or can’t be dimmed. Genetics are a part of the story, but environment, nutrition, and habits make up the other part. She is at a prime age to help turn this around and to give her the tools and knowledge she will need to grow up and prevent the progression of this disease and all the reduced quality of life and health complications that come with it.
I refuse to watch; now is the time I act. I am using all my educational history in nutrition, health, alternative medicine and working with medical pediatric doctors and endocrinologists, even dermatologists to find what works and give my daughter a healthy path forward.
We have tried multiple dietary changes and have been given multiple views on nutrition from health practitioners: Intermittent Fasting and Paleo; low carbs; eating every 6 hours, calorie tracking; and carbohydrate spacing that allows for up to 65 grams of carbs in a single dinner. We have tried programs such as the American Diabetic Associations virtual prediabetes prevention for children and children’s weight loss books like Red light, Green Light, Eat right by Joanna Dolgoff. Dietitian coverage has been denied since Sprout is not Diabetic.
Ironically, the Endocrinologist will see her for her thyroid but will not help with her insulin resistance. Here we are at the tail end of a six month wait to even see this endocrinologist. We have been made to feel like bad parents by the medical industry for not restricting food more or for trying to restrict at all. We have felt like bad parents ourselves as we consider the implications of restricting food or carbohydrates for a preteen girl on her self-esteem, self-worth and setting her up for future eating patterns or how the sweeteners we choose affect her brain, heart and metabolism in the future.
We consider the research for children’s supplement safety for things like Chromium and L-Glutamine. We are targeted on social media for medication ads that feel extreme and unsafe for Sprout, who was just our little and fragile five-pound baby eleven years ago.
All of this is so much for a child who we want to be nourished and healthy, but also well-adjusted and able to have a cupcake and pizza at a birthday party or bring her lunch to school without feeling like the weird one. Sprout is artistic, creative, funny, highly intelligent, and caring. She is also very opinionated, strong-willed, and a picky eater with taste, texture, temperature and feel. This makes it even more of an interesting and imperative journey to help her have the best life.
This blog is delivering experience, experiments, recipes, reviews, and a glimpse into our medical journey to share our story and hopefully help other families out there with their story. If you resonate with any of this story, either for yourself or your child, then buckle up as we navigate this together.
Sherry
Founder of Nourished Kids
Real food and practical guidance for families raising kids with insulin resistance.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nor am I providing medical advice. Please consult with your doctor for specific medical advice.