Walking daily has become a necessary part of my life

Needles.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

I hate needles!

I really hate needles!

When I was a kid, I never liked getting shots.

Never!

One thing that my parents never had to worry about was me and especially my sister (whose hatred of needles is on a whole other unmatched level) coming in with a tattoo. Wasn’t going to happen.

No offense to anyone that has one or more tattoos and there are some fine people that have them, but I really don’t get why someone would choose to be voluntarily poked with a needle multiple times over and over and over again.

Ouch!!!

This puzzlement over why someone would voluntarily choose to get repeatedly poked with a needle increased all the more when I had to start poking myself about six months ago to check my blood sugar daily.

About two years ago, I got diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. The doctor put me on Metformin, and my levels had been kind of up and down until about six months when I went back to my healthcare provider.

My lab tests showed that my fasting blood sugar level was 250 when they checked it at the doctor’s office, which is about twice the level where it should max out if you are healthy.

I knew it was going to be high before they ever checked it at the doctor’s office. I tend to stress eat sometimes, and my stress levels the prior six months had been off the charts due to a number of factors.

Yikes!

Add to this the fact that I have had several friends with diabetes in recent years to die a relatively early death  – it may not have been the primary cause of death but certainly contributed to it – and I decided it was time to try and get it a little better under control.

In addition to poking myself sometimes multiple times daily, I have been working on the diet to some degree. I am by no means a health food fanatic, but it has improved quite a bit.

I have also been decreasing the amount of soda that I drink each day, and am trying to significantly increase the amount of water that I drink.

I have also been increasing my exercise significantly. Thanks in part to my handy, dandy Fitbit, I have been trying to get in at least 10,000 steps per day, and have been aiming for 250 steps per hour between 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. each day. The 250 steps per hour is admittedly easier said than done some days, but even if you can only get this many steps in some hours, you’d be surprised how much it can add up at the end of the day.

For those of you, who have seen me out walking on Depot Street behind my office in Corbin, or taking the long route over to the courthouse when I am in Williamsburg, this is usually what I am doing.

I’ve had several people comment that they have seen me out walking, and encouraged me to keep at it, which I have been doing. I appreciate the encouragement by the way.

I would also just like to encourage other people reading this not to wait until you are 50 years old to increase the exercise and start taking better care of yourself.

I’ve found that if you can squeeze in about 15 minutes of walking before work, about 15 minutes around lunch time, and about 15 minutes after work, then it isn’t quite as tough many days to get in 10,000 steps as you might think.

Many days now I am working to get in over 10,000 steps. I don’t say that it is easy, but often I am hitting between about 12,000 and 15,000 steps per day new. (Every two or three weeks I have to take a Sunday off to rest my knees though.)

My blood sugar isn’t where it ideally should be yet, but it is getting significantly better.