Before the DPP, Frieda had very little awareness of the nutrition and impact that it had on her body. She had no energy, didn’t exercise, had joint pains, had consistent mood swings, and “felt quite hopeless about losing weight”. Despite the rough position Frieda was in, she took it upon herself to sign up for one of our DPP classes and soon started seeing a difference. One of the key differences that Frieda saw with the DPP compared to other ways that she had tried to change her unhealthy lifestyle was the commitment. Her prevention experience was an entire year long, with meetings going from weekly to monthly as the program progressed. This reliable, safe place allowed Frieda to find her own success.

“Lifestyle changes just don’t happen overnight, weight doesn’t come off in a flash, and exercise habits take a long time to establish.  Being able to have a framework for a year meant the stage was set for me to succeed.”

     The DPP was also something that Frieda genuinely enjoyed, and that is due to the instructors and impressive group support provided. Frieda’s instructor would email her between classes and go over plans before trips out of town, which really gave her the support and extra push she needed to change her habits. The group in which Frieda worked with was incredibly diverse, with some fitness nuts, others who hated running, as well as people who were short, tall, fat, or skinny. This environment allowed the DPP meetings to become an enjoyable social gathering, creating a place where sticking to a meal or exercise regimen much easier with the support of colleagues going through the same thing right along with you. We are proud to congratulate Frieda on not only reaching the 5% goal, but reaching all the way to 10% below her initial starting weight! Her commitment took her to a much healthier place, and SGP could not be more proud. Just like Frieda felt in the beginning, you may feel discouraged and hopeless, but take her advice and give the DPP a shot, chances are you could change your life and meet some great people in the process.

Designs By: Courteney Lisowski

The first section -My Story

The second section- The Catalyst

The third section-My Motivation

NEW BEGINNING- the REAL “WHY”

As I mentioned, my story has 3 parts. The one I have yet to mention is the Beginning, the WHY?

When I shared my story with the kind stranger in Union Square, I spoke about my Aunt Gloria and my need to protect my daughter from diabetes. But I knew something was missing from my answer, I just didn’t know what it was.

I thought about it as I walked back from Union Square to my hotel and wondered, “had I not answered the question? If I did, why did it feel so incomplete?” That’s when it occurred to me. I had explained how diabetes affected my family, and how prevention is being lived out in my life, but it doesn’t explain why I have the need to help others. 

WHY make the personal and financial sacrifices to start a non-profit organization to help others? Following my dream has not been easy on my family. I have been asked by numerous people why I don’t just quit and go get a corporate job; one that would be less stressful and would provide more for my family financially.

Photo by Gabriela Camerotti

Here’s the thing… sometimes you just have to follow your heart. My heart leads me to help others, because I have been on the receiving end before.

I know what it is like be in a bad situation and want desperately for someone to come save you from someone else or from yourself.

The answer to the WHY is this:  I have had my life threatened before, which has led me to want to help anyone who desperately wants the opportunity to fend off a disease that  may threaten their life. 

I believe that everyday a tragedy occurs. A person finds the strength and courage to free themselves from  a bad situation long enough to ask for help, only to be turned away and forced back into the bad situation from which they left.

I started a non-profit organization that would not just educate people, but would empower them to take control of their lives.  With support and guidance, they’re able to start a new chapter in their own life.  One in which they will be a co-author.

I am a Christian. I believe that God gives us both rainbows and rainstorms. I have definitely had my fair share of storms.

When I was 8 yrs old, a rare disease attacked my brain, taking my eye sight (in my left eye) and threatened to take my life.  I have been the target of a random act of violence and a sexual assault.  I lost many people I love, including one whose life was just beginning.

My life experiences could have pointed me towards food or other addictions. I could have easily “swapped chapters” with many of the people we serve.

The difference between my story, in which I’ve chosen to get better not bitter, and find strength out of sorrow, is that I have very loving and supportive family and friends.

Many of the people we serve don’t have a support system to help them to wade through the storm and look to the horizon for the next rainbow.

BLANK SLATE

As I mentioned in the beginning of my story, I left my conversation with the stranger in Union Square with a new opportunity; a blank slate on which I can write the next scene in my life and put it into motion.

Photo by Dougit Designs

My hope with the Skinny Gene Project has always been to give people the opportunity to live a better life.  My experiences have helped me to understand the importance of treating the person, not just the disease.  I believe we have to uplift the person if we want to defeat diabetes.

For this reason, the next chapter of my life will be a push to integrate a patient advocacy program into our organization. I want to provide prediabetes support groups and counseling that address the emotional and financial stressor that contributes to unhealthy eating.

God has given me a heart to help others. Making healthy lifestyle changes shouldn’t be about just making healthier food choices, but also about choosing to love oneself enough to truly live life.

I hope at the end, each person we touch will have the desire to pick up their pen and write a new beginning, a healthy story, into their life.

MY MOTIVATION

In short, my motivation is the preservation of life.

In 2007, I was 7 months pregnant with my daughter.  I guess you can say the hormones kicked in, and I had a maternal need to protect and provide for my child. I had seen that diabetes could destroy and devastate families.  I felt that it was my responsibility to do something to protect my own.

For the first time, our generation is in danger of outliving our children. This is not okay with me. We are supposed to protect our children from the things that can harm them. WHY not diabetes?  So in 2008, I started the Skinny Gene Project, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is dedicated to helping others prevent diabetes.

My daughter is my inspiration and my motivation for living a healthy lifestyle.  As her mother, the best way for me to teach her is to lead by example. I want her to grow up thinking that Saturday morning hikes are normal, desserts are for special occasions (the not so healthy ones anyway), and that life should be lived- not taken for granted.

For the first 3 years of life, my daughter suffered from a severe case of pediatric G.E.R.D. We struggled to manage her pain levels and to find the underlying cause that was contributing to her condition. As doctors searched for a diagnosis to explain her symptoms, they would first have to rule out a few life-threatening diseases.  The “what if game” became a constant reminder of the uncertainty of tomorrow.

Anyone who is a parent and has watched their child suffer, knows that when you finally get through it, you’ll be face to face with a new perspective at the other end. Mine was this…

“There are things, that no matter how hard I try, I can’t prevent my daughter from battling.  Type 2 diabetes is NOT going to be one of them.”  

Since she is a minority, she already has a 50% likelihood of developing diabetes in her lifetime.  Fortunately, genetics alone will not predetermine a person for having type 2 diabetes.

Environment and lifestyle choices will also affect her outcome. My job, as her mother, is to give her the best possible opportunity to live a long and healthy life.

In essence, I’m living life with the intention of saving hers.

Click to read the FINAL section: THE BEGINNING- the real WHY

This is a continuation of “My Story“, my life’s journey towards becoming who I am today.  Since it is rather long, I have broken it into sections, so you can read it at your leisure. Each step along the way has had its own particular relevance to me today. This is the second. Please click here to read the first section –My Story.

THE CATALYST – What I thought was the beginning

That day, I told her the story about my Aunt Gloria. “Aunt Glo”, as we called her, worked for a school district in a low income neighborhood in Houston, TX. She too was petite.

Photo by Chris Tengi

Over the years, we watched as her health deteriorated.  Aunt Glo was once a vibrant woman. Although she never bore her own children, she was a “mother” to many and a friend to everyone who knew her. It was at my brother’s college graduation that I first noticed that the light that used to shine so brightly within her, had started to dim.  It was obvious that she was sick, but it was equally obvious that she was embarrassed about her condition.

I did in that moment something I am extremely ashamed of- Nothing.

I didn’t want to ask any questions, partly because I didn’t want to make her more uncomfortable, and partly because I wasn’t prepared to hear the truth.

It wasn’t until years later that she told us that she had diabetes, or as some would say, “a touch of the sugars.”  From that moment, life happened to her very quickly. She wasn’t an active participant; it just started to pass her by.  The warning signs were there, but the lack of education about the disease made them meaningless.  They were wasted opportunities to save a life when we had the chance.

It felt like I was watching a foreign movie with really bad subtitles.  Others were giving me information, and I was trying to interpret what it meant.

Them-“Aunt Glo has diabetes.”

Me–  “Okay. That’s why she’s been so sick?”

Next scene…

Them– “Aunt Glo stubbed her toe. It will need to be amputated.”

Me– “What? Why? “

Then finally…

Them- “Aunt Glo was dropped off at the hospital for her procedure. She didn’t want anyone to wait around for her, because she didn’t think it would be a big deal. She died in the waiting room before they could amputate the infected toe.”

Me– Speechless.

That day I was distraught and confused. I had realized that my perception of diabetes was wrong. I had grossly underestimated this “Silent Killer”.

It was at this moment that my questions began.

How could this happen? Aunt Glo memorized the pages of the dictionary and used it like a tablet for note keeping.  She encouraged children to make the necessary changes to live a better life. Didn’t she deserve the opportunity to learn how to manage her diabetes to save her own?  Then it hit me.

WHY are the stereotypes surrounding this disease so hurtful, that a person would rather suffer in silence than seek help from those who love them?

Aunt Glo opened my eyes to see a problem that I could no longer ignore. I had questions and needed answers.

Less than one year later, I was hired by a company to do intensive market research on diabetes and prediabetes (which was a new term at the time).  Six months of research only lead to more questions, but now it was less about understanding the disease, and more about how to stop it.

We created a Wellmobile that went into the community for 1 year to provide health screenings. I had the opportunity everyday to encourage people to manage or prevent diabetes. I learned more with each person I talked to. I saw the importance of treating the person, not just the disease.   Everyday my passion for prevention grew stronger and stronger.  I needed to know WHY we weren’t doing more to educate those at-risk, empower them with the information and support they needed to prevent diabetes.

In 2005, my husband and I moved to California. I did some consulting for awhile, but I couldn’t escape the need to follow my passion for prevention. Two years later, my passion met my motivation. It was like it had been written in stone. There was no going back. My life would now be dedicated to preventing diabetes.

Click to read the next section: MY MOTIVATION

LIVING LIFE WITH INTENTION

It’s my life’s journey towards becoming who I am today.  Since it is rather long, I have broken it into chapters, so you can read it at your leisure. Each step along the way has had its own particular relevance to me today.

It begins like this….

I guess from some perspective, it could be considered odd.

I was lucky. I found my passion in 2002. At the time, I probably would have described it as merely needing to find an answer to a question that I couldn’t seem to shake – WHY?

I found that the more I searched for an answer, the more questions I seemed to find. Then before I knew it, I had turned a chapter in my life and my previous career ambitions had come to an end. A new chapter had begun; one that would be the beginning of my story and would lead me to the life I choose to live today.

I’m beginning to see that my life is written very much like a book, but I’m not the only author. Last month a scene was written into my life that concluded with a blank page, an empty slate and a question; it was my opportunity to create, with intention, the next steps my life would take.  Now that my actions have chosen the path, I wait with anxious anticipation to see how my co-author will direct me through it.

Before I show you how my chapter ended, I want to go back and share how my story had begun.

A MEETING OF TWO STRANGERS

Last month, I was sitting at a table in Union Square in San Francisco. It was a beautiful sunny day. I watched as people sprawled across the grass to eat or read a book. Despite the busy intersections and numerous construction projects underway, everything felt so still and peaceful. I remember thinking in that moment, how much I enjoyed living life.

After sitting there for about 5 minutes, I began talking to the lady at the table next to me. She had recently rescued her puppy from an animal shelter and wanted to acclimate him to city noises, so they were waiting in the square while her boyfriend was getting an eye exam.  She was killing time; I was enjoying my vacation time, so naturally…we chatted.

It started off like any other normal conversation. What’s your name? Where do you live? What do you do? I recited my answers thoughtlessly, like I had hundreds of times before. Then it happened. When I told her what I do for a living, she paused, and overtly examined me from head to toe. Then with a very puzzled look on her face, she uttered the same 3 letter word that started my journey 9 years ago. “Why?”

PERSPECTIVE

It actually happens pretty frequently. People are curious to know why I have chosen to dedicate my life to preventing diabetes. As I mentioned in the beginning, I suppose from some perspective, it could be considered odd. Why would a 30-something year old, petite woman be so passionate about preventing diabetes that she would start a diabetes prevention, non-profit organization. This is particularly perplexing to people when I reveal that I do not have diabetes, nor do my sibling or parents.

I think it’s all a matter of perspective. Where some may say, “why you”, my perspective has always been, “Why not me”.

Although I’ve answered the question, WHY, countless times, this time was different.  This time, the answer didn’t feel like a simple exchange or conversation. It felt like a prelude into what would become a new chapter for me, a better story my life was about to live. 

PRELUDE TO A NEW STORY

The moment the words escaped from my lips, I knew I was only telling a portion of the story. The part people wanted to hear. The part I felt comfortable telling.

The truth is that few things about preventing diabetes are comfortable or easy; but they are necessary.

Prevention is a process, not a pill. It’s about long-terms solutions, not band-aids. It’s a choice to live life, not to have it taken from you.  Prevention is not where you simply end up, it’s something you arrive to and strive to.

I have learned that the prevention process usually has 3 stages:

1^st– The Beginning– WHY it started, such as: genetics, environment, self-esteem, or abuse

2^nd– The Catalyst– WHAT happened to propel them towards prevention

3^rd The Motivation-WHO keeps them on the path to success

As I sat there in Union Square, answering the question “WHY”, it occurred to me for the first time that my answer was incomplete. All these years, my story began in the middle. It began with the catalyst. It wasn’t the answer to the WHY, it was the WHAT.

 Click here to read the next section…

THE CATALYST – What I thought was the beginning