Hello Dr. Cordain!
My name is Chuck Mullen. I am a 63 year old man, and have been active in sports all my life! In May of 2014, I had a routine visit with my doctor. Although I have always looked healthy, I wasn't feeling right. My blood work revealed that my blood sugar was 300, and my A1C was 12. Oh, by the way, my blood pressure was 160/100. My doctor immediately put me on insulin and gave me medicine to normalize my blood pressure. I was devastated to say the least! A friend of mine told me about your book, The Paleo Diet, so I immediately ordered it. I have been naive for 62 and a half years in my eating. I am a teaching tennis pro and would drink gallons of sports drinks and eat lots of carbs. Boy, have I been wrong!I am very disciplined; I do not drink, or smoke and never have. I started on the Paleo Diet within the week.
I was off the insulin and the blood pressure medicine! I became a fanatic about checking my blood glucose levels, which were back to normal. I had a follow up appointment six weeks later with my doctor. When I went in, his nurse took all my vitals and ran a blood test. My doctor came in and sat down, looked at the numbers and said, "looks like the insulin is working..." My blood sugar dropped to 104. I said I had not taken any insulin in four weeks. After shaking his head in disbelief, he said your blood pressure medicine is working fine, 116/70. I mentioned I wasn't taking that either. He thought I was joking! "What are you doing, then?" I told him about the Paleo Diet, and shaking his head again, he said, "You were a full blown diabetic six weeks ago, and now your normal without medicine!" He ran another test to check my A1C, which dropped to 7 from 12. Again in disbelief, he said that if they can drop the A1C and sugar in six weeks with meds by 1 point, it's considered a success.
It's amazing what doctors don't know; but if one doctor wants to learn, perhaps others do as well. You probably saved my life, Dr. Cordain! By the way, the girls say I look 15 years younger! I weigh what I weighed when I graduated high school in 1970. I am looking forward to the next 50 years! Thanks again.
Chuck
