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Embracing Diabetes
Type One Determination is a memoir and self-help book written to help those with Type 1 Diabetes understand their bodies better and help them gain control over their health. Why was this an important book for you to write?
I grew up in a rigid healthcare system and I found a way to thrive outside of it with personalized knowledge and stepping up my self-sufficiency game. Diabetes is a unique disease that can change how a person feels about their body and their future overnight. I had a rough start diagnosed as a kid with big responsibilities weighed down by a bad attitude. My experiences are a testament to what we face but also what we are capable of because of our daily challenges. By embracing diabetes, I found the missing ingredients that drove me to take ownership over my life. In the book, I provide tips and tools that can open up the possibilities for people living with diabetes, their families, and inspire diabetes professionals to become more effective educators.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
Nutrition and exercise are complex subjects in diabetes and I wanted to master a method of action to improve my health. Along the way, I realized that if I didn’t change my attitude and thinking to an optimistic mindset, I would be stuck in the unhealthy cycle that I was in. I needed to find who I was under the stigma and unmotivating advice that didn’t fit, and start making better decisions. Diabetes runs deep emotionally, requiring extra mental and spiritual care. These factors became important in my self-discovery and crucial elements to uplift.
What is one piece of advice you wish someone had given you when you were younger?
The realization that I had to become the person I needed most when I was a teen is how I became a fitness instructor and diabetes educator. Even then, I’m not sure my angry young self would listen to this positive older me! If I was willing to listen, operative words could’ve helped me channel my frustration into a positive direction. I did not want to hear that someday, everything would be okay; I needed encouragement to believe that I could be more than a kid with diabetes and feel confident that an intelligent warrior woman was inside of me.
Another idea: “Ride your bike hard. NOW!” Might have worked.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?
Through nutrition, exercise, and attitude, life with diabetes can be upgraded far beyond the historic perception of a sad diagnosis. It is up to us to choose a path of perseverance through knowledge, courage, and ironlike determination.
Author Links: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Website
—M. Jennifer Abuzzahab MD, pediatric endocrinologist
There are over 460 million people on the planet living with diabetes. Many of us are diagnosed young and raised within a rigid healthcare system based on blood tests, food rules, and fear.
A life of pokes and injections is no walk in the park but growing up knowing almost nothing about taking care of yourself is the ultimate puncture wound.
In a world filled with countless temptations, what do you do when you feel hopeless, when no one is listening, or when the act of improving your health seems impossible?
You do the only thing left that doesn’t require a prescription:
You take over.
In this book, Lauren Plunkett offers a revolutionary look from her perspective of a patient, certified diabetes care & education specialist, and registered dietitian.
Inside this book, find:
strategies for becoming more self-sufficient as a person living with type 1 diabetes
tools for healing physically and mentally through strategic nutrition
methods for exercising safely and confidently
and reference articles and digital resources to take hands-on action
By embracing the challenges of diabetes as individuals, we become commanders of our health.
Through the interactive science of blood sugar, insulin, nutrition, and exercise, we acquire lifelong skills to become our best and brightest advocates.
Part memoir, part science-based adventure in nutrition and exercise, Type One Determination tells the story of the author’s life with T1D and how she grew up to become a fiery example of drawing strength from disease.
Type One Determination
Type One Determination by Lauren Plunkett is a self-help book that guides readers on how to live a healthy life with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). While primarily written to guide T1D patients on how to live their best lives with good HbA1c values, practically anyone who struggles with any chronic condition can find great use in this book.
Part-instructive, part-memoir, Type One Determination is divided into three parts: a comeback story, nutrition, and exercise. Plunkett has masterfully used her personal stories and journey as a T1D patient and a registered dietitian to provide a step-by-step approach to how T1D patients can use nutrition and exercise to achieve remarkable clinical results and self-fulfillment.
In a chapter titled, ‘Feeding the Disease’, Plunkett opens a window into the emotional psyche of most T1D patients. While sharing in the relatable highs and lows of her anecdotes, her unmistakable humor makes it easy to forget you are reading through the pages of her lived trauma. This experience is, however, crowned with the epiphanic discovery of how nutrition can change the trajectory of living with the disease.
Plunkett’s words plunge deeply into the psychology of the average food lover. With the details of her chronicle, Plunkett offers information on how she used personalized but reproducible nutrition and exercise routines to achieve a satisfactory health record, body positivity, emotional awareness, and control. These methods are backed by scientific research from reputable sources, which Plunkett references.
You might think you are reading through a medical textbook with the details of the physiology of the cornerstones of diabetes- glucose, insulin, exercise, and nutrition. Yet, these concepts were written in the most comprehensible way that even health and nutrition students would benefit immensely from it.
Having consulted a variety of specialists for her condition over the years, lived through the challenges associated with T1D, and even studied nutrition herself, Plunkett has seen the A-Z of solutions offered to T1D patients and also seen how many of them fail. The exceptional technique she offers in her easy-to-follow counsel is the comeback determination anyone living with the disease needs.
Type One Determination is an educational look into how T1D impacts the lives of those living with this condition. With her medical background and personal experience as a patient, the author shares her knowledge with readers in hopes of helping them find a healthier self.
LITERARY TITAN 