Getting a diagnosis of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes can feel overwhelming and scary. There could also be questions like: What does my life appear to be now? Can I still eat carbs? Am I still in a position to do my favorite hobbies?
A life with type 2 diabetes doesn’t end in the intervening time of diagnosis. People living with diabetes can still have a joyful, healthy and fulfilling life. Ti Trosper is a member of our type 2 community and her story is only one example of how there’s a life outside of being limited by diabetes. Read or hearken to her story below.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
BT2: Are you able to share your diagnosis story?
Ti: My diagnosis story is kind of long within the context of years since it began as prediabetes. It was like, “well, it’s not so bad, but it surely’s not great and also you’re still young so we’re going to type of hold off.”
It ended up being a little bit of me and my care team attempting to work out where we desired to go in those pre stages. It was probably a greater a part of six years or more before I used to be diagnosed with type 2 and it kind of opened the door to different medications and options available for assistance beyond prediabetes. It’s been slightly over two years-ish with type 2 now.
How do you reside your best life with type 2 now?
I believe it’s type of certainly one of those balancing acts. Thankfully now I even have the FreeStyle Libre and that’s really allowed me to have a greater, improved existence. I recognize that’s something that not everybody has access to and never everybody can afford. I believe that if you happen to are in a position to have it, it’s a extremely big game changer in truly with the ability to enjoy your life so much more freely.
But even before that, it was a number of attempting to balance having a fun life and never being afraid of the repercussions for the alternatives that I made—knowing that nothing I used to be going to do was going to be perfect.
There was not going to be an end result that was ever going to make me feel good 100% of the time. Weighing those options and really making informed decisions as best I could for the moments or the experiences that I desired to have—whether that was going out with my friends or eating specific foods that perhaps weren’t great for me.
There was some, I don’t need to say withholding, but kind of cutting back in other areas that may make for that balance that may allow me to experience the things that actually mattered.
As a chef, has diabetes impacted your role or influenced your relationship with food?
I’m a classically trained chef. I went to culinary school eight or nine years ago now. But yeah, diabetes does—especially on the private side.
Finding variations or using things like spices to make stuff more enjoyable in a way that’s truly palatable and fun versus just eating something bland that could be good on the nourishment scale or the nutrition factor, but not quite as nice to really sit down and suffer through eating.
I used to be absolutely just decimated and felt so betrayed by the incontrovertible fact that my body absolutely hates white rice—it may’t handle potatoes. I all the time knew that, but until I got the continual glucose monitor (CGM), I couldn’t really see how much it was truly hitting my system.
Coming to terms and really accepting the true amount of how little it takes, it was very disappointing. It felt like a betrayal because I’m like, “Ugh, but that is what I grew up on. That is how I exist.”
I like sushi. I like to go eat hot pot with my friends. I assumed, because genetically or through my background, I should find a way to have this stuff. Now I actually needed to reduce and reign it in on certain things.
Through having my diabetes diagnosis, I also ended up getting food allergy testing done to examine for inflammation. Super weird random thing, but I’m allergic to chicken.
Everybody’s like, “That’s just so healthy, eating a lot protein, try to be having chicken at every meal.” Seems it’s really not good for me.
What does being an athlete with diabetes mean to you?
I believe anybody is an athlete who’s going out and being lively in whatever way that they will or decide to be. Especially someone who might need any kind of limitation or boundary, not self chosen, they usually make this selection.
Being an athlete with diabetes, it’s incredible nowadays. Diabetics are really showing the world that there’s a life outside of being limited by what’s happening internally.
I did run half marathons, but unfortunately, it’s really hard in your body. Through my glucose monitor I discovered that basically high endurance activities that last a protracted time were really causing a spike in my cortisol and thereby making my numbers just seem crazy, although I used to be understanding so much.
It was just the improper type of understanding. Now I’m doing so much more walking and lifting. I never need to be a diabetic athlete. I just need to be an athlete.
What do you would like other individuals with diabetes knew about your life as being a chef and as being an athlete?
I wish they knew that it took a extremely very long time to find a way to run half marathons and to work out what’s happening with me. It takes a number of effort and energy to maneuver forward and never feel disgruntled or frustrated about having something occur to you that you just don’t have any control over for essentially the most part.
And it’s okay to feel that way and it’s okay to be unhappy with the hand that you just were dealt. You only must make those efforts and get the proper headspace and motivation, whatever it’s for you that’s going to assist get you there.
For anyone who could have just been diagnosed with type 2, what advice do you’ve gotten for them?
Don’t let your care team just inform you what to do if it doesn’t feel right. Your medications don’t feel like they’re agreeing with you indirectly, they’ve longer release forms in the event that they’re hurting your stomach. Really drive your personal care because you already know your body best. So just raise the flag and keep off.
Editor’s Note: This content was made possible with support from Lilly, an lively partner of Beyond Type 2 on the time of publication.