Andrew shares his personal experiences of dealing with type 2 diabetes
There is a history of type 2 diabetes in my family, and in March 2023 I was diagnosed with it myself. It was my doctor who suggested I try a change of lifestyle rather than medication. So I kicked the word ‘diet’ into the compost heap because a ‘diet’, for me, conjures up office-working memories of miserable calorie-counting colleagues in staff rooms bemoaning any bourbon biscuits sighted within a 100-yard-radius. A change of lifestyle felt to me like a more positive way of thinking about food and would better help me make this work.
Learning about diabetes
I learnt that by 2025, an estimated 5.3 million people will be living with diabetes. Of these, 90% will be Type 2 and that the numbers are rising fast this century. The reasons reported to be behind this are broad but suffice to say, readily-available or so-called ‘fast’ food full of often cheaper-carb fillers, is the main culprit. I won’t scare you with the carb counts here, this is gardening magazine after all, but if you want to find out more www.diabetes.org.uk has lots of useful information on helpful eating plans.
I hope by sharing my own personal experiences with Type 2 diabetes, and the adaptations I’ve made to my food growing, this will be helpful for anyone else in the same position.
How Andrew is making adaptions to vegetable growing
Main crop potatoes are usually off my growing list, carrots are a no-no, sweetcorn should be a treat and I am over the moon that Brussel sprouts aren’t recommended now because I’ve never liked them. However, this year I will grow my first new potatoes because spuds that are young and fresh out of the ground are lower in carbs – but they must be eaten fresh.
The best carb-light delights
These include courgettes, which have become our new pasta in lasagne, cucumbers and lettuce that adorn our plates with fresh tomatoes and a range of different salad dressings. Mushrooms on wholemeal toast, hot mushrooms with wilted rocket, cauliflower cheese, broccoli and gorgonzola soup, watermelon and feta, strawberries, walnuts, almonds, blackberries with Greek yoghurt – wow, these are just a few of the meals we now eat!
Then there is the biggest challenge: I don’t now eat after 7pm, and I remember my grandad doing this because he felt it aided digestion and it has for me. Fasting for 12 hours (most of which I sleep through) has kick-started my metabolism and I am now as thin as I was when I was 18, and have the energy to prove it. The more I do in the garden, the more the weight falls away and if I am going to do something strenuous, then I will eat more carbs because I have a reason to do so.
Affordable healthy food
I am constantly asked how I do it, but there is no hidden magic other than a realisation that the food we buy and some of the food we grow do not fit our modern lifestyles. It has radically changed my garden and made salad the king. This year I am growing different types of tomatoes: ‘St Pierre’, ‘San Marzano’, ‘Gardener’s Delight’, ‘Ananas Noir’, ‘Shimmer’, ‘Golden Sunrise’ and ‘Brad’s Atomic Grape’, for eating is both about taste and visuals. I have branched out into perennial spinach and rocket, grown both heritage and modern lettuces to do the one thing we all like doing, comparing their taste. If I can crack growing watermelons, and making my own feta, I will have the ultimate low-carb summer salad, just toss in some red onion and you have a taste explosion.
Type 2 diabetes has not been the end of my world, but the opening up of a new culinary and gardening one and over a year later I have lost 6 stone, and I am officially in ‘diabetic remission’.
In loving memory of Geoffrey Oldham 1941-2018.
BIO
Andrew Oldham is a self-sufficient(ish) gardener who believes in the joy of down-to-earth growing and cooking. He lives high on the Saddleworth hills with his family at Pig Row. Find him on all social media platforms as @lifeonpigrow
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