Moving to Australia from Nepal, Nitesh struggled to adapt to his new home’s diet. Three years later, aged 34, he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Nitesh knew about its potential impacts: his father and grandmother lived with diabetes, with his father losing his eyesight and later passing away.
Nitesh got on top of his diabetes management. He no longer takes medication, regularly checks in with his health care team, keeps active and has learnt about nutrition. Diabetes has even led to a new career.
Knowledge was key to learning to live well with diabetes for Nitesh. Find out how he did it.
“Work out the best way to workout. Short sessions can be better than a big burst.”
When I began exercising, I found a high intensity endurance workout in the morning helped me lose weight. However, cramming activity into one session at that time of the day was elevating my blood glucose levels.
After some experimenting, I found it worked better for me to focus on low impact exercise in the morning. I now enjoy a walk in the sunshine in the morning, combined with a workout after lunch. This has a more positive effect on my blood glucose levels.
“Don’t put it off like me. The sooner you change, the sooner you’ll feel the benefits.”
It took me a few years to change my lifestyle. But I got there in the end, and it was worth it.
As well as changing what I eat and exercising, my new career as a fitness professional taps into my interest in finding the root cause of my type 2 diabetes. Under my doctors’ supervision, I keep connected to all the health information I need to upskill my knowledge professionally and personally.
I even took part in a body building competition’s 40+ category – nothing is impossible for me now!
“Try to change more than one thing. It’s not easy, but you’ll get better results.”
For me, managing diabetes isn’t down to one thing. It’s about eating a nutritious diet, doing regular activity and having a positive mindset.
At first I thought medicine would sort it, then I thought I could just cut out sugar. I had to figure out that a whole lifestyle change achieves better results than drugs, diet or exercise by themselves.
What works for me won’t work for everyone. It’s trial and error and learning how best to manage diabetes. But no matter how we do things, the important thing is to do something.
