Stephanie stuffed her phone into her purse while she scooped up her keys and dashed out the door. She’d just received a call that her mom was in the hospital following a stroke! Terror gripped her throat. Her mom was only 72… A stroke?? She was still young! But, she thought as she drove, she had been heavy set for most of her adult life and was taking metformin for Type 2 diabetes. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised… but a stroke had never seemed like a real risk! Stephanie looked down at her own oversized belly… if a stroke was a real risk for Mom, then it’s a real risk for me, too. Stephanie had also been a heavier person since her first pregnancy 17 years ago. And her doctor recently told her she was pre-diabetic. How could she prevent a stroke herself?
Steph had grown up with comfort foods, as her mom also had. Recipes passed down for generations in their rural community. Potatoes, rice, mac and cheese, gravy, and pancakes filled her plates as long as she’d been alive. It was familiar, – “cozy” – eating. Stephanie, in turn, had reared her own family the same way.
But no one talked about the extra body weight the whole family carried around. There was plenty of shaming, and only those in the community who seemed to have “skinny” genes escaped the ridicule. But were there solutions?
And the worst of it was the side effects of worsening health problems that accompanied their weight. Type 2 diabetes was as common as the flannel shirts they all wore. Then, more problems followed. Like cardiovascular disease, brain fog, kidney disease, neuropathy, amputated toes or feet, and vision loss. No one talked about how to prevent a stroke.
But nobody talked about all this being related to the food they traditionally ate.
You Can Prioritize a Healthy Metabolism
When Steph arrived at the hospital, she could see her mom’s left arm was motionless and pulled up to her body, and the left side of her face seemed to droop. Her eyes filled with tears. What a terrible loss for her mom!
The doctor confirmed what she saw in her mom. And in her mom, Steph saw herself, too. And her children.
She was full of questions. What is the root cause of this? Can she help her family prevent a stroke? How permanent was the damage in her mom? Is it too late to reverse it?
Her doctor pulled a prescription pad out of his pocket and tore off the printed portion, then wrote down a name and website address.
He handed it to her, and said, “This doctor has a remarkable program that’s helping people heal in lots of ways. Weight loss and remission from Type 2 diabetes is at the top of the list of great outcomes for her program. My own wife is one of her practice members and it has transformed her health. It’s the best suggestion I have for preventing or reversing Type 2 diabetes and all the conditions it can cause. I encourage you to check it out.”
Whoa, Steph thought. Just whoa. That is a seriously strong recommendation coming from a doctor about another doctor’s program. So rare in my experience. I’m going to look into this.
Touchpoints180™
Stephanie sat in her car in the parking lot and looked up the website, touchpoints180.org. Right off, she could see it looked rather different than most websites her doctors had. On the front page, the message and imagery seemed to exude freedom…and hope. It talked about how she could learn what’s involved in doing a 180 with her health, wellbeing, and outlook.
There were videos that drove home the ways this program would reset her metabolism. She watched a couple videos right there in her car, then read some pages on the site, and read some blog posts. It made so much science, and was real science, not theory. It sure seemed as though this might be a program that could help her restore her health and prevent a stroke.
Before she knew it, an hour and a half had passed! She was so absorbed in the information she didn’t notice time was passing. Throwing her car into gear, she headed home quickly to get on her laptop.
Taking Action
Once home, she dropped her purse and swiftly moved to her laptop. Bringing up Touchpoints180™ she searched for a way to contact them. Then she found a link: Schedule your Discovery Call, and she clicked. Steph knew her mom would be needing lots of support going forward, so her time would have limits. But she also knew she had to take steps right now to turn her life and health around for herself first, and her entire family as well. It was a big order, but her mom’s stroke had driven home the urgency she felt.
The more she read, the more she learned, and she was determined to find out what the next step was. So she watched the videos and scheduled that call.
From that point, it was all about learning. Course study, videos, and taking action. Intentional living as opposed to just following the path of least resistance, as she always had. After all, life is so busy, and her kids lives required a great deal of time and energy.
A New and Better Lifestyle
But suddenly… today… she saw she would have to declare war on the lifestyle she – and everyone she knew – had followed, and take control of her diet, her sleep, her screen time, her exercise…all of it. Her mother’s tragic stroke was the fuel burning inside her to do whatever it takes to prevent a stroke in herself.
The beauty of it, though, seemed to be how manageable these new steps were. She’d never been able to stick with a new regime of going to the gym and working out. It might have lasted 6 weeks or 3 months…but all the other demands of life crowded out the commitment to continue.
This was so different. It wasn’t about deprivation of foods she liked. It was about replacing foods that were toxic to her health with delicious foods that would reverse her health problems. And it wasn’t about a hard hitting hour or more at the gym daily, but about movement, walks in nature, breathing fresh air, and enjoying conversation while making new friends.
She strode into her kitchen, and started pulling ultra processed foods from her freezer and pantry. Frozen pizza, canned biscuits, sugar, flour, donuts, ice cream, chips, rice, and seed oils like canola and corn oil… all into a big trash bag.
She looked into the trash bag and growled under her breath, “I hereby expel you from our lives, junk foods. You’ll no longer seduce this family. We shall prevent any strokes in the future!”
This was going to be an adventure.
The next day, she went to her appointment and signed up for the Touchpoints180™ program. And she found ways to participate in nature walks and other activities in between her visits to the hospital to see her mom. It just required being intentional… a little simple organization instead of just taking life as it comes. She was beginning to feel proud of herself.
Armed with recipes and the principals she needed to follow in preparing meals, Steph learned to cook with grass fed butter, olive oil, eggs, heavy cream, and a variety of nutrient dense vegetables. Immediately, her family began to enjoy high fat, low carb meals, and found they loved this new form of cuisine.
“This is like eating at a nice restaurant every night, Mom.” Steph blushed…realizing how convenience had driven her choices at the grocery store throughout her children’s lives. Now she was understanding the science of nutrition. She never had before.
As she prepared nutrient dense, low carb meals from whole foods, she realized it just wasn’t that hard. Why had she always felt she needed convenience and short cuts? She’d been unwittingly sabotaging the health of her family, in the interest of keeping up with their schedule. It gave her a lump in her throat, as she thought about her mom.
From Regret to Hope
It could have all been different if she’d known this 30 years ago. She could have helped her mom learn how to prevent this stroke. Still, she knew NOW, and she was committed to stay on this path and to help her family gain all the benefits and resilience of this new lifestyle.
She also taught the kids what she was learning about how to improve their sleep, their vitality, and their mental clarity…. And she kept her eye on her middle child to see if all these changes improved his mood. Because everything she was learning indicated these foods, the exercise, and everything else she was learning from Touchpoints180™ could dramatically relieve depression, anxiety, and other symptoms, too.
Steph and Her Family Thrive
Life was a blur for awhile, with her mom in a rehab hospital to regain use of her arm and her speech, as well as learning about this ketogenic metabolic therapy, and teaching it to her kids. But after 4 months, she could see the kids, including her middle boy, were all more upbeat and energetic.
Plus… Steph was noticing huge changes in herself. That foggy confusion that had plagued her…she guessed it was what they were calling brain fog… was clearing dramatically. She could remember more, think through more, make clearer decisions, and figure things out more quickly. It was feeling like a super power. What a fringe benefit!
Happily, she was also steadily losing weight. Not in a flash by any means, but those flash-in-the-pan weight losses never lasted. She’d go through the deprivation of some diet, then gain it all back in a week after she stopped dieting.
No, this was different. She intentionally chose her foods based on feeding her metabolism instead of scratching an inch…caving to cravings. And steadily, every few days the scales showed she’d lost another pound. Consistently. Steadily. After four months she’d actually dropped a size, and her clothes were baggy.
This is amazing, she said under her breath. It doesn’t feel like I’ve had to work at it at all…! I just eat what’s good for me, and bypass foods that I’ve learned are toxic to my health. And I’m beginning to shrink! Steph giggled to herself.
Monitoring Progress Through Lab Work
Even better, at her next doctor visit, her A1C had dropped a bit. Not a lot…it was too soon for much, but she could see this lifestyle had the potential to reverse her pre diabetes state and drop her A1C to a healthy level. She just had to be consistent. Which was easy with this lifestyle and all the support from Touchpoints180™ – She and her family were already restoring their health and preventing a future stroke. For all of them.
Lightbulbs were turning on in her head almost daily. She’d walk by the cookie aisle at the grocery store and feel no temptation to buy her favorite cookies, so she’d keep walking. She could never have done that before joining Touchpoints180™. Obviously, she’d been addicted to sugar, and that addiction was gone. What freedom!
And she was sleeping more soundly than she had since she was in her twenties. She woke up rested and refreshed every day now, with the mental and physical energy to embrace whatever life tossed her way.
Plus, the anxiety and insecurities that had always plagued her seemed to have just melted away. She just felt so much better, even though she hadn’t realized anything was wrong…until it was gone.
A Year Later – Burgeoning Health and Joy
A year after joining Touchpoints180™ Steph was flabbergasted at the transformation in herself and the rest of her family. Her blood pressure was normal. Her A1C was down to 5.5, and she was no longer pre diabetic. She’d lost 53 pounds, and loved what she saw in the mirror. More importantly, she no longer had the aching in her joints that had plagued her, and the anxiety that had always been her companion had left the building. Her mind was clear and she had so much more stamina and mental energy, as well. She felt relaxed and quietly confident.
She also saw rising confidence in her kids, and even-tempered, upbeat moods. They all had energy and stamina, instead of feeling sluggish and unmotivated. Everyone was trimmer, including her mom who was living with them now. Her mom, who was steadily improving, came to understand the value in this ketogenic lifestyle and soon cooperated with the meals and gentle exercise.
Her mom’s blood pressure was maintaining at a normal level now, and she was recovering well from her stroke.
As teenagers, Steph’s kids felt great about the way they looked. They held their heads high and their faces shone with confidence and wellbeing. But even better, they were each improving in their school work. They were more engaged, and didn’t struggle with their work like they had before.
Of course, the family had challenges, like anyone else, but those times no longer seemed insurmountable. For Steph, that feeling of overwhelm rarely showed up anymore. Life had become more manageable. And she had hope like she hadn’t in a very long time.
It turned out her mom’s stroke was a wake up call for the whole family, and they were thankful something had shaken them out of the destructive patterns of living. Stephanie felt free.
How About You? Do You Need to Take Steps to Prevent a Stroke?
At Touchpoints180™ we are all about starting right where you are and making new choices to restore your health, your stamina, your metabolism, and your joy. There is no shame in making mistakes you didn’t realize were mistakes. But you can take a new step today and bring your conditions caused by dysfunctional metabolism into remission.
Would like to give yourself the chance that Steph gave herself? Schedule a Discovery Call now.
You get to take control. And we’ll walk with you to give you the support you need to learn how.
To your best life,
