Ashley Bizzell, RD, LDN
Hi, my name is Ashley. I’m a dietician with L-Nutra, and today I want to tell you about my member, Penny. Penny is a 69-year-old female. She has had type 2 diabetes for almost 20 years. She came to me a couple of months ago. Her Endocrinologist referred her with the whole goal of trying to cut back on some of her medication. She was interested in just getting healthier and feeling better. When I meet with my members in the first couple of visits, I always try to uncover their why. Well, Penny told me about her, why. It’s that she has grandkids, and she loves them so much. It’s so important to her to be able to be present, to feel good, and to have the energy to hang out with them and play. and so we even have that written in her web portal so that when she opens it up, she can see why and be reminded during hard times.
When we first got started, she was a bit anxious, which is understandable. Everything’s new. You don’t know how your body’s going to respond or how you’re going to feel. She received her box in the mail, and we talked through that and each day and what to expect with the contents. She has soups, she has some bars, she has some algal oil, and she has her L-drink, which is a drink you get on days two through five to help preserve lean body mass. I just educated her a little bit on what everything was within each box, and she felt more comfortable. She decided she was ready to get started, and she did fantastic. She told me it was nowhere near as bad as she thought. We first started her first cycle over the weekend in case she was a little dizzy, and she didn’t want that to happen at work. That’s what’s great about this. It’s just five days a month, and you have the flexibility to do that whenever it best works with your schedule. Now, she does Monday to Friday, which is probably when most people do, or Sunday to Thursday. It’s nice to have something to keep you occupied during the week; just keep you busy. While she’s at work, she’s found it’s doable. She can pack her soups in the morning, take them with her in her thermos, and then they’re ready to go.
She now prefers it to cooking because she doesn’t have to think about it. But so she did. She did great. Each time we met, we were able to uncover some things that had been obstacles for her and strategize together, figure out ways we could work through those, push through this, and help her reach her goals. She already ate pretty healthy, which was great, and she loves all different types of food, including vegetables, so that’s not been too much of a challenge for her. We just had to make some little tweaks to make sure that she was getting adequate nourishment throughout the day and work on some portion sizes. After a couple of rounds of FMD, she was feeling better. She started noticing some lower numbers a little at night, sometimes in the morning—not low, but just lower than her normal 130 when she would be fasting. That’s normal. Her body was responding. She was doing better. I sent a progress update to her physician. When she had a follow-up with their Endocrinologist, they talked through that and said that she was doing better. She was doing these numbers. The doctor told her, It’s time to cut back on some of your insulin. That too made her a little bit nervous. But she did great, and she couldn’t wait to text me one day that, Ashley, I am still 92% in my target range with less insulin. That motivated her to keep going. At our most recent call, she was telling me about her upcoming trip to Mexico and how she just felt it’s been so long since she’s had a vacation. She was excited to go but so worried about maybe messing up and eating too much. I reminded her that you’re on vacation. I want you to enjoy yourself. Have a good time. Let’s talk about some foods that you can eat and some things that you can do there so you don’t feel like you’re blowing it. She didn’t want to feel like she had lost all of her progress.
She’s got a plan in place. She’s probably there now, actually, or maybe next week, but it’s coming up. I know she’s excited, and she told me that she was so thankful that she had support through L-Nutra, which helped coach her through these normal life experiences so that she could stay on track and on target toward her goal of losing weight. She’s had some weight loss. We’re still working towards a little bit more, but it’s so wonderful to have that long-term relationship so that you can work together and make sure that your members are meeting the goals that they have set for themselves. Penny has dropped her A1C. She’s dropped some of her insulin. We’re still working towards dropping it all completely. I know that’s going to happen for her. This is just another wonderful story of how L-Nutra has impacted someone’s life. I thank you for your time, and I hope you have a wonderful day.
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