Eyes of Health

Soon after I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes I was told that my eyes were in trouble. I was already showing signs of diabetic retinopathy. It only got worse as my diabetes got worse. And by 30 years old I was told that I’d go blind fairly young because of the issues I was already having and if they kept progressing – which I was showing no signs of anything getting better anytime soon. I was on so much medication, doing everything “right” as far as my diet was concerned (according to my doctors).

I knew where the story ended. It ended in me going blind. Having T2 diabetes so young, I knew it would be earlier rather than later.

It wasn’t too much longer after that in which I found about a plant-strong diet, and my health and diabetes started to get a lot better.

2 years ago I went for an eye exam check up. I did this mostly because my vision had changed, I was pretty sure it was worse and that my eye health was becoming worse. Even though my health had changed a lot, I didn’t think that my eyes could ever get better.

I was really surprised when the eye Dr. told me that my vision was BETTER and that my eyes were looking a lot better, there were only a few small spots that were left. It was really encouraging.

Well I had let too much time pass and decided that I needed to get my eyes checked again, I was having some vision issues and thought that maybe the previous issues had caused some deterioration.

So I go to the eye Dr. and he runs me through a big round of tests. He then tells me that my prescription is way too strong and that my eyes are better than they were before. And then for the big news… he tells me that my eyes show no signs of damage from diabetes, at all. He told me if I did not tell him that I was a T2 diabetic, he would not have known.

And he said that he never gets to tell T2 diabetics that news – ever.

There are days in which I am reminded that health is as much (if not more) an inside thing rather than an outside thing. There are days in which the outside progress can get me down. But I think it is so important to remember that there are things going on inside that we’ll never get to see, that we can’t really comprehend. Things that we would have suffered through, but never actually happened because we are now plant-strong.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that. I almost wish that we would only see what was happening on the inside, because I think that is where the dramatic and amazing progress truly happens.

Going plant-strong has done so much for my life, but this week, I realized that it’s because of the way I eat that I will get to see so much more in my life, and there are no foods that are worth not watching another sunset for.

A few years ago Natala was on almost 15 medications daily, had out of control Type 2 Diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, issues with nerve damage, and was morbidly obese. She decided to take her life back by adopting a plant-based diet, and has since lost over 200 pounds and no longer needs medication. Natala became passionate about nutrition, received her Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition through Cornell University, and now works with Rip Esselstyn and The Engine 2 Diet team.