I was motivated to build this site by a friend who recently asked a group of us:
“I’ve just been diagnosed with pre-diabetes.
Does anyone know of a supplement I can take to help?”
We are a group of seniors who meet weekly for a hilly hike. I recognized the frustration in his voice. Like him, I used to wonder how a person (me) who "hikes a lot" could end up with that diagnosis. I almost felt betrayed by my own body.
My friend was looking for a supplement—a 'magic pill' to improve his numbers. But I’ve learned that a glitch in our metabolic engine can’t be fixed by a fuel additive alone. This website is my response: a way of understanding metabolism as a system, not a workaround for a warning light on the dashboard.
Others have asked me what changes I made to improve my health to the point where I can now ski regularly and take long bike trips, for example. I had been diagnosed with pre-diabetes and had weight to lose. This question comes after either an almost silent gasp the first time seeing me since my "before," or after a more overt exclamation of “What have you done! Look at you!”
I now know the transformation was much more than outward weight loss; it was an internal shift in how my body processed what I ate and how I moved. That can sound like the familiar advice we’ve all heard—diet and exercise. But what does that really mean?
Your motivation may not be to lose weight. It could be that you were diagnosed with pre-diabetes like my friend. It could be that you want to be sure you are on a path to prevent either of those issues in your future. Personally, I had to change my internal mindset from “try to lose weight" to “improve my metabolism.” Coming to that understanding took time and a lot of personal research. When my doctor first diagnosed me with pre-diabetes based on my A1c, all I knew was that it wasn't good. I was fortunate that he asked me: “What can I do to help?” After recovering from the shock of such a powerful question, I told him: “I don’t want to have pre‑diabetes anymore—I want to understand how to fix the underlying problem, not just manage the symptoms with drugs.”
That started a year-long journey. I’d heard of diabetes, but I didn’t really understand the mechanics and I didn’t know what "metabolic flexibility" was at first. I didn't know what that A1c number actually represented? I suspect many of you are searching for those answers today.
Now that some of you are finding yourselves in the situation I was in, or want to prevent getting into that situation in the first place, I want to help you move from "looking for a supplement" or "trying a new diet" toward thinking more clearly about a potential medical turnaround. I learned most of us would benefit from this information regardless of our motivation. I am sharing my journey of discovery—based on real science I learned from real MD's and PhD's.
I’m not a doctor, and I’m not telling you what to do. Determining what makes sense for you is personal, and any changes should happen under the care of your physician who is aware of unique things considerations about you—things no website can take into account. Approach your visit here as looking through a getting‑started guide—something to begin thinking about, not a set of instructions. My hope is that it helps clarify questions, not dictate answers, inspires the start of your own journey to better health, and supports you in having better conversations about your own health. So,
What most people are too polite to ask is, what were my numbers? It’s a fair question—you deserve to know that I walk my talk. I can’t promise you the same results, and I wouldn’t ask you to make the same changes I did. But I am confident that some improvement is possible for most people. Knowledge is power, right? My diagnosis was based on an A1c of 5.7, and at the time I weighed 265 pounds. One year later, my A1c had dropped to 5.2, my doctor removed the pre‑diabetes diagnosis, and I weighed 185 pounds—an 80‑pound change and, in many ways it gave me a new life. It's now six months after that, I’ve maintained that weight, and my recent glucose data still sits in the healthy range. I share this not to set a bar, but to offer context. I made what some would call aggressive lifestyle changes that may not be right for you.
This is an invitation to a four part conversation about what a pre‑diabetes diagnosis really means. It’s designed to unfold in sequence. Many people read, reflect, then return to this conversation more than once. Progress comes in many forms, and it starts not with drastic action, but with understanding.
Before deciding what to do, it helps to understand what pre‑diabetes actually is.