They Told Him Diabetes Was for Life… He Proved Them Wrong, Ep 14 - with Lyndon Wissart

Every 22 seconds, someone loses a limb to diabetes.
Every 6 seconds, someone loses their life.

For many, a diagnosis feels final… like a life sentence.
But what if it isn’t?

In this powerful episode of the Sense Only Podcast, Lyndon Wissart shares his deeply personal journey with diabetes from fear and loss to discipline, understanding, and transformation.
After witnessing the devastating effects of the condition, Lyndon made a bold decision: not to accept the outcome he was given, but to challenge it.
This conversation goes beyond health.
It’s about ownership. Responsibility. And the power of questioning what you’ve been told.
If you’ve ever felt like your situation was out of your control…
this episode will make you think again.

In This Episode
Why a diagnosis isn’t the end of your story
The difference between treating symptoms and addressing root causes
How mindset and discipline shape health outcomes
Cultural narratives around illness and fear
Taking ownership of your health and your future

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Every 22 seconds somebody loses a lower limb through diabetes. Every six seconds, somebody dies from diabetes. Yeah. The doctor said to me, Before you go, let's do a pinprick. The pinprick blood test is when the your blood glucose. And when they done mine, mine was 15.9. Yeah. And it's supposed to be five. Three times the level. Thank you. So I was in a danger zone. And she said to me, Lyndon? I say, Yes, missus. She goes, The sugar get me in Caribbean. They said, when did sugar get me? That means diabetes, yeah? And they said the sugar get me like diabetes. If they say diabetes, it's like a death sentence. It's like a death sentence. So a few months later, she passed away, and he said to me, Lyndon, if you ever become the diabetic, don't take any medication because your side effects to it. Being diabetic and reversing diabetes could change your life.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Greetings and salutations.

SPEAKER_04 0:58

I'm Alicia Mullings, and this is a sense only podcast. This podcast is for those who are tired of the disconnection, the distraction, and the noise of the world. It's for those who know that we need to be the change that we want to see in the world. Today, I have an amazing guest who's here to share his story of how he actually I'm gonna tell you what he did. Basically, he was able to heal himself, and this is the type of stuff that we need for this podcast. This is people who are seeing a problem, seeing a challenge, and taking action and doing something themselves, not waiting for somebody else to do it for them. So I have literally been looking forward to this interview. I've been looking forward to it so much, and I am over the moon to welcome Mr. Lyndon Wissart.

SPEAKER_05 1:48

Thank you very much. Thank you very much for having you, Alicia. It's an honor and a privilege to be here with you today. And thank you for the kind words that you've shared. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_04 1:59

It's it's genuine words. I didn't even want to say I didn't want to say I didn't want to say how I felt before. I'm gonna express it on the camera. Literally, you read in your book. Listen, I enjoyed myself.

SPEAKER_05 2:12

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 2:13

And this is the I'm not even guessing, I actually really appreciated the read. Like it was a straightforward and easy read. Just appreciate like your heart, your passion comes out in the how the book's written. I appreciated the visuals. I'm actually a very visual person, I'm a visual learner. So the fact that you included so much in there.

unknown 2:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:36

All power to you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I I've very much appreciated that book. And I'll read it again and I'll promote it again. Even if you weren't here, I'll promote this book. It's amazing. So yeah, please tell the people about you, your story, share with us.

SPEAKER_05 2:52

Yeah. My story starts uh from when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in October 2015. I'm of Jamaican descent. My parents are Jamaican. Uh I was born in uh London, Bethnal Green, Hackney, and I grew up in Tottenham, all my uh young teenage years growing up in Tottenham. So I'm a North Londoner through and through, and I've loved it. I've loved all my time there. And as I've got older in life, um the thing that I wanted to do when I left school was to become a chef. So that was my passion because when I was younger, I was uh the latchkey kid because I'm the baby of the family. Right. So I'm the last one, I'm the first one, sorry, to come home after school. But nobody's at home. So I had to go home, and what I used to do, I used to go home, go to the garden, I used to get some skellion, which is spring onion, because mum used to grow it, come back inside, wash it, chop it up, put it in the frying pan, throw some baked beans on there, you know, fry two eggs, have some bread, cup of tea, and that used to be my pre-dinner before mum came home, or anybody else came home. So I just looked after myself from early. So me being able to do that, mum having confidence in me, just letting me do my own thing. I had the passion for cooking early. Okay, do you know what I'm saying? So when it came to the stage when at school we had choices of woodwork, metal work, home economics, all these different things. You know, I'm not giving away my age, you know, but it was it's different back then, you know what I'm saying? Well, home economics they used to call it back then. So I chose to do home economics, which is cookery classes, and in the cookery classes, I was just one of two guys that was in the cookery classes, and me being there, I loved every minute. The teacher was very good. Uh, and what I realized, a lot of the females at that time, they were asking me questions about do this, am I doing this right kind of thing? I thought to myself, people gravitate to you in a way that you don't expect, and people see things that you're doing, but sometimes we don't realize we're doing it, you know, and that that's one of the things that made me feel like wow, you know, special, but I'm just doing what I do. Right. Do you know what I'm saying? So it was a natural thing. So after school, uh, when I left school at 15, I applied for a YTS scheme, which is young training scheme, which was run by the government, yeah. And out of uh 2,000 people, I was chosen one of 12 to go on this scheme.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

Amazing.

SPEAKER_05 5:25

So this the YTS scheme was basically a scheme that uh you go into a hotel, yeah, on this one because this was uh the hospitality industry. Right. So in the in the hotel, you do a reception, you do cleaning of the rooms, yeah, you do accounts, you work in the kitchen, and uh any other departments that that they had, you'd work in all of those departments to see what you feel comfortable with. So out of the 12 people, we all chose after the 12 months what we wanted to do. So after the 12 months, I just naturally went into the kitchen. I did. So I started to work in the kitchen from there straight away, and I loved it. I loved the cooking, the passion, everything like that. So I started to do my degree uh of catering in the beginning. So I done my first degree with the hotel, uh, my first course, my first level of uh degree. And then my second degree, when I left that hotel, I went to Hamily's yeah, toy shop. Toy shop in Regent Street, and I was there for two months before I got the call up from the Savoy Hotel to come and work at the Savoy Hotel as an apprentice. All right, you know what I'm saying? So the Savoy? Yeah, Savoy Savoy, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was back then the the goal was to work in the the the five-star hotels back there. And the Savoy was one that I applied for, and they responded back to me. So I when you go to the Savoy Hotel, when you work there for like 18 months, you get a certificate. When you get a certificate, you work anywhere after that.

SPEAKER_04 6:57

I can imagine that's you Savoy's up there in the world.

SPEAKER_05 7:00

Yeah. So that that was that was my that was my goal. The work was hard, right? It was tiring, it was worth it. But we've done long hours, morning, noon, and night. It didn't didn't really make much difference. Because you were there to learn, especially for me. I'm talking from my personal experience. The the head chef, Anton Edelman at the time, he loved me so much that he could see the potential in me. Right. So he would move me up the rank and I was a trainee. Okay, nice. Yeah, I'm I'm not supposed to be doing what I'm supposed to be doing at my level, but he put me because he trusted me. So I I became a chef de party when I said a trainee. Okay. The chef de party is a person who runs a section. Right. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. I wasn't qualified, but I was qualified on paper now, but physically I can do it. So there's many people that at the Savoy Hotel that was there full time. I became above them. Do you know what I'm saying? Your skills shine through. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. Yeah. So that was good for me. I loved it. I loved it. So from then I've moved on to other places from the Savoy. I've moved, I've worked in the uh bank with a private catering, uh, outdoor catering, restaurants, hotels, pubs. The the lot I've done so much of it, so much of it over the last what 20-30 years of doing catering. I love and I love, I love, I love cooking. I love the passion of it. So I've worked on the pastry section, I used to decorate cakes and all that as well. Me and my mum used to make cakes all the time. My mum used to make bun, you know, every week, and it's just amazing. So that was going on for many years, and my life developed into where I started to have children, having a family. And uh, when you're working in the kitchen all the time, you're not even sometimes you're not even thinking about yourself, you're thinking about other people. And it and it became a point where I was just working, working, working. And sometimes I used to get a thing called gastric enteritis. I'm saying what they used to do, uh, they when I see work in some places, they'll bring around fizzy drinks. Okay. And as a child back then, you got water or fizzy drinks, fizzy drinks was a luxury.

SPEAKER_03 9:10

Right.

SPEAKER_05 9:11

Some people understand this now because you got fissy drinks everywhere now. But my time, you know, someone come around with a can of coke or lemonade, it's like, wow. Right. Do you know what I'm saying? They're giving it to you for free. Yes. It's it's like a life-changing experience, you know. So when I experienced that, I used to drink so much lemonade, and one day I had my stomach was so I was in so much pain, I couldn't work anymore. So the chef said, Linda, you need to go go home or go to the doctor. So when I went to the doctor, they done done a test on me and they said that I had gastric interitis. Okay. And it's because I I had so much drank so much lemonade back then. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So back then, back in the 90s, I had uh certain symptoms within my body. I was always tired. I never always felt so good because I'm just working in the kitchen, working hard, family, blah, blah, blah, no, not looking after myself. Uh I was always tired back in the 90s, and I thought I was I don't know. I don't know if it was strange, if it was weird, but I was always tired. Do you know what I'm saying? And the thing about it, the only reason why I can reflect on is when I started to write my book. You know? Okay. And when I started to write my book, I started to reflect on my life. Yes. So my book's in this position, so I'm reflecting back. Well, how did I feel back in the 90s, the 80s, do you know what I'm saying? And the 20s. And I'm thinking to myself, back in the 90s, we used to have family down in Ramsgate. So we used to travel from London to Ramsgate, and the roads were not the same as they are now. So you just think about an hour and a half to get down to Ramsgate from London. And I'm thinking to myself, you know something? I'm tired. So I used to get two bags of jelly babies. Two bags of jelly because babies because the jelly babies are beautiful, nice, nice take track, and they're sweet. So what so psychologically thinking, the sugar content keep me awake for driving. Okay. So you're having a jelly baby just to keep you away. Okay. But it is it wasn't like that though. No. Because the thing about it, one of the once I got to family's houses and stuff like that, they said one of the things they used to say to me, Linda, don't sleep when you come.

SPEAKER_04 11:05

So it was like a thing. Yeah. That they know when you reach their house, you're going to see.

SPEAKER_05 11:09

Yeah. So I get to people's house. So hit the hit the sofa. Wow, just knock out. Yeah, just knocked out. So that that could have been one of the symptoms of uh type two diabetes back then. Right. But I didn't know what diabetes was. Okay. And I didn't know what to accolate the symptoms to. Do you know what I'm saying? So that's another thing that that kind of interesting when you look back on your life. Um, so back in the the 20s now, I used to have uh pins and needles in my feet, my toes. Do you know what I'm saying? I had kind of similar like a blood vision, I was overweight. I was always uh urinating on a regular basis as well, you know. Uh I I was just not in a good place, in a good place. What happened one day? I was working in the kitchen, and while I'm working in the kitchen, I'm working on a calculator. One-on-one is two, two and two is three, four, four, five. My mind just wasn't focusing. I just couldn't focus properly on working on a recipe. And when you're in your little zone, you could hear somebody making these jokes in the background, but you're not taking the notice of it. And then this guy got to me, Lyndon! She's like, She's like, You let you like you wake out of your comfort zone. I thought, Lyndon, you know, I said, What, what, what? And I just looked on the guy, I just looked in the chef, sweating his eyes, and I just ran out of the kitchen, I went into the changing room, and I fell down on the floor, and I was crying like a baby.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 12:31

I was crying like a baby. Because you know something, Alicia? I had so much things going wrong with my body. My mind, my body, my spirit, all the symptoms. I had blood in my stool, I had pains in my stomach, I I couldn't focus properly. You know, I had personal issues with my body. You know what I'm saying? We go through things and we try to deal with it in our own little way. And I thought to myself, no, no, no. So I'm in a change room now, there's no floor. Just crying, just crying, just crying. So the chef runs into the change room after me, and he goes, Linda, what's wrong? What's wrong? So I told him what these things that's going on within my body, you know, and he says, You, Linda, you got two choices now. Either go home or you go doctor. Right. You know, and it's like it's like a mental health situation where you're thinking, What should you do? What should I do? So I'm thinking, I'm sitting there now in the in the in the in the change room. I thought, you know something? I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna go find a doctor because I need to get myself sorted, get myself sorted. So went back into the kitchen, get on the phone, and I'm following my doctors. When I phoned my doctors, what do you think happened? Do you think I got through? You just waiting. Waiting? Did I get did anybody answer? Wow. Yeah, but the thing about it is I'm blessed because somebody somebody picked up that phone. Everything picked up the phone and said, Hello, how can we help you? I said, What do you really wait for the answer machine? Do you know what I'm saying? And I said, I said to him, I'd like to come and see the doctor. Do you know what I'm saying? And I told him, explained to him a bit why. And he said, Okay, when do you think Alicia, when do you think they asked me to come and see the doctor? When?

SPEAKER_04 14:08

Because this is England. Um no shade, but not straight away. I know that much. Did you say straight away? A week?

SPEAKER_05 14:17

Alicia, they say come in five o'clock, five thirty that same day.

SPEAKER_04 14:21

Well done.

SPEAKER_05 14:24

5.30 the same day.

SPEAKER_04 14:25

But at the same time, it's like ah, they're picked up on there's a lot going on, so they're like they need to get you in straight away.

SPEAKER_05 14:32

Probably not, I don't know, but you know, I'm thinking I think I was blessed that day because you know, I lived outside London. I didn't live inside in London, yeah. So to drive to the doctors now, you know, in the afternoon, it'd probably take about an hour, hour and a half anyway. But that was the longest journey. Longest journey because I'm thinking I got all this stuff going on with me.

SPEAKER_03 14:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:52

Just broken down. What am I gonna tell the doctor? Is it gonna be the result? Is it gonna be positive or negative? And you know, as a man, sometimes we don't want to.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

I was about to go there, literally. I was just letting you finish because I was gonna say, especially because you guys have what I've witnessed from men, yeah, yeah, you guys take a lot longer to respond to things, especially regarding your health.

SPEAKER_05 15:16

So when I when I got to the the doctors at that afternoon, you know, got to the doctors, I'm in the reception now, waiting for them to call out my name. But you know, my my mind was saying, Yeah, I think you should go stay. Yeah, go, go, go. And I was just about to go home, then I call out my name. They call out my name.

SPEAKER_04 15:37

They call out my name. Where would you go in? You already reached the place.

SPEAKER_05 15:41

You know, so so I I go into the doctor now and I explained to the doctor what's wrong with me. Uh the pains in my stomach. She says, Okay, put go on the couch, laid on the couch. So she started poking me here, they feed me everywhere, and she couldn't find nothing. Do you know what I'm saying? So we said to her, we'll have to send you to the hospital to get a uh checkup, you know what I'm saying? And she I told her about the blood in my stool as well. So she says, I don't know what that is, we'll have to go and check, go and give you for a hospital appointment for that as well. So the the hospital appointment, because I'm not used to being in the hospital, I've never been hospitalized or anything like that. That was a new experience for me. Right. You know, so that that that's a different story on itself, it really is. Um, when the doctor said to me, Before you go, let's do a pinprick blood test on you. Yeah, so the pinprint blood test is when the your blood glucose, and when they done mine one, mine was 15.9, yeah, and it's supposed to be five. Three times the level. Thank you. Wow. But it didn't mean nothing to me at the time. Is because the doctor told me you may be diabetic. And basically I thought to myself, wow, okay, we're gonna have to send you to uh get a HBA1C blood test. And HBAC1 blood test is when they monitor your blood sugars for the last three months. Okay, yeah. When the results came through, mine was 92. Yeah, and the level was supposed to be 42 and below. Wow, yeah, yeah. So I I was in a danger zone. Seriously, I was in a danger zone, but just think, it didn't mean anything to me when she said I'm diabetic. Because I said too much, what is it? Do you know what I'm saying? And you know the thing about you, Alicia, when you go through life, certain people say certain things to you, but it doesn't resonate until that till that moment when somebody else says it and it kind of hits you. And I remember the word diabetes, twice I remember that word diabetes. The first time I remember it, yeah, is when um we went to see my mother, my friend's mother, yeah, and she wasn't well. She's a Caribbean woman. And when I went to see her, she's sitting in the chair with her leg up, and she said to me, Linda, I said, Yes, missus. She goes, The sugar get me. The sugar, the sugar get me. Say, look, palming, the sugar get me. You know, and this is what happened in Caribbean. They said, when the sugar get me, that means diabetes, yeah? And they said the sugar get me, like diabetes. If they said diabetes, it's like a death sentence. Right. It's like a death sentence. So a few months later, uh, she passed away through diabetes and the illness. Wow. Yeah, and that's when I found out, yeah, about diabetes. Do you know what I'm saying? When she said the sugar get me. And I thought to myself, wow. And then the second time is when once when I went to visit my cousin Ken, yeah, and I hadn't seen cousin my cousin for a long time. And I said, Ken, how you doing? When you see, and he goes, Lynn, do you know something? I said, What? I said, I got I had I got type 1 diabetes. I said, What's that? And he told me the story how we got type 1 diabetes. I said, Wow. I said, You know something, Ken? You need to write a book or share your journey, how you become type 1 diabetic. And he said to me, Linden, if you ever become diabetic, don't take any medication because there are side effects to it. So he's obviously done his research about medication. He thought he advised me, don't take any medication. For something to myself, okay, fine. So we're one in here, come out the other. Right. And we just carry on with normal conversation. Right. Yeah. But when the doctor told me diabetes, I said, wow. So I'm thinking now, when my doctor said you're diabetic, the doctor went like that, the arm just went like that. I thought to myself, what's she doing? She went for the foreman, went for medication.

SPEAKER_04 19:14

Oh, right, okay. So it's just a reflex.

SPEAKER_05 19:17

Yeah, it was an actual reflex for the doctor. Right. To put you straight on medication. And she said, we're gonna have to put you on medication. I said, what for? To reduce your blood sugars. I said, really? I said to myself, hold on, I've never been on any medication in my life before. Do I have to take the take this medication? She goes, Yes, you do. I said to her, but you know something? My cousin Ken said to me, Don't take any medication. So I'm thinking to myself, my cousin, doctor, cousin, doctor. And I thought to myself, you know something, Alicia? I'm gonna listen to my cousin. I'll get listen to my cousin. And I said, God bless cousin Ken. Yeah. And I'm saying to I'm saying to myself, to my doctor, can I take you that? And he said, Doctor, I don't recommend it. So in three weeks' time, come back. Yeah, and we're gonna have a HBM1 blood test with you. I said, Okay, fine. And before I left, I said to my doctor, how did I become type 2 diabetic? Yeah. Lifestyling then. Your lifestyling.

SPEAKER_04 20:09

So the solution's there, yeah. If if the lifestyle is how you got there, then it I don't know, a common sense to me would say you just do the same thing the opposite way. Thank you. Thank you. So like lifestyle got you to the diabetes. Oh, we're gonna fix it with a pill. Excuse me?

SPEAKER_05 20:27

Yeah, what does that doesn't add up? So you know something, Elisha? That that that that moment I thought to myself, you know something, Linda. Number one, you're self-employed. Yeah, okay. You're self-employed. Every 22 seconds, somebody loses a lower limb through diabetes. Every six seconds, somebody dies from diabetes.

SPEAKER_03 20:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:47

In the UK alone, every three minutes then you there's a new diabetic person. And you know something? I'm self-employed. And if I don't work, I don't earn. If I don't earn, it affects me, the livelihood of the family. So I think to myself, you know something? You need to do something about it now, today. Yes. You know what I'm saying? So what I decided to do is all the carbohydrates, the pasta, the rice, the potatoes, the fizzy drinks, all these things that I used to consume, my biscuits, all these things I used to consume on a regular basis. I thought to myself, okay, then you're just gonna cut them out.

SPEAKER_04 21:21

And I can imagine that that's sorry to interject. I can imagine that that's harder for you because you're a chef. Yeah. I feel like you'd just naturally just be picking.

SPEAKER_05 21:29

It doesn't come in my genie, but I mean, you know.

SPEAKER_04 21:31

But you have to pick though.

SPEAKER_05 21:32

We have to pick though, because you have to taste, don't you? Yeah, it's like make making a normal sauce, yeah. Yes. A sauce or gravy jus, what they want to call it, yeah. You gotta taste it several times, right? So it'd be before it's perfect. So that that sauce, that jus could be it could have alcohol in it, yeah. It could have flour in it, yeah. It could have detrimental it ingredients in it, uh, and you drink and you're tasting it all the time. Yeah. And that's just one sauce.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 21:57

Do you know what I'm saying? That's just one. And so these different things. That you're gonna be eating, or you're gonna make something, a stew, or something like that, and you've got to taste it to make it taste so nice. Do you know what I'm saying? So all these things we have to taste all the time. Do you know what I'm saying? Is it like on some of the sections in the kitchen? They have loads of teaspoons in a pot of water. So they take a teaspoon, try something, put it back, kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04 22:18

So the fact that you was you made the conscious decision to be like, okay, I'm gonna be cutting out the pasta, blah blah blah blah blah. However, your occupation is the person who needs to do that. Yeah. How? How did you find out?

SPEAKER_05 22:30

The thing about it, we're cooking healthy for our clients. Yes, I'm saying, but we're not even heal eating healthy ourselves. Okay. We're not eating our healthy ourselves. So from that time, my doctor said, okay, three weeks. Yeah, three weeks before you come back to another blood test. So what I decided to do is to get onto a program. So my daughter uh used to go to school locally. So we I used to drop her to school at 8:30 in the morning, then I'd go to the gym for three, four hours to work out because I was overweight. Yeah, okay. I know I was overweight, and I know I wasn't healthy because Alicia, I went to my mum's house one day. I went to Mumma's. My mum looked to me. My mom looked at me. I said, You're a mum. She goes, yeah. She said, Lyndon. I said, Yeah, mom, you belly I get big.

SPEAKER_04 23:14

It's such a breaker's attitude. Who got no touch? No. I said, Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

What are you talking about? I love it. I said, You can't talk to me like that. I'm the baby. Yes, you can. She said, Linda, she said, Linda, look on yourself. Look upon yourself.

SPEAKER_05 23:34

I said, Mom. They say, Oh, you know what I'm saying? But mom cares, that's why she said the words. This is tough love. And then, you know something, Lisa. I went home. I looked at myself and said, Mom's right. And she said, you know something, Linda? She said, pig don't know when pig stink. Wow. Pig don't know when pig stink. Basically, what that means is when you're in an environment of certain people or around you, they're not going to tell you that you're overweight or you're looking bigger, you're looking fatter, or you're around the same kind of people who's the same like you. So they're not gonna take it to share how they feel. Do you know what I'm saying? So I think to myself, wow, okay. So that's that put me on a journey of working out in the gym now. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. So I go in the gym three, four hours. I was and then when I was in the gym, I was doing this, that, rowing, exercising, I was doing so much different things, but I got fed up being in the gym for so long, became not boring, but yeah, it became kind of boring because I'm just doing things, and I thought to myself, you know something? You need to get yourself a routine. Yes. Get a routine. So I got a personal trainer, we ran all the different machines, yeah, and all the machines that I liked that I worked on, yeah. So I went on a cross trainer, then I went on a rowing machine, bicycle, then we've got a V-plate, do a bit of skipping. There's a lateral machine because I ski that helps the body flex. And doing that, then I'll go back on a little bike as well. And I'll just still little things to do. But think about it at my gym, one pound you put in the car park was for four hours. 50p was like for two hours. So I challenged myself, okay, then you gotta get a routine where you're gonna put 50 pence in that in that meter, and then you're gonna get in and out within that time. So I worked on a routine to do all my exercise and get out of that gym within two hours. Okay. So that was it. So when I got back to the car, I'd have a pant of blueberries and a and a banana. That would be my like thing. But I'll be drinking water though in the mor when I'm in a gym. I don't I'd always drink water. After doing this routine for about a month, I obviously I cut down all of the food. I went back to get my doctor three weeks later, 25 days later, and my HBA1C from 92 went down to 77. Okay, my business improved.

SPEAKER_04 25:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:53

So when I when I went to see my doctor, I got a result. The doctor says, Whatever you're doing, keep doing it, you know. And then I done it again. So in another 28 days, I was doing the same thing. My HBA was 77 down to 60. Nice, you know. But at that time, I'm one of these people who set goals, yeah. And my goal was to get down to within the 50s. Do you know what I'm saying? You know, but I hit the 60. I wasn't happy, but I was happy. Yeah. That that was like that was going down to 60 HBA1C within two months, yeah, was a very clinical part of my journey because I didn't realize it. When I went, that's the day that I was meeting my cousin Ken. Well, I said, Ken, you need to write a book. Well, Ken said, Yeah, I've been thinking about writing a book. So I got a friend named Darren who's written a book, he's an author, yeah. And I told Darren about my cousin, said Darren said to me, Linden, come to this event on this such and such day. Yeah, okay. We're gonna help you or help your cousin to find out more about writing a book. I met cousin at my cousin Ken at the train station, and I told Ken, guess what? I said what? He said what Lynn? I said, uh my HBO1C is 60 now. He says, what? He says, I said, no, my HBO1 is 60. He says, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, you can't be. I said, yeah, Ken, listen to me. My 60, he says, do you know what you just done, Lin? I said, no. Lin, do you know what you just done? Two months, no medication, and your HBO1C is from 92, yeah, down to 60 in two months. Lin, you don't you don't get it, do you? I said, no. So we're walking down to the venue. Ken's looking at me. Lin, do you know what you've done? I said, no, Ken, no. Lynn, uh it wouldn't stop until we got to the venue. So when we got to the venue, my focus is on Ken, getting as much information about writing the book. So I sat at the front, Ken sat at the back. So I'm looking at Ken, you should be here with me. I'm here for you. Do you know what I'm saying? But this yeah, I'm dear, I'm dear, I'm gonna listen to all these people talking about making a book, uh, book coaches and and all these things. And I think to myself, some people just writing books because they've got a story and a journey. And it was like a light bulb moment came to my head. I said, Do you know something? Ken says what I've done in the last couple of months is really good. So I think to myself, okay, maybe I've got a journey in my book. Yeah, maybe I can write a book. So I said to Darren, Darren, this is what I've done the last two months with my diabetes. Do you know what I'm saying? You know, and he said to me, Linda, just write down everything that you've done and come to next week. So I, Alicia, I'm just writing everything, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, pages and pages and pages, just going through everything that I've done. I never reread anything.

SPEAKER_03 28:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 28:37

I just wrote it, I just filed it. Got to Darren's house the next week, sat down with Darren, yeah, opened it up, and started to read. And then tears came to my eyes. Tears came to Darren's eyes. We were just so emotional because I was reading about me. Yes, what I was going through for the last two months, the diet, the exercise, the mindset, the ups, the downs, everything I was going through. And I got so emotional, Darren says, Lyndon, you got a book. Amazing. Let's do it. If Darren said to me that day, forget it, don't worry about it. I would never have written the book, you know? So I decided to use Darren as a coach, a book coach, to help me write the book. And then after that, Darren said, Lyndon, is this is too much for me. So Darren said, let me find you a coach that can help you write the book. So that's how the book came about. I found a coach. Brina Ladley. She she got me on track every week, every month. With Wendy got me on track, I done the book. She liked it, I liked it, I tell her what I want, everything like that. Just got it. So that's how the book came about. So there's a lot of people questioning me about the book. Do you know what I'm saying? Why is this not any one of the I said the book's about my journey of what I went through and how I done it.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

People question questioning what saying.

SPEAKER_05 29:57

Why is it not recipes in the book? And so they see me as a chef. Because it was because they think it should be a recipe book. But I'm saying it's not a recipe book. Why haven't you got recipes in it? I said, Well, I'm doing the right recipes, I didn't think like that. I'm just changing my journey. Your next book later. Exactly. Exactly. You know? That's how it was. That was that was one turning point. So with another twin with another month, yeah, my HBA1C from 60, yeah, went down to uh 41. So I went below the normal rate. So I went back to normal in 105 days without prescribed medication. That is absolutely incredible.

SPEAKER_04 30:38

And yeah, and thank you for writing the book. Yeah. Um thank you. So yeah, and just documenting your journey because there's so many people who can benefit from healing your journey, because like for me, I I personally don't have diabetes. However, there's a lot of people who I love who do have diabetes, which is also a reason why I'm so drawn to you because this is a lot of other people's story as well. So if they have it themselves, their mum, their granny, their dads, whoever could have it as well. And you know, knowledge is power at the end of the day. And I was just beaming. Like first of all, I learned so much. Reading your book. Thank you. I didn't know nothing, the depths of glucose and flavonoids and and the levels and this, that, and the other. Now I do. And it makes a big difference in a life. It makes a big difference because at the same time, this can now, I guess, elevate my conversation with those who I love and care about.

SPEAKER_05 31:37

Thank you, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:38

You know, and the people who I'm definitely sent in your way.

SPEAKER_05 31:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it's at the end of the day, what what I've achieved and doing interviews like this with you, yeah, it it just makes me want to go ahead and share it more with people. Yeah. Because a lot of because what I found that I used to do events and I still do events, and in literally, you know what I think about you. A lot of men used to come up to me, used to whisper in my ear, Lyndon, I got this thing going on. Right. I got this thing going on. You know, I can visualize it now. I'm standing here, talking to someone, and I gotta see a group of line of men behind them, waiting to talk to me and they say, I've got this thing going on. Do you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04 32:18

Look, look at the the specifically the two men who I love to bits. I'm gonna call them out of who they are and how they're related to me, but they're watching this and they know who they are. The ones who I tried to send to you. Yeah, send them alone. I'm under the bell. I'm on them.

SPEAKER_05 32:35

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:35

But it it baffled me the fact that I practically respectfully kind of put you right in front of them. Basically, I gave them, I told them about you, I gave them the gave them your number, and they didn't come to you. What advice would you give actually in terms of me kicking them? You know, you've done it, you can help them.

SPEAKER_05 33:04

This is why I'm glad I've done it because you you're gonna find people out there who want to find someone like me that's done it. Right. Do you know what I'm saying? Because we're so used to a certain society of telling us we're gonna live with diabetes for the rest of life, it's a lifestyle change now. Do you know what I'm saying? So they just accept it. So they just accept taking the medication, they accept just living life with it and eating normal, like they like they do, but they still got the same symptoms going on. So what so I'm not being biased, but number one place is go check out my book or come and check it, check me out. Right. Do you know what I'm saying? To to hear a different story, right? To hear a true life story of someone who's reversed it in 105 days without medication.

SPEAKER_04 33:49

And you can have a man-on-man talk talk talk and relate.

SPEAKER_05 33:53

Exactly. You know, so it's it's it's it's heartwarming to know even your reaction and what you're saying about what I've achieved. Do you know what I'm saying? What what what I've achieved, and the one of the questions I get from a lot of people Lyndon, how do you break it down? Break it down for me. Tell me, what what did you do? How break it down for me? And I think to myself, okay, number one, mindset. Yes, yeah, mindset. Are you ready to do this? What's the consequence of you staying diabetic? Number one, yeah. What's the consequence of you staying diabetic with your family, your friends, your social life? Do you know what I'm saying? How is it gonna affect you? Yeah, so that's the mindset. Can I do it? Do I want to do it? Number two is diet. Yeah, what am I gonna take out of my diet? What I'm gonna introduce to my diet, like you mentioned before, flavonoid foods. Do you know what I'm saying? Me with me personally, with the food situation. All right, let me give you a typical example. I I never used to work in London, yeah. No, I used to, I never used to live in London, I used to work in London. So in the morning, it would take me like an hour, hour and a half to drive in. Right. Do you know what I'm saying? I need to get it for seven o'clock to find a parking space. Yeah. So what I would do in the morning, I'll have uh three slices of hard oil bread, which is like sweet bread, Caribbean bread, which is so tasty that we love our warm, yeah. And then on top of that, we put some nice butter on it, proper butter, yeah, and then I'll put jam on it as well. And when you bite into it, it's like, yeah, this is nice, this is nice. But also, what I became I became addicted to coffee, yeah. Okay, but I wanted my coffee in a specific way, I wanted it milky and sweet. Yeah, so I started to use uh the sachet one, sachet coffee, yeah. We just pour water or hot milk onto it, yeah. And it had sugar in it already, and it milk in already, milk powder already. So on top of that, I'd had three to four teaspoons of demeral sugar, brown sugar. Yep, demoral sugar.

SPEAKER_04 35:54

Three to four teaspoons. Yeah, so basically you had sugar with coffee rather than coffee with sugar.

SPEAKER_05 36:01

Talk to him about it, but that's that's how I like it. Do you know what I'm saying? I what what what used to happen in the summertime now? I used to get an itchy throat, itchy nose, my eyes used to itch as well. And after a period of time, I thought what's wrong with me? So I spoke to one of my friends about it. He said, Lin, you got hay fever. I said, What do you mean you got hay fever? Yeah, Lynn, you got hay fever. So I thought to myself, okay, I've got hay fever. Uh let me do my research. How how do I get rid of hay fever?

SPEAKER_03 36:24

Right.

SPEAKER_05 36:24

And the best way to get rid of hay fever, because I lived in the country, is to buy the local honey. Yes. So when you buy the local honey in the local shop, you know the small jars? Big price. Yeah, but it's so powerful though. Big price, yeah. So I'm thinking to myself, Rich, how how long then are you gonna be buying these small jars for? So after a period of time, I went to the bigger stores with the bigger bottles with a smaller price. Okay. Psychologically that's what you do. Right. So I started to add uh honey to my coffee instead of the the sugar. No, with the sugar.

SPEAKER_04 36:59

Oh, come on, man. No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_05 37:02

You can't take one out to add another. No, no, no. This is this is on top. So back then I used to eat cornflakes, I used to stomach so much other things. So I used to put uh honey on whatever I could put honey on.

SPEAKER_04 37:13

The cornflakes as well.

SPEAKER_05 37:14

I love my cornflakes. Yeah, you committed to the sugar man. I know. So the one what that was that was my way to work. Once I got to work, yeah, I'd be I'll be uh made cutting cakes. So we used to have lots of uh events going on. So for example, you get um a sheet like this, yeah, okay, and then you it's that's that's okay, but if you bake in the tin, the the the the edges are a bit rough. So you to get uh each side, each portion the same, yeah, we have to cut it certain ways, yeah. So I'll be cutting the trimmings and putting them in my bowl in front of me. Yeah, cutting the trimmings, bowl in front of me. And then what would happen? Someone will come and say, Do you want a coffee? Do you want a tea? I said, Yeah, yeah, I'll have a I'll have another drink, whatever you want to do, tea or coffee. So I'd have a tea or coffee beside me, tea or coffee. So the coffee's got my sugar in again, the honey in again, and I'm drinking at night. Okay, that was that was that was when I'm at work in the morning. Lunchtime come, yeah, okay. Lunchtime come, it's gonna have pasta, rice, potatoes, you've got a fizzy drink or water on the table. Do you know what I'm saying? You know, chips, whatever you want. So at lunchtime, yeah, we're gonna eat stuff ourselves. Yeah, okay. After stuffing ourselves, in the afternoon, around 2.30, we're gonna have a tea break, tea, coffee break. So if you have a tea break or coffee break, you can't just have it by yourself. You have to have biscuits with it, or you're gonna have some more cakes with it. So that's this is what I would be eating, yeah? And then after that, when when uh we're finishing work about 4:35 o'clock, depends on the time. Uh, if it's early like that, normally we're gonna hit rush hour on the motorway and going home. So I thought to myself, let me get something for my trip home. So I go to one of these shops and I get a free meal deal. It'd be a BLT sandwich, a chocolate bar, a fizzy drink, or pack of quiz. So you can pick and choose what you earn. Yeah? So that would be my trip home in my car. So some days I'm I'm driving, I could hear this noise king ching ching king ching ching in the boots. I thought, what's that noise then? So I used to open up the boots, look in the look in the car, look in the booth, and I said, oh, my J2Os. I used to have cases of J2Os. The reason why I had cases of J2Os, because I I never used to drink alcohol. Right. So I used to go to pubs, clubs, family events, and I don't drink alcohol. So I had to find a drink when I go to a pub, yeah, or a club. What do I like? So I got addicted to J2Os. Do you know what I'm saying? So I started to drink J2Os. But in the in the shop, yeah, in the pub where it's £2.50 for one bottle of J2O. Alicia, when you go to Cash and Carrie, I think they were I think they was expecting me. I know, no, no. Expecting me.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

As soon as I walked in there, yeah, the big sign case of J2O, yeah, for £5.50. And it's like six bottles for £5.50, and I'm paying £2.50 for one.

SPEAKER_05 40:04

Oh my goodness. A couple of cases, so I'll have cases. But just think the psyche of how the addiction works, yeah. That was deep. So I would open the booth, I'd I'd I'd get a bottle opener, I I bought a bottle opener, yeah, and I'll get a bottle right in front of the booth and I'll just knock one back. I don't know why, I just knock one back, and I'll take another bottle and put it in the car for my journey home. And then when you get home, you have dinner as well. When I got home, yeah, the wife's cooking food or partner's cooking food. Pasta, rice, potatoes, on the table is my two favourite drinks. Ginger beer or mango juice, yeah? And it's just think, if you said to your wife, listen, I've been eating all day, I can't eat no more. She's gonna get upset. Thank you. You can't do that. You can't do that. No, she's gonna say, I don't want my food. But I've got to eat again. I've gotta eat again and drink again, you know? So what happens after that? That's a lot of intake. Yeah. So after we've had our food, not men do this. We sat down on the sofa, turn the TV on to watch some football. Gone. We're gone. And then later the wife, about 9:30, comes kicking, come in in the ribs, come get up, go to bed, go to bed, go to bed. So, okay, I'm coming, I'm coming. So the wife goes upstairs, you go to the kitchen. You know something? I'm gonna have a cup of tea before I go, babe. Oh man. I can have a cup of tea. So we so I'll make a cup of tea, you go to the cupboard, digest it, take about three or four of them out, sit down in front of the TV, digest it. Oh, that child, I've gotta go back to the kitchen. Go back to the kitchen, get the packet. By the time you know it, Alicia, packets that's a lot of intake.

SPEAKER_04 41:40

So since that was your your previous lifestyle, yeah, now and now we've improved, what does it look like now?

SPEAKER_05 41:47

Fasting, mainly fasting. Really? So what I'm what I'm coming on to now, this this is what I've just explained to you. A lot of men do this. Because when I've done events, yeah, and I talk to men, Linda, that's exactly what I do. I do the same thing. I said, What? So, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do the same thing. So I thought myself, well, okay, so from there, yeah, knowing that other men do it, every time I talk to people, write down what you're going through each day, write down what you're eating so you can analyze and understand it. Because don't forget, even through those meals, between those, we still pick as well. Snacks, maybe sweets, biscuits, little things here and there. So the next thing after the diet, Nisha, is uh physical activity. Yes, yeah, physical activity. So this is where I was doing my physical activity to lose the weight. Do you know what I'm saying? The physical activity is good because it gives you more energy as well. Yeah, so you get your mindset, your diet, physical activity. And the last one was intermittently fasting. Yeah, intimately fasting. Intimately fasting, I didn't know I was doing it. Because when I was taking my daughter to the uh school and I'm in the gym for three, four hours, you know, I never eat anything or water for about four, five, six hours. So I was doing like four or five days a week. So that was like normal for me. And when I told one of my friends about it, Michelle, um, a nurse, she was a nurse back then. Um, she told me, Linda, you're intimately fasting. I said, What? She goes, Yeah. I said, What is that? She means you're abstaining from eating food. So my lifestyle now has changed from mindset, diet, physical activity, intimately fasted. So nine times out of ten, I don't even eat in the morning. I just wake up and I drink water.

SPEAKER_03 43:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 43:28

Yeah? Yeah. I drink water, yeah. When I was when I was uh diagnosed type 2 diabetic, yeah, they sent me to the hospital to get a body scan. My body scans showed that I'm okay, but I had a fatty liver. Okay. Yeah. So one day um I went to the shop to see my friend who's got bakery, and I said to him, Listen, prosp, listen, I got diabetes, man, and I've got a fatty liver. He goes, What, Linden? You got your diabetes and a fatty liver.

SPEAKER_04 43:55

I said, the people at the back never heard you. My goodness me out. Let them know. Let them know the missing.

SPEAKER_05 44:09

Let them know the big So I thought to myself, okay, so what he said to me, Linda, just take lemon water in the morning. Take lemon water or lime water.

SPEAKER_04 44:18

I love lemon water in the morning.

SPEAKER_05 44:20

And that will help uh with your fatty liver. So I started to do that. Do you know what I'm saying? And then I got another friend. She said, Linda, you know what you should do? You should have okra tea water because okra will help with the reduction of uh natural uh glucose, uh blood glucose, it'll reduce the blue the blood glucose naturally. Yeah, so well I'm rough, I just drop out some okra, put it in water, leave it 24, 40 hours, and just drink it. So that helps that. And then one day she came to the kitchen, and my granddad said, Oh, you should take spirulina as well. Do you know what I'm saying? So spirulina is an algae from the sea, which is a protein, you know. So back then, it back then, what I started to do, I used to love my full English breakfast, you know, baked beans, sausage, bacon, bread, and all that. Now, when I started on my journey, I need to reduce my meat intake, because what I found with red meat, it used to stay in my stomach much longer. So I used to feel bloated. So I thought to myself, okay, Lynn, you need to stop eating bacon and sausages. So I thought to myself, if I stop eating bacon and sausages, what am I gonna replace it with? Do you know what I'm saying? So I thought the best thing that I like is grilled chicken. At least I started to eat grilled chicken with my breakfast. I didn't like it, it just stopped the same. So I thought to myself, okay, let me try smoked chicken. Do you know what I'm saying? Smoked chicken just didn't go. I thought to myself, okay, let's try turkey, smoked turkey. I didn't like smoked turkey, so I stopped that. I said, Linda, you know something? Just forget them.

SPEAKER_04 45:41

Just leave the meat. You don't have to have the meat.

SPEAKER_05 45:45

But we got to do it, you know? There's something about when you're eating, you're knifing your throat, you know, the meat, the bread and the beans and the egg, and the habit, man. Yeah, I'm telling you. It's just like that. So that's one of the things that uh I used to do. That's one of the things I had to cut out. So I cut out meat because one thing that you need to look at your body is how does your body react to certain foods. Yeah. Do you know what I'm saying? My friend Valma, she always said, Linda, your body's your temple. Yes. You know, your body's your temple, so you have to be careful what you're eating. Do you know what I'm saying? You know, what you're putting in your mouth. So with type 2 diabetes, it's your lifestyle, what you're putting in your mouth. Absolutely. Do you know what I'm saying? So, like you said, in my daily uh routine now, I eat lots more green stuff, uh uh like uh spinach, rockets, watercress. I do a lot of uh herbal teas now then, C moss, spirulina, moringa, loads of things that I I have now, herbal teas for my eyes, eye bright they call it, you know, anything to help detox the body as well. I do juicy now, uh pumpkin juice, uh pumpkin with watermelon and papaya, because we all have parasites in our body. Yes, and these three ingredients together, yet they help take the parasites out of the body.

SPEAKER_04 47:04

I didn't know that. Because I was literally, after you finished speaking, I was actually gonna ask you about just the colon cleanse and things like that.

SPEAKER_05 47:10

Okay. So that that's what that's one of them. That's one of the main ones as well. Uh, there's also uh cloves as well. Drinking cloves tea, you know, this will this is what I drink in the morning as well, cloves tea. Um, you got uh beetroots, apple and ginger, which is another juice, which helps cleanse the body with your veins and all that. Nice, it helps clean the your the veins and all that. Also, uh turmeric, cane pepper helps as well, cleans cleans out the veins, pomegranate as well. All these things that help clean out your veins to for your blood to circulate much better. So they these things that help you to prevent you from having heart issues as well. Right. So this is the things I I take on a regular basis now. It's it's like second nature now, it's like it's it's a lifestyle change. And don't get me wrong, it's very hard at the beginning to change this because we're so adapted to some certain things. But what what what you have to do is get onto that journey and start somewhere, bit by bit. And once you start on that journey bit by bit, you you you realize you're feeling healthier, you're feeling better, you're feeling more motivated. You wake up in the morning excited, you wake up in the morning like, wow, where did this energy come from? Right, do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, it's like you can get up and go. Yeah, it's not you wake up, oh gosh, I wake up not tired again. Well, I used to say, I can I just wait, have eight hours sleep, six hours sleep, wake up and still be tired. Yeah, that's sadness, gosh. And still be tired. Yeah, do you know what I'm saying? But when you start cleaning cleaning your body, it's a different, it's a different ball. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%, 100%. So I don't eat meat like I used to, especially beef or lamb, but I used to love beef, I used to love lamb. I really did, but I I eat it on certain occasions, not as much as I used to. Do you know what I'm saying? But the thing about it, I don't really miss it.

SPEAKER_04 49:00

I'm the I'm the wrong person to talk to about meat, you know. I've not eaten meat since 2004. I definitely don't miss it. It's been a long time.

SPEAKER_05 49:13

You know, but you know something. I I I'd be honest with you, you know. I I I grew up in a church, you know. I grew up in a church. Yeah. And uh I remember as a child, when sometimes we have uh the morning service and they have a service in the evening. Yeah, yeah, or sometimes service in the evening. We didn't go home. We stayed in the church and we had dinner in the church, you know, and then they made patties, and you get that patty smell, and it's like that beef patty. It's like, whoa. Whoa I don't know, Alicia. There's something about it. And sometimes that smell just hits you and you feel like a patty. Yeah. But you know, it's hard to find a decent patty nowadays. So it's very, very hard to find that crusty pastry that flakes. Yeah, that flakes. But the thing about it, they put them in these ovens. Then what they, if you want it warm, they put it in a microwave. And it gets soft, it gets soft, and it's horrible. Yeah, do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, but there are some good patties out there, some companies which I want to mention. But yeah, so I have that little addiction sometimes, you know. But the bit I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna clarify something. Yeah, okay. I sometimes do things as a reward.

SPEAKER_04 50:14

Yeah, that's fair.

SPEAKER_05 50:16

As a reward, depends what the reward is, though. Yeah, yeah. It could be a little cake, it could be a little patty or something, you know what I'm saying? But the thing about it, it's not, it's not when you eat it, it's not playing with your mind and your spirit. You're on that level. See, well, a lot of people think they still have that desire for that lemon tart or that lemon cake or whatever, but they go for the big portion. But in my book on page 70, is four sizes of lemon tarts, yeah, from a large one to a mini one, yeah. But all four of them taste exactly the same. But because of our mindset, we're gonna go for the big one. We're gonna go for the big one, and that's normal. But what I'm telling people, go for the small one, the mini one, because it tastes exactly the same. Yeah, it's like to reprogram yourself. So if you're gonna go for that little lemon tart, see it as a reward that you've been good all this time. Yeah, or you've been good all this time, so therefore, you can have that lemon tart. Yeah. I'm gonna be honest with you. I read that's fair, you were human? That's okay. I relapsed. I was it was Christmas, almost.

SPEAKER_04 51:23

Oh, it's the the time of year as well. I'll give you some grace for that.

SPEAKER_05 51:27

I had the children around the house, I had the grandchildren around the house, family was packed, but I wasn't with them. Okay, mentally. Okay. Because I've been going through my own little journey, all these moms. So I was there, but not mentally. All that cake, all that food that we had on the table. So we had the Christmas cake, the puddings, the banana cake, the ice cream, the jelly, the custard, all on the table. Like a temptation. Alicia, I I went like that. I went like that with my phone, taking selfie to remind me. And I'm thinking to myself, Linda, you know something? You've been good all this time. Last two months you've been good.

SPEAKER_04 52:06

You've been good, then you need to go for a walk. Just exit the room.

SPEAKER_05 52:12

No, Alicia, not many. I thought to myself, listen, just listen, let's just take a smoke cake. That first bad. It was like the ice cream and then the jelly and then the custard, and I just like my body just felt dad's back. My body was like, dad's back. I just felt so relieved. Just felt with a family, dad's back, the lively dad talking, joking, all that, he's back. So I was like that with the family. And Alicia thought to myself, wow, what a relief. So I knew I this was December, yeah. So I knew in January, February, I got blood tests coming. Yeah, HB1 blood test. So I thought to myself, wow. Okay, so when I went for the blood test, yeah, and I got the results back, yeah, Alicia, the blood sugar level didn't spike at all. It was so low.

SPEAKER_04 53:13

Oh, because obviously prior to that you'd maintained it for so long. Thank you. That that didn't make a major difference. And I guess after that day you I'm I'm I'm assume, I'm guessing that you didn't after that day, you did you did it on that day, but then you went back to your life. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_05 53:34

So this is why I said to people, don't feel guilty about certain things you do, but do the work first. So that your mind and your spirit work on the same level. They work on the same level.

SPEAKER_03 53:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 53:45

Do you know what I'm saying? So that would that was that was an amazing experience for me when I got the results. I thought, wow. Well done. I thought, wow.

SPEAKER_04 53:55

If somebody was to look out for, because I see your chart here, someone was to look out for um symptoms that may be related to diabetes, what would they look out for?

SPEAKER_05 54:05

So use this. Is it yeah? That's that's the the symptoms chart. What the what they'll look out for is uh blurred vision, number one, do you know what I'm saying? How's your eyes? Yeah, pins and needles, if you're on your fingers and your toes, if you're like stingling, yeah. Uh if you're overweight or if you're losing weight is another symptom. Three, four times an hour or more or less, do you know what I'm saying? That that's that's another one. Slow healing of cuts as well, that's another symptom. So, as a chef, you know, I used to be cutting food and very chuch-chut-chum-chup chuch. But when I read that, the symptoms of slow healing of cuts, I started to slow down. Cut, cut, cut. Because if you cut yourself in the kitchen nowadays and that blood doesn't stop, you know, you have to go home, or they're gonna put a uh blue band-aid around you. Yes, you know what I'm saying? And a lot of chefs that walk around like that. I didn't because they don't want to show that people cut themselves. Okay. They get embarrassed.

SPEAKER_03 55:01

Oh, right, okay.

SPEAKER_05 55:02

It's like an embarrassing thing nowadays when you cut yourself in the kitchen. Okay, you know, so what other symptoms you're like, what would I miss?

SPEAKER_04 55:08

What's uh what would be causing itchy genitals? What's happening in the body?

SPEAKER_05 55:13

Sugar, too much sugar in the body.

SPEAKER_04 55:14

Makes you have itchy genitals. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_05 55:16

Yeah, it's like flush, like oh okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 55:20

So it's like a more of like a yeast situation.

SPEAKER_05 55:22

Yeah, exactly. Right, okay. So these things, the reason why I got it on there because more I had itchy genitals. Do you know what I'm saying? I'm trying to do deal with things my own way. Do you know what I'm saying? So this is one of the other symptoms of it as well. Interesting. Yeah, yeah, 100%, 100%. So if anyone's got any of these symptoms, go go get an HBA1C blood test. HBA1C blood test. Blood test, yeah. Okay, and then when you get that, you would get get a printer of it from your doctors, get a printer of it. Because you the thing about it, Elisha, when I done mine from 1992 down to 77, and my next goal after 77 was to get down to the 50s. Do you know what I'm saying? So then I had a target, something to aim for. That's why you need to get a printer. So when you know what your HBA once you okay, I'm I'm going on a journey now. I'm gonna start monitoring no, not monitorising, but yeah, monitorising what I'm my levels are. So you got to do all the things right, you know, the exercise, the eating, uh, all these kind of things on a regular basis. I would go for a blood test once a month, 24 once a month, so I'll do a 24 hour fast before the blood test. Yeah, and I'll do that every month. The last the last blood test that I was gonna be going for before I reversed it, I went for 27 hours without food, just water. So when when I said to myself, Lynn, you're gonna do 24 hours, yeah, fasting. And when I took for I'll give it, I've got a nice meal, have something really nice. Do you know what I'm saying? Because you know, eating for 24 hours like it. So I thought to myself, no, no, where 24 hours came, Alicia. It's like, is that it?

SPEAKER_01 56:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 56:59

Is that it? So I thought, Lynn, you know something, challenge yourself. 25 hours without food. I thought, okay, 25 hours, just water. Okay, is that it? So I thought to myself, sure, got 26 hours. Is that it? Go one more, go one more, 27 hours. So we're 27 hours without food, just you know, and I thought to myself, it's the mindset.

SPEAKER_04 57:23

It's definitely the mindset. I used to because I used to I used to be able to fast for about three days and just water. But I used to find the hardest was literally the first day. Yeah. Once you kind of get pushed past and get over that, huh? Yeah, straightforward. Yeah, and you really do see it's not so much your body, it definitely is your mind. Yeah, because we we so I I mentioned this to somebody the other day, and they say, I think about food all the time. And you and then you find it's just a habit. It's a habit, yeah. And a lot of the time when people sometimes when you feel like you're hungry, it's actually sometimes it's thirst, yes, exactly. Or actually boredom.

SPEAKER_05 57:57

Yeah, so even one of the symptoms of thirsty, being thirsty all the time. Yeah, I just think instead of drinking water, we drink fizzy drinks to replenish that thirst. So the the the drinking of fizzy drinks adding more sugar back into the system to make you continue going to the toilet. Right. Do you know what I'm saying? So this is this is one of the things that I found as well when you speak to a lot of people about it as well. So just cut out the fizzy drinks and just drink more water or find a natural water. Um, this is what I do. I find a good good bottle water, which I like where you get the water filters or whatever you want, you know what I'm saying, to make it good for yourself, you know. So everyone's got their own little thing that they like, you know. So it's funny because I got I got a mineral water that I like and it's kind of fizzy. Uh mineral water. I give it to my cousin.

SPEAKER_00 58:41

I don't like this, it's fizzy, I don't like fizzy. I only like steel water. I said, Yeah, bring the bottle back to me.

SPEAKER_04 58:47

Everyone's got their own little thing, you know. So yeah. Are you coaching people with obviously what you've learned and what you've achieved? Are you considering helping people?

SPEAKER_05 58:58

Oh, I haven't, you know, the funny thing with me, you know. I I've got a thing called a reflection call, yeah, which my IT guy's done for me. On my website, it's like £100, yeah. You discounted it to £85, yeah. And you get a book for that for 45 minutes consultation. The amount of consultations I do without doing that. Because I don't know, some something inside of me just says, let me talk to people, and I'll just talk to people, 45 minutes, whatever, without selling them the book. They can go online, buy the book without charging them.

SPEAKER_04 59:27

I think sometimes it's good though to actually hold people's hands. I know we don't want to baby the people, but sometimes you have to baby the people. Hold their hand through it. Yeah. You know, because it's just how people would relapse and whatever.

SPEAKER_05 59:40

Yeah, but what I say, what I say to a lot of people, they say, Linda, can you call my cousin? Can you call my dad? I say, Yeah, I don't mind talking to them. Let them call me. Yeah. Yeah. Once they call me, I know they're ready. Yes. I know they're open. But I can call them. Oh, yeah, my sister told me you were gonna call me. You know, I know I've got diabetes. I said, Pardon, Oh, I'm calling you to help you. I can't give up rice. Right. If you're phoning me, Alicia. Yeah. And I said to you, you have to give up rice. Yeah. He said, Oh, really? I said, Yeah, then you take it in. You plugged in, yeah. I speak to some Asians, they eat rice every day. Yeah. The average Asian, they one guy told me, it's 60 kilos of rice they have in the house. Wow. A bowl of rice is like six teaspoons of sugar. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's deep. It's deep, it's very, very deep.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:34

That's very deep.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:35

It's very, very, very deep.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:36

Yes. After after you've healed yourself, what did the doctor say?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:41

Funny enough, lovely doctors. I think I had a meeting. When my blood crevils went down to 60, they knew the results. They said, let's have a meeting. I went to the meeting, nobody turned up. No, nobody turned up. And ever since then, I've been on diabetes uh courses.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:01

Yeah. And I said to them, listen, I don't mind joining you, get you guys in the courses, come and talk and help about my journey. No, no, one phone call back. I rang them several times. They're not interested in me. They're not interested in what I do. Yeah, so I thought to myself, I'll just give I stay in my own lane, I'll do my own thing, and don't don't don't worry over it. Do you know what I'm saying? Because I know what I done, I know how I done it, you know, and I've done events with all other organizations over there, and I'm here, and everyone's coming to me.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:29

Good. And that's how it should be. Yeah, everyone's coming to me. Wow. Do you know so? How is your how is your family and your network being? How's especially how's your cousin Ken been?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:40

Good, I've met ugly Ken sometimes. Ken Ken's good. Ken's he's done his own journey, he's reversed his bits as well. Some people say you can't reverse type one, but he done it. I've met three people who were type diagnosed type one, they're not type one no more. Amazing. Yeah, I'm telling you, that's Kenneth's that's Kenneth's story. That's Ken's story.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:01

Did he take you up on writing his book as well? Because technically you guys have paired, you've type two, he's type one.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:07

No, he he's done a he's done a he done a website, Global Challenge, or something like that, to talk about his story. But he hasn't done anything in depth like I had. Do you know what I'm saying? In depth like Kaya. But we always talk, he's we're very supportive of each other all the time. But he told me about Flavonoid foods, he he gave me so much information. See, the thing about it when you're starting, you need a support network. Yes, definitely. You need you need at least one person who's gonna be on your side. Definitely. Not all your family is gonna be involved with you, because not all your family is going to uh enjoy you changing your diet. Because it's funny, my my mother-in-law at the time, uh, she was going through her own issues. And when somebody introduced me to spirulina, yeah, okay, uh, I went online to find out what spirulina was. And I said to my mother, when you go shopping, can you buy me the spirulina? So my mother-in-law walked away, she'd come back within five minutes. She said, We had spirulina in the cupboard already, I don't even know. Love it. Yeah. There's another thing called Clorella as well, which is good for women, especially to help them prevent uh breast C. Do you know what I'm saying? You know, Clorella is C H L O Cloro C H L O Clorella, R-R-A, Clorella, yeah, okay. That helps as well. So she brought that out as well, showed me that. So she was on her journey already. And sometimes we're living with people, but we don't know what they're going through. She started to eat healthy, but we were still eating our own stuff. And then when I started to eat healthy, we started to eat healthy together. That's do you know what I'm saying? And everybody else was still eating the meat and whatever. Do you know what I'm saying? It was good. She was very, very good, supportive towards me, and she made lots of vegetarian stuff because she went vegetarian, blah blah blah. And she makes some really nice stuff, really, really nice stuff, you know. So, yeah, it was good, very, very good. A lot of people, it's hard when you go out with some people because they can't comprehend that I don't drink alcohol. Do you know what I'm saying? I just drink in a fizzy drink, or I'm just drinking water. Main mainly water, and uh they don't understand.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:06

What has been the hardest thing in terms of changing your life, adjusting your life?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:13

Changing my life is giving up meat, and giving up the things that I really I really was addicted to. Do you know what I'm saying? Beds, fizzy drinks, and all that. It was it was tough, don't get me wrong, because you when you're addicted to something, you miss it. Do you miss it? You miss that that taste, that texture, you know, that thing that brings that memories for you. Do you know what I'm saying? Good memories for you. So it's a price you have to pay. It's something you have to understand, you know. And if you want to go back to something like that, you could have it in moderation. Do you know what I'm saying? You could have it in moderation. It's like one of my drinks now that I have like this drink here. I do like an okra water with fresh mint. Okay. Yeah, it's an okra with fresh mint. I do the thing called bitter gourd, which is uh bitter gourd, corella, or bitter melon, they call it as well. These help reduce the blood sugars naturally. So these this this is like a drink that I was never used to. I didn't like it, but I had to get used to because it's part of my lifestyle now. Do you know what I'm saying? Instead of me having all these other drinks that's detrimental to my health, I need to drink something on a regular basis that's gonna heal me, keep me clean as well. This is why on a regular basis I do uh I cleanse, I cleanse nearly every day anyway. Do you know what I'm saying? Pumpkin seeds, uh herbal teas, do you know what I'm saying? My water, my ochre water, all these things. It's it's part of my life now.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:34

You know, and when you when you reach a certain stage in your life and you analyze everything and you've got so much to live for, why not try and keep yourself as healthy as possible? So now I'm I'm back in the gym. Yeah, I got roller skating now. Yeah, uh started out this week again, roller skating. So I'm gonna be going on on a regular, so I'm gonna take my daughters with me as well. They're all gonna come. So I'm saying it's you know, it's gonna be like a family thing. Friends, I'll tell my friends about it. Oh, yeah, I'm gonna come with you. Even one of my friends she took out uh uh 40-year-old uh roller skates. Do you know what I'm saying? She said, Oh Linda, I'm coming with you.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:10

See, I just got rid of two of my sets of skates, you know, and I'm like, ah, the weather's changing, I might need to get a new skate. Oh, yeah, yeah. I'll come and join you guys.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:18

Because they do an adult session where I live in Tottenham. Do you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:23

There's loads of um skating communities. One of like the main guys who's just making all sorts of moves. He literally is my um the is is technically in my family, is my cousin's ex-partner, uh, her child's dad. He literally lives around the corner and he gets we're going off on a tangent. This is about skating. This is it, yeah. No, like there's major skating communities, and like that's why sometimes you just see like crowds of people and skaters going through and yeah, yeah, in Hyde Park and all that, you know, Bethnel Green.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:55

There's a place there as well, yeah, yeah. Yeah, things we there's things we do, so I'm doing it for me. Because I can't do it for anybody else, of course. You know, I do it for me because I want to spend more time, quality time with the children. Yes, you know what I'm saying, the grandchildren. I don't want to be I don't want to be an old man, oh I can't do this, I can't do that. I want my grandchildren to look at it you skates when I'm here for it. But even my even my daughters, the adult daughters, they said, Dad, we're done. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, even when my daughter skates regularly, she's really excited. Do you know what I'm saying? That's nice, that's nice. Dad, I can't wait to come. Do you know what I'm saying? Which is good. So I'm not I'm doing these little things because even on a Wednesday night, my my nephew, I'll go to the gym with my nephew and his mum and dad and his uncle for uh just not bodybuilding, but just to maintain the muscle. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, keeping everything toned up, and he's really, really, really good. Jamie's awesome. My nephew Jamie is on another level when he's working with a group of individuals. Yeah, he cares about you, he motivates you, yeah. You know, which I love. So I'm comfortable doing that with him every every week, you know. So that's it. So I'm I'm on an I'm on a a spring of a journey now. Love it. Do you know what I'm saying? You know, where I'm doing other things now, I'm getting back into skipping as well now.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:14

Nice!

SPEAKER_05 1:08:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All this little thing. I'm I'm really rusty on my skipping. I couldn't be, I was in the gym the other day and I was skipping and I what I can't believe this. It takes time. Do you know what I'm saying? So keeping keeping your mind uh active and you know, so being diabetic and reversing diabetes could change your life. Big time can change your life, you know? 100%, 100%. You know, so a lot a lot of people that I know who want to change your life, they can do it. It's just that they need somebody like me to say to them, you can do it. And then they get they good, yeah. Because the question you asked me before, do I do lots of courses and stuff like that? I I do do a lot of talking to a lot of people, but I don't normally talk about it. You know what I'm saying? Some people don't want people to know the business or they don't know that they're doing stuff, but it's nearly every week I'm teaching somebody.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:06

People need you, then I think we need to we need to reassess this. Yeah, I feel you know we need to be coaching people, yeah. We need to we need to set it up, set it up in the and then your second book now, it needs to be the recipes. Yeah, 100%. No, it's there, it's there, it's working on it, it's working. Use your business manager, sort this out.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:24

Do it, do it.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:27

I mean, on a serious level though, you've got you've got all this knowledge, you've got this gift, you're you're a living example of what you're talking about. Yeah, because there's so many we people out here just chatting, there's so many people out here creating courses, and it's technically theory for them, they haven't achieved whatever it is that they're out here selling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have achieved it, yeah. So therefore, the best person to be actually helping other people is you because we appreciate the book, and as I said, as I said, I'm I'm a great fan of this book now. It's it's amazing, and I've just learned so much, and I'm out here, I'm gonna be pushing your book eventually. Um but that aside, yeah, yeah. We know that there's a lot of people who would appreciate you, you know, going, holding their hand day by day.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:11

Great, that'd be exciting. That'd be excited. Where can people find you, Lyndon? Oh, they can find me on my website, the inspired diabetic.com. Uh, they can find me on Facebook, the inspired diabetic.com as well. Instagram is L Wissart, L-W-I-S-S-A-R-T. Yes, her name. And uh yeah, I'm here. You can you can get a book from my website as well. Uh you can get the book uh on normal platforms, other selling platforms, uh, library, you can get my platform. The reason why we got the book in the library, because one of my friends uh he works in the library, and he said, Lynn, you should get your book in the library because some people can't afford to buy the book. So the option there, if you want to get the book, go to your library, ask them for the book, just by diabetic, or just put my name, Lyndon Wissard, and it will come up. If they don't have it, request it, because they can get it. Very considerate, very considerate. There's no reason why they can't get it. You know what I'm saying? So yeah, this is a place you can get the book, you know. If they need a if they want to sign a copy of the book, they'll have to order it through via my website, or if they order it and they want to meet up with me, or they're gonna be somewhere where I'm gonna be, then I can sign a book there and then. No, it's uh you know something somebody bought my book in America the other day, yeah, through another friend. Alice, you know the thing about it, I didn't go out to write the book. It wasn't my goal, oh okay, I'll I've done this, I'm gonna write a book. It didn't work like that for me. People write books to sell book. I didn't write a book to sell book, I just wrote the book because of my journey. But I didn't know the impact it would have on other people. Because it's so genuine and authentic. They didn't know the impact. So when when my friend, Shashali, she got one of her family or friend members in America told them about the book, they bought the book and they sent a picture to me that they bought the book. It gives you goose goosebumps. It gives you goosebumps to think, wow. Do you know what I'm saying? That you could touch someone in another country which you didn't intend to. Yeah. I have I have a can I put it when the book was released, October twenty January 20, 2017, yeah, I didn't know the impact it would have on my life. I really, really, really, really didn't know that. Being on TV, radio with you now. Multiple radio shows I've been on. Multiple, multiple. And the thing about it, I didn't expect all this. I didn't understand all this. I always thought to get on radio to have an advert or interview, I thought, well, how did it do it? How did that person get radio? It must be really hard. It's like I can make a phone call today and just get on radio. Do you know what I'm saying? But I didn't realise that. Do you know what I'm saying? The books changed my life in that aspect where so many people think, Linden, I can't believe what you've done. Do you know what I'm saying? I meet certain people of a different organization. They think I should have done certain things with my bulb blah blah blah, but I'm telling them, I don't even know what I've really done with diabetes. All I did just I just went on a journey, but I didn't know how it would affect other people.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:17

This is why it's so special because that was not your intention. Yeah, you were literally trying to, I guess, save yourself. Exactly, yeah. You know, and that's why that's why, yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, and people appreciate it because it's also it's empowering. You're a living example of how people can empower themselves. Yeah, literally, you're a walk example of that, and that's why I'm saying like it's it's so valuable, and that's why when I heard your story, I was like, you know, definitely need to tell the people about it. So even so it was it was your story alone that captured me. The book was a bonus to your actual story, you know what I mean? Because I needed you on this show before I even got the book, and then I'd read the book and I'm like, Yeah, thank you very much.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:05

You know, I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:06

So uh yeah, literally. I need you to have a course so I can send people your way, you know, people I need you to save or help themselves save themselves.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:19

Save them.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:20

Literally, literally, because there's so many people I love and care about who have diabetes and sugar, yeah, literally, literally, oh wow, you know, and and get a little bit more serious because um people who watch this podcast would just in a few episodes at the top of the year. I actually did like a little short um sharing moment when it was because there was a lot of deaths at the beginning of this year in my orbit, and I think on that day, I think I just got word of the fifth death, and this was this was a month ago, we're in a March. Yeah, but the last one, that lady there, she died from diabetes. Oh wow, literally, wow. So um so I say that to say that I see so much more importance in what you're doing.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:05

It's funny you should say that. Some a couple of years ago, there's a celebrity who died from diabetes, and they knew he lost a leg, he lost a limb, do you know what I'm saying? And they're rushing around what to do, what to do. Do you know what I'm saying? But it becomes too late sometimes, you know? It becomes too late because they they take it seriously too late. Too late. You know, they take it seriously too late, you know. So there are things they can do straight away to start changing their life, but it's it's a mindset.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:37

That's it, that's been amazing. Do you do you have any final words to say to the people?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:42

The f the final words that I'd I'd always say to people, you know what I'm saying? You know, your your body's your temple. Your body's your temple, it's it's up to you. The four things, it's gonna be that I'll leave you with your mindset, your diet, your physical activity, and your intimate fasting. Do you know what I'm saying? These are the four things you need to focus on, and it's easier than you think. Yeah, it's so much easier than you think. Because the way I live now, I'm thinking people can live like this, but it's a mindset. It's a mindset of who you're associating yourself with as well, who you're around with on a day-to-day basis. Do you know what I'm saying? So you have to associate with people because I've got friends around me who are eating healthy, we always talk about it, we're always eating clean, drinking clean, and we talk about it. Yeah, do you know what I'm saying? Which is a breath of fashion.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:32

Love it.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:33

A breath of fashion. Yeah, that's that's what I can leave you with, and yeah, I wish everyone the best, you know. And Alicia, thank you, thank you, Empress, for having me on your podcast. It's been an honor and honour and a privilege. Really have. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:49

Thank you so much. Uh seriously, thank you for for for being you, thank you for having the courage to step out against you know, um, I guess what doctors were saying or trying to add to you. Yes, you know, thank you and your cousin Ken for actually having that relationship and um and his and his experience and sharing that and you and dropping that seed on you that you've actually nurtured, cultivated, and ran with. Yes, you know, and once again I said the coverage and even and responding to the most high, responding to yourself, responding to spirit in terms of writing that book and and being aligned to even, you know, care enough to take your cousin to that event, which has now obviously worked out amazing for you, you know, things like that. These are because so many people get these little signs and nodges, but you know, respond to respond to, yeah. So I say I thank you for responding to that, and and here we are today.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:45

If anybody, if you feel anything, just do something about it. That's it. You have to do something about it. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:52

This has been a love it, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:57

Love it. Thank you, thank you, man. Thank you. So, yeah, another amazing wonderful episode, incredible episode, inspiring episode. Thank you, Linda, for your your your story and doing the work and just being a leader and being somebody who is the change that we want to see in the world, stepping into that. You're calling, and I hope everyone's taken so much from this this story. I hope everyone jumps on getting this book. If it's for yourself or your loved ones, um stay tapped into us, go to Lyndon's um website, talk to him, communicate with him, do the usual for me, talk to me. Um, comment social media everywhere. I'm here. Let's just let's just keep connected, let's keep healing, let's keep um taking ownership, holding our own power, doing this work and making change. And as usual, stay blessed.