A Passion for Diabetes

If someone you care for has lost his or her enthusiasm, you can give the gift of inspiration this holiday season. And it’s free.

We all need a passion as a reason to live. Mine is a passion for diabetes. More precisely, I have a passion for helping people with diabetes.

My passion rebounds to help me as much as it does the people I try to help manage this terrible disease. Trying to set an example for others who have diabetes means that I have to walk the walk.

That’s because it leads me to get the exercise I need through my secondary passion to hike out in nature. In turn, a third-level passion for photography gets me out on the trail.

It’s also because my passion has led me to eat a very low-carb diet that helps keep off the pounds and thereby keep my A1C in the low normal range. A few years ago I weighed 312 pounds, exactly twice what I weigh today. My A1C ranges from 5.0 to 5.2.

I hope that you and your loved ones also find a way to help others while you are helping yourself. Any time when you teach or mentor other people much of the reward comes back to you.

Now, you can give yourself and your friends an e-book that is all about passion — including mine. Jenny Pavich and Jannick Kjaer have just published “The Passionate Life: 16 Stories of People Who Dared to Risk.” This is a collection of interviews with 16 people who ranged in age from 20 to 75. I was the 75-year-old when they interviewed me, although I am now a year older. You can read their interview with me on pages 86-90. A bonus (so to speak) is three photographs that other people took of me, including one taken before I controlled my weight and my diabetes. This is one ugly photo!

To read “The Passionate Life” you do not need to have an e-book reader or spend any money. It is a PDF at http://www.juliossol.com/books that you can download and read on your computer or print out and send out to others by email. Jenny and Jannick are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, and they encourage us to share their work.

A street urchin in Guatamala named Julio inspired them with his love and generosity. Julio triggered something in Jenny and Jannick. You can continue to pass on his gift when you pay it forward.

This article is based on an earlier version of my article published by HealthCentral.