Karen Wright: Healthier lifestyle is beginning to bear fruit

My healthier lifestyle choices are beginning to bear fruit. Six weeks ago, I received a text from my GP surgery telling me that I was prediabetic.

It was a shock, but I immediately decided to research the condition and see what I could do to manage the situation. Everything I discovered said that if I lost some weight, it was possible to reverse the prediabetes and get back into the normal zone.

I already ate a diet that was largely made up of unprocessed foods, but my problem was eating portions that were too big and contained too many carbohydrates. I ditched the white bread, white rice and pasta and replaced them with the wholegrain alternatives. I skipped regular potatoes and replaced them with sweet potatoes, which I really like so it wasn't a hardship. I included healthy fats like avocado and olive oil into meals, and I started to sprinkle seeds and nuts onto Greek yogurt and berries which is super delicious. I ensured each meal included protein, fibre and healthy fats and I got as creative as I could be to make sure that I sat down to enjoy colourful and filling meals that were very scrumptious.

The next thing that I did was to get membership at my local leisure centre and I started to swim a few times each week and I took classes too, which I really enjoyed. I soon started to feel the benefit and found that I could swim more lengths than I had been able to do at the beginning.

I had another blood test, and I was delighted to be told that I am no longer prediabetic! In less than six weeks I managed to shed almost a stone, and this has had the desired effect on prediabetes. I still have a long way to go to get myself down to my goal weight, so I intend to keep up the good work and enjoy the ride.

My escorted tour with the Caravan and Motorhome Club starts in a few days' time, and I am excited. I know it is going to be tremendous and I look forward to writing in this column all about it, where we go and what we get up to. We start in York and finish in Barnard Castle with the epic performance of Kynren to enjoy on the last night away, I have seen the show advertised on the TV, it looks out of this world!