‘Diabetes has been great for my mental health’
After being diagnosed with type 2, positive things started happening to Mike Gardiner, one after another. Nine years later, now aged 67, he’s the happiest he’s ever been
Did your diagnosis initially upset you?
It was a surprise because I’d had no symptoms, but I wasn’t upset. I just shrugged my shoulders and said: ‘What do we do now?’ I’m not afraid of any diagnosis, because once you’re diagnosed you can do something about it. But I was shocked when I Googled ‘diabetes’ and saw smoking was a risk factor. I thought ‘I can’t smoke anymore.’
So, you gave up at once?
Giving up is easy – I’ve done it hundreds of times. I smoked for 40 years. It’s giving up for good that’s difficult, but diabetes motivated me. I’d had an incident where my eldest grandchild, who was three, ran across the room with her arms open and I picked her up to give her a cuddle. She kicked and screamed and said ‘Pa, you stink!’ That hurt. But it still wasn’t enough for me to give the coffin nails away. The diabetes diagnosis was the clincher and a prescription for Champix helped.
How good did quitting smoking make you feel?
I felt a lot better and saved a lot of money. I’d been using an old bike to get to the shops, but it was too small, so I rewarded myself with a new bike. Once I had a good bike, it went from being a cheap form of transport to a form of entertainment. I found myself wanting to ride and developed an interest in cycling.
What type of cycling?
I’ve been on a number of adventures and absolutely loved it. I started doing rail trails near where I live, so there was the 30km High Country Rail Trail around Lake Hume and then a two-day 100km ride from Bright to Wangaratta.
Then the MS Gong Ride, a fundraiser from Sydney to Wollongong, which I thought would take me six hours, but I surprised myself by finishing in 3 hours 40 minutes. I got a real sense of achievement. I also did a three-day ride with
Pedal Power Albury Wodonga, which was hilly and had a fair bit of dirt road, but you see so much more when you slow down.
The Great Victorian Bike Ride and seeing the Great Ocean Road were on my bucket list, so I did that 654km ride last year. It was 10 days, with eight days in the saddle. It was magnificent and the coastline has a real wow factor. I’ve also done a lot of walking. I did the six-day Camino Salvado – a pilgrimage from Subiaco in Perth to New Norcia. And I had a failed attempt to ascend Mt Kosciuszko. I got blown back by wind and snow.
Would you have embraced exercise without diabetes?
I don’t think so and I certainly wouldn’t have managed it if I hadn’t given up smoking. There were about 4500 people on the Great Victorian Bike Ride and I didn’t see anyone smoke.
Did you make any other major changes?
My diet needed to be improved. I had a sweet tooth – I didn’t mind ice-cream or soft drink and I had pizza or fish and chips a couple of times a week. I would eat anything put in front of me, whether I liked it or not, unless it was tofu. But then I learned how to prepare food in different ways and make it taste interesting.
Soup has ended up being my signature dish, and the way I cook, it never comes out the same twice. You open the fridge, see what needs to be used up and put it in the slow cooker. You can turn it into anything with spices, and if it ends up a bit thicker you call it a stew. You can’t go wrong because you’ll never burn it. I just add meat, vegetables, pulses, spices and sauces. And I’ve found lentils and chickpeas. If it doesn’t work, you throw in a bit of soy sauce. I’m still working on salads. I like to avoid commercial dressings, but I still haven’t got them quite right.
How well is your diabetes managed?
I’d like to go off the medication, but I haven’t got to that stage. I take metformin every day and get a blood test every six months, and my doctor is happy. But having diabetes has been great for my general health; I’ve had regular visits to a dietitian, podiatrist and GP. It has also been great for my mental health, because I’ve had a lifelong battle with depression. One of the keys to living well in later years is being socially engaged, and riding keeps me connected to a lot of good people. I’ve never felt better and, at 67, that’s a big boast. A lot of people would see being diagnosed with diabetes as a negative, but for me it has created a lot of positive experiences. ■