{"id":1741,"date":"2020-03-23T20:59:20","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T20:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kpgeorgia.wpengine.com\/healthyliving\/?p=1741"},"modified":"2020-04-03T16:59:05","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T16:59:05","slug":"1741","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgia.kaiserpermanente.org\/healthyliving\/2020\/03\/23\/1741\/","title":{"rendered":"A Member Changes His Medical Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”2\/3″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” overlay_strength=”0.3″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]\n

How Bernard Cuvilly lowered his A1C levels through Healthy Living classes<\/h2>\n

Before Bernard Cuvilly\u2019s father passed in 2018, he had been on dialysis for nine long years.<\/p>\n

Struggling with advanced kidney disease, he told Bernard \u2013 do what it takes and \u201cdon\u2019t go on the dialysis chair\u201d \u2013 a grim reminder that he had spent years sitting, just to keep his kidneys functional.<\/p>\n

Bernard, himself, in his 50s \u2013 was not in great shape at the time. When Bernard started his journey toward better health, he smoked, he was overweight, and his A1C \u2013 used as a\u00a0 benchmark of diabetes \u2013 was 10.2, more than five points above a healthy range. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize it was a problem yet \u2013 (A1C) was just a number to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bernard was also sedentary and ate what he wanted. \u201cSoda and pasta,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I loved.\u201d<\/p>\n

But his primary care physician, Madeline Fortin, MD, was concerned. A family physician at the Kaiseer Permanente TownPark Comprehensive Medical Center, she wanted Bernard to make some changes, and she started with recommending he try out some Healthy Living classes.<\/p>\n

Bernard did.<\/p>\n

As a matter of fact, Bernard, 54, ended up taking four classes: Diabetes: The Basics<\/em>, What Can I Eat?<\/em>, Managing Health Risks<\/em>, and Beyond the Basics<\/em>. And in less than a year, he has turned his health journey around.<\/p>\n

Armed with the knowledge that each class gave him made a difference. Bernard started changing his lifestyle, quitting smoking, walking, and dramatically altering his diet.<\/p>\n

He gave up the soda and pasta \u201ccold turkey.\u201d\u00a0 Bernard stopped eating white bread, and after craving rice, started swapping it out for quinoa. Most of the time he is joined by his wife \u2013 a chef by trade – but \u201cshe basically still eats what she wants,\u201d Bernard said with a laugh. \u201cShe eats ice cream still,\u201d he said, \u201cbut no ice cream for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bernard also started walking \u2013 and consistently walked for an hour to an hour and a half every day. His wife, who at first went with him, finally said he walked too long for her, but he kept at it for months.<\/p>\n

But his results drove him forward \u2013 he\u2019s gone from being 227 pounds to 180 pounds. His A1C has dropped from 10.2 to 6.1 \u2013 well within a healthy range.<\/p>\n

More importantly, seeing such progress, Bernard now strives for healthy opportunities as he treasures his father\u2019s advice \u2013 and moves away from a legacy of dialysis and kidney disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cI run up the stairs,\u201d he said. \u201cJust because now I can do it.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/3″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” overlay_strength=”0.3″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]\"\"[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”2\/3″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” overlay_strength=”0.3″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text] How Bernard Cuvilly lowered his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-21"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgia.kaiserpermanente.org\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgia.kaiserpermanente.org\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgia.kaiserpermanente.org\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgia.kaiserpermanente.org\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgia.kaiserpermanente.org\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/georgia.kaiserpermanente.org\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgia.kaiserpermanente.org\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgia.kaiserpermanente.org\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgia.kaiserpermanente.org\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgia.kaiserpermanente.org\/healthyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}