Vita Redford was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at 42. “I wasn’t shocked,” she says quietly. “I’d been ignoring the signs for years.” What did surprise her, though, was how complicated everything suddenly became. Food felt like a landmine.
“There were so many rules,” she remembers. “I felt like I needed a degree just to make lunch.”
But instead of giving in to frustration, Vita got curious. She sat down with a nutritionist, but she also listened to her own body. What made her blood sugar spike? What kept her feeling even and clearheaded?
She began building her meals around steadiness—pairing protein with slow-burning carbohydrates, choosing fiber-rich ingredients, and spacing her meals to avoid dramatic ups and downs.
“It wasn’t about avoiding everything,” Vita says. “It was about understanding balance.”
Breakfast became an oat bowl with seeds and cinnamon. Lunch might be a chickpea salad with avocado. Dinner often included roasted vegetables and quinoa. Slowly, the fog lifted. Her energy evened out. Her cravings faded.
And perhaps most importantly, Vita stopped feeling like food was her enemy. “Now I look at every meal as an opportunity,” she says. “Not just to manage blood sugar, but to take care of myself.”
