A Saskatchewan woman who relied on diet to address type 2 diabetes has written a children’s book to encourage similar healthy eating in children.What Will Timmy Eat? written by Susan Harris was launched September 3. She is married to Buffalo Party candidate Tim Kasprick and attends Yorkton Victory Church led by blind pastor Mark Lautamus. After reading Western Standard articles on these men she reached out to our publication to share about her book and what inspired it.In 2021, Harris’s poor health left her physician concerned she had cancer. Blood tests that fall revealed that was not the case. Whereas a normal blood sugar level is between 3.9 and 5.5, Harris was tested at 13.2.“What was causing constipation and the bumps on my skin and the bruising on my skin, and a deep sense of fatigue and lethargy that I was feeling was because my blood sugar level was so high,” she said. “I could not travel by myself. I would lie on the bed and I would be groaning. I couldn't get up, I couldn't move.”The doctor wanted to prescribe metformin, but Harris asked if she could try dietary changes instead. He initially said he would allow her to take this approach for three months, but gave her a glucose monitor with prescriptions to buy more.Harris did research on a healthy diet, dropped high sugars and carbs and reduced her portion sizes. She was 5-ft., 2-ins. 117 lbs., and now weighs 102. She said fat was a problem for her, even though her dimensions wouldn’t suggest so.“All of my cells were stuffed with the fat. And insulin couldn't get in to work on the blood sugars to send it to the different parts of my body, and so the blood sugars remained in my blood because there was not no room in my cells for the insulin to go,” she said.Harris ate more vegetables and proteins than before, but still suffered with skin issues and allergic reactions. She has since embraced the carnivore diet. Harris said vegetables and fruits have many benefits but they also have oxelates, an organic acid that binds minerals and has been linked to kidney stones and other problems.Most people can eliminate oxelates without harm, but for sensitive people, high oxalate diets can cause problems. Touching a tomato is enough to make Harris itch.“The premise is eating meats and eggs and dairy and foods that do not contain or do not spike the blood sugar level as much,” Harris explained. “I eat less. I feel satiated.”Harris says she takes walks to round out her healthy choices. Her blood sugar is normal, skin itching is gone, and so are broken nails.“Today I have natural long nails that I get manicured. I don't have to put any extensions or nothing on it. So I have seen the progress in my own skin, the inflammation I had, so much pain,” she said.Western Standard asked to contact Harris’ physician, but she said he had moved to Alberta. But she said he was “speechless” and “just blown away” at the medication-free results, saying he had not seen it in 30 years of practice.Harris said she was influenced by the work of Dr. Ken Berry, who has 3.2 million subscribers on YouTube. Berry personally encouraged her to write the illustrated, rhyming children’s book, available on Amazon.“Why don't you write a book on what kids could eat for breakfast because there aren't any books like this?” Harris recalled the doctor saying.In the book, young Tommy is faced with realistic dietary choices that have divergent results, similar to what Harris had in her own life.“It's a competition between the high processed, sugary carbs and the meaty foods that are nutrient dense,” Harris explained.“I have written at the back of the book that I have overcome diabetes, and this was my experience, and I want to initiate discussions, because we can have healthy children that can take this world forward.”
