[Ruthxxx]

Tina Lou. Yes IP certainly should help with your levels. I'm on South Beach and watching carbs.

[pattygirl63]

Tina Lou. I started out doing Atkins, but have just slipped into low carb modified Primal style. Meaning I eat protein, veggies and a little fruit. This has helped bring my FBS #s down almost to normal.

My FBS reading was 116 mg/dl this morning up a pt. I tried eating oatmeal last night because I read that it helps bring BS back to normal. I'm not sure that would work for me. I've decided to stick with what works basic low carb and then add exercise back into my plan starting Monday. I think the exercise will help bring #s back into the normal range.

Cande It is great that you can be in normal range with just exercise and diet. That is how I took care of it the first time I was diagnosed with diabetes. But then about 3 years ago I put back almost all the 70+ lbs that I had lost. Hopefully I can eventually do that again and get back to normal weight this time. I also hope that the diabetic problem will be eliminated as well. My doctor seems to believe the Metformin will help me lose weight so I don't mind being on it if I have to be.

Fatmad Glad you had such great results on A1C test. I look forward to see results of my bloodwork next month too. I am working so hard to get things back to normal that I think I will see some good improvement then.

Rosebud I think that is great that you never craved sweets. I never did until I started have BS problems. I need to remember that when I crave sweets that it is a sign that my BS is up.

Ruth I think that we all need to learn how to make ourselves our priority. I have always been good at taking care of others and putting me last. I remember my Mama telling me several months before she died, "If you don't take care of yourself, no one else will". I think I'm learning that I can't do a good job caring for others if I don't take care of me.

Y'all have a great day and weekend.

[theCandEs]

Trish -- I think 116 is still good. BTW, I like the South Beach Diet. It has some IE principles to it, too. I've never tried Atkins. I did lose 10 pounds on SBD when I did it last year, and I never gained it back, which is unusual. I also have the Hungry-Girl book. It's actually kinda good. She has some low sugar/ low carb kinds of recipes.

Tina Lou -- I'm new here, too. Nice to meet you!

Ruth -- I'm going with SBD, too. Glad your BGL's are good.

fatmad -- I wonder why the numbers are off so much. Is there a way to test your meter?

Justwanttobehealthy --I love zucchini. I will have to try that when the pasta craving hits.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend! Not sure what we will be doing, but it will probably involve lots of cleaning or yard work.

[synger]

Originally Posted by Justwant2Bhealthy

I love to do this with leftovers as well; sometimes, instead of pasta -- I serve my sauce and/or meatballs and sauce over long string green beans, or sauteed string cabbage or slaw or zucchini thins (cut in long strips). I am finding new ways to eat things that taste great as time goes on ...

I like making a low-fat ratatouille -- saute onions, eggplant, zucchini, and tomato together until they're soft. I serve meatballs or chicken over it, instead of using pasta. VERY tasty, and lots of veggies.

[fatmad]

I had forgotten how much I liked Ratatouille until I had some with a meal the other day, eating out. SO I was thinking about making some and your idea of meatballs or chicken on it sounds perfect. I will do that.

In the meantime chickies, I need to do some planning. WHile I am frequently challenged by my work schedule to stay on plan, I have done very well the last few months with meal planning, taking healthy meals and snacks to have ready for when I'm called out to work, and avoiding the temptation of off plan foods and fast foods on the way home. It is sometimes the days off or weekends off that challenge me. NOW, I am about to start a month of work. So instead of regular irregular hours, I will have no regular hours in my life for a month. My last holiday month was taken up with my week trip to go skiing, (I did cross country) so I trained daily to get ready and exercised ALOT on the trip, and was able to eat on plan almost the whole time, my only cheats were some wine with a couple of romantic dinners, and one dessert.

So this holiday is more about friends and family. We have a friendship campout weekend, that will be a food fest and quite a bit of drinking. Then about 10 days at the cottage, then a weekend wedding, followed by a family picnic, a few days to recoup, and a weekend with family with a wedding thrown in.
THe cottage time will be manageable, but I am worried about everything else. I want to be able to "cut loose" a bit, but don't want to overdo it.
My husband and I are talking about how to moderate ourselves with all of this too. He has a drinking problem that he works to moderate. We both want to enjoy the moment without the moment ruining things for us!
SO I want lots of feedback about how do this, for multiple occasions.
I am looking at this as a learning time, since life happens all the time. For the rest of my life, there will be occasions beckoning me to abandon my way of eating and careful blood sugar control. There will be parties, weddings, birthdays, holidays, festivals etc. I hope to attend many, but remain true to my long term goals. So lets chat, share your wisdom

[Justwant2Bhealthy]

TINA LOU ~ there are lots of those lower carb plans to choose from, aren't there? I think that helps people that we can choose one that work the best for each of us. I'm on a combo plan: probably a bit of everything -- counting calories, diabetic servings, volumetrics, limited healthy carbs (not no carb); and sometimes, I even throw in some vegetarian dishes ...

MADELEINE ~ ya, it is a balancing act, but like you say; we might as well learn how to deal with them now. We are going on a holiday in September, but thankfully the hosts of the B & B know that we are eating healthier and eat pretty healthy themselves, so that helps a lot. We are supposed to stay over at some friends on the way back, but again they are also eating well too (he is a diabetic).

At the family gatherings, you could try sticking to leaner meats and salads; maybe even making them your contribution to the feasts. You could try limiting your drinks; and take some lower calorie versions along with you. Take things that taste good, but that you know are healthy; just fool them. That's what I would do ...


Just had a quiet day at home; we had most of the day; but the is now peaking out ...

[fatmad]

Oh, I think the summer is so good, it seems SOO much easier to stay on track with good weather around us. I have managed another little pound down. I believe this puts me to a BMI category of no longer being obese, but just overweight!
I am so inspired by everyone's stories.

[pattygirl63]

Fatmad Congratulations on the 1 lb loss Fantastic.

I was so excited this morning when I saw my BP was 106/61 which is about normal for me and my BS was 109 mg/dl. Then I went and weighed and I was down 2 more lbs making my total weight loss this year 15 lbs. I know 15 lbs doesn't sound like much for 7 months, but when you take into consideration that I was only bouncing up and down for about 5 of those before my doctor gave me the Metformin prescription and I got on my own lc plan, 15 lbs is FANTASTIC.

You know I was thinking this morning that if there is anyone out there diabetic or not who is struggling with weight loss like I did for the past few years...DO NOT GIVE UP. Keep trying. If you try something and it doesn't work KOKO till you find the one that does.

Have a Super Sunday everybody!!!

[theCandEs]

Congrats, fatmad and Trish on the weight loss!

I had a disturbing day. FBS was 110. Hmm. Not good. Then, I decided to do a "test" to see if I did indeed have actual blood sugar problems and just how bad the situation was. Well, let's just say it was not good. I ate a plain bagel, tested one hour after BS = 184 and at two hours BS = 156. Since I haven't been officially diagnosed by a doctor (one did tell me at a health screening), I thought I would use this to see where I stood. Well, I'm officially pre-diabetic. I guess it's good to know now, though, so I can do something about it.

I go to the doctor on Aug 5. That was the next available.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I'm going to bed.

[Ruthxxx]

Survived the final days of the Fair and am right back on track this morning. I'm even going to the gym after missing it for a couple of months! i hope my personal trainer still knows me! I'll probably be sore tomorrow but I need to do this for ME. My life is way too hectic lately and I am going to put ME time onto the schedule.
Ratatuoille is wonderful stuff. I must make some as soon as our local tomatoes are in. It's an August taste around here.
Hang in there, chickies!

[pattygirl63]

Good Morning Chickies,

Cande My BS was back up to 142 mg/dl this morning. At least I know what the problem was for me. I am sure it was the red potatoes I ate with my roast yesterday and maybe the sugar free gum. I am learning what foods that my body will not tolerate.

Years ago I learned that my BS reading was way lower after exercise than before. So I decided to test and see if that is true for me now, but things have changed at this age and it didn't work. I did my reading before my exercise and checked the reading after and it was 4 pts higher. So even our bodies change on us over the years. This is definitely a learning experience as we learn what works and what doesn't... what we can eat and what we cannot. I have no doubt that I cannot eat starchy veggies or foods. So will stick with my low carb plan.

Rosebud I also do a combo. I don't count calories, but I think I have to stick to lean meats and volumetrics. If I stick to that everything seems to work out nicely. I love salads, veggies and some fruit so that helps a lot.

Y'all have a good day!!

[theCandEs]

Hey, Trish! Yeah, I think I know what caused mine, too. I had just a smidge of pasta last night. It was the "low carb" kind. I guess pasta is off limits for me. I think I did better with the regular pasta than this kind. I think this kind hangs around too long. I'm keeping a food diary with my numbers on it so I can tell what food I can eat and what I can't.

Ruth, I'm going back to the gym, too. I used to go to an "aerobics" (it was cardio and weights) class. I miss it. I was waiting for my boys to start back to school so I can go.

For today, FBS 102. Still not great, but I will take it. AND, I've lost 5 pounds since last week. I don't think it is all water, because I have been trying to drink more water than usual, something that has always been difficult for me. So now, at least, I finally weigh what my ticker says. LOL

[Justwant2Bhealthy]

You know ladies, everyone is different becuz, last Monday night, I had a small, new potato with my dinner of lean meat and veggies -- and the next AM, my blood sugar reading was only 5.0/80. For me, the trick is HOW MUCH? When I say small potato, I mean one that is only 2-3" across. My DH and I separate the small ones out for me and he eats the larger ones (medium & larger); plus we always buy NEW potatoes (which have less starch in them) and we eat them with their skins on too.

As you can tell, it is a matter of trial & error to see which foods send our sugars soaring and which ones don't. I read somewhere that there is a degree of starch levels -- veggies, fruit, whole grain breads, then beans, brown rice, wg pasta, and new potatoes/corn/peas, etc.

If you think that you can honestly forgo bread or rice or pasta or potatoes for the rest of your life, then do so. I know for me that is not a reality, so what I am using is portion size as my #1 guide and it is working for me.

I measure everything; and it has become second-nature to me now. Sure, there are some days that I eat just a nice steak with a nice veggie mushroom medley with 1/4 cup kniblet corn, and a salad (like tonight for instance) -- but the rest of the time, I eat what I like and enjoy of those foods; and am just careful how much of them.

I know that there are some things that make me want to binge; and I have now identified them on a list -- chippies, nachos, hickory sticks, popcorn, cookies, salted nuts, pretzels, etc. It's those munchie things that get me, so now I forgo them and have replaced them with something healthier.

Have a great day -- time to make that nice steak dinner ...

[theCandEs]

Rosebud, really that is what I have been doing. Today we had steak, salad, grilled vegetables, and I had a piece of a roll. BS at 2 hours was 107. I'm not sure what range is acceptable, but I was willing to go up to 120 for my post meal reading. 2 hours after the pasta and it was 131, and my portion was extremely small. I don't know how I can eat less than what I did. One noodle? Two noodles? LOL

[Ruthxxx]

Survived the trip back to the gym and was actually amazed that I hadn't regressed as much as I suspected. I guess gardening has helped.

Today I plan to do at least 15 minutes on my treadmill here at home - I may not even dust it first!

By the way, yesterday's food was not stellar. My neighbour gave me three cobs of corn "just to try" ans I could not resist. I also finished the potato salad (little new potatoes) but my BGL was still OK this morning.

Today will be better. I'm about to start off with blueberries, yogurt and Fibre 1. I do have a BBQ tonight but will bring along my 3-bean salad and some melon. We're having chicken kebobs so things will be manageable.

Happy Tuesday!