fbs 5.3 this am, and that included a few more carbs than usual for me yesterday. So I am doing ok with "smart carbs" and limiting the grains, but having more starches. I am bringing down the fat in my diet, but it goes hard. Making my morning omelet, I used less butter and oil, but didn't even think of cooking spray!
I agree Trish, I made a great soup last night, it will be about 1 point per bowl, all from the oil I used. It is celeriac and celery, so will be nice and filling, and no points. Plan to have it with a toasted cheese sandwich on sprouted grain bread for lunch. That will be my one grain for the day.
Rie: I am thrilled for you to be at a new low weight. You have accomplished so much.
Getting ready for a bit of cross country now, get those activity points in!
I have started keeping a journal of what I eat and how it makes me feel. Started yesterday when I had a cup of coffee and had cloudy thinking. I decided to check my bs and it was 40 pts higher than my fbs. I had started using FF half and half and switched back to splenda. Today I had it with just the Splenda and it was up 35 pts. So tomorrow I will try it plain.
Today I ate a sl of cheese toast and a sl of toast with peanut butter (use double fiber bread) and I didn't check the bs, but it didn't stay with me very long. Ended up eating a few blackberries and strawberries to stop the hunger pangs.
Any way, I thought that was interesting about the Splenda because I thought it was not supposed to raise the bs. However, I have learned that just because one diabetic can handle something does not mean that all of us can. I just thought this might be helpful if someone else finds they can't handle something they are told they can have. Even my doctor was surprised when he saw the numbers I showed him of how high regular oatmeal makes my bs go.
Your reaction to the splenda is really interesting. I didn't realize that something without carbs or calories could raise bs. I know that each of us reacts differently to different foods.
For me, a good example is bread. No matter the type of bread, it seems to raise my bs. However, I seem to be able to eat baked potatoes or sweet potatoes with impunity. It is all interesting.
The other thing that often raises my bs is fasting too long. Does that ever cause problems for anyone else?
Trish
The other thing that often raises my bs is fasting too long. Does that ever cause problems for anyone else?
Later.Rie
You know I had gone without breakfast because I wasn't hungry. I have to wonder if the mini-fast could cause my bs to be raised as well. I have to go for a fasting blood work in the morning at 8 am. I think I will check it before I leave and the I will see how I feel when I get home and check the bs again. Glad you mentioned that. I've never checked to see if I could eat a baked potato just assumed that I couldn't. I might buy a potato to bake and see how I react to it. I just think it is wise to test after some foods and drinks to see how it affects me. Thanks Rie for sharing.
Rie and Trish: caffeine by itself raises blood sugar, and splenda does have 1 carb per packet to provide "filler". We all respond differently. I am hoping I will be able to handle some oatmeal. Prefer the steel cut, and for most, the slower the oatmeal cooks the better for our sugars, but it doesn't seem to hold me much either. I always cook it with milk or soymilk to increase the protein, but that doesn't seem to help.
Also have trouble with bread, with spikes worst from white, then whole wheat then a bit lower with sprouted grain breads, but still high. I am surprised trish that with cheese and peanut butter, which have fat and protein, that it wouldn't hold you better. Wonder if a glass of milk with the meal would have made it last better than tea or coffee.
Stayed within points yesterday, so made it through my first week of ww. I think I was within points, and I was honest about what I ate at the 2 parties, but may have miscalculated points. I have a few flex points left over, so hope that covers anything I may have missed.
Suffering that early insomnia again, after a day with a 90 minute ski and a 20 minute walk for the dog.
hoping to get back to bed soon.
hope everyone has a good wednesday.
fbs at 74 this morning. I joined mad in the "early morning wake up game" Lower bs is a puzzle since I had very low calories yesterday and added a small serving of fiber one in the evening.
Mad, the info about splenda and caffeine is interesting. I have a pretty serious coffee habit so I am glad that it doesn't seem to move me. I also drink it black. Congrats on your first week of WW! I hope you continue to enjoy the holiday.
I wonder if it would be good to share some of our meal ideas here again? Or look at menus? I tend to eat the same pattern of foods daily so here is my menu from yesterday:
BF: 1/2c fiber one cereal with a sprinkle of flax and 1/2c unsweetened almond breeze, one med. apple with 2 tbs PB2 (powdered, de-fatted peanut butter)
Lunch: 2+ cups of romaine lettuce salad with a scant serving of light ranch. (I dilute it a little and it dresses the salad more easily with a small amount), 2 large strawberries. Sometimes I add a little lean meat or protein to lunch but wasn't hungry yesterday.
Supper: steamed cod fillet with cajun season, steamed broccoli, english cucumber spears, 1/2c polenta
Evening: whole flax seed, ground flax seed in 1/2 almond milk, dannon light and fit vanilla yogurt with a sprinkle of sf choc pudding stirred in. And last night - 1/2c fiber one
1042 calories, fat 38g, 154 carbs, 61 protein, 61g fiber, 72 oz water
The interesting thing to me is that my bs doesn't seem to react to the increased carbs in this plan. Perhaps it is because there is so much fiber? Anyway, I would be interested in seeing what you all are eating/like to eat.
Bonnie, I hope things are going well for you.
Alias, how was your day yesterday?
Ruth, I hope the knee is good and that you are having a good week.
Later.... Off to work.
Rie
Last edited by Riemontana; 01-25-2012 at 09:54 AM.
Well, I'm back from getting blood drawn. Couldn't get it out of my arm so had to get it from my hand and still didn't want to flow. I think it was mostly because I was so cold. Although they had to get it out of my hand last time. I've stopped taking aspirin because it makes me bruise (same reaction my grandmother had with it). I need to find the baby aspirin and see how my body handles that. I took FBS before I left for blood work and took it again when I returned and it was 18 pts lower when I got back. Trying a plain c of coffee. I seem to handle caffiene in green tea so hope I can handle my 1 c coffee in the morning. If I can't, I will go to green tea in the morning. I have no problem drinking the green tea w/o sweetner.
Fatmad - I forgot that Splenda has a filler. I was using Stevia, but I stopped and went back to Splenda because I thought the Stevia was upsetting my stomach. However, that was when I was doing the lc the Dukan way with FF/LF stuff. So it might have been the FF/LF woe rather than the Stevia. I never had problem with the Stevia. May go back to it, but want to see if the caffiene in the coffee causes a problem. I've heard that diabetics needs a little caffiene, but if my body says "no", I'll have no problem going to the green tea for the caffiene and switching my coffee to decaf. I do eat bread on the WW, but I use the Double Fiber bread by Nature's Own. I seem to handle it pretty well. Thanks for the suggestion of milk with the cheese/peanut butter toast as I sure do like both and so does little Jaxxon. It is our favorite breakfast. I didn't know about cooking the oatmeal slow. I always nuke mine. However, I do like the steel cut. I have found a brand here in one of my SC stores that is quick cooking in microwave and doesn't spike my blood sugar. I always love eating oats because my Mother's family had high cholesterol and she ate it to control hers.
I decided this morning when the tech had trouble getting my blood that I've got to get serious about exercise even if I have to join the YMCA. It just has to be done and that is it. I've been dropping little hints to DH that he is going to have to take control of his own health. Last night he started about some things he wants to do to make some changes. So I'm going to work at getting myself ready to work with him.
Got to feed the little one. Talking about oats has made me hungry for some so going to go make the kid and me some.
Ruthie, Rie, Bonnie, Chipper and anyone else I missed
Late check in - weight down a single pound but ticker still a big fat liar. Well, a two pound liar! BGL was 5.0 which is fine. Interesting about coffee raising your BGL.
Just back from the gym where I did do some more leg exercises. The knee is still a tad sore but my PT wants me to ice it a bit off and on today. It's not swollen but I never thought of icing it just for inflammation.
Patty Darling, yes! DO get serious about exercise. After being a complete slug for over 70 years, I just started doing it and it has made a tremendous difference in my life. Three mornings a week at the gym work just fine for me and I always feel great after I've done it. I don't really think it's the endorphins - I think I'm just darned glad I did it! Yo deserve it.
Ruthie - Glad the scale decided to be nice to you today even if it is one lb. Thanks for the encouraging word about the exercise. I really am going to get to work on it.
Rie - I tested after the black coffee and it only raised the bs 3 pts so I get to keep it.
Had the steel cut oats with blackberries and plain yogurt with a little bit of Stevia. Get to keep the Stevia too. Checked bs and up only 10 pts 2 and 1/2 hrs later and I've had green tea and 2 chewable vitamin c during that time. So that is really good to know. I'm going to get me some extra stips today so I can check more often like I did a year and a half ago.
trish, I usually take blood from the "difficult" people and am the midwife in the practice who starts iv on "difficult" people too. Since I used to be a NICU nurse, and started IVs on babies, I can deal with very small veins. Let me share what I do for people, and maybe it will help you. I always ask which are is best, (most tables are set up for one arm only and techs are bad about switching) you should insist on them using the arm you want. I put a hot blanket or towel on the arm and leave it for 5 minutes or so. Take a hot water bottle to the lab or doctors office with you. again, insist on waiting until you are "warmed up" before allowing the blood draw. I also have small butterfly needles for taking blood from the hand when I need too, they are less painful than the ones we use for the arms. This said, last Saturday, I was helping at a genetics clinic and there was one Dad I couldn't get blood from, no way no how. After 3 tries we all agreed to try a buccal (cheek) swab from the poor guy. He was a good sport and said his wife gets all kinds of needles during pregnancies and he couldn't complain. None of the other vampires, I mean, blood drawers, at the clinic could get blood from him either. I always have the midwives at my clinic draw my blood, I have had too many painful blood draws from some techs, and while others are good, I have never had a problem from me greenest student.
Ok, enough about my rant. I am having a nice holiday, and had another great ski this afternoon. SO we went out for supper tonight, we go to this seafood place every year when we are here. I decided to have a little splurge, and have been trying to figure out how to count the points. As I am sure you all know, ww allows you to eat anything as long as you count it. I had a glass of wine, a salad, scallops in mushroom cream sauce, and for dessert I had a slice of flourless chocolate cake, (shared that with DH) . I figured it out to about 19 points. I am trying to be really honest, and the points are helping me to figure out how to ration my food out.
SO far, ww is ok. I finished the week out last night, with 6 extra flex points unused. (the new system is not the same as the old one, and I think they are now plus points actually, don't want to confuse folks. )
No scale here, so don't know how I am doing. This would be weigh in day, but am not at home to do that. So next week will have to do.
Planning for another good ski in the morning, and more snow is coming.
well joined weight watchers last night. DD came by after her gym visit and asked me to join with her. so i guess it's time for a change. i joined when they changed the program last year. didn't last long again. see how long this time.
need to go eat breakfast. just not hungry this morning.
Fatmad - Thanks for the advise. I will keep that in mind for next time I go get blood work.
Got up this morning and did some exercises first thing. Will do more throughout the day. Mainly want to do a lot of leg exercises to get my legs stronger. I couldn't do them very well when I was on the Fenofibrite (not sure I spelled that correctly). Any way when I read how it can effect the legs I stopped taking it. I got to where I could not do leg squats at all, but did them this morning holding on to the cabinet in case I had a difficult time coming up and no leg aches. So the medicine evidently was the problem. This means that I can go back to doing L. Sansone's 1 mile dvd walk. My FBS was back down to 126 this morning. And strange thing is that I had the shakes. Not sure what that is about except that it still swings high and low. I was surprised it was down like that because we ate at Arby's yesterday. I was careful and didn't eat all of my food. Since I'm learning to listen for the signals from my body that says "I don't want any more" I stopped when I realized that I was starting to feel full. I ate only when hungry or when I thought I was hungry and I ate what I wanted to eat.
I talked to DD last night about how she eats. She is normal weight and never seems to think about food. I asked her if she eats on a schedule or if she eats only when she is hungry. She said a lot of times by the time she eats that she is starving and then she just looks to see what she has that she might want to eat. Many times she just gets her mind on something else and doesn't eat. That is the way I ate when I was growing up. I never thought about food. I ate only because it was time to eat and Mama made me come in and eat. When on a coke date our would go out to eat, I never ate all my food or didn't even order anything except a cold drink or maybe I would have fries with it. Never ate sweets because Mama was a sweet eater and it was readily available and I didn't have her sweet tooth. LOL What in the world happened? I started gaining weight when I stopped eating normal for me and started eating "normal" according to everyone else... 3 meals and snacks. Social eating which became fun time became my down fall. As I write this I think about when I started smoking years ago. It was the same way. I had a sister-in-law who smoked. (Neither of us smoke today thank God.) But I would visit with her and I would have a cigarette with her until finally one day I was a smoker. Never associated overeating being a social habit like smoking. Bad habits become a norm because we practice it. Is it possible that we could practice good habits and make that the norm? Just an interesting thought. Sorry, guess I'm just thinking out loud here.
well joined weight watchers last night. DD came by after her gym visit and asked me to join with her. so i guess it's time for a change. i joined when they changed the program last year. didn't last long again. see how long this time.
need to go eat breakfast. just not hungry this morning.
Hi Chipper, I guess we were writing at the same time. I tried WW last year and it didn't work for me. Then I decided to try it again about the time they made changes this year. But I didn't make the changes, not even sure of all of them. I just started using the materials I bought last year and it clicked for me. Hope it does for you too. There are certain fruits like berries that are easier on our blood sugar. I love strawberries and blueberries in my oats or just put them in yogurt with a few nuts. I like pecans. I used to eat walnuts but don't like them any more for some reason. I love taking the freebie veggies and either make a homemade soup with them and of course they make a good salad and the only pts you have to count is the dressing you put in them and any meat I put in them if I want a chef salad. One thing I noticed that Rie said she does with her dressing is that she dilutes it. That will cut down on the pts too. In fact, I plan to start doing that and use my apple cider vinegar to dilute it. the ACV is good for lowering BS so I will get a double whammy there. Enjoy the dressing with less pts. I really think that WW is a good plan now because you use it with any way you want to eat whether low calorie or lowcarb although you have to be careful with the fats as they use a lot of pts. What I do there is use lowfat or ff where I can and I'm picky about the fats I really want to use. Like I said I like the fact that WW will work with any plan all you have to do is count the pts. I like that for portion control. I use with Intuitive Eating just to see how many pts I am eating. Also while I'm trying to get better control of the diabetes as I test to see how certain foods affect my bs. Good luck with it!
Thinking out loud is sometimes good, Patty. You've given me some things to think about.
Fatmad, I'd love you to draw my blood. At the Clinic there is one nurse who does it perfectly - years more experience - and two who are terrible. If I get one of them, I give them one try and then ask for Jane.
Strange but FBGL is running a tad high for me this morning at 5.6 (100.8). I think it's from the lingering soreness in my mysterious knee because food was spot on yesterday. Dinner was perhaps a tad salty because I really seasoned the roasted Brussels with garlic salt. (That stuff gets away from me sometimes.) Weight is down a smidge but more to go to get back into the 170s. Fluid retention in the knee may be that problem.
Today's challenge? Lunch with my sister and a long catching up chat. I've not seen her since summer for various reasons and we need to update. I really love my sister but we have totally different lifestyles. "sisters are like two different flowers from the same garden." We are going to a local "upscale" restaurant where the choices should be good. Supper tonight will be omelet and salad to keep the day light.
HI gang: I think the difference in the "new" ww program, we get fewer points for the day overall, but most unsweetened fruit and veggies are 0 points. I personally think that bananas and carby veggies should at least have 1 point. (like potatoes have some, but not turnip) In any case, whether you use the older point system or the new I think the point is to have lots of veggies and fruit everyday, with added condiments (like dressing) minimized and made healthy. Like an olive oil and vinegar dressing give you a healthier fat. My homemade mayo in 100 olive oil, so while it is fatty, its a healthy fat.
Hope those who are starting ww like it. If you get the option for going online, let me know what you think of the plan manager, esp if you used daily plate or other online tracker before.
happy thursday, off to ski!
Lower bs is a puzzle since I had very low calories yesterday and added a small serving of fiber one in the evening.
Anyway, I would be interested in seeing what you all are eating/like to eat.
so I get to keep it.
Dinner was perhaps a tad salty because I really seasoned the roasted Brussels with garlic salt. (That stuff gets away from me sometimes.) Weight is down a smidge but more to go to get back into the 170s. Fluid retention in the knee may be that problem. 
