[Medeis]

Hi Brennan, nice to meet you. Why do you want to stay in the induction phase of your Atkins diet? Glad you are having some progress, that is good!

I have heard it can be a good thing for FBG to have a 15 carb snack before bed, especially if it has been a while since you ate. Maybe not a sugar wafer though. ^_^ However, one has to test the premise for oneself. I tend not to have any snacks after 9 but that works better for me at this point.

[Wannabehealthy]

Hi Brennan! Welcome to the forum. We all have our issues with keeping our FBS in line, so don't feel that we will judge you.

Medeis, I have heard different things regarding the evening snack to keep FBS in line. It doesn't help me. I am better off without a snack. Some people have said that it is mostly for type 1 diabetics who inject insulin at bedtime, to protect them from going too low during the night. A nurse once told me, if you're not hungry, don't have the snack. Each person should check their blood sugar to see what works for them.

[pattygirl63]

brennanGlad you decided to join us. Yes, we all have issues with our FBS. I can have days that I think I've done everything right and the next day mine is up and then have a day that I think I have really done everything wrong and it is lower. It can be rally confusing. I love Atkins, but I just can't do it long term so I gave up on it. My doctor told me that any diet will work, the key is finding what you can live with long term. I have finally settled on Weight Watcher Points Plus. One thing I've learned is that no one diet fits everyone. So if you are enjoying Atkins and it is working for you, I say Congratulations. I did it when I was first diagnosed and within 6 months, my FBS and all other blood work #s were perfect. I wish I could do it again, but it just isn't me. Since I know I'm not going to give up my carbs, I've always wanted to start again with Induction and perfectly work the plan to find out my tolerance of how many carbs I can get by with eating and still lose weight, but I'm not ready to do that as of yet. So good luck on your journey. I admire anyone who can do Atkins.

Today was my WI day. I didn't lose any weight, but didn't gain any either. I changed my ticker to be the same as my WW WI readings. WW says I can lose .5 to 1.5 lbs a week so technically I am still on schedule so that is good. However, I also know a lot of my problem was swelling from too much sodium.

I'm meeting a a friend tomorrow at Earth Fare for lunch during her lunch hour. They usually have the best kale in town so I will pick up some while there. I've always wanted to eat there because everything is supposed to be healthy and they are more like a health food store, but I didn't think DH would like it, so I'm exciting about getting to try their food. DH said he would eat some meatless meals with me so I will have to plan some of those soon.

Carol Sue Sorry I haven't posted the new kale recipes yet. I will try to get that done by the end of the week.

Ruthie, Rennie, Fatmad, Medeis and others

[pattygirl63]

I a really good OP lunch with my friend. I got baked fish probably on 2 oz but counted it as 3 oz and loads of veggies. Wasn't sure about the sauce on the cabbage salad, so guesstimated 3 points for it. I hadn't seen this friend since right after her granddaughter was born 15 months ago and we decided we were going to see each other more often. She is the same age as my oldest son and a very sweet/nice young lady. And when she left, I did get some organic kale. It costs more, but it lasts so much longer and has a great flavor.

Stopped by the grocery store to get some things DH wanted and grabbed some whole grain pasta. WW Simply Start recommends whole wheat, but the store didn't have it. All Food Lions are not the same and must order according to the manager. But then I've also found some products at one Walmart and not at another, so I guess they all do that. I needed canned fruit for DH, but everything was in heavy syrup. So I didn't buy any. I'll have to go by Walmart Saturday after I leave the beauty shop. I sure hate that they closed the store by the beauty shop. Publix bought that store and will replace them but not until 2015. Coconut milk is getting harder to find for some reason and soy milk is too expensive at Food Lion. I think I may have an allergy to dairy. I seem to be able to eat a small amount of cheese, but if I eat to much of it and drink regular milk, I end up with cold like symptoms. So I guess, I will switch to either coconut or soy milk.

My food plan is falling in place. I guess I have passed through the newness of being able to eat anything I want on Weight Watchers, because my eating is settling down into a good healthy way of eating. I am trying to learn to ask myself, "is it worth the points to eat this?" I did that the other day on something and my answer was "Yes, if it keeps me from going on a binge later, then it is worth me spending the points on this". Can't remember what it was, but I did find it to be helpful. I'm earning about 6 exercise points a day so that is very good too. I must say that I am even happy and pleased with my progress (slow as it is) myself.

Hope everyone is doing well.

[lotsakids]

I'm back. I started in June with the low carb eating (basically nothing white, rice, potatoes, flour) and lost the first 30 pounds but my stomach was almost swollen looking, so I started doing a gluten free low carb diet. That is when I started seeing a difference in my waistline. Diabetes causes inflamation and for some, so does wheat so I decided that I'd try going gluten free.

I have a few recipes that are "bread like" so I can have my sandwiches at time. Mostly I eat meat, eggs, and non starchy veggies with an occassional sweet potato thrown in. I've been following (very loosely) a plan called Thin Healthy Mama (mostly for the recipes) because it fits in with the way I already eat. Gluten free isn't hard, low carb isn't hard. Sometimes the two together is more difficult but I've figured out ways to make it work. My fbs is usually around 80-90 and when I add new foods in I check to see what it does to my blood sugar. Hopefully I'll see a difference in my A1c next time I go to the doctor!

[love2b150]

Thanks Carol Sue, and thanks for the exercise info. That is a help 60 minutes a day 5 days a week is doable with my schedule right now. My fbs has come back up to the low 120's. I haven't been drinking the vinegar water so I wonder if that is it. I'm gonna give it a shot again for a week and see how I do.

Donna good to see you Sounds like you've got this worked out, as does Trish. I wish I could find a way to get my fbs below 100 that would be great. Keep up the good work.

Trish check Dollar Tree, I found soy milk there on the shelf no need for refrigeration until opened. Yay on the fbs in the 120's I love your enthusiasm with your plan so invigorating

Medeis, I track calories, carbs, protein and sodium on MFP. I'm from the DMV area, we miss it truly

brennan, and to the thread. I hope you come back and stick around. This site and these threads are life savers and most of the people are super super supportive. I hope you haven't had anymore sugar wafers try a nice square of dark chocolate now as good though huh

Madeleine and Ruth I hope all is well

I'm doing ok but like I said my fbs is back in the low 120's actually today I think it was 126 so mid 120's. My goal is to lose the weight so that I can completely come off the meds. I have got to figure out what to do about this bloating and gas. I'm not eating any bread at all, no white potatoes, rice, nothing that contains flour and havent been since January 2nd so I am not sure what the issue is. Any thoughts or suggestions would be quite helpful. Thanks

[Ruthxxx]

All is well here - just not feeling chatty. I got one of those "forever" colds just after Christmas and am slowly getting back in shape. Have not weighed myself regularly since I seem to be holding water. Got some dandelion tea yesterday which should help. FBS is my usual - around 5 or 90. Exercise is not happening - even walking to the car is an adventure as we have lots of ice.

A big welcome to the new folks.

[love2b150]

Ruth sorry to hear about your forever cold, I know about those all too well. I use to get them all of the time. After a few while working at the daycare I decided to start drinking that emergen-C or take a vitamin C tablet which seems to be helping. Tons of folks are sick at this new job and I just keep thanking goodness I haven't caught it. What does the dandelion tea do? Hope you are feeling back to your full-self soon

my fbs was 113 this morning, m wy weight was up .2 back to 172.2. I think I have honestly hit a plateau. I know I can go lower because I did it before so what am I not doing this time? The body is a big headache

Have a great Saturday Everyone, stay warm

[Wannabehealthy]

Good Morning! Sounds like everyone is doing well, except for Ruthie's cold, similar to mine. Just won't go away completely!

Rennie, I'm surprised you're having trouble dropping pounds considering how you're avoiding carbs. That's a puzzle to me. I googled "What causes gas and bloating" and came up with a lot of different information that I wouldn't know if it applies to you. Why don't you try that? Something might click.

We've been eating out the past couple days so I haven't had my greens. Other than spinach on a salad bar, they just aren't on the menu in this Yankee town. LOL I also don't like the seasoning on the canned greens. I think I would have to drain them and rinse them to be able to eat them. I'd rather have fresh.

[Medeis]

Good morning everyone. I hope those with colds get better soon. I had the flu right when it started back in November and it was awful.

I am having some much better FBG, 83 yesterday and 107 this morning. This has gone down from the 130's where I was at for quite a while. I have no idea why it does what it does from day to day or what I did that made it go down. I am exercising every day...it does coincide with me getting on the treadmill and walking for 30 min/day. But I was doing fairly rigorous stationary bike prior so idk.

This morning I made a low carb pancake topped with sugar free caramel syrup. 180 calories and 3 carbs for the pancake and about 30 cal and 10 cabs for the syrup.

All the best to everyone today!

[pattygirl63]

Hi Everybody,

Ruthie Sure hope you can kick that cold out soon. I wouldn't want to get out on the ice myself. Is probably wise to stay in and be safe and get over that cold.

I'm experiencing a lot of gas too. I think it is the veggies and the grains that I'm eating. I've heard that it happens when we add fiber into our eating especially if we add to much to soon. I have some soup that I made with lentils and also when I heat it up, I add a handful of kale. So I'm sure that is causing mine. I have also added some whole wheat pasta and bread which WW considers to be Power foods. I have 2 books that says eating veggies, fruits and grains (fiber foods) reverses diabetes. I'm beginning to wonder if this is true. I had a fbs reading of 94 this morning which is the lowest I've had in many, many years.

The weight is still coming off sslloowwlly. But at my age, I'm thinking this is good because I really DO NOT want to look wrinkled any more than necessary. Didn't really want to exercise yesterday but I did. I don't know if I told y'all, but WW had my weekly exercise goal set to earn 14 pts. I upped it to 24 and I already have 28 exercise pts earned as of today. I don't use them, but I love earning them. It does help keep me motivated. I found my Richard Simmon's Sweatin' to the Oldies dvd and I am going to start doing it tomorrow. Actually increases my exercise pts earned because it earns 8 pts. When I reversed diabetes 15 yrs ago, I did it doing this the olies tape 6 days a week. I also did a 15 minute tape to classical music that he had. Sure wish he had it in dvd. But the oldies dvd and the stationary bike would be a great 1 hr workout. Might interchange them. Not sure yet. I'm hoping for a really good WI Wednesday.

Y'all have a great day.

[Wannabehealthy]

That's pretty much what Eat to Live says, Trish, eating veggies and fruit but not the grains so much. It also allows small amounts of animal protein. I am eating a lot more vegetables than I ever did before, and they are the ones on the top of the list...greens, broc, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, but I have not cut out the carbs. I have a very hard time with that. Today I had a big bowl of greens, but then my husband made a couple baked potatoes and I had a half of a baked potato. That's what I have to work on.

I have a couple Richard Simmons tapes I haven't used for a long time. I like them. They are fun. Mine are VHS and since I have a VHS/DVD combo I can still watch the VHS tapes.

I'm going to have to double check, but I think Quinoa is also recommended on the Eat to Live Plan. I like it, and they say it is really a seed rather than a grain and it's high in protein. I like to use that as a substitute to rice. I cook it in chicken broth instead of plain water. It adds a different flavor. I still have the book from the library. I have renewed it twice! LOL I should probably buy my own copy. If I can find it cheap enough online, I will.

[love2b150]

Carol Sue the only thing I can come up with is chewing gum. I tried not chewing gum today but it is such a habit to pop in a stick of Extra gum. I keep it with me at all times. I made some kale chips yesterday for the first time. I burnt half of them but they weren't bad. I sprinkled a McCormick Asian seasoning on them and I think that helped. I can't do the straight salt, yuck. I think the issue with the not dropping any more is that my body has gotten use to not eating the breads, and junk. Although there are still lots of things that have carbs, so maybe if I just did all protein I would see some movement again. I don't know. We'll see

Medeis, my doctor specifically told me to walk so I believe that does make a difference at least it does for me. I :applaud: you on your fbs I can't wait to see those numbers

Way to GO Trish I love that fbs … you have really found your mojo. Keep up the good work

weigh in today was good 171.6 but my fbs was up to 129 I think it may have been the popcorn last night with my daughter

Have a good night everyone, I hope you all that are feeling well get better soon

[pattygirl63]

I make every negative become a learning experience instead of a set back. I didn't eat much protein today and the result? I am starving and it is 9:58 at night. I will definitely eat more protein tomorrow.

Rennie These fbs readings are really a mystery to me. I don't think I will every understand how this thing works. Will be interesting to see what mine reads tomorrow. There are times when my weight goes down and fbs goes up and sometimes the other way around or it might be right on. I just don't get it. I figure if we keep doing what we know to to do that it will finally work itself out.

Carol Sue I hope you feel better soon.

Catch y'all tomorrow.

[fatmad]

Hi gang, will have to catch up on my reading and welcome the newbies.
Weight is steady at 180, still getting back down after Christmas.
Got my new laptop, will be learning to use it it the near future.
Hope you all doing ok.