[dgramie]

My fbs was 95 this morning. I had a small biscuit and a slice of bacon. About 9 I had a string cheese. At 11 I felt shaky and checked and it was 66. I have never recorded a low reading before but wonder if I have had others. Sure didn't like feeling like that!!

[Wannabehealthy]

Thanks, Trish. I read somewhere about leaving the pit in. When I make guacamole I put some lemon and lime juice in it so the juice might help keep it from turning brown.

Dgramie, you are pre-diabetic rather than diabetic, right? Not on any meds? Even Metformin will not drop your blood sugar. It's possible that you have hypoglycemia. I used to get those shaky feelings if I went a long time without food, but that was before diagnosis and I had no way to test. Some people with pre-diabetes have hypoglycemia. I get shaky sometimes if my BS drops quickly, but when I test it's not low...just low for me. The only time I had a reading in the 60s was when I had taken glimiperide, which does lower BS. Maybe someone who has experience with hypoglycemia will post a more informative reply.

[dgramie]

I am prediabetic and on no meds at all for it. I had a thick ham sandwich and a few chips for lunch and 1.5 hrs later it's 105.
My oldest daughter had hypoglycemia when she was younger. She really had a rough time with it.

[Wannabehealthy]

Dgramie, a friend of mine had it. She was a tiny little thing...no diabetes or anything. She was told not to eat any sugar unless it was eaten with the rest of her meal. If I ate a sandwich I would be over 200 1.5 hr later!!

Trish, my step-daughter eats a lot of avocados. She loves guacamole and makes it several times per week. She had to go for a physical for her insurance and the doctor told her she has high cholesterol, and needs to quit eating avocados! LOL Where did that doctor get is medical license???? It's mono fat! It is very heart healthy!

[pattygirl63]

dgramie I had hypoglycemia when I was in my 30s. My MIL worked in the hospital and in doctor's offices back then. In those days they didn't know that hypoglycemia was a precursor to diabetes. She used to tell me "Well, at least you know you will never have diabetes". You can imagine how shocked I was when I was diagnosed with it.

Zinke and Carol Sue My 1st 2 hubbies (both deceased) would eat just about anything. Then I married Tony and he is soooo picky. The only green food he eats is broccoli with butter and cheese and small green peas. He eats a whole package of cauliflower every night before he goes to bed. So at least he is eating some healthy veggies.

I couldn't sleep last night so I looked up some of the other people that the lady on the other diabetic site told me about. Turns out that Drs. Volek and Phinney are the co-authors with a Dr. Westman who wrote The New Atkins for A New You books. The 2 doctors have written another book called The Scientific and Art of Lowcarbing. They have written it showing the from research etc from different parts of the world that prove how and why the LCHF diets like Atkins work. I understand this book and another one they have written can be taken to your doctor or tell you how to prove to your doctor how and why it works.

I will probably get in trouble with the old Atkins people who don't like the new, but I think it is really great that they have learned through scientific testing and research how and why the Atkins way of eating works. To me it is a tribute to Dr. Atkins because he got so much criticism and ridicule for how he taught people eat fats to take the edge off of hunger in the face of a medical community was saying "No fat is bad for you. Eat more carbs". Now doctors, not just these doctors, are proving that Dr. Atkins was absolutely right to say eat less carbs and more fat. It is amazing to me that the fats that are pushed on us today as healthy are full of omega 6 which raises cholesterol, triglycerides etc, and the fats they tell us that are bad for us don't have the omega 6 and some even have omega 3. The reason some lowcarb doctors say we can go ahead and use Canola oil is that while it does have omega 6 that it also has omega 3 which they think balances things out to make it safe. It is a shame that Dr. Atkins didn't get to live to see the science behind what he promoted. JMHO

I've decided to read the Atkins book again and to be sure to take note of the how and why it works to better understand what I am doing and why and can explain it better to those who question me about it. I also looked up the Jenny Ruhl website. I thought I had one of her books, but can't find it. While looking through my books, I did find the book Wheat Belly by Dr. Davis that this lady also recommended for me to read. So I can read Ruhl online. That and the 2 books will keep me busy for a while.

I did start my meds again. Just decided that I didn't want to take a chance of losing ground. So I took 500mg of metformin with dinner last night. So far no problem. I used a very small amount of CO today and took my bp med today. So I will see how it goes just taking the one 500 mg Metformin each day.

I am pleased to say weight stayed the same this morning and my FBS was 111 and bp was 126/70 before I took my Lisinopril. So I think I'm really doing pretty good. I'm just not able to even eat 1200 calories these days. More like between 1000 - 1100. Since I need to learn to eat more fat, I just add a little more as it needs to be higher than the amount of protein that I eat. I did read in Atkins early this morning that this is not unusual as most lowcarbers do not really eat high calorie because they just don't get hungry because of the fat they are eating.

Oh reading about Metformin on Jenny Ruhl's site, I learned that tests have shown that diabetics who take Metformin have less chance of having cancer because it blocks the growth of cancer. It isn't 100% full protection but it does lower the risk. I found that encouraging. I think that is a bad side benefit of taking it.

Y'all have a great day.

Edit: I forgot to share. I forget to check bs 1 hr after eating, but yesterday and today 1 1/2 hr after eating lunch my bs was 116. Not bad.

[Shannonsnail]

I'm so behind in reading but Trish did I read you had problems after cutting a metformin in half? Isn't that med one that says "do not crush or break"? I thought I remembered mine saying that....maybe it releases something that causes issues? I was on metformin last year briefly and had major stomach pain, even with the extended release version.

Ok, so going back to the move....because they brought the wrong truck and had to make two trips I had 4 hours alone to pack more stuff that the movers then had to move for us. We got 40 feet of truck instead of 26 feet we would have had if they had done right. We came in under $1000 bc we only had to pay for the time moving not driving. It ended up saving us money in our own gas in the long run. I am still going back to the house to pack! There was so much stuff still in closets and the garage that I couldn't get to (had no help from hubby since he got injured). I spent several hours packing at the old house Monday and am going back tomorrow. Hubby has to take a test there on Friday so he will go pick up more stuff from our old storage unit. What a mess trying to finish vacating!! We can't put our house on the market til it's empty.

I am still unpacking in the new house too. I am really happy with it though. So much more room! We had workers start renovating one of our attic spaces today. It will be hubby's office. Carol Sue here is a link to zillow but you can only see the front of the house, the other pics have come down already but I will hopefully soon do a blog post with pics and I will share the link then.
http://www.zillow.com/homes/2621-wil...wilson,-nc_rb/

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, why does Tony eat the cauliflower every night? Just curious. It's healthy!

I think you are doing fantastic. Keep up the good work. I have never had any bad side effects from Metformin. When I first started taking it I had some nausea and could only eat a small amount, but I thought that was from my heart surgery. Now that I know people get it from Metformin it was probably from that. It actually helped me, because I lost 25 lbs by the time the nausea went away. I wish it had stayed because it kept me from over-eating. I have heard about the heart benefits and also cancer fighting benefits of Metformin so I really don't care if I have to continue taking it. I do want to stop the glimiperide though because that burns out your beta cells and also causes weight gain. So far I haven't been gaining, but I don't take it every day. Just if I need it. Trish, did Tony ever gain weight from it? Maybe it doesn't do that to everyone.

I wouldn't worry what anyone else says about which Atkins you follow. You are doing what works for you and that's all that matters. I will listen to what others have to say but in the end I make my own decision. I have learned not to waiver from my low carb plan because no matter what else I try, low carb is better for me. Also, I don't care how my doctor feels about low carb. When he asked me how I improved my labs I just told him I changed my diet, but didn't elaborate. I don't think he would think there was anything wrong with it. I have been going to him for over 15 years and I think if I found a way to lose weight and get healthier he would be all for it. I don't do everything he tells me to do and he knows it. He just tells me that it's his job to advise me and I understand that.

I have not been eating any beans for the past several days. I want to see what happens to my blood sugar and my weight. I was reading a site where a woman said that it is not true that fiber lowers your blood sugar if it is soluble fiber, only if it's insoluble. She is just a regular person like us, so who knows if she is right or wrong. But I will quit eating the beans and see what happens.

I am finished eating for today and my BS is 98. That is very good for me.

[dgramie]

My daughter had to give up all sugar. She would eat a cookie from time to time but only as part of a meal. She had to balance protein and carbs as snacks. She had to eat every 3 hours. Didn't take much to keep her sugar up but it was really scary. We saw her glucose in the low 30s a few times. She is a math whiz and couldn't tell you what 2+2 was.
So starting tomorrow I will do random
Checks. I will also really watch what I eat. It scared me and I know I have had other spells where I felt the same way.
My reading at 5pm was 120. I hadn't eaten anything since lunch.

[Wannabehealthy]

Shannon, that is very nice! I'm so glad that it turned out so well for you. I'm sure you will be happy with it. It really is a hassle going back and forth between houses. At least when you get things settled in the new house it will make it easier. Just unpack the boxes you need right away. The rest can be done at your leisure. Hmmm leisure...what is that? LOL I hope Olivia settle in well.

[Wannabehealthy]

Dgramie, that is why I am happier when my BS is around 100. Since I started taking the glimiperide it puts me at a higher risk of having a low and it's scary. I don't want to have to start eating more food to keep from going low. The thing I fear the most is going low while sleeping. That happened to my son's father-in-law and luckily his wife woke up and recognized the symptoms. DH wouldn't have the first clue! That man is on insulin and something got screwed up. Either he injected too much or ate too little.

I think this is why they sometimes tell diabetics to eat every 3 hours or so, but how can you do that when they also tell you to lose some weight.

[pattygirl63]

Shannon My Metformin pill can be broken in half. It has the line in the middle so I put it in my pill cutter and break it in half. I think the timed-release is the one that cannot be broken. I was taking 1000 mg. I tried 2000 mg years ago on my own with docs approval, but I couldn't handle the diarrhea with that much so I dropped back down to the 1000. Although I followed the instructions of the pharmacist when I started taking Metformin even at 500 mg, and then when he upped it to 1000 mg, I experienced diarrhea for about a week or so, but my body adjusted to it. Since I've started eating more like Atkins with less carbs, my body was not able to take the 1000 mg. I have no problem taking it if I need it but the 1 dose of 500 mg seems to be working at this time.

BTW the house is beautiful and it looks like you have a nice big front yard. I am happy for you and know you will love it when you get things settled.

Carol Sue As far as I know Tony has eaten the cauliflower almost every night like that all of his life. He just loves it. I never worry about it because I know it is so very good for him.

I am reading the New Atkins for the New You and it has you do 2 weeks of Induction. Then move to phase 2 where you learn how many carbs you can eat and still lose weight. There are 4 phases a pre-maintenance where you spend time preparing yourself for maintenance which is phase 4. I haven't read far enough yet to learn when, but the Atkins does allow legumes sometime after Induction. I thought of you when I read that and I will let you know what they say about them when I get to that part. I am anxious to learn how they implement it as I think eating beef, pork and chicken are going to get boring. I read on some other lowcarb plan somewhere maybe even dietdoctor.com that they allow legumes where many lowcarb plans do not. It would be nice to be able to learn how work them into my plan effectively if my body can tolerate it.

BTW I have read so much lately that I'm not sure where I read it, but I saw where it was suggested to test after you add new a new food to see how it affects the blood sugar. If it spikes it then do as the MFP woman told me she does, you scratch it because your body doesn't tolerate it. If it doesn't spike it, then add it to your list of foods that you can eat. This way as I read by a doctor or some one, you make your own list of acceptable food that your body tolerates making your lowcarb diet yours personally. It goes back to always learning what works for our bodies individually.

dgramie 30 reading is awfully low. I don't know but I think that was dangerous. I'm sure it was very scary. I know I would have been scared.

I can't remember an hour after I eat to check bs, but I checked an hr and half after lunch and it was 116 and then I remembered to check 3 hrs out and it was 127. Not really bad, but does y'all higher reading come 3 hrs out. I really thought it would be higher earlier. I had just rode 2 miles 20 minutes on my stationary bike so do you think it was higher from the exercise or just that my higher reading after eating is 3 hrs out. I really don't understand about the reading.

Sorry another wordy post. I'll say Goodnight. See y'all tomorrow.

[dgramie]

My daughter had to learn how to eat to be healthy. She couldn't eat like other kids. She had issues until she got married on went on birth control. Her dr believes hormones can affect glucose. She knows she is at a high risk of being a diabetic.
My fbs was 95 today.
Still working on learning names. I love reading here and so thankful to be part of this thread.

[pattygirl63]

dgramie I am not good with names myself. When I see something I want to comment on, I have to back up to see what was said. My niece has PCOS and has been on birth control pills since puberty. Besides the fact that her working Mother (my sweet sister) fed her a lot of Happy Meals and she was a chunky baby. I know my sister thought she was loving her with the "special" meals because she was able to be home with her first 2 kids until her divorce. I think she felt guilty because she had to work when she married her second husband and had my beautiful niece and pampered her with the those meals. I kept her until she was old enough for preschool and she ate healthy with us because I was always dieting. Bless her heart she has now developed diabetes, but although she hasn't lost much weight, she has got her diabetes under control. She controls it by eating vegetarian. I'm just thankful she has learned to keep it under control at this young age. Glad you daughter has too.

My BS was 110 when I went to bed last night. FBS was 114 this morning. I took the 500 mg Metformin with an evening protien snack of sliced baked ham and a slice of cheese. YAY no lactose intolerance. As long as this is working, I will only take the one dose in the evening. I don't mind taking the Metformin with the benefits it provides and my goal has been to get under 120 FBS. I have reached that. I also like the benefits that Lisinopril and my cholesterol medicine provides me. My doctor says they prevent me from having a stroke or heart attacks, so I can live with that. However, if I am blessed to be one of those whose health improves with LCHF the way it has for others then that is just a plus. Either way is fine with me as the goal right now is to be healthy.

Now that I've reached this goal, I have decided that Atkins recommends 20 grams net carbs and Dr. Bernstien recommends 30. So I am going to shoot for keeping my net carbs between 20 and 30 grams a day.

My system seems to be back to normal now and thank God I don't have to give up the cheese. I did learn from the lady on MFP that has kind of become a mentor to me on this said that if her hubby eats too much protein and fat that he has diarrhea. So that may have been what happened to me. I was eating high fat with drinking the coffee with the butter and CO. I think that was too much for me. Plus I was also eating beans during that time within the carbs I was eating and I think it was way too much for me.

So I try to keep the carb gram between 20 and 30. According to New Atkins, because I am just a little over 5'2" I should be eating between 68 - 142 grams of protien, I choose to keep it in the middle some where between 68 and 78 g. LCHF just means to keep the fat higher than the protein so I try to keep it in and around the mid 80s. Just enough to stay within the LCHF guidelines. I'm not really going to worry about the calories because MFP sets my calories at 1560 to lose approx a lb a week and I'm doing good most of the time if I even make 1200 calories. Most of the time it is mostly around 1000 to 1100. On days that my hunger diminishes, I'm having a hard time getting to 1000 calories. My exercise is becoming easier too. Been harder to do this week because DGS is in and out. But I wasn't supposed to start exercising according to Atkins until the 3rd week on this way of eating. But I have continued some and will increase it next week with a goal of reaching a minimum of 45 minutes 5 days a week.

I now have a plan that I know will not only work, but will eventually help me lose weight and be healthy and bring the diabetes into what some doctor I heard about calls "remission". I am thrilled and so grateful that I have found this way.

Busy day today. So y'all have a great day and I'll catch y'all tomorrow.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, does Tony eat the cauliflower cooked or raw? I don't really care for raw veggies unless I have something to dip them in. Hummus is my favorite for dipping. Back when I didn't eat dinner, I would sometimes eat just some cooked veggies...more of a snack than a meal.

I have the original Atkins book and also The New Atkins for a New You. I buy these books at Goodwill...$1 or $2. For a long time I couldn't do induction because I was eating all those vegetables and beans. In the past week I have changed my eating. I still think the veggies and beans are a necessary part of a healthy diet, but I decided to make a change in an effort to get my weight loss moving. I will not stay away from veggies and beans long term. I have read that sometimes if you follow the same plan for a long time your body stagnates and you quit losing. Hard to believe, but I haven't eaten my morning eggs for several days, and when I did eat them, they were plain...no additions. Last night after I was finished eating for the day, DH made an egg sandwich for himself and cooked too many eggs, so I ate the excess, which probably amounted to 1 scrambled egg...no bread. It tasted delicious, but I am still going to stay away from them a little longer. This does not mean that I consider them bad, just part of my effort to make changes. When I was thin, I ate a decent breakfast and lunch and no dinner, or very little dinner. Now, since DH wants me to eat with him, I am eating very little breakfast and lunch and a controlled, low carb dinner. I still believe that you should eat most of your calories during the day when you are more active, but I'm trying to fit into the life that I have. KWIM?

Trish, I don't think the beans contributed to your diarrhea. Fiber makes it easier to pass your stool, but does not cause diarrhea. It was more likely the Metformin and/or the bullet proof coffee. Some have said that it can cause diarrhea.

I can't say that I eat high fat, but I don't go out of my way to avoid it. Yesterday, I made pork and sauerkraut. For DH I used boneless loin pork chops with all visible fat trimmed. For me, I used pork country ribs and left the fat attached. I just think they have a much better taste than the loin chops. Most of the fat renders away and when I eat it, I do cut off any fatty pieces remaining. When I make my yogurt I use skim milk. Someone convinced me to use full fat milk last time and I did not like the yogurt as well, so I am back to the fat free next time. I don't add any flavoring or artificial sweetener to it so it does not contain the harmful things that are in the commercial fat free yogurt. It's just the taste and texture I prefer. I don't buy any low fat products. When I eat bacon or sausage I eat the full fat versions. I eat dark meat poultry rather than white meat. For the most part, I don't add any extra fat intentionally unless it's used for browning or sauteing. I only avoid fat when it's going to make the taste of the food too greasy for my tastes.

Trish, I get wordy the same as you! We probably scare some people away! Don't be scared. We don't bite! LOL

Dgramie, we are glad you are here, too. Just remember, don't take the things we say as gospel....we mostly are discussing what works for us, and everyone is different. This is not reliable medical information!

When I had my first bowel surgery the doctor removed one of my ovaries because it was stuck in all the infection I had throughout my abdominal cavity. At 65, I wasn't using it. LOL But I noticed some changes after that and I think it had to do with the fact that removal of that ovary changed my hormone levels somewhat. Hormones can be good, or bad.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, I was thinking about your comment about 1hr testing vs 2 hr or 3 hr. It differs for different people, and I think it has something to do with what you ate. I tend to spike at 3 hr. I just tested about 1 hr after my meal and I was at 103, but I know it will be higher later. I tend to spike 3 hrs out. Also, if I take glimiperide and I am still high 2 hrs out I am tempted to take another half pill, but later on it will drop quickly. I had grilled fish that I cooked on my stove top grill pan. I had some french style green beans leftover from last nights dinner and I just threw them on the grill pan with the fish to just heat them up. DH had 2 hamburgers with a huge serving of fried potatoes. I grabbed several pieces of potato, 5 or so. I'm curious to see just how high that spikes.