[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, I ate mostly vegetables today, with a bit of protein, a half of a hamburger patty. The vegetables brought my carbs up around 60, but my total calories were only a 1000. I just checked my BS and it is 128. So, I guess my Beta Cells are still working. I'm so glad of that. Even though the veggies are bringing my carb count up higher, my blood sugar is coming down lower. I don't think the higher carbs are hurting me if they are vegetables. Maybe I was eating too much protein.

I think 143 after a meal is pretty near normal! And the 117 is wonderful! So maybe you are just having issues with fasting. I always heard that fasting is the last to come down. I think you found it, girl!

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue I think the veggies with some protein seems to be what works for you. You like eating that way so I think you have found your way too girl.

I got up this morning and my weight was up 1.2 lbs. I stood there and said, "Lord, I don't understand". I was ready to just give up until I checked my fbs and it was 124 this morning. So I am still OP. DH FBS yesterday back on the Invokana was 95. I know I could half one of his Glimiperide and take it and get mine down quicker, but I want to let the medicine do it with the diet and exercise. I did add the Gluccocil back as I think it will help me lower the bs like the Glimiperide does for him. I have to believe that as the bs comes down that eventually the weight will come down as well. DH is even losing weight but mean do that. He is pretty much eating like he did before we married.

Have a nice day.

[pattygirl63]

Been a long time since I can remember forgetting to eat. I wasn't hungry for breakfast and got busy doing other things, reading, phone calls and did 20 minutes on the recumbent bike. I plan to do 20 more later today to up my exercise to 40 min 3 days a week. Should give me about 4 miles on the bike. But the really neat thing is that I decided to grab something to eat to hold me over until DH gets up to eat lunch. My FBS is 108. Yea!!!

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue I just read something on the other low carb link about the Insulin Resistant Diet. I looked it up on Amazon. I said I wasn't going to buy another book, but may have to get this one. I might be able to do this without the book by using the 15 g carb serving to 9 g protein serving that I read about on the low carb link.

Any way, I read some of it on Amazon and I thought of you because it talks about balancing high carb with protein at a meal. You don't add more protein. If I understand it correctly you do not add more high carb and protein as the balance in a meal is 2 servings of each and snack is 1 serving of each. Diagram showed carbs a s a circle and protein as a square on a seesaw. Veggies are in the miiddle as a rectangle and it is recommended that you add more veggies. Dairy and fruit are allowed as well.

The reviews were like 147 Five stars out of 243. I just found it interesting that it is recommended to eat more veggies. So again I say you may have found the answer for you.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish that FBS of 108 is fantastic! Good for you!

I looked up that Insulin Resistance Diet book and realized I read that, from the library. That diagram you mentioned sounded familiar.

Did you ever buy books from Half.com? I buy a lot of my used books from that site and they are often cheaper than Amazon. I have never had a problem, as long as the seller has a rating of 95-100. I see they have this book for 75 cents plus shipping.

[fatmad]

Hi everyone, and happy May.
My courses went well, everyone happy with their lessons and feeling good about it, and me pleased that they worked so hard to learn new things and did well with it.
Sunday had a nice day with DH, then we came to Toronto for a meal with oldest DD and her husband for an early mother's day celebration. They dropped me at the hotel for my conference after and DH drove home. I will go home with a friend later today after the conference ends.
It has been good but having a few issues with food.
My own fault for eating some cookies.
Otherwise, the place has been good about my allergies and intolerances.
I have been sticking to my other diet plan, deleting the nightshades for the pain/inflammation issues. However, the last 2 weeks, have been having more pain again. Realized I have been treating myself to some wine.
I had beer for drinks the last 2 nights, and will stop drinking altogether for a while now. Things seem better in relation to the pain.
I will also have to go back to Atkins induction when I get home, and get out the bad habits I assume so quickly and easily when away from home.

Have a good "hump" day, and catch up again soon.

[momwithdogs]

Happy Wednesday!

Went for blood work yesterday and I love being able to see my results online as soon as the samples are processed.

My A1C is 5.2 and I am thrilled. Going to try and cut out the metformin and see what happens. Didn't take any last night and my FBS was 104.

However, I have put on 4 lbs. I think it's from the high fat I've been eating to counter the higher carb meals.

Please take what I am about to say with a grain of salt and know that I am only speaking about myself. These last few weeks I have been trying IE; in theory it sounds great, but I am finding it's very easy to justify putting anything in your mouth and telling yourself 'it's ok...listen to what your body wants.'

It seems counter intuitive to me to think about food that darned much! However, it is very possible I am doing it all wrong. Bottom line, I was trying to find a way to eat whatever I desire and call it ok. Seriously, someone slap me with a wet noodle!

Trish and Carol Sue- I believe I have been very confused as to what low carb actually means. For some reason, I thought I could only eat carb free foods and as I mentioned, when I did it, my BS fell very low and I felt sick for days.

Fatmad-Your level of self awareness is amazing! I could definitely take a page from your playbook.

[Wannabehealthy]

Momwithdogs, I went back and read your first post here to remind myself of your issues. As a prediabetic, your blood sugars do not get as bad as mine, as a full blown diabetic. If you are getting low blood sugars then you are possible also dealing with hypoglycemia. I have heard that it can be a precurser to diabetes. I think you should find your own nitch...how many carbs you can eat and still have a good blood sugar reading. You can do this by testing to see what foods spike your blood sugar, 1 hr, 2hr, 3hr after a meal.

Most people who eat low carb stay under 20gm of carb per day. To me, low carb means lower than I used to eat, and I eat more than 20gm per day. Am I losing weight? No Is my blood sugar good? No I just can't seem to find a comfortable position at 20 carbs. So I might not be the right person to be giving you advice.

I agree with you about IE. I'm ok with eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are satisfied, but I don't agree with the way some people interpret "eating what your body wants." To me, your body wants nutrition, and when you are craving what I call "junk food"...snacks, sweets, etc, that is a craving, which is not the same thing. If you give your body nutrition, the cravings will go away. Just my opinion. Don't try posting that on the IE thread!! I did that once and got run off! LOL

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue No I never heard of the Half.com site. I will check it out. I may just try using the GL book I have with the info I saw in the IR book. The only thing I saw that might be helpful in the IR book is the measuring of the foods allowed. The other thing that I noticed in the book that we've talked about before is that we need to learn portion control. The book would help with that. It seems that the legumes servings are only 1/3 c. I saw somewhere else where the are measured by tablespoons. This helps understand why so many salads have them sprinkled in them not the way I usually eat them as a meal. So it might be worth getting the book to learn this. I also noticed a chapter in the book that is geared to helping us unlearn some of the things we have learned wrongly.

Momwithdogs 5.2 A1c is wonderful. As for the carbs on low carb, it depends on which plan you follow. Atkins and Dr. Bernstein's low carb are extremes with Atkins being 20 g and Dr. Bernstein's is 30 g. With Atkins, 1st 2 weeks 15 g comes from certain veggies and after 2 weeks you can add grams in 5 g at a time until you find how many carbs you body tolerates and you still lose weight. I don't think Dr. B allows the added carbs. So as you see, different plans have different amounts and ways of eating carbs. I have to admit that it gets very confusing. I remember putting a new low carb book down and telling my DH, "I am so confused. This book says don't eat carbs, this one says don't eat fat and own and own. I don't really know what you are supposed to do".

I love IE, but I cannot make the decision that ALL foods are okay. Having to deal with BG issues kind of prevents me thinking that way. However, I do believe that the idea of eating only when I am truly hungry is a great way to learn when to eat and eat only as much as I need. I think the old IE rules as we called them can work well with controlling BS. The rules were
1. When you are hungry eat.
2. Eat what you want and savor every bite.
3. Eat only as much as it takes to satisfy your hunger. (Some say until full. I don't like the full feeling.)
4. Stop

Those aren't exact words more my paraphrase. I think it could be done if you realize that as diabetic, there are certain foods that are not good for us to eat. So the idea that there are no Good/Bad foods does not apply to us because there are foods that will kill us if we eat them. So we have to adjust the rules to fit us. For me, I've learned that I need to allow a minimum of 4 hrs between meals and 5 hrs is better. When I was doing IE, I was going 6 hrs before I got hungry and still can do that sometimes. I was told and have read on many diets that you need to eat every 3 hrs and not to go more than 5 hrs without eating. It is when I started making myself eat according to rules of timing, I gained weight and eventually brainwashed to the point to where I have a difficult time thinking I don't have to eat more often even when I'm not hungry. It is so amazing to me to have learned that the way I ate when I was thin and healthy is the way I should be eating today. My doctor still balks a little when I say anything that sounds like what they have learned to call fasting. He says the snack are so we don't get hungry. One thing I learned in IE that I'm trying to get back is that "hunger is not going to hurt me" so am trying to learn to wait until I know I am hungry.

I also learned yesterday when I finally got hungry and ate that it was too close to time when DH and I eat so I had the snack too close to our main meal. I ended up eating cereal last night. I have been hungry for it for days and finally decided to have it. Good thing is I didn't over do it. Just had a small helping which is a big change for me.

My fbs was 132 this morning. Still good considering I had the cereal last night and I stayed up with DH and didn't get to bed until a little after 2 and got up at my regular time this morning. So I'm pleased. I'm going to get back to my breakfast around 10ish. I am using the 4 or 5 hrs between meals which works out great because that means no snacks. It gives me an IF window of 8 to 10 hrs. So I am very pleased. Using the GL plan, I will allow myself 3 serving of high carb foods, but balance it with the protein.

The one thing I don't agree with the IR book about is the dairy. It calls for lowfat. Not going that way except when I have to. I've been dr inking whole milk and I find that it helps me stay satiated longer. This has caused me to think back to when I first drank FF milk.

I had moved to Dallas to live with my aunt and go to work. I had never eating lowfat anything at the time, but she used fat free milk. I would drink that stuff by the gallons. It was like I couldn't get enough. A doctor we knew said that my body needed the calcium. I suddenly realized when I started drinking the whole milk again that it wasn't the calcium that I was needing, it was the fat that I was missing. Doctors still say satirated fat is bad for us, but now they are learning that butter is better than margarine etc that Dr. Atkins knew. I don't use that much dairy so I'm not going to go lowfat. However, I am not going to go high fat either. I'm thinking balance is better.

Have a good day.

[Wannabehealthy]

I opened a new can of strips a couple days ago and every time I tested I first got an error message that there was too little blood and had to test again with another strip. I know it was not too little blood, because with the aspirin I take every day I get an abundance of blood when I prick my finger, and sosmetimes it takes some time to stop bleeding. DH told me it might have been my meter so I bought a new one, even though I didn't think it was the meter. When I tested with the new meter I got a valid reading first time, but I was a little more careful when I did it. So I don't know if it was the meter or not, but now I have 2 meters. My blood sugars were much better throughout the day. Very little carbs. Fasting is still higher than it should be, but that's normal for me.

Trish, I also need to learn the hunger signals, and to do that, I need to avoid snacks. I find that my food tastes so much better if I'm actually hungry when I eat.

As far as IE goes, my BIL who is very overweight eats what he wants.....Junk food all day. His doctor keeps giving him pointers to get him to lose weight but it does no good. DH KNOWS he is eating too much junk because when he's talking to him on the phone he can hear bags rattling and when he asks him what that noise is it's either a potato chip bag or a pretzel bag. He just habitually eats all day. Heaven help him if he develops diabetes. Everything he eats is a carb. No eggs, no meat except sometimes hamburgers, and really no vegetables. He won't come to my house for holidays because he says he can't eat "that stuff." When we go to a family wedding all he eats is cookies. I don't know what's going to happen to him. He goes to the doctor regularly. I think his doctor needs to take charge and put him on a specific diet, telling him what and how much to eat, and when. I don't understand how people can eat like that and here I am, watching every morsel I eat, and can't control blood sugar or lose weight.

[pattygirl63]

I called today a planned cheat day. We went to eat at Golden Corral, but I have to say I did eat more veggies than anything else although I did eat carby foods. I always get my favorite carrot cake when I go there because I would never make or buy a whole one and bring it in this house and we don't go there very often. I really did enjoy the different veggies that were available. I think I'm going to work toward eating more veggies at home.

I read something on line from MFP that said that for weight loss that protein and veggies are important foods for weight loss. Although this was a carby day, I am afraid to make it a habit. So I'll go back to the low carb plan tomorrow. Haven't decided about the IR book yet, I will try to do this without it if I can.

[Wannabehealthy]

I do mainly protein and veggies but don't see a lot of weight loss, but it's important to count calories, too. I need to cut my calories back enough that I feel hungry at mealtime. And I need to eliminate snacks that just keep me from feeling that hunger. Also, they say that smaller meals lower blood sugar. I have what is called "portion distortion." That's what I'm working on now. Also I am increasing my veggies and cutting back on protein.

Trish, I heartily agree with you getting a piece of carrot cake instead of having a whole cake at home. That one piece will satisfy your craving. When I lived alone, when I would go to the mall I would stop in the bakery there and get 1 slice of cheesecake and eat it in the food court. It was a special treat for me, then I didn't have it again until I went back to the mall. I didn't even think about cheesecake in between mall visits.

We are going to have days when we eat more starchy carbs than others. Just remember 80/20.

[momwithdogs]

Thank you both for your input! I guess I am at that point where I could buy myself some time if I get the right plan in place, I just don't know how to do that at all.

Carol Sue- Just bc you don't think you've been successful, doesn't mean you can't dole out advice. Like you guys keep telling me, each one of us needs to tailor our own methods that work for us. What didn't work for you might be perfect for me and vice versa. I'd like to hear anything you feel like passing on.

Oh, I've read the IE thread and it's definitely not the place for me. Actually, I have crossed paths with one of the posters on another non-food related forum and let's just say her posts there do not match her IE passion over here at all.

Trish- You did a great job at Golden Corral! I'm not sure if you should even call it a cheat day. Instead, you knew what you were facing and worked your plan around it. That's a huge win!

Oh, in regards to your BIL, Carol Sue, my DH is exactly the same. He has no food filter and his numbers are perfect, even though he carries almost 80 extra pounds. Sometimes I get furious about it and just want to cry. He has family components on both parents' sides that predisposes him to health issues; maternal grandmother died from Type 2 complications. Just scares the daylights out of me.

Not sure if I ever mentioned this, but I am Asian and adopted, so I don't have any of my medical history available to me. Anyway, it is very rare for an Asian to have diabetes or high BP, until the western diet comes into play. This is how I know I've eaten myself into this state and I am so angry bc fixing it should be so da**ed easy and I can't do it.

[Wannabehealthy]

Momtodogs, I think you will be fine. You have gotten an early warning and should be able to get this under control without much trouble. Once you find out what carbs you can eat and how much, you will be able to put together an eating plan for yourself.

I have heard a lot about how the people in Asian countries were all thin and had few medical problems until the western diet was introduced to them. Actually, when I was growing up, eating was much different than it is now. We ate balanced meals and no between-meal snacking. There was no sweets or snack food in the house. It wasn't until I went out on my own and had my own money that I started socializing with friends and started eating unhealthy foods. Finally it caught up with me. Is your husband Asian too?

Today I cooked chicken on the grill and made some baked potatoes. I scooped out the flesh of the potato and ate the skin, with the little bit of the potato flesh sticking to it. They say that's where the nutrients are, and the crispy skin is my favorite part of the potato anyway. The flesh of the potato got fed to the garbage disposal. LOL

[pattygirl63]

I was amazed that my FBS was 129 this morning and my weight had come back down .6 lb. I really expected it both to be higher after yesterday's heavy carb day. I checked my bs before I ate lunch and it was 108 again. I waited until I got hungry and I went about 5 hrs after breakfast before I got hungry. I've started drinking lemon water hot when I got up this morning and then drinking cold lemon water no sweetner the rest of the time as well as my unsweetened tea. I feel like I've gone back to eating pretty much like I did when I was thin. So I am happy with the way this is going.

I remember how Dr. Rachel Heller one of the authors of CAD/CALP books accidentally found out how she could lose weight. So I decided to start my day out again today with the breakfast I had yesterday. I had my eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast again today and then when it was time to eat, I wasn't hungry. So made DH lunch... he wanted a bacon and tomato sandwich and that just didn't sound good to me. Took me a while to figure out what I wanted and I finally made a big salad and heated up some frozen tailless shrimp in it. I probably will have a snack between 8:30 and 9 so I can take the Januvia.

I feel good about the plan that I seem to have settled into. I believe I have found my own plan.