[Wannabehealthy]

Hello there! Have you been diagnosed with diabetes, or told you are prediabetic? Come and chat with us! We are here to support each other and talk about how we are handling our Blood Sugar.

It seems that we get a lot more views than we get posts. It would be nice if some of those lurkers joined in the discussions and added some different viewpoints!! Don't be shy!

[Wannabehealthy]

Mad, I have never had a fasting BS like yours since I was diagnosed. What have you been eating for your evening snack, and is that the only thing you eat after dinner? I found that a small snack at bedtime helps, but still doesn't get my FBG as low as yours. Also, do you check BS at bedtime?

I agree with you that filling up on vegetables is a good idea. No one ever got fat from eating too many vegetables! I have found recently that adding some chopped vegetables to my morning egg allows me to cut back to 1 egg instead of 2 and still feel full. Lately when we eat out, I have been ordering entree salads. That way I get a lot of vegetables in the form of greens, and a small portion of protein, such as chicken or tuna. I might try a steak salad at TX Roadhouse the next time we go. At home I eat mostly cooked veggies.

Trish, I was very concerned when you said you were going to go back to high fat. You have tried that in the past and quit after a few days because it didn't not work for you. WW seemed to be working so well for you and you stayed on it the longest and showed a good loss with it. I didn't understand why you would quit that and go back to higher fat. Now that I read the link you provided, his plan is not necessarily the high fat that is so popular with so many low carb followers. They pile on the sat fat and eliminate most veggies. I could not do that, and I don't think you would last long on that, either. His is a plan that I tend to aim for, but sometimes fall way by the wayside, but then I head back there, as it seems to be mostly food that I like. I just have a real hard time with portion control. Maybe now that WW taught you more about portion control you will do well with this plan. I hope so. I want to see all of us succeed.

I went through my books last night and there are only a few I want to get rid of. I have 2 books by Dr Hyman. The Blood Sugar Solution and The Ultra Metabolism Diet. I am going to look through them and see how they compare to the information in the link you provided. I want to see if his teachings have changed since then. Many of my books are about diabetes, and I think I know what to do there. It's just getting myself to stick with it.

[p.a.]

Morning everyone!
A new thread

Mad I'm making plans to be outside a lot the next two weeks,,,,I'm done with snow. I see lots of walking coming up. Enjoy it! Good going on your bg number! Snacking at night definitely affects my morning number.

Trish I'm going to look back to find that link. It sounds like exactly how I'm eating these days...it's working for me and my dr agrees.
'Coming back to say I checked out the link and that's how many diabetics are eating now ' it works for me !!

Carol it's scary to eat higher fat. I do but I'm eating healthy fats,,Avacado, a bit of butter , olive oil, egg yolks, cheese,, nuts,,,,I'm not eating chicken wings smothered in bacon and cheese lol..( the old way of eating higher fat)

My dr took away my gliclazide so of course my bg went up...I've been struggling this week to get it back under control. I was having to many lows and that wasn't good. I told her I was scared it would creep back up but she asked me to give it a month. I have to eat even lower carb to get it back down again. My morning bg has been between 6.8 and 7.1 that's high for me. The rest of the day it comes back down to around 6.4. -5.6. Another good thing the weight is coming off again..Im 1 pound away from my lowest number in 29 years..

[Wannabehealthy]

p.a. that's great that you are off the Glipizide and have lost some weight! Good for you! I am still trying to cut back on my Glimiperide. The doctor gave me a higher dose. My plan was to cut the pills in half and try just continuing the 1mg and only taking the 2 mg if I need it. But this past week I have been eating so many carbs and I have needed the 2mg. I have to nip that in the bud right now! I finished off the bagels I bought and have vowed to never buy them again. They are not something I can eat in moderation. It would be great if I could eat half a bagel at a time, but for me it's more like 2 at a time and I get a terrible spike from them.

I don't like the taste of fatty greasy foods. Healthy fats don't taste that way and I don't worry about them because, well, they are called healthy fats for a reason! According to what Dr Hyman says in that link, I am eating too much protein. He says it should just be a small portion like a condiment. I have to cut back on my meat portions. They say a portion should be the size of a deck of cards and mine are usually bigger than that. I always think that it's OK because it isn't carb, but it's still calories. I have cut back on cheese, too, but not altogether. I stopped buying the cheese I like to eat as a snack and just use a sprinkle of shredded cheese for a small taste. I will never give up my vegetables. I'll get this right somehow!

[FickleHearts]

Technically I'm supposed to be LCHF on keto, but I'm watching my calories as well and high fat foods are heavy on those. I eat the skin with my chicken and get fattier cuts of meat, like ribeyes, to add fat though, and I don't skimp on butter on my veggies or cheese on salads. Keeping calories around 1200 is sometimes difficult, but so far not too bad. Calories are first for me, followed by macros. I have a few MPF friends that are total carnivore, and that just isn't for me. It's blasphemous in the keto community, but I'm not all that crazy about bacon LOL. I love my veggies. Broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, greens, squash..... yum!

I'm considering moving from keto to something more like phase 2 South Beach when I get to 180 or so. I'm pretty much going to stay low carb for life, but upping my carb limit to 100 or less seems a bit easier to stomach forever.

I miss pancakes and sandwiches. I had a bit of a meltdown yesterday when my dad cooked pancakes and I couldn't eat them. I almost turned into a blubbering baby. Then my husband refused to eat his because he said I made him feel bad, which made me feel even worse. He eventually ate them, but still. It was really sad, but I'm over it now ROFL!

I'm finally back down to 207 and just about in a size 14. Didn't need the stupid pancakes anyhow.

You have my condolences fatmad about your friend. So sorry for your loss.

[pattygirl63]

This will be a quick one as I have to leave in a few minutes to go for my 3 month checkup which includes a physical. It will not be good lab results or A1c. But it is what it is.

I've been reading the book and watched a video this morning of Mark Hymans. I am going to try making the salad dressing he made. Have to get the ingredients while out today. He uses a lot of veggies and only healthy fats like avocado oil and EVOO. He cooked a flank steak in avocado oil in a grill pan on top of the stove after marinating it for one hour. It really looked good. I am going to try that too.

One of the problems I always had with lowcarb is eating so much protein. He uses it, but not as much as I've seen in some plans. I haven't read far, but I don't think snacks are a piece of meat. I think with the fat he uses that maybe snacks won't be needed. He doesn't cut some foods out completely, but you just don't eat them much.

FickleHearts He uses almond flour and coconut flour to make pancakes. I will have to find out how he does that and let you know.

p.a. Thanks for sharing that you eat this way and that a lot of diabetics eat this way. I am looking forward to getting into eating this way although I will have to ease into it as money is tight right now and I had already bought foods for this month. I will make it work with what I have.

I will go on MFP this afternoon and reset my goals to fit the plan.

Catch y'all later.

[Wannabehealthy]

Today I looked through the 2 books I have of Mark Hyman. He writes about the same food plan in those books too. In the one about Blood Sugar he discusses it as it applies to diabetes. In the one about the Metabolism Diet he discusses it as it applies to weight loss. After reading through, I remembered what I didn't like about his plans. He recommends a LOT of supplements. I take so many pills as it is, I would be taking pills all day and spending so much money if I got all the supplements he recommends. I've never been big on supplements. Otherwise, I like the eating plan. There is probably something I don't like about every diet plan. Since my main problem is portion control, that is what I focus on. I did very well today. I didn't feel like eating breakfast so I didn't. For lunch I had some leftover cooked veggies I had, broc, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and some leftover tuna salad. Then I made dinner, and I had meat loaf and grilled asparagus. I cooked cubed potatoes for DH and ate 2 cubes. I will try very hard not to eat any more today. I need to jump start this plan and get myself used to having less food in my stomach. So far it feels so much better not to feel stuffed. If I get hungry before bed I will eat my one egg with some chopped vegetables.

I havr read alot about low carb pancakes on low carb forums. I like pancakes, but not enough to buy different flour to start making them. DH used to make pancakes often and occasionally I would eat one or two, but he hasn't been making them for a long time. I don't worry about going off plan once in a while for something like that as long as it's something I can control. I use the 80/20 plan. You can google the low carb pancakes and find the recipe.

[FickleHearts]

I once saw a low carb pancake recipe with cream cheese that sounded easy and delicious. I have some almond and some coconut flour. There isn't any reason for me to avoid them really other than I just don't want to cook them. I was just having a bad day yesterday and the kitchen is right by our bedroom. Waking up to the smell of syrup and pancakes was torture. That's okay, I had some rotisserie chicken and then some roast and collard greens last night. I didn't really go hungry for long. Today I splurged a bit and had some fajitas with low carb tortillas. Left over roast and collards for dinner. 31 net carbs for the day, so not too bad. 947 calories.... which is bad. May have to find something to snack on before bed.

[p.a.]

I've made the cream cheese pancakes,,,no added flours. They were good but I had to put sf syrup on them and it ruined the taste....terrible aftertaste.
Carol I refuse to take supplements as well,,,,I never did believe in taking them. And I'm a bagel person to,,,,love bagels!! And can't stop at one.
Trish I'm finding I'm not looking for snacks between meals...the fat is 'supposed' to keep you fuller longer.

[fatmad]

lets see: my bedtime snacks: peanuts (10-12)
peanut butter and SF jam on a low carb shingle (thats what I call these "poppers" they sell at the grocery store, they have 5 calories, are mostly air, but hold spreadable)
cream cheese and SF jam on the shingle

You must eat just before bed, maybe a couple of minutes before you brush teeth.
PA, i think that is the problem with lower carb diets, you can shed the weight, but your liver will dump more glucose overnight. I wasn't able to stick with it long enough to lose enough weight to see if that self corrected eventually. you have been doing great.

I have been having trouble keeping to my points, I seem to have a problem with getting massively hungry about 4 pm and its hard to fill up. I have been having veggies and apples, but eventually turn to nuts or peanut butter, the fat seems to help finally but that of course, means I am dipping into flex points, and after my treats on the weekend, I only have 3 left for Tuesday, wednesday and thursday. See what I must do to correct that.

I hope everyone started the week off well.

[pattygirl63]

Doctor's appointment went very well. My FBG was 6.9. He was happy with that and the fact that I had lost 4 lbs and my lab #s weren't great but they were about the same as before. Since I had the mammogram, he didn't do any poking so that was good. I did make sure that I had a urine test. We always plan to and then talk and forget about it. I haven't been drinking enough water during the cold months and have had some straining a few times so I wanted to be sure all is ok and it was. They have a new pneumonia shot so I got mine today. Never had one bother me, but my arm is sore tonight and I have felt totally wiped out. He kept my meds as is and didn't think I needed to up the Metformin. So it was a good docs visit.

Different nurse took DH and me in and we ended up seeing the doc separately. DH had told me not to talk about Dr. Hyman's book today. But then my bp was up and he checked again. I told him that my bp usually runs in the one teen like this morning was 117/72. My Daddy has problems with his bp not registering in the mornings and the doctors have him drink salt water to bring it back up. Sunday my Sister and her Hubby met Daddy for breakfast. Daddy past out on them and would have fell and hit his head if my BIL hadn't been right there caught him. His sister went down hill and died from having low bp. So I told him that while I don't want high bp, that I do not want low bp either.

I told him that Daddy was from the day when they said don't eat salt so Daddy and Mama never used it. Doc said that they (doctors) had pushed no salt because they thought that was healthier. He said "Now we are saying have your eggs with butter for breakfast". Then I couldn't resist telling him about Mark Hyman's book and what little I had learned so far. YAY He perked up when I mention the book and about eating more veggies. I am so excited that my doctor is right on with how I am eating.

We went to eat at Golden Coral. They didn't have any fish. Even the servers didn't know what was going on. They had fried shrimp instead and I ate that with a small piece of beef roast and loaded up on non-starchy veggies and a salad. Decided to eat my favorite dessert and on the way I saw they had a big batch of fresh fried shrimp set out and I decided to pass up on the dessert and have a few more pieces of shrimp. Came home and changed my goals new ratio goals for the new plan on MFP. I always figure a little high on the servings. Since I didn't have breakfast this morning, I had that for dinner. We did a lot of walking because we went to Sams Club and walked the mall to go make appointment to get eye exam at the end of the month. I am happy to say that my calories ended up being between 1200 and 1300 and thanks to the walking, my carbs etc was within the ratio numbers. The only thing that was up some was the sodium. That used to bother me, but since I've learned that eating the sodium will cut down the muscle spasms I don't worry about it being higher as long as it isn't too high.

DH and I do take supplements per our doctors. I don't intend to add any supplements that Dr. Hyman recommends. I don't want to add any to what we take and I think it is necessary. DH takes a lot of meds with the supplements that the docs have him on already. He would flip out if I added one more. I can't buy the expensive grass fed, organic foods either. I do the best I can with what I can do and trust the Good Lord to help me with the rest.

Sorry this is so long. Hope we all have a great week.

[p.a.]

Mad , your right about the dumping overnight and that's what's happening now...last night I had a low carb snack and my reading was still higher this morning. I keep tweaking, and testing. I had a few strawberrys for my dessert last night I may have to cut out fruit after 4 and just stick to some nuts and cheese for a snack. Those poppers are they the 'chip' type snacks. I love those! I'll buy them for a treat but I eat the whole bag...I have a serious chip addiction.
Trish nice Drs appt! I'm glad your dr is on board with your new way of eating!

I got to change my avatar this morning,,,, 70 pounds now gone. Took me since last August to get back into a 'new' loss... Now to keep the momentum going down.

[Wannabehealthy]

Mad, I wish I knew what these shingles/poppers are and if we have them in the US. What more can you tell me about them? Both you and p.a. are mentioning them, but both of you are in Canada. It does not sound familiar to me at all.

I read something recently that was interesting about overnight liver dumping. I wish I could remember where I read it. This guy said that if your glucose is good throughout the day you should not worry about dawn phenomenon/liver dumping causing a high Fasting Blood Sugar. What is actually happening is that your body is emptying out the excess glucose that has been stored in your liver. If you continue to eat low carb, eventually the glucose in your liver will become less and less and the dumping will slack off. I think when people have high fasting they think their diet is wrong so they change things, when they really just have to wait it out. I have thought about this and it could be correct because I have always heard that your fasting blood sugar will be the last to go down when you are working toward lower blood sugar. I have lowered my fasting blood sugar by taking more Metformin at bedtime than during the day, but what that is doing is keeping my liver from dumping the glucose, not getting rid of the extra glucose. Medicine is not always the answer. Sometimes it just masks the symptoms but doesn't help improve the medical condition. KWIM? I also found that eating 1 egg at bedtime lowers fasting blood sugar for me. That makes sense because an egg is protein and fat. But still it is preventing the liver dump, not getting rid of the stored glucose.

Trish, your A1c is great! My doctor is always satisfied as long as I stay below 7. Good for you for passing up dessert. You don't want to get back in that habit. If you have low blood pressure in your family then you have to be careful. I wish I could get mine down. I am now on 3 different meds for blood pressure for a total of 5 pills a day, just for blood pressure, and it's still not as low as it should be. I do not use much salt, but when I list my food on my online tracker it shows a lot of sodium, so I am getting high sodium in my food without realizing it. I think I have to start entering my food one item at a time and checking to see where the sodium is coming from. I try to eat mostly whole foods and there shouldn't be a lot of sodium. When I was thin I was told my blood pressure was low. If I could lose weight it should improve, but there's the same old story.

Wow, p.a. 70 lbs gone. I am so jealous! I'm thinking of how thin I would be with a 70 lbs loss. It has been so long since I showed a decent loss and I am so jealous. But you did the work to reach that point, so the credit goes to you!! You surely have had so many health improvements as a result.

[Watercolor]

p.a.
Major congrats! 70 pound loss is amazing. I bought a 10 pound sack of potatoes yesterday and it was really heavy - you've lost 7 of those. Keep up the good work!

Pattygirl
Good job getting glucose down to 6.9. Congrats to you.
Glad you had a nice visit with your doctor.

Wannabe
Could you nudge some weight loss by going from 80/20 to 85/15? Might be worth a shot.

Fickle
Yum. I've got to try almond flour, since I can't eat wheat. Sounds amazing.

Mad
Hang in there kid. Good thoughts and comfort for you and Cynthia's family at the funeral and get together today.

ME
Every few months I have sugar cravings. This week I gave in. I'm happy to say though that my FBG only went up to 170. It seems that if I stick to healthy eating, I can occasionally get away with a little off plan food. Kind of an 80/20 rule. Or 95/5 in my caso.

Animal fat vs veggie fat - I enjoy chicken skin and a moist porkchop and I put butter on my veggies. But I no longer enjoy beef - it's seems too heavy and too greasy for me. Interesting.

[FickleHearts]

Okay, need advice and see if I should be concerned. My BG at night before bed about an hour or 2 after dinner has been in the 80's. Last night it was 85. Night before 81. Now, I'm not eating hardly any carbs save what was in the collard greens, but not sure if that is bad or not. In the am it's back up to the 90's, 100 yesterday, but from research I see that's pretty normal for a low carb diet.

p.a. - grats on the 70 lbs!!!!

Trish - always great to have a Dr. up to date on things. Mine too has been very supportive.

For a while there I was taking a bunch of supplements I thought I needed and then realized how silly and expensive it was. Now, I just take met and the occasional magnesium pill for cramps. I probably should go back to the vit D, but I don't see it as necessary anymore now that I'm spending an hour or more in the sunshine every day.

I've got 57 lbs to lose and some days it just seems incredibly daunting. But one step at a time right?