May Chat
 

Welcome to the Diabetes May chat....

I finished the Michele May book and here is my opinion. It has a lot of good information. The thing I liked about it is that it told you how to avoid overeating. Don't eat mindlessly. Eat when you are hungry, stop when satisfied. One hint was after you fill your plate with the amount of food you think you need, eat half of it and then stop for a couple minutes and decide how you feel. Do you still need to eat the rest of it? One of my bad habits is that I put my dinner on a smaller plate so it looks like a bigger portion. But then I use that for an excuse to go back for seconds because I only ate a small portion. I know I do this, but it's hard to stop myself. Yesterday, I cooked extra chicken so I could have a piece leftover for today, but I ended up finishing it before the night was over.

The thing I didn't like about the book is it makes me think that I CAN eat carbs. It tells you to make 1/4 of your plate carbs and eat 45gm of carb at each meal. No matter how many times they tell me it's ok to do this, I know my BS will spike if I do it, but part of me wants to believe them. It would be fine if I wanted to continue to take the glimiperide, but I don't!

Yesterday after dinner I made some oatmeal cookies for DH. I thought about the story of the woman who wanted the 2 cookies, and I ate 2 of them. I normally don't like sweets, but they were really good. When I checked my BS it was 136, so I decided to do a 15 min walk on the treadmill to try to counteract the cookies. It worked, and at bedtime I was at 119. I wasn't hungry, but DH made an egg sandwich and asked me if I wanted some. I ate 1/4 of it, which amounted to 1/2 slice of regular white toast. This morning I was at 176. I just can't eat that bread. I know it. Why do I read something and then think I can eat it? I don't care what Michele May says. Even the Lord's Prayer says "give us this day, our daily bread." Sorry, I can't do it. Carol, get it through your thick head once and for all!

Rant over......

Rennie, my husband has absolutely not a hint of eating disorder, and he thinks the whole idea is rubbish. He gets very upset when he sees women eating in the car. He said "She's going to go home and tell her husband she's starving because she didn't eat anything all day." He's probably right in many cases but I try to explain to him that she could be someone with a very busy schedule that just didn't have time to fit a decent meal in. I didn't eat in the car because I used to drive a manual transmission for years, and you need both hands to do that. On top of that, I smoked. There's only so many things you can do at one time. But when I worked at this one job, there was a McDonald's on the way, and I stopped every morning for a breakfast sandwich to take to work. Sometimes, when they had BOGO or 2fer I would get 2 sandwiches. After I left that job I no longer passed a McDonald's going to work, but I didn't lose weight!! I guess I was making up those calories and fat somewhere.

Our thread was very busy yesterday. It was so good to see everyone here and chattering away!

I can't believe it's May already!

Thanks Carol Sue for starting the new thread :) On the bread, it's just white bread. I can't handle it either so I just don't eat it other than the occasional biscuit and I can't handle those either. What is in bleached flour?????
I also drove a manual transmission for many years :), I also smoked while driving (burned the plastic on the front of my radio up :D) but I did many things while driving. I just learned how to do what I wanted. I lived in VA and worked in DC so I was on the road a long time everyday. Often times when you eat just to be eating you forget what you have eaten. or that you even ate depending on how long it has been. I still eat in the car but it's usually an Atkins bar on my way some where so that I don't eat what I have no business before I get there.

Shannon yep May has smiled upon us. :)

Well I did my A1c test this morning I will mail it this afternoon. According to the chart my A1c should be at least 6. something :crossed: which is way better than the 10.5 I had before. Todays fbs was down 2mg to 134 not great but not bad. I wonder if it's the strips (you all had me thinking this morning). Also my weigh in .... Ladies 159.8. I have never seen the 150's except in 92-93 when I was pregnant with my first.

Feeling good :carrot:

Rennie CONGRATULATIONS girl for being in the 150s and having brought your fbs down so. You are doing so great. I am so proud of you girl.:carrot: Now to just get my tail back on track and to stay there. It is strange how our bodies work isn't it. I can handle the eggs, but not the Atkins bars... just the opposite from you. That's why 1 way of eating doesn't not fit all. Oh yes, I wish I had known that I could have sent the bars to you, but I already promised to take them to my daughter when I go to see her. Sorry:(

Shannon Your's and Rennie's stories of the messy kids cooking in the kitchen brought back fond memories of when we used to have family gatherings at DH#2's grandmothers. That woman was a really good cook and I learned loads of great info from her because she had gone through the depression. DH used to say I could get more meals than anyone he ever saw out one chicken, but I had learned how from her. But any way that woman would cook and us granddaughter-in-laws would clean up the kitchen. We used to laugh joke about how that "woman must have dirtied every pan she owned" and our reward was to enjoy eating and then cleaning up..:D You are good at making memories with your daughter. She will really enjoy the Y camp and cooking and you will enjoy the "me time".

Carol Sue We sound so much a like. I saw you write about the Sara Lee bread and though... "If I'm going to count calories I could switch to that. My daddy eats that". I did fine yesterday. You know what I really have learned I need to just count carbs and do Atkins.

Yesterday I did pretty good, "to start with". I had the tacoless taco and was so proud of myself because I ate half and put the other half in fridge for after church. Got to church and Tony and the preacher were talking about how they try to stay away from sweets and how hard it was. I piped up and said "I don't crave the sweets" which is true, "my problem is I love chips... any kind of chips -- potato chips, corn chips nachos". I swear before I left someone had made and brought some different flavored chocolate balls candy etc. Now I never eat on Wednesday night because I don't want to get in the habit + that lady always make some kind of sweets for those who want it can eat it. Everyone was talking about how good they were. What did I do? This woman who never wants or craves something sweet went over there and I ate one. Now granted it was "just" one, but I left wondering "what was I thinking?" I had just in one candy ball abolished a day's good job of low carbing.

I had to go by the store and I decided to get beef jerky and some kind of turkey things. I actually am glad I did that though because I even stood in the check out and told DH that I was going to buy a whole bunch of them for our trip for snacks or meal replacement.

Well, here is what I learned last night. If I had been far enough along on low carbing, 1 candy ball would not have hurt me so that isn't a biggy except for timing. (Carol Sue an occasional slice of bread or whatever won't be a big deal when we get our fbs under control. We just know that we can't do it on a regular basis. But for now we need to focus more on what we are trying to accomplish.)

The big lesson is I WILL NOT be taking beef jerky or anything like that on my trip. I will be figuring out something else out between now and then. With the sugar of the candy ball & it really wasn't real big and the surgar that was obviously in both the jerky and turkey thing, it almost made me gag. If nothing else, I will rely on the Atkins shakes if I have too and by then I should be able to add nuts for snacks as well. Atkins book talks about a sugar-free jerky but I haven't seen it.

So saying all that, I've come to the conclusion that I must do low carb. My fbs was 150 this morning up from yesterdays 144. I have a A1c in a month and 4 days. I have just enough time to get back OP Atkins Induction. Since I need to do Atkins Induction for longer than 2 weeks and I know DH is going to derail me with eating out some, I will have to us Carbohydrate Addicts Diet for my back up on those days which means when I have to eat somewhere that does not make Atkins feasible I will have what CAD calls a Reward Meal. That way I know I will still be on plan. In fact when we go on our trip, CAD may be the way for me to go so that I will not ruin all my hard work with weight loss and lowering my fbs. Twelve years ago I lost 78 lbs doing CAD, so I know it is a safe back up for me. May end up doing that anyway eventually. But the weight loss on that is slow and Atkins is quicker and will get me the healthier #s faster and also keep me from having to take anything other than Metformin for bs.

Sorry this is so long. Guess I just need to put it out there so I can see it and hopefully make it real to me. Today is Day #1 back on AI. DH said something about going to the fish place today, but never pinned down on it before I went to bed. We need batteries for the 3D glasses so we can watch some movies and the ones he got were the wrong ones. I'm going to look on the Taco Bell website and see what they have that I can eat because they are in with Long John Silvers otherwise, I will be doing a CAD day today instead of Atkins.

Have a good day Chickies.

Thanks Trish and family comes first anyway. :hug: I hope she likes the bars, my kids like them :) I am just like you with the chips (I must stay away from them) one turns into a serving, serving into a half bag ... bag gone :( LOL I kick myself too when I eat perfectly all day and in the evening I eat something I clearly know I had no business eating (like you said timing is key). My son made fried chicken for dinner last night. I was a good girl, I ate my chicken before church so when I got home I just had water while they ate :) Check the sodium in your jerky also, I don't eat it but most packaged meats have a ton of sodium. On your post being long (which it wasn't it is fine) ... see what happens when you stay away ;) other than being missed :hug:

I like making memories in the kitchen but my Type A personality always ends up irritated, lol! The hubby has a training class for 2 weeks straight in June out of state. Thank God the cooking camp falls on the second week he will be gone. I will be fried after the first week. I love love love my daughter but she is super clingy and doesn't ever want to play alone so it is exhausting spending an entire day with her, esp at 40 and overweight. Even when he's done with work the hubby barely spends any time with her so it's all me, all the time. Preschool two mornings a week this year has been such a lifesaver for me. It ends in 3 weeks for summer and I am scared, lol.

Good luck with AI! We really love hearing from you Trish! Please post more :hug:

Before I started this new way of eating it was very common for me to eat an entire bag of chips, crackers, etc. in the evening. My daughter would often ask for something at lunch the next day only to be told they were gone since the previous lunch. It was awful and embarrassing. It's hard to believe I haven't eaten more than couple tortilla chips in the past month. No cheese crackers (like cheez-its), no potato chips, no vanilla cream wafers, no ritz crackers.....amazing. The stuff is still in my house. I buy it at the store for my hubby. But I don't eat it. So amazing. Don't get me wrong, I do sometimes want it and sometimes think how easy it would be to grab it on the way out the door or at night when I'm feeling bored. I just know now that it's not worth it. Losing this much weight by cutting out those things has made it crystal clear what they do to me and I am no longer interested in "being friends" with such ill-intentioned items.

Carol Sue - Does Whole Grain bread make you spike like that? I was fantasicing someone last night about olive garden breadsticks that I probably should never touch with a ten foot pole...

Renni - Congrats on the weight loss!

patty hope the carbohyrdates addicts diet is your ticket :-D

Kinda tired, got home late from working out and waiting for chicken to bake in the oven so I can make supper. I don't even know if my workout counted, I couldn't push myself to get my heart rate about 135.. i feel as if I'm kinda pathetic for that. Ah well...:-|

I used to hate the leftovers from dinner. I put them in little containers and on trash day retrieved them and threw the contents out. Hubby won't eat leftovers and I didn't either. Now I get excited when there are leftovers from dinner...that's lunch tomorrow or the next day!! :D I used to read about people who ate leftovers for lunch and thought 'yuck'. LOL! When we don't have leftovers at dinner now I always feel a little sad.

Until now I've never really bought into low carb. I even worked for 8 years at a company specializing in cardiovascular and diabetes research where my boss was the scientist who founded the company. I watched him eat low carb every day and talk about what the studies were showing regarding low carb and I still didn't really buy it enough to try it. When I met my hubby he was low carbing. He lost 75 lbs while we were friends. We got married and I told him his way of eating was not healthy. He stopped and has since gained 120 lbs. To say I was a well informed skeptic is putting it mildly, lol. But now I see what the carbs were doing to me. That being said plenty of folks can follow calorie in calorie out ideals and even low fat high carb and lose weight. But my guess is genetically they handle carbs really well and have no insulin resistance. That is not me.

Oh what a day! I volunteered in the office at preschool today but got done early so I had some time to run a few errands and treat myself to lunch out alone. I went to Panera and got their Cobb Salad with Avocado. A few hours after that I felt a little off so I checked my BS but it was 104 so no idea. This afternoon we headed to Aldi to restock groceries. I am tired and probably going to bed early but I must shower first! I did weigh today and the scale is going down - yay! I think the pause is over for this week, thankfully! I think I'd like to reach my next mini goal of a 10% loss over the next couple weeks. It is now May and I have so many big days. Our 7th anniversary is next Tues and I made reservations at a fancy steakhouse we go to most years on our anniv. I will eat whatever I want that night! They have really good sweet potatoes, not sure I can turn that down. Next Thursday is Muffins for Mom day at preschool and I know my daughter will not really understand if I don't eat a muffin with her. Then there is Mother's Day and my 41st bday and then at the end of the month there is vacation. It's going to be a tough month for weight loss.

Hi! I'm new here and newly diagnosed. I hope I can join you all.

Right now I'm just a little disappointed in myself for walking into this. It's not like I thought I could be 41, way over weight, and sedentary and there would be no consequences ;-)

Welcome! So glad you are joining us! I was aware I was prediabetic for 7 years before I took any personal ownership of it.....don't be so hard on yourself!

Shannon I know what you mean on clingy. Two of ours are like that, one is easing up he's 15 but he still comes to check to see if I'm still in the house or something, idk :shrug: and the other of course is my baby. She will go to sleep on the couch because she wants to near me. I tell her, Mommy will be here when you wake up, I promise (since I wake her up she knows that) :D. When my now 15 year old was little I called him my hip baby I did everything with him on my hip because if I put him down or left him he would scream. It would drive me nuts. The youngest is all my doing. Having her at 38 it is what it is :) On the snacks. I don't care for cheese crackers so they can be here forever (they have always made my mouth dry) now if Nabisco still made tidbits in the red box oh my, I would binge for sure. Crackers I had turned to the premium unsalted rounds and when I first started eating them I would eat the serving and be done. Then one day I ate a half of a box. I thought you have got to be kidding me. I stopped buying Ritz because of that now I can't eat those :dizzy: Sour cream and onion chips Utz brand are my poison. I will eat those things until I am sick. So of course I don't buy them anymore. Shannon that's a wonderful all around NSV to be able to say NO to those ill-intentioned items. You have certainly got one up on me there my friend. Consider all of those dates as cheat days and since you like those things I would actually take the time to log the food and record what it does and how your body reacts, something to do at the end of the day :) Just a thought :)

Thanks silentartic :), Olive Garden anything gives me a spike. Did you know there house salad is like 300+ calories? I eat it anyway and call it my cheat day :) On the subject of your heart rate - tired is tired, your body spoke and you listened. You'll have a better workout tomorrow, get some rest :hug:

TheSecondHalf :welcome: to the thread. Don't be disappointed. I knew that I was borderline and did nothing to prevent it so here I am. Lots of information here from great people :)

olive Garden Salad

Not only 350 calories... BUT ALSO 25 g of fat and... 22 carbs and....1930 grams of sodium!!!!!!

TheSecondHalf :welcome3: Glad you decided to join us.

silentarctic I'm not doing CAD except on days when I have to eat in a place where I have no other choice. My main diet/way of eating is low carb. My goal is to eat no more than 40 carbs most days.

I'm checking in tonight before I head to bed because my neighbor is an earlier riser and she is coming over at 8 am for coffee before I head to the beauty shop. I changed my appt to Friday this week. Thinking about Friday my regular appt day.

I am actually eating low carb not Atkins Induction. I went on MFP and changed the ratio of protein, fats and carbs as best that I could. I'm not doing AI because I'm eating 1/8 c beans a day which makes my carb count above 20 g. I ended up with less than 40 g which I believe is actually good giving me a little fiber. I even kept my sodium under 2300 g which I hope isn't too low because that means leg cramps. And my calories were less than 1600 which MFP allows me 1660. Got plenty of exercise too. So I had a very good OP day.

I am going to the grocery store after beauty shop. I will check back when I get home.

We ended up eating dinner (tacos, LOL) at 3PM since I hadn't had lunch, and then I wasn't hungry the rest of the night. When I went to bed my BS was 126 and when I got up this morning it was 124. Barely moved. I wonder if early dinner and nothing else before bed was the reason. I'm going to have to try that again and see what happens. I didn't get hungry at all in the evening. I also wonder what my BS did during the night. Did it just stay even, or did it go up, or down and then just happen to end up the same. I'm obsessed with my BS. My weight is down 1/2 lb.

Artic, I never checked to see if whole grain bread spikes my BS. I keep multi grain bread in the freezer but I rarely eat it. Most of the time when I have bread it's when DH is eating something and shares with me, and he always eats white bread. A lot of bread labeled as wheat bread is not really whole grain. Bread is very dangerous for me, even whole grain. One slice usually leads to a bread binge. If I DO eat it, I have to be very conscious of what I'm doing and fight to stop at one serving, so I'm better off not to eat it at all.

I don't think a high intensity workout is necessary for blood sugar control. It IS for weight loss, but IMO movement is better than no movement. Just keep moving every day. Intensity and endurance will follow eventually.

SecondHalf, WELCOME to the chat! I'm glad to see you. I was the same as you, shocked that my high weight gain brought on diabetes. Not everyone who is overweight gets diabetes. Shannon told us about her husband who had perfect lab results in spite of the fact that he's overweight. Don't dwell on what got you here, that's in the past. Now you are doing something about it and that's what's important.

Laurie - Thanks for the info about Olive Garden salad. We don't go there because they focus so much on pasta and bread sticks, neither of which I need, but that must really be some salad! What is in it that makes it so bad? To me, a salad is a mixture of green leafy vegetables. I'm glad to see you're reading. Stick around. It sounds as thought you could give us a lot of information we could use.

Trish, I think you can count calories AND be low carb. I did it while on WW and I lost. I want to get back to tracking on Fitday just to see where I stand. I just go according to my BS, weight and how I feel, but don't really know how many calories, carbs, protein or fat I'm taking in.

Shannon, there are a lot of people who will argue that low carb is unhealthy, but it is LOW carb, not NO carb. We do eat carbs, they are just low glycemic carbs. It's true that carbs provide energy, but I don't think they have to be starchy carbs and definately not at the quantity that the American diet supplies. Protein also turns to glucose eventually, it just takes longer, which is what we need as diabetics. Back when, there were diets that were high protein and fat and not much else. They gave low carb a bad name, I think.

Rennie, you have come such a long way since you started posting here. I remember thinking our weight and blood sugar was about the same. There is no way that you haven't greatly improved your A1c.

You are into the next decade! Woot! Woot!

Good morning lovelies! It's probably a fluke but my daughter slept 11 continuous hours in her bed last night. This has only happened a few times since birth. I feel like celebrating! Of course it happened on a night I tried to go to bed early but had trouble falling asleep (even with melatonin). I thought my tea at lunch was decaf but I'm thinking now that it wasn't. Also I got some horrible news late last night about friends at my old company being laid off. Anyway, the daughter sleeping calls for party hats! :celebrate:

I'm making scrambled eggs this morning. I'm starting to worry about whether I'm getting too much BPA exposure with the eggs in baggies. I wasn't worried before but now I eat them that way 6-7x/week rather than once or twice a week.

Hoping to hit up the library today since storytime has started back up!

Yep, weight seems to actually be a symptom of insulin resistance, not causative, from what I read. Hubby has been overweight since age 5 or 6, lost weight in high school through college and then overweight since. He did lose down from 375 to 300 (he is 6'4") before we married but he is now (7 yrs later) 420. He has had perfect glucose, A1c and lipids the entire time. He was exercising when we met but has been sedentary for the last 5 yrs.

wannabe - Okay, I just guess, I was told to do 150 minutes moderate intensity activity mimum by my health care team, which makes me feel like everything else I'm doing isn't good enough. As for your BS's Even though its not prescriped I kind of want to get a glucose meter BUT I'm petrified of lancing my fingertip I know thats silly but true it freaks me the heck out I don't know why. Hope you are doing well.

Shannon - Glad your daughted had a good night.

I am sleepy today. Went to a friends and :-\ was bad, had a glass of wine and even a cookie last night. This is ridiculous, I know better but I still do stupid things. :-|

No coffee visit with neighbor this morning. She wanted sit on the front porch and visit and it will have to be high than 53 degrees for me to sit on the porch in the morning and do anything. :dizzy:

My ticker is right own this morning and my fbs was back down to 125. So I evidently have the calories and carbs ration where it needs to be. I've decided to think about this differently with a new attitude. I know that if I want normal bs that I have to eat low carb so I have to change my focus from what I cannot and may never be able to have again to what I can have that I really, really like that possibly I couldn't have on a regular lowfat/low calorie diet.

My new favorite breakfast has become 2 eggs, 2 sl bacon, 1 sl American cheese and 1/2 avocado. Once cooked, I mix them together in a bowl and eat it and drink my coffee. On lf/low cal, you usually cannot have the regular bacon, cheese or avocado because of the fat and high calories. So I think of it as a real treat of low carbing. Plus the benefits of an avocado and eggs are tremendous.

Carol Sue When reading the New Atkins Diet Made Easy, they say the same thing about most people think that Atkins/low carbing is high protein/high fat, but she says it was never meant to be a plan where you ate all the meat and fat that you want. In this book, she clarifies things better. Women should have between 4 to 6 oz of meat at a meal depending on how big she is. Average men are to eat 6 oz while a man 6 foot tall or taller may need 8 oz. She goes on to say that if you eat too much protein and or too much fat that you will not lose weight and you may even gain weight. She also stresses the fact that we are to eat at least 12 or 15 g of daily carbs are to be good low glycemic veggies. I was so glad to read that because I also thought you had to eat a lot of protein and fat and I couldn't do it because it actually made me gag. Now she says that you do need to eat healthy fats and while you do not have to cut the fat off of the meats you eat, you sure can if you want to. I had someone tell me recently "You know low carb is really bad for diabetes". I said, "Really? Then why is it that when I eat low carb that my blood sugar becomes normal and when I eat carbs it goes up?" She said, "Oh, well that is just what I heard".

This is why we who are working to control our blood sugar needs to know why we do what we do. I know from what I've read that Diabetes can be reversed. And I know other people do it other ways. I just know that their way does not work for me and this does. And as my doctor would say "the numbers don't lie".

I talked to my sister Monday and she had just come back from WI in WW and she had gained one lb. They were waiting to get news of her DH biopsy and she had emotional eaten and she knew it. She said she was actually thankful her weight wasn't higher. She weighs more than me poor thing and had lap band surgery a few years back and can only snack and doesn't lose weight very well. We talked about stress eating and I told her "I think we need to just calm down and do whatever way we are using to diet and enjoy it and not worry about losing weight in a hurry". I honestly believe we sometimes get stressed out about our weight and we get into a circle of emotional eating because we set goals too high.

So I've got the plan that works for me and I'm not going to worry about how fast or slow I lose. I'm just going to focus on what I can do and enjoy the journey. Not going to worry about what I can or cannot eat on the trip in June. There are ways to make this work. I know 4 little ladies at church who are sisters in their late 80s and early 90s. The eat at Wendy's once a day for lunch. They live together and have 2 refrigerators and each has her own side of the fridge with their own food. No one bothers the other. One is diabetic and low carbs Dr. Bernstien's diet. She shared with me one day what she eats. She eats a boiled egg for breakfast which she buys at the grocery store, eats la salad at lunch at Wendy's, has 1 frankfurter at another mealtime or snack. She drinks Hoods chocolate low carb/low cal milk. I think she is one of the ones in her 90s and she gets around really good. So I figure if she can do that daily then I can use her idea to make this work on my trip because if nothing else I can get hard boiled eggs (not my favorite but in a pinch) on my trip.

Got to get running. I've become chatty this morning.

Have a good one Chickies. You are all great.

Laurie yeah I was so shocked to see that ... I should have known something that taste that good couldn't be good for you. And I honestly eat almost all of it and ask for more each time we go because only my daughter and I eat it. My husband and the boys won't touch it. Thank goodness we don't go but maybe twice a year if that :D

ONE NEEDS TO KEEP WATCH ON THIS THREAD - IT'S A NOVEL MORE DAYS :dizzy:

Trish it's crazy that MFP won't allow you to adjust the nutrition fully the way you want. I'm glad you are in tuned with everything. You'll have the right balance for sure :)

Thanks Carol Sue :) Good job on the half pound down :high: It's mainly the dressing that is so high calorie for Olive Garden.

it is LOW carb, not NO carb. We do eat carbs, they are just low glycemic carbs. It's true that carbs provide energy, but I don't think they have to be starchy carbs and definitely not at the quantity that the American diet supplies. Protein also turns to glucose eventually, it just takes longer, which is what we need as diabetics. <-- well said

I hit post before I was finished ...

Shannon :yay: on your daughter sleeping 11 hours. She must have been exhausted. Great day in pre-school :) Sorry about the lay off of your friends. I hope they get some type of severance pay. What is BPA?

silentartic, 150 minutes a week? Welcome to that part of the journey "stupid things" I sure do enough of them. Don't beat yourself up. Even though I do too ... I try to make them learning experiences. I think you did great, one cookie, ha I would've had a few :D

Trish it was chilly this morning here also 55, yesterday was pretty warm and the day before was hot at 6:10am (that's the time that I leave out for the bus stop each morning). I like your breakfast minus the avocado (I have only tasted it once and didn't care for the flavor)

I had someone tell me recently "You know low carb is really bad for diabetes". I said, "Really? Then why is it that when I eat low carb that my blood sugar becomes normal and when I eat carbs it goes up?" She said, "Oh, well that is just what I heard". Good for you Trish :high:

I just know that their way does not work for me you are on a roll today my Sister :)

My fbs was down to 130 but I opened a new vial of strips (not sure if I should have done that or not) but I think it's crazy that no matter what I eat my fbs is 134-136 ... so we shall see. I have them separated and I will even use a different finger because this is crazy to me.

Thought you all would enjoy reading this
http://authoritynutrition.com/5-cont...t-advice-ever/

Welcome Restless! Killer is a cutie! We look forward to hearing about your progress and getting to know you!

Restless :welcome: to the thread :) Hooray for Killer :high: I use to drink ACV in the evening and here lately I forget. Thanks for the reminder :) All I do is walk so any walking that you can do is great in my opinion and it's a start. Great A1c's also :)

I'm thinking we are becoming the team to beat! I'm loving all the newbys.

Welcome Restless. Thank you for bringing Killer to our forum. Love him! We are just a friendly group who are working to control our weight and diabetes by comparing notes between ourselves. We will help you!

Shannon, Good article! It reminds me of a woman we know who eats the Dean Ornish diet, which is extremely low fat, vegetarian. She has had 5 heart attacks! I keep wanting to tell her to get off that diet, but her doctors told her to follow it.

Artic, You seem to be very down on yourself. We will change that! :) I too was told at Cardiac Rehab that for health you need 150 min per week of moderate intensity, and to lose weight you need 300 min per week. I think your health team told you this for a goal. If you start out slow but steady, eventually you will work yourself up to what they are suggesting. If you try to jump in with both feet you might get discouraged. If you are constantly thinking that what you are doing is not enough, you will give up. Instead, think that what you did today was better than what you did yesterday. I walk on my treadmill while watching TV and sometimes I get so engrossed in the show that it's over before I realize how long I walked. One of the reasons I don't like to go to a gym is I have had strangers tell me that I need to increase my intensity. I just nod and smile, but I would like to tell them "You don't know anything about me. You don't know my medical conditions or my limitations." I think a stroll down the block is using more energy than sitting my my recliner pushing buttons on the remote.

Rennie, my step-daughter talked about guacamole so much I had to try it, and I liked it. But to make it just for myself, it goes bad before I can eat it all. I will buy 1 avacado once in a while but I can't eat them fast enough to keep them in the house. DH won't go near them. LOL

Trish, I definately cut the obvious fat off my meat. I can't even eat crispy chicken skin anymore. So I have cut back on fat, but it seems that when I enter my food into Fitday I end up with more fat than I thought. It's hidden in a lot of foods. Also, because of all the eggs I eat, a lot of fat comes from the yolks. I only concern myself with sat fat, and Fitday breaks it down.

I eat way more vegetables than is recommended in any formal low carb diet, but how can vegetables be bad? They are very low calorie, low fat except for what you add in cooking, high in fiber, very high in nutrition. Cooked vegetables are only 1/2 cup per serving, and when I eat wilted Kale I probably eat 2 cups cooked at one time. 1/2 C would be one bite! :D So I can't follow a formal diet. I have to do my own thing. Eat as nutritiously ad I can, and go by the way I feel. If I fill myself up with vegetables, what harm did I do? What am I missing here? If filling up with vegetables helps me stay away from other less nutritious foods, I can't be wrong. Right? So I don't understand any diet that limits vegetables. Even those like peas, carrots, corn, limas or other beans. Joel Fuhrman says the fiber and nutritional value outweights the higher carb count. And I only eat them when I eat mixed vegetables, like in soup.

I think I gave away my CAD book because I just couldn't do that one, but I am going to get out my Atkins books and see what their reasoning is. I understand that they are all about weight loss, but I am also trying to get as much nutrition into my body as I can. If that slows my weight loss, so be it.

I am in NO WAY criticizing your choices. I am just trying to understand their reasoning.

It's the same way with milk. When I was first diagnosed, they had me drinking 3 cups of skim milk per day. I loved it, and I felt that it helped me satisfy my hunger and lose weight. Now everyone is saying people should never drink cows milk. LOL If I drink it now, I feel ashamed, as if I smoked a cigarette. A cup of milk can stave off my hunger for a long time.

I just looked online for Olive Garden salad. Most sites said that it was anywhere from 110 to 150 calories, depending on if it included croutons or dressing. The only site that said it was 300 cals was SparksPeople. I can understand 300 or more if it contained things like meat and cheese or eggs, but not a vegetable salad. Dressing can really raise the calorie count depending on which dressing you choose and how you use it. I have been told to dip the fork in the dressing and then into the salad, to get a small taste of the dressing with each bite of salad. I do that sometimes, but not always. But if you are going to eat one of the entrees at Olive Garden, the salad should be the least of your worries.

Congrats Rennie - into the 150's!

2ndHalf - We all get disappointed in ourselves. We just have to be determined to do something about it. Forward!

Restless - ACV - I didn't know about that. I try to stay away from vinegar though because it inflames my rosacea but a teaspoon might be okay. I'll try it.

Shannon - I used to eat whole bags of chips etc also. I live alone now but when my son was still at home that was really embarrassing. Have not done that in 2 months, been on the low carb train, UNTIL LAST NIGHT! Ate almost a whole pizza! I was craving it all day. Plus I was tired from lack of sleep all week and that pizza just called my name all day long. You know how you think you deserve a reward after a long week??

Well FBS was 204 this morning! The highest it has ever been ever! What a shock! I started drinking water, ate some nuts and cheese and got on the treadmill and now it is 188. My A1C has always been very high 6's, not into the 7's. So it's like I'm really realizing for the first time that I have a major problem with carbs, not just borderline anymore. I cannot play with this again.

Shannon again - I agree about the BPA even though your eggs procedure sounds so efficient.

Carol Sue that's scary, the heart attacks, her not changing her plan because a doctor told her to it. My grandmother was that way she only believed what the doctor this one doctor told her and when he passed we had to fight with her to go to a new doctor and it was a mess. She wouldn't listen to anyone and she passed only believing what the former doctor had told her. My Mom was kind of the same way until they told her something (I forget actually what) and I told her that's it find a new doctor now. They are making you ill and each time you go they find something new. She went to a new dr and they took her off most of that medicine. My Mom is tiny she weigh about 105.

If you start out slow but steady, eventually you will work yourself up to what they are suggesting. If you try to jump in with both feet you might get discouraged. If you are constantly thinking that what you are doing is not enough, you will give up. Instead, think that what you did today was better than what you did yesterday. <--- love it :)

You don't know anything about me. You don't know my medical conditions or my limitations." <-- I would tell them this, I guarantee they'd never say it to anyone else again, because you made them think, which they obviously weren't doing :hug:

I read some where recently that we should get up every couple of hours and move. I didn't know that. Says it's better for the heart than sitting for hours at a time.

I ate it at a restaurant so I don't know anything about it. Do you have to cook it? or do you just peel it and eat it? I've also been interested in egg plant but I have never had it.

on sat fat ... I keep hearing about how good coconut oil is for you. Then I read a thread that said look at the saturated fat? I thought ok I have a jar of this stuff and it's not cheap. Also on margarine (Promise) vs butter ... my goodness what can we eat? :dizzy: That is so true about Kale or any cooked green for that matter. A bag of baby spinach says three cups is a serving, but cooked you do good to have a cup and a half :) IMO filling up on veggies nope you can't go wrong :) I don't drink as much milk as I use to and I have now even taken to drinking plain low fat soy milk. But I would have a cup of milk if I wanted :) Olive Gardens salad always has the dressing in it with the croutons. You're right without it it's low calorie. But no one that I know dislikes their house salad so voila there's your high calories on that big plate :) I never thought to dip my salad into the dressing, that's a great idea :)

Thanks Kris :) I blew it some how ... I'm back into the 160's today ;) ***light bulb went off thank you*** I complained on another thread about being bloated yesterday and the night before, it was the ACV. I love this thread, thanks :)

Ok as I said above I was bloated yesterday and the night before and could not figure out what on earth was going on. I thought TOM was coming again
:( I had not have the ACV in a while because I just forgot/stopped idk. So that had to be it but I'm still a little bloated today also. So with that said scale is up 2lbs to 161.6, rings aren't tight but not spinning like usual either and I am a little uncomfortable in the tummy area :)

Good morning everyone!

I've got to start working on meal planning for the week. I'm horrible at it, hate planning ahead when it comes to food - I am more of a free spirit when it comes to dinner - but it has just become so stressful to me lately. 4 pm comes around and I am scrambling. Now that I utilize boxed products so much less I really cannot wait til the last minute to throw something together. So, I am going to work on that some today while my hubby has my daughter out picking up a birthday gift for her friend's party tonight.

I also am still going to bed too late. I am so tired every morning. I'm not a morning person so that doesn't help but really I just stay up too late. I like my extra time after my daughter goes to bed and I can finally think but it's becoming a real problem for me. Every morning I swear I'm going to go to bed earlier that night and finally change, lol! And every night I push the clock, oh just a few more minutes! I'm on my iPad too much at night too, surfing the web (and 3FC). That is definitely not helping. The hubby watches movies and stuff at night. Sometimes we watch a show together but mostly he plays video games and watches TV while I clean the kitchen or bake or just sit around looking at my iPad. What an exciting life, huh?

Today I woke up and was not as hungry as usual so I didn't have my eggs. What I did have was perfectly fine in terms of being "filling" but now, I'm feeling hungry like I wish I'd had my eggs. Weird! I guess I'll have a big lunch! My weight today was great, I am very close to hitting the 20 lb mark!

This birthday party tonight is at dinnertime but I just looked at the place online and it looks like the food will be pizza, soda and cake. Yep.

Hang in there Rennie just give it a little time and you'll be back in the 150s - that scale likes to bounce around and get us all flustered. Little bugger!

Kris I don't think pizza likes you! I have not had pizza in over a month and I've never tested after pizza. I may end up eating some at the birthday party tonight. If I do I will definitely test to see what it does. I know that I get an elevated reading after pasta. I've never had a reading that high but I'm much earlier in my progression than you but I remember the first time I saw a reading in the 150s and was like WHAT?! I had no idea my glucose was rising that high, the highest I had seen it at fasting was maybe 117 so I figured that was as high as it ever went, LOL!

I am really bummed about the BPA - I love my eggs like that and it is so easy PLUS while it boils I have 13 minutes to clean my kitchen and I don't even have to watch the eggs....it has really been a life saver. I made scrambled eggs yesterday and it was not the same, today I was so sad I didn't even try to make eggs. I need to find a substitute method because that breakfast has really helped me start my day off right.

Carol Sue I puffy heart LOVE guacamole! I buy 3-5 avocados a week and I am the only one here who eats them! I am not a milk drinker but hubby is, I buy 2-3 gallons a week for him (Olivia drinks soy milk - she had tummy problems as a baby and though I've tried, I can't get her to drink regular milk). I like milk okay just have never loved it. I did hear one time though that milk was just liquid carbs. Since I don't drink it I've never tested after. Have you? I've just always wondered about that statement since it does have protein and fat. Hubby drinks 2%. He used to drink skim and I finally told him I wouldn't buy it anymore - I just don't think it is very filling and was hoping he would drink less if it was more filling (not sure if that has worked, lol!)

Shannon you and your husband sound like me and mine. One is on the sofa one is in front of the tv. My husband turns the tv as soon as he gets up, drives me nuts because I like quiet. Even if he gets on the computer he will turn the tv on. I can stay in here all day and never turn it on, unless I hear something on the radio news that I want more information on :). I go to bed way too late also ... I try to go to bed by 10 but most times it just doesn't happen. 3FC has consumed me for so many years (as long as I am working on me anyway). My kids have told me to get off 3FC. Before that we all use to play farmtown and cafe world on FB then we just stopped. On the subject of pizza, I eat one slice with the crust then a second without it. The kids say it's wasteful but it helps me so idc, I'm satisfied and it's only one slice that they would probably leave anyway :)

Restless, you said Killer is self taught. How is she sensing the low bs? Is there an alarm/monitor that you don't hear? Was she brought in as a service animal? This is great and quite interesting to me.

Kris, I can't do pizza. It spikes me so bad, and that kills me. I love pizza and DH gets it every weekend. Sometimes I will just pull the cheese and topping off and eat just them, but it's not the same.

Restless, I have never tested after drinking milk. I might be surprised.

I would like to have a service dog who would alert me when I was eating too much. LOL I don't mean to make a joke of this. I know that service animals save lives and are essential to giving people a normal life.

Rennie - You cut the avacado long ways and pull out the pit. Then you can slice it, or scoop the pulp out with a spoon, and it can be eaten as it is. It has to feel a little soft to the touch but not mushy. I have bought them and cut one open before it was ready, and also cut one open that way way too ripe for my liking! I just mash it up, add some lemon or lime juice, garlic and some salsa. There are a lot of recipes online but I just like to keep it simple. It's not something I would want to eat more than once a week.

I never knew anything about coconut oil, but I just googled it and it IS high in sat fat, but no trans fats. I use some butter in cooking but never use margarine. I use Smart Balance spread for some things since it has no trans fats, but it's not good to cook with. I think even Promise has trans fats. I buy Parkay spray and use that on vegetables. It has no calories, no fat no nothing! LOL In fact, I don't know what it does have, but it gives the veggies a buttery taste. A woman at work used to spray it on her toast. I don't know if it made it soggy. I don't use a lot of any kind of oil because I don't fry, except potatoes for DH. I'm very confused on which is good, which is bad. I do know not to use lard, which I grew up on. When my mother was a kid they used to spread lard on bread and sprinkle sugar on it.

Shannon, some women at work used to microwave their eggs in a ceramic bowl. Could you try that instead of the plastic bags? Also, are you sure the bags actually contain BPA?

Restless - That is some cat you have!

Shannon -I don't think our diabetes stories are very different. I've always been diagnosed as borderline (high 6 A1C) and my highest BFS was 128.

This 204 BFS I had this morning after lots of pizza last night blew me away! I wonder if being low carb for the last 2 months made me even more sensitive to carbs. Does anyone else have that experience?

>snipped<

Ive had Killer since she was about 6 weeks old. Its been her and I almost exclusively alone for most of the last 6 years. My Fiance' drove semi so he was seldom home so her and I bonded completely. As she got older and we bonded so strong she developed this "6th sense" she has all on her own. They say when your blood sugar goes too high or too low your scent changes and your breath will smell different too. She must smell it. Most nights she sleeps curled up (as much as a 17.7 lb ball of chunkiness can curl) on my chest with her lil butt nesting in the crook of my elbow so Im sure she can smell it. The same with my O2 which is notoriously bad during the night ( I use a BiPap with O2 bled in)..when it gets too low (< 85%) she will alert me by being uber annoying. She taps my chin with her nose or paws, she'll pull my hair and if all else fails she'll head butt me. She can do the same during the day if my blood sugar drops. She will hound me deaf with her meowing. She gets louder and more persistent til I respond.

She's super in tune to me on every level. If the fiance' and I are talking or if Im on the phone and I raise my voice, she comes running. She'll sit at my feet and tap me on the leg meowing the whole time til I stop, pet her and talk to her telling her Im ok. It might sound goofy but it's true.

This cat plays catch, she'll fetch balls, she rolls over, plays dead, says please, sits pretty, and answers when I call her no matter where she is. I can tell her to "go get Dad up" and she immediately goes to the bedroom door and starts meowing, getting louder and louder til she sees him move. If she comes to me and meows or gets up on the desk and bugs me, I tell her to go tell dad she's hungry. She'll jump down off the desk, look back at me and then run into the living room and sit at his feet meowing til he gets up and feeds her.

When people come over, even my own kids and grand kids, she places herself between me and them and meows or hisses at em if they come too close. The door bell rings and she runs for the front door and meows. If she sees me get a bottle of water out of the fridge, she follows me everywhere til I open it and give her the first drink. She loves to drink cold water out of a bottle but she likes to hold the bottle too.

Id be lost without her