[Wannabehealthy]

Hi Lettingslenderin! I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis. It was very scary to me also, because I knew nothing about diabetes. I went online and read and read and read, asking questions on message boards, and trying out what other people suggested. My main concern is I don't want to lose my eyesight or my feet. It's still hard for me to keep my blood sugar in line, and weight loss is negligible, but I keep working at it.

You will find out a lot after you see the endo. If I were you, I would ask them if you can try to lower your blood sugar with diet and exercise before they put you on meds. Try it for a month and see how you do. Some will, some won't, but remember, you are the boss, and they can't make you take the medicine if you don't want to. If I could stick closely to my low carb diet and exercise every day, I would much rather do that than take the meds. The carbs have a way of calling my name! LOL

I think you and your daughter can do this together. If she is not diabetic yet, it sounds like she will be eventually unless she changes her lifestyle now. It's all about carbohydrates. Eat more vegetables, and less carbs, like sweets, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes. Learn about what is actually a portion. Americans have a tendancy to eat much more than what is actually considered a serving. Exercise is important for blood sugar control too. Not just formal exercise, but being active and moving instead of sitting. It all counts.

Good luck to you, and keep us posted on what the Endo says and the pediatrician says about your daughter. If you keep coming here, we will help you all we can. There used to be a lot more posters here but I think we scared them away because we can get very chatty at times. LOL

Trish, that book was written in 2003, and it has only been recently that the LCHF WOE has become more popular. Before, it was always healthy fats only, and most doctors still follow that teaching.

I don't agree with her on needing carbs to lower LDL and Triglycerides. I think that is still the old teaching. Now they are saying ditch the carbs and lower your LDL and Triglycerides. Of course, vegetables are carbs, just very low carbs. But remember, this is Low Carb Dieting for Dummies, and we are not dummies. We have been dabbling in this for a while now and have gathered a lot of knowledge sharing with each other. Like you said, we know what works for us and doesn't, so we can tweak any eating plan to suit our needs. I should be getting my copy of the book sometime this week. I am skimming through the book I got about Mindless Eating. It is also an older book and a lot of what he's saying is stuff I've heard before. The one trick that doesn't work for me is eating off a smaller plate. I just go back and fill that smaller plate a second time, so I would be better off eating off a regular plate and when I'm done, I'm done. DH eats off a full size plate and NEVER finishes anything, unless it's pie or cake. LOL

I have been reading a JUDDD board for a while. I am tempted to try it out, but I don't know how it would work with my eating with DH. Basically, it's Intermittent Fasting. I think they eat low carb, but every other day you only eat 500 calories per day. UD is Up Day and DD is Down Day. Never do 2 days in a row of either one. It is supposed to keep your body from going into starvation mode. It wouldn't hurt to try. You don't know until you try, right? If I can't do it, it won't be the first diet failure of my life, and probably not the last. I'm not losing weight with the plan I'm on now.

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue You are exactly right. I was thinking the very same thing about it being the old way of thinking about the starchy carbs and fats. In fact, the thinking on fats is the exact reason I decided not to do the South Beach diet. I do like the idea of being able to eat oatmeal once in a while on very cold days. And I think it shows that we can have the beans once in a while as well. I'm just not willing to eat a lot of starchy carbs on a regular basis. But I'm thinking if done regularly on occasion, it should not be a problem and totally derail us so that we end up going wild with them.

Lettingslenderin Sorry I didn't say much to you. My pc may go any moment and takes hours before I can get on again. I agree that we all go through a time of denial or thinking "oh, I've got this under control so I can go back to eating the way I used to eat". I know I did. That is why I'm back where I am now. It is controllable and you can keep it under control.

I haven't shared lately that my DIL I told y'all about who was recently diagnosed is controlling her diabetes very well. Her fbs readings are in the area of 130s. Hopefully I can help her so she doesn't have to deal with what we have all gone through. I am so very proud of her.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, I'm glad your DIL-to-be is doing well with her diabetes. It's important to get off to a good start. You will be able to help her.

I sometimes think that reading too many books just gets me confused about losing weight, but I don't stop! I got one at Goodwill yesterday called Crack the Fat-Loss Code. I guess it is similar to Carb Cycling. She explains that the reason we plateau is because the body adjusts to whatever we're doing. If we do the same exercise every day, it doesn't perceive it as exercise, it just becomes the norm. And, if we eat the same thing every day, the body adjusts to it. Her plan starts off with 7 days of 20 gm of carb, to clear the glucogen from your body. Then you rotate. Some low carb days, some med and some higher. But to her, a high carb day is eating 3 servings of carbs that day, and a serving is 1/4 cup of oatmeal or 1/4 c of beans. Really not high carb as I know it, just adding a bit of carb in every couple days. Your body doesn't have time to adapt to one food plan since it's always changing. Low carb eating is so firmly planted in my brain, I don't know if I could ever intentionally do the higher carb days. Of course, I do them now occasionally, so I guess following an actual plan might be different. You aren't doing the low carb or the higher carb days two days in a row.

I'm not losing any weight doing what I'm doing now so it can't hurt to try something else. I'll have to read more of the book and decide what to do. It doesn't seem to include as many vegetables as I'm currently eating, but then I realize I eat too much overall.

[pattygirl63]

I'm using my DH pc until we get the plug and battery for mine as mine doesn't hold a charge any more. It doesn't get much of a charge at all now. Only gets up to 3% for a little while and then goes black. DH doesn't use his in the daytime so I am confiscating it for the time he isn't using it.

Carol Sue I think I read to much too. I can kind of see how eating the way your Crack the Fat-Loss Code book says would work. Like you, I kind of do that any way. It sounds a lot like I ate when I married DH and it worked so good for me. I was eating more of an IE way of eating and I think that way of eating would fit into it.

I have read as far as I am going to read in the "dummies" book. She does talks about how important fat is to our way of eating and how lowfat has really done more harm than help especially losing weight. She explains that it is important for losing weight and other benefits, but then she does just like most western diet culture does she puts limits on how much to eat as we always get. I mean really, who could eat 6 cashews or 4 pecan halves. I think the fact that the book was written in 2003 kind of explains why she says much of what she does. We know that we low carbers have a lot more info than they did back then about the carbs and fats etc. But it has served its purpose to help me understand how some things work and how I design my own way to eat low carb and hopefully make it work for me.

One thing I have gained from the book is why the paleo/primal way of eating with some occasional grains may be the way for me to go. So I think that is the direction I am going to go. I can see why Dana Carpandar (sp) way of eating low carb with eating carbs on special occasions worked so well for her and I just may tweak that way of eating and make it my way. And the Dieit Doctor's low carb allows. We eat out a few times a month and I want to eat whatever I want. If what your book says is true, I could make those days carb days.

I think we have to design a way of eating that will work for us. I remember reading a book I have about "successful" dieters who not only lost their weight, but they kept it off for over 3 yrs. This is what many of them do.

I can see how you can eat the same thing everyday and do the same exercise everyday etc and you will not lose weight. I personally think I need to rethink Intuitive Eating and use the new info that we have learned. Because not one diet plan I have tried has ever worked. The only thing that ever worked for me was when I automatically and naturally Intuitively ate a Semi-low carb way of eating. I was losing weight and I was blood glucose was normal.

Have a good day Everybody.

[Shannonsnail]

Hi ladies,

Happy Election Day! I hope you are all doing well and able to exercise your right to vote today!

Today is Day 4 back on plan and going well. Down 3 lbs. so far. Tomorrow I have MOPS and historically, since moving, that is when I get off track. Breakfast is provided by our small groups and it goes really fast so if there is something that fits my plan it is usually gone. So, today I saved a piece of quiche to have tomorrow. Hopefully that will prevent me falling off the wagon tomorrow!

I need to get back to checking FBS....next week maybe. Mornings are chaotic. Olivia is up and whining already. It just gets forgotten.

I made this recipe yesterday. It is really different and a tad spicy. Hubby didn't like the texture from the veggies but I thought it was good and even better today reheated for lunch.
http://www.satisfyingeats.com/crock-...pumpkin-chili/

[Wannabehealthy]

I read a little more. This plan lasts 8 weeks including a 2 week maintenance, then you can start over if you want to lose more, but you don't have to re-do the first week.

I also saw something about allowing for a special occasion. She doesn't call it a cheat day, but something similar, I don't remember, and I haven't read the details about it yet.

Trish, I could eat 6 cashews or 4 pecan halves. I eat walnuts, the plain ones you use for baking, because I have heard they are good for you with the mono fat. I eat about 5 pieces every day. I also eat 5 olives every day too, for the same reason. I make sure I have onions, garlic and mushrooms every day, either with my breakfast or lunch. These are all thing recommended by Dr Furman in "The End of Diabetes." That stuck in my mind. I'm not losing weight, but I feel that my lab work is better because of the vitamins and phytonutrients.

I seem to pick up little pointers like that from the different books I read.

[Wannabehealthy]

I am going to try this carb cycling, but I will have to figure out when I can do 7 days of 20 carbs or less. Not today, because I'm making pasta. I should be able to start tomorrow because I only do pasta once a month or every 3 weeks. Once I get into the plan I can do my pasta on carb day.

I don't know if I will follow the plan exactly. It's a little confusing. Some weeks you do 2 low carb days, some you do 3. Then the med and high carb days are interspersed. Even what she calls the high carb days are only 2 portions of carbs per day, but they are eaten after 3PM. On the medium carb days you get 2 portions of carb to be eaten before 3 PM. I will also have to figure out how I'm going to do the 4-5 meals no larger than your fist. That will be tricky. It says if you are going to eliminate meals, there are certain ones you should eliminate. Some meals are just 1/2 C of cottage cheese. To me, that's a snack, not a meal. Some meals are just a protein shake. One looks really good. You make it with orange/lemon crystal light and vanilla protein powder. Adjust the liquid to make it as thick or thin as you like. You can eliminate meals, but never go below 4, but if some of them are just the size of a snack, that would be OK. It's keeping the main meal small that will be difficult for me. But I don't know unless I try. It's very hard to eat out and keep your meal to the size of your fist. I would definately have to bring some home for the next day's lunch. One day this week we went out and I ordered Country Fried Steak. I brought some home and had 2 lunches from the leftovers. This is probably how I should eat all the time.

Another suggestion they have is adding protein powder to your oatmeal. It's a half cup of oatmeal, and if you add the protein powder to the prepared oatmeal you just add a little more water to get it to the consistancy you like. I love oatmeal, but I will have trouble with that because you don't get both the oatmeal AND eggs at a meal. It's either or. I can't see me giving up my eggs, unless I can have them at another meal.

Shannon, I'm glad to hear you are getting back on track. You can do this! Good idea to have the quiche instead of taking a chance with there being nothing left for you at MOPS. There are always ways we can work around a social event.

I copied the Chili recipe and saved it. I don't know if I will ever make it because I can bet DH wouldn't even try it, but I'll have it if I ever want it. I love pumpkin, but not in sweets. When I make cookies or pumpkin roll for DH I only use half of a small can of pumpkin. Instead of freezing the other half, I put cinnamon on it and eat it as is. DH says I'm eating it raw, but canned pumpkin is cooked...right? Even raw, I don't think it would hurt me.

My fasting blood sugar is never good, just some days are better than others. I don't worry about it because I don't know what to do about it. My other readings throughout the day aren't bad. I will find out what my A1c was tomorrow. I don't expect it to be as good as it was last time. I hope it is at least under 7.

Remember when we had the discussion about low carb eating causing you to be more sensitive to carbs? I'm beginning to think that's really true, because when I was first diagnosed and the hospital diet I followed included small portions of carbs, I could eat them and still have good blood sugar. Now it seems that the least little bit of carbs spikes me.

[pattygirl63]

I finally got my Glucocil yesterday. So today I am starting those and will take them the way those on FB take it. One 3 times a day with meals. I am doing IE again. I just think that is the best way for me. Funny thing is that when I'm doing IE, I mostly eat low carb... meat and veggies. Here it is getting cold weather and I'm eating salads for dinner sometimes with meat and last night I used Edamame for the protein. Took one Glucocil and 500 mg Metformin last night and it seems to keep me regular, but so far no bowel problems.

I had my 45 calorie toast with butter, an extremely thin pork chop I found last time I went to Walmart and 2 eggs with 1 sl cheese and I'm drinking my coffee with half and half. I like my eggs in the morning so I will have them and change up what I have with them sometimes avocado or toast or greens and some days I will have bacon, regurlar or Canadian or occasional pork chop. The rest of the day will whatever I really want to eat but portion control will be watched. My first goal of IE is to recognize my hunger and satisfaction. I used to have a rule of always leaving a little bit even if it is one bite on my plate. So I started doing that again yesterday.

Carol Sue I hope that the carb cycling works for you. I always thought that it made sense. I hope we both will be able to find a way of eating that not only corrects the bs levels but that we can lose weight too. I'm pulling for us. In fact, I'm praying for all of us to find our own personal way to success.

Shannon I hope all goes well for you at MOPS. I think once we get off, we think we can't get back on because we feel so guilty. I'm trying to find a way to eat so that I DO NOT fall into the guilty attitude that traps me and derails me. You can do this sweetie. Just remember "YOU HAVE DONE IT BEFORE SO YOU CAN DO IT AGAIN".

Rennie, Ruthie, dgramie and Lurkers

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

[pattygirl63]

[QUOTE=Wannabehealthy;5090432
Remember when we had the discussion about low carb eating causing you to be more sensitive to carbs? I'm beginning to think that's really true, because when I was first diagnosed and the hospital diet I followed included small portions of carbs, I could eat them and still have good blood sugar. Now it seems that the least little bit of carbs spikes me.[/QUOTE]

Interesting thought Carol Sue. When I was 1st diagnosed with diabetes, I got control in less than 2 weeks eating lowfat using Richard Simmons plan. I exercised and I ate however many carbs he allowed. I didn't worry about good carbs bad carbs. I learned to make all the foods that I liked using lowfat. Now I do believe that I went too low on the fat. At that time they had just come out with the lowfat movement and I remember asking my doctor how low you could safely go with lowfat and he said to me "We don't know yet". I also remember him telling me "I am giving you the diabetic diet that the ADA gives us to give you, but I cannot tell you how to eat. You will figure that out yourself". The strange thing is that I did, but somewhere I got off.

I've never thought about the fact that I may have caused myself to be sensitive to carbs, but that could be very true. I heard a report once while sitting in the hospital waiting room while DH was having a procedure or test done a few years ago. It was on one of the morning talk shows. They said they had compared diets to see which ones work etc. Atkins was great for losing weight quickly, but it was not a plan most people could do long term in maintenance. However, Weight Watchers was slower but was more successful because people could live on it long term and maintain.

What I want to find is something that can become a lifestyle for me rather than a diet.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, I believe that WW is a great plan, because you don't have to eliminate any foods. Basically, it is just a glorified way of counting calories. You eat to a certain number of points, or calories, eating anything you want as long as you stop at a predetermined number. But you do have to control portions and gear your eating to include more low calorie foods that are going to fill you up, like fiberous vegetables or you will reach your total points or calories by lunch time. The Doctor's Diet is similar. However, when you have a medical issue like diabetes, you are putting yourself at risk when you eat high starchy foods like pizza and sweets. I did WW as a diabetic and just cut back on carbs. It worked, but only if I attended the meetings, and that was too expensive for me and I didn't like the leader. There are people who can't maintain on WW because after they reach their goal they think they can go back to their former eating. My DIL's neighbor and her husband lose weight beautifully!!! Then the next time I see them, they are back where they started and wondering what happened.

The ADA diet and also the Carb Control diet they put me on in the hospital is supposed to work. I think the purpose of balancing the carbs at every meal is to keep your carbs at a steady point. Your body learns that it's going to received small amounts of carbs at each meal and adjusts to that. The diet along with the meds is what keeps the blood sugar steady. But it has to be smaller portions than we are accustomed to eating. One slice of bread, OR 2 small pieces of potato, OR a small portion of rice or pasta. Sometimes they would give me a hamburger, but it was the size of the burger in a McDonald's Happy Meal that they feed to small children. There were no french fries with it. LOL I had fruit at every meal, but it was 1/2 a banana, 3 or 4 little pieces of pear or orange, not a whole pear or orange. And skim milk was offered, and I chose that instead of coffee or tea because the milk was more filling to me. At some point, I probably increased my carb portions gradually, and therefore my blood sugar started to rise. Or maybe that's just how diabetes progresses. Some people say that diabetes is a progressive disease and that no matter what you do, it is going to get gradually worse. I don't know if I believe that. I think you can fight it.

By the same token, I think when you first go low carb, it's a change to your body, and you lose weight easily. Eventually, your body realizes that it's not going to get carbs and it adapts to the new food plan and you plateau. Then if you eat some carbs, it says "Whoa, what is this she's giving me?" and your blood sugar spikes because it isn't used to having those carbs. It's a rare person who can stay on low carb for the long term. Supposedly, you are supposed to be able to add small amounts of carbs back in, but to a carb lover, once you get the taste, it brings on a binge. But even on WW you can't succeed if you binge on carbs. You still have to learn to be happy with a small portion.

This book Crack the Fat Loss Code says that the body does not want to lose it's fat supply and will do whatever it has to do to hang onto it. This is probably why everyone who loses weight gains it back. The changing around from day to day is supposed to prevent the body from adapting to any one food plan. But I don't know if I could do it on their schedule. One week you eat low carb 2 times, high carb 2 times and avg carbs 3 times. The next week you eat low carb 3 times, high carb 1 time and avg carbs 3 times. Then you go to low carb 3 times, high carb 2 times and avg carbs 2 times. My head would spin trying to figure out what I am supposed to eat each day. LOL If I try it, I would probably just do my own schedule, making sure I don't do any day back to back and make sure I do one of each day in a three day period. The tricky part is going to be doing the 20 gm of carb for 7 days straight. I think I could start today as long as we don't go to the casino this weekend. I don't eat carbs at the buffet, but I do eat a lot of food. This is how I justify eating at the buffet...not eating any carbs.

I have to do something that is going to teach me to eat smaller portions and not go back for seconds. I think I need to get back to tracking so I can actually see what I'm eating.

[Wannabehealthy]

Here is an article on Carb Cycling that seems so much easier to understand than the book I'm reading.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/55...-for-fat-loss/

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue I like the new WW plan of not counting most fruits and veggies. There was a time I could do it at home by myself because I didn't try to eat all the pts they said I had to eat. I have the same problem with WW that I have with counting calories or carbs. When I was left to my own and ate Intuitively, I very seldom ate the amount that I was allowed. When I joined WW even online, it was strtessed to me that I had to eat all my points allowed. Then when I ate the amount I had to eat, I would end up wanting more. With what I've learned about Intuitive Eating, I believe when you are convinced that you have to eat more than you really want or need to eat, you end up overeating. When I first started eating WW and ate it my way, it worked. When I did it the way they said that I had to, I felt miserably stuffed and lethargic. I believe I can handle a small amount of carby foods, if I'm left alone to eat it only when I want and only as much as I need to satisfy that need.

This morning I started IE. I had approximately 1 c strawberries, 2 sl of the 45 calorie bread, 1 egg and 2 slices of bacon and my coffee. I am perfectly satisfied because I ate what I wanted and only the amount that I wanted and no more. Although I am Intuitively Eating, I'm tracking it on MFP because I've heard that if you eat Intuitively that you don't eat as much. I started the Glucocil yesterday taking it the way all the success stories take it. 1 before each meal. Amazing thing is that I did not need any thing but a very small snack last night around 9 pm. I was good for the night and my fbs is coming back down. It is in the 130s this morning.

We are going to Costco today and will probably eat at Sonny's BBQ. I will have my usual sl or pulled pork with green beans or cole slaw and either sweet potato or corn on the cob. Sometimes I have the garlic bread and sometimes I don't. It will just depend on whether I want it or not. May not because I am trying to stay away from anything but grain bread.

I'm going to have to figure out something simple because I just don't want to cook at night.

I am comfortable with what I'm doing. I just don't really want to work toward eating a certain amount of calories, carbs or pts etc. Mainly because for me, I want to stop thinking about food all the time.

My DIL wrote me on MFP and said that MFP keeps telling her she is not eating enough. I told her that as long as she feels good, is eating until she is satisfied and her blood sugar is good, don't worry about it. We are working toward healthy. And I firmly believe the little thing at the bottom of my page. "If you just ate when you weren't hungry, you just over ate." I'm not doing that any more. I'm not telling anyone else how to eat or what to do, but I believe this is what I have to do for me.

Carol Sue I honestly believe the key is to not give up. I start everyday (and have for years) following some plan trying to find the way to eat that I can live with and be healthy. I believe that if we keep trying that eventually we will find the "right" way for us.

Shannon, Dgramie, Ruthie, Rennie and Everybody else

Have a good day.

[Shannonsnail]

Ladies, I had a bad accident in the kitchen last night with my immersion blender. I diced my left index finger up pretty badly. I got 8 stitches in 3 of the 6 lacerations, the other 3 he thinks will heal on their own. If that wasn't bad enough I had a bad reaction to the pain med and was up from 4-7 am with excruciating abdominal pain. Just letting you know as I will not be typing as much while this heals. Say some prayers for me please...Olivia thinks I should do all the same stuff I normally do but I can't.

[pattygirl63]

Originally Posted by Shannonsnail

Ladies, I had a bad accident in the kitchen last night with my immersion blender. I diced my left index finger up pretty badly. I got 8 stitches in 3 of the 6 lacerations, the other 3 he thinks will heal on their own. If that wasn't bad enough I had a bad reaction to the pain med and was up from 4-7 am with excruciating abdominal pain. Just letting you know as I will not be typing as much while this heals. Say some prayers for me please...Olivia thinks I should do all the same stuff I normally do but I can't.

Shannon So sorry to hear of your accident. I pray you will have a quick recovery. My neighbor recently sliced the tip of her finger off with a mandelon (sp) while slicing veggies. No stitches but very painful. Did you take the meds on empty stomach? I know some meds cause that when taking on an empty stomach. Prayers coming your way.

[Wannabehealthy]

Shannon, I'm so sorry to hear you chopped up your finger! You are so lucky it wasn't worse. It will be hard to do a lot of things until that heals. You are in my prayers, and also praying that Olivia cuts Mommy a break!

Trish, I would never worry about not eating all my points or calories. I wish I had that problem. I eat too much because the food is there and calling my name, not because I am trying to keep up with what someone tells me I'm supposed to eat. If MFP told me I wasn't eating enough I would tell them to go to H**L! LOL