November PreD/Diabetes Support Chat
 

Welcome to our daily chat thread!

November 1 already, where did October go?!?

Time to face the music, haven't done my first of month tradition since Sept. Weight 178.6, will adjust ticker. Took measurements and not surprisingly, they are all up from September. I had a goal to be further along in my weight loss by end of year so with two months and two big eating holidays plus the impending birth of my niece left to go, I need to buckle down if I want to achieve my goals.

Thanks for switching us to the new month, Shannon.

"Where did October go?" I'm pretty sure it landed on my tummy, hips and thighs! :( That would account for weighing a whole six pounds more this day than on October 1. Of course we had our Thanksgiving, Halloween and various other "foodie" celebrations but still ...

Atkins induction certainly works for me but I think the cold weather is not a great time for me to do it. I managed pure induction for a few days and dropped weight but then the "Big C" hit and I went back to bean soup and pasta. (The Big C is not the cold weather but due to lack of veggies and fruit.) I guess I was overconfident after my terrific HA1C bloodwork results.

Anyhow, I am back on track with mindful eating and hope to knock off some blubber this month. I'll try to pop in more often but there is no sense reporting my FBGL readings since they are always around the same.

Good luck to us all but rely on determination!

Sorry for posting in the October thread. Life got ahead of me.

Shannon, why will you be eating more with the impending birth of your niece? LOL

Ruth, I get like that after getting my A1c done. For the next couple weeks I seem to go how wild. Time to get down to business.

Trish, we went to the other Ollies today and no book there either. I guess you got the only one. I ordered it from the library and I will get it in about a week. I saw it online at Walmart. $12.49! Not for me. I could have bought it on Half.com for $.75 plus shipping but the one from the library is free, so that's what I'll settle for.

We were in Home Depot today looking at lights for over the dining room table. I saw one I like, but it was $189 and I said I will wait to see if it goes on sale or look online. I just want to replace the old fashioned one I have now. On the way home, we stopped at Goodwill. They were putting stuff out that was just donated and DH found a light, brand new, still in the box, almost the same as the one I wanted, for $19.99. I was so excited! At first when we saw the picture on the box I told DH to look inside and make sure the people didn't stick their old light in there, and was so surprised to see that it was the brand new one, still with all the packing in it. We saved $170!!!

I also bought a book at Goodwill, Mindless Eating, Why We Eat More Than We Think. I really need to read this book because much of my problem is eating too much, and picking at stuff here and there. I started reading the introduction, and it is written with a little bit of humor, so I think I will like it.

I wanted a soup tureen and didn't want to buy one new since they are so much. Last week I bought one at Goodwill for $12.99. It was Phaltzgraff, basic white. Today I saw another Phaltzgraff, prettier, for $6.99 so I bought that one too. I will have to find someone who wants the other one. I want to make Butternut Squash Soup for Thanksgiving and Slovak Mushroom Soup for Christmas and want to have a pretty tureen to serve it in. It isn't something I would spend a lot of money on.

So I am calling this a very good day! Now if my blood sugar and weight would go down it would per a perfect day!

I'm just considering it a holiday like the others over the next couple months - holidays usually mean more eating or higher carb eating - at least for me they do!!

I baked grain free sugar free sliced cookies today and we are going to frost them soon - they burnt a bit but I'm hoping the frosting makes them edible, lol! I stayed low carb with breakfast and lunch so far - hopefully getting a good start in the new month!

I guess you're right. A new baby is definately something to celebrate!

Trish, I was reading about taking cinnamon for diabetes. There are 2 kinds of cinnamon...cassia and ceylon. The ceylon cinnamon is considered to be "real cinnamon" and that is what you are supposed to take for diabetes. Cassia cinnamon is what you buy in the grocery store for baking. Which one are you taking? I bought cinnamon capsules once and they didn't do anything for me. I still have the bottle as I didn't finish taking them. It does not say it is ceylon cinnamon. They said that the ceylon cinnamon will say that on the label. I might try looking for the ceylon cinnamon and giving it another try. I don't know if you can buy it other than on the internet.

I hope everyone remembers to turn their clocks back tonight, except for those of us who do not observe daylight-saving time, like in AZ. I don't know if there are any other states that don't observe it.

There is a portion of Indiana that does not....one of my old large pharma clients is located there and we always got our telecon times messed up when the time changed each time!

My TV and VCR automatically adjust the time, but my Glucose Meter didn't! LOL I guess I'm expecting a miracle. LOL

This has nothing to do with Daylight Savings, but at one job, I started at 7AM and I had to call the produce companies in CA. They always started work very very early in the morning so it was OK, but once in a while I would dial a wrong number and I could tell I woke someone up! Hallooo?

I haven't read much of my book Mindless Eating, but they have made some interesting points. For example, if you try to cut considerable calories from your diet you are going to eventually feel deprived and fall off the wagon. They speak of a Mindless Margin...100 calories more or less than you normall eat. We all know that if we eat 100 calories more every day, we are going to gain without realizing it. The same goes for eating 100 calories less. That is the Mindless Margin. You will lose weight over time without even noticing a difference. It would not be a fast enough loss to make us appreciate it in most cases, but a loss just the same. DH does this. He has never been overweight, but if his pants start to get a little tight he just cuts back a bit. Never mentions it, but I start to notice he is leave a few bites on his plate, and he loses.

Another example they gave was, at a movie theatre, they gave everyone a free popcorn. Some got a medium and some got a large. The stipulation was that they had to turn in their popcorn tub and fill out a questionaire. Did they enjoy the popcorn? Did they feel satisfied with the amount of popcorn, deprived, or stuffed? The people who had the medium were just as satisfied as the ones who had the large, but the people who had the large automatically ate more without realizing it.

For the most part, I stick to low carb because of my blood sugar, but I do have problems with eating way too much. I'm hoping that something they say in this book will hit a nerve.

They also talked about prisoners who gain a lot of weight because they are wearing big baggy prison jumpsuits and don't realize they are gaining weight. I know if you spend your winter in loose sweat pants or like I do, in stretchy yoga pants, they will just expand as you gain and when you try to put your jeans on you can't button them. You have to keep wearing your more form fitting clothes or get on the scale every day. There's something about being very uncomfortable in tight pants that keeps you from eating too much.

Yesterday, I thought I lost my Fitbit when we were out and about. I was so upset. I keep it in the pocket of my jeans and it wasn't there. I thought it fell out when I went to the ladies room. DH said to just buy another one, but when we were almost home I reached in my jacket pocket and there it was. I had taken it out to show DH how many steps I had taken and I guess I put it in my jacket pocket by mistake. I love my Fitbit.

Carol Sue I don't know what kind of cinnamon I have, but it is working so I'm not sure I am going to worry about it. Glad you found your Fitbit.

Just want to let y'all know if I come up MIA that I'll be back. I think my pc maybe going out on me.

FBS was up a little today and so was my weight. I'm not surprised. I am going to implement some of the ideas I'm seeing in this book although not to the extent she says. I will allow myself up to 3 starchy carbs she suggests rather than the 5 the Whole Foods diet calls for. I plan to make most of my meals from the green light freebies. I thought of something you said Carol Sue about you lost weight in the hospital drinking milk with every meal when she said that it is believed that drinking milk with your meal helps you lose weight. She recommends 2 or 3 servings a day. She does say use soy if you have a problem with regular.

Haven't read about the fat yet. I do think this is doable. I've got to do something that I can do on a regular basis without falling off the wagon. It is more about eating more low glycemic I think she said 90% of the time and allowing yourself some high glycemic 10% of the time because she does not forbid any foods because that leads to problems.

I am hating the cold weather this year. I never thought I would ever want to move back to FL, but I told DH yesterday that I would move back if I could. I'm experiencing some nerve problems that I had in TX before I married him and I suddenly realized yesterday that those problems went away when I married him and moved to FL. I don't know if we can or will, but I'm no longer closed to the idea. Strange how I felt about things when the kids lived here, but after the little time we spent with the kids last week made me realize that I really do miss them. Oh well. You never know. :?:

I'll try to check in again tomorrow. Y'all have a super Sunday.

Hello Ladies :hug:

Just wanted to let you all know that I am still hanging in there :) FBS hasn't been as low as I'd like but it hasn't gone above 141 and that was only once. The lowest it was in October was 113. My highest weight has been 160.2 and today I weighed in at 156.8 after low/no carbs yesterday. I'm not happy about realizing that I have only loss 1.8lbs since June 30th :(. But life goes on

Good to see you Rennie! I miss your posts. As long as you lost, don't worry that it wasn't as much as you wanted. A loss is a loss, and your blood sugar is doing good, compared to when you started out.

Trish, our little shopping center near our house was doing terrible. All the stores were leaving. Then someone bought the center and remodeled it. It took over a year, but now it is almost full. The GNC had moved out a few years ago, but now they are back and having a grand opening. I guess they saw how much business the shopping center is getting and decided they wanted back in. I never shopped there much but now it's there if I need it. We are so glad they rejuvinated that shopping plaza.

Hi, all. I am not new to this board, but I just received my diabetes diagnosis with a1c of 9.4 a week ago. I feel terribly upset and depressed about it. I am not sure what to do -- waiting to see the endo on Tuesday morning. My daughter is having surgery on Wednesday, so that is adding considerably to the stress. One of the most upsetting things is that I looked at my numbers from my labs just two years ago. At that time, I was overweight but my a1c was 5.5 and fasting glucose was 110. When they tested it the other day, fasting except for a crystal light, it was 217. So far no medication, and each reading on the glucose monitor makes me more sad -- yep, its really and truly diabetes. I don't know what type, but probably type 2.

Much more upsetting is that my other daughter is obese - - only eleven years old and I am worried sick about her. I drew her fasting blood this morning and will call the pediatrician the first thing tomorrow morning.

Thank you for having this support forum, I never thought I would need it.

I cannot do the carbs. I find myself eating more than the 3 to 5 carbs. The book says it will settle back down, but I'm not patient enough to trust it I am going to keep just the green freebie foods and just allow myself the starchy carbs when eating out or at special occasions. I think I know my limits. Not going to push things beyond what I can tolerate.

Rennie Glad to see you.

lettingslenderin WELCOME to the diabetic group.

Thanks Carol Sue and Trish, I miss you all too :hug: and all of the information that you all post on here. I hope to get everything in order soon :)

lettingslenderin, sorry about your numbers :hug: I think we are/were all in denial in the beginning but it is what it is :hug: the ladies on this thread are great and a wealth of information. You'll get all of the support you need here :)

Hope my pc lasts for me to share this. It kind of goes in and out on me. We ordered a new battery and charger last night hoping that is going to fix it so I don't have to buy another one for a little longer.

My weight was up to 221.? yesterday morning. And I expected it to be horrible this morning because I had eaten some of the candy and even chips last night eating way more than 5 starchy carbs allowed. Amazing thing is that my weight was back down to 216.2 this morning and my fbs was the same as it was yesterday 143. I did read in the book that one reason we don't lose the weight is that we don't eat enough. It is strange to me eating snacks any way, since I've tried just eating 3 meals a a day.

Given this experience, I've decided to give this thing a shot and do it exactly the way she suggests. She doesn't suggest portions except for when it comes to the rule of no more than 5 servings of 15 grams of carbs each although so far she has suggested 2 to 3 servings of dairy to protect our bones especially in us older folks. Still haven't read about the fats although she suggest lowfat dairy and eat the good fats. I'll get to that today. I am going to shoot for no more than 3 servings of carbs because I do want to eat lower carb.

According to the lady, the reason we need to eat some starchy foods in our diet is to lower the lDL cholesterol and triglycerides. Of course, we do know we can do that without any starches. I am interested in this because I have done this long enough to know that I have a habit of getting derailed by them sometime. If I can lose weight and keep my fbs level down by having a few then maybe I can keep from falling off the wagon so much. They just become a part of my daily eating. Also, she said with potatoes that if you leave the skin on them that it lowers the glycemic because the skin is the fiber. I actually like my mashed potatoes with the skin on them when ever I make them.

Oh, I don't know if I shared this yesterday or not, but she said that people who are lactose sensitive sometimes can handle cheese even though they have a problem with milk. Just thought I would throw that out for those who just read.

Well, I made it without the pc going out on me so I better close for now.

Have a great day everybody.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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/

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.

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.

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 :wave:

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

[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.

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.

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/

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 :wave:

Have a good day.

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.

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

Wannabehealthy, thank you, the endo said my numbers dropped so significantly that she is giving me a three month trial period to find out if I can get my numbers lower. So far, they are a lot lower without meds. Fasting glucose from 217 to 163 since October 22, so that's apparently a good drop without meds. Basically, all I am doing is eating low carb. Will add exercise soon.

More later. I am reading every word you all write.

Good Job Lettingslenderin! That's a pretty good drop in FBS. As you continue eating low carb, start exercising and lose more weight, it should drop even lower. You may have read where I said my fasting readings aren't where they should be, but the readings throughout the day are pretty good. You may be able to control this without meds. My goal is to get off some of mine.

Trish, My doctors appointment went well. My A1c is 6.7, and last time it was 6.5, so not much change. My cholesterol went from 125 to 160, but I had cut back my statin to 1/2 of what is prescribed. Under 200 is considered good, so the doctor was happy and so am I. My LDL went from 45 to 75 and my triglycerides stayed over 200. Those are not good, and I am going to have to read up to see if I can improve them. I really don't want to go back to the full dose of statins.

Always more work to do.

The doctor looked at my ankles to see if they were swelling and then he asked me what was going on with the rash. As I was telling him about it he was writing and never said any more about it. I don't know what he was writing. I was just happy that he was happy about my labs, so I'm not going to worry about the rash. It isn't as bad as it was last week.

I also got a pneumonia shot while I was there. No flu shot!

lettingslenderin Evidently you are getting the bs under control. Congratulations. You are doing good.

Carol Sue You basically had a good doctor's visit. I also wonder why he took note of the rash but said nothing.

I have had a strange experience concerning the rash I had recently. Since I have taken on some of the ideas of the "dummies" book, and balancing the carbs rather than cut them out, I'm not having the rash any more. I'm actually eating more balanced than I was with the strict low carb. So I'm not sure what that all means, but it is working.

I did have a little more carbs yesterday as we ended up at TGIF. DH loved eating there, but when we left and headed home, he said, "I don't think I want to go there any more". He complained that he spent so much money and couldn't eat all that food and always had to bring part of it home. He isn't a big eater.

I was pleased with myself at the restaurant. I ate one rib off his plate which was so small and barely any meat and 2 of the shrimp. I did have a bite or 2 of the chicken tender. I had ordered the toastado nachos, but I only ate half and brought the rest home. Last night I ate one and realized that I really didn't like the texture so the rest went down the disposal. I'm glad he doesn't want to go there any more. Although I ate more carby yesterday, eating intuitively, I only ate as much as it took to satisfy my hunger. When I took the few bites of his food, I didn't want any more and when we left the restaurant, I was satisfied and not stuffed.

One thing I do need to do is figure out what I want to eat at night for dinner because I am too lazy to cook. Since I'm not actually doing low carb, I am thinking about healthy tv dinners if I can't think of anything else that easy and quick. I think I'm going to end up just eating 3 meals a day because I'm getting like I always am when I do Intuitive Eating, I just don't get hungry even at night the snacking stops.

Just hope I can keep it up.

Trish, I think when I reminded the doctor that I have psoriasis he just attributed the rash to that. I think when he writes things down, it is to remind him to ask about it next time to see if there is any change. He always wants to give me steroid creams for the psoriasis, but I get it in so many places I told him I would have to take a bath in it. I found a lotion that helps, and then sometimes I switch lotions so my body doesn't become immune to one.

I am almost half way through the dummies book. I think it's funny that we call it that. It reminds me so much of the diet they put me on when I was in the hospital, first diagnosed Type 2. That diet included 5 carbs at each meal, but the difference is, they counted fruits, vegetables and milk as carbs, whereas she doesn't in the dummy book. I think many people forget that vegetables ARE carbs.

There's something I want you to look at, if your book is exactly like mine. On page 29 in chapter 2 there is a big block titled "Knowing how low carb diets work." Toward the end of the block, she compares a low carb diet as we know it to her diet. To paraphrase, she says that when doing a low carb diet when you reintroduce carbs into your diet, the carbs stimulate insulin, and you lose control...because you never learned to control those foods in your diet. What I'm reading is that following her plan, you learn to eat carbs in very small portions and never have to worry about losing control. That was my diet from the hospital...fruit was a couple sections of orange or a couple slices of canned pears, not a whole piece of fruit. Potatoes were 3 or 4 cubes of roasted potato. Oatmeal was a very tiny amount, and they always gave me 1 scrambled egg beater, 1 slice of whole grain toast and a small portion of fruit, instead of a larger portion of anything. By continuing that when I came home I was able to lose 20 lbs and keep my blood sugar in line. I always had skim milk too, and they counted that as a carb. I really need to get back to portion control. I think I'm already eating the right foods.

We haven't been to TGIF for years. The one time we went there, there was almost an hour wait for a table, so that was it for DH. Texas Roadhouse is right next door and DH was much more satisfied with his meal there. We went there a couple days ago and I was really disappointed. I get pulled pork there but this time it had so much sauce on it, it was soupy and it's so sugary. I usually pull out a larger chunk of the meat so that it doesn't have much sauce and eat that. It was impossible to do that this time. I brought it home and rinsed off the sauce so I could have it for lunch the next day. It still had the taste of the sauce, without all the sugar. Also, since it was a week day, both of our meals were to be $1 off....they were on the happy hour list. She charged us full price. I called it to her attention and she said she thought it was Friday. She took our receipt to change it, but when we got it back, she had only changed the price on DHs meal, not mine. I let it go rather than have her do the receipt a third time. But we go there during the week because of the happy hour pricing, and also because there's not usually a wait. On top of the pricing issue, my meal was not satisfactory. I will not order their pulled pork any more. I rarely make it at home, but when I do, I cook the meat just with a rub, and serve the sauce on the side so each person can use the amount of sauce they want.

I think this diet could be adapted to include just the carbs you want to include. Her minimum is 3 per day, and that is only 45 gm of carb plus the carbs in your fruits and vegetables. It's easy to add some beans to a salad, or sprinkle some Fiber One cereal into oatmeal to get fiber. The Crack the Fat Loss Code book recommends adding some protein powder to oatmeal, which sounds like a good idea to me, too. They call it Power Oats. They also make protein shakes using orange/lemon Crystal Light instead of water, to make it like an Orange Creamcicle. I would really like that!

Having your carbs earlier in the day helps, too. Since you eat your big meal mid day, you could maybe cook a little more to have for you small dinner, unless you don't want to be eating the same food twice. And there's always tuna or chicken salad that can be made ahead. When I cook chicken I always cook extra so I have some in the fridge if I want it. You could buy deli turkey and make a wrap with a lettuce leaf and a pickle spear. There's ways to get around cooking, especially when this is your smaller meal.

So this is my book contribution for the day! LOL Enjoy your Saturday.

Shannon, if you're reading, I hope your finger is starting to heal and feel better.

Carol Sue I really enjoyed your review and ensight on the dummies book. I'm not sure I really read that part of page 29. However, I did read it again before I left for beauty shop and I will be reading it again.

I've thought about the Richard Simmons diet I did years ago and it was basically the same as this book. I like her suggestions and I also like the idea that if I use some of her ideas, I won't have to count anything. I

I agree with you that when you say low carb diet, most people forget that fruit and veggies are carbs. I remember one time when I was doing Atkins that DGS said to me "Nannie, you need your carbs for energy". I told him, "I get my carbs. I just get them from veggies".

Actually, I'm glad that you shared how they fed you in the hospital comparing with the book. I love a glass of milk with lunch... always have even when I was a thin kid. Although she doesn't count the carbs, it is a carb.

Years ago when they did the old, probably original Weight Watcher's, my second DH aunt would make copies of the diet for me. That was when you started with kind of a level one and progressed. They did more of exchanges. You knew how much oil, flours etc you could have a day. On days when I would make fried chicken (being the good southern wife/mother I was), I would save all my oil, starchy exchanges etc so I could have the same meal with the family. I actually was losing weight, but I had learned how to work with my portions to have what I wanted when I wanted. My family didn't feel like they were on a diet and neither did I. I loved worther's candy and this aunt and my MIL would keep them at their house. Once a week we went over to play cards and I would sit in front of everyone, play cards and have one serving of my favorite candy for my weekly treat.

Yes I agree that I too know how to eat healthy, I also need to learn portion control. I remember one doctor's visit when I said to my doctor "I eat healthy food". To which he said "Maybe you are just eating too much of the healthy food". I agree with him. I also like the way she says things in this book. She doesn't say that you have to eat this, this, this and this or this much. She explains why you need to eat certain things and the her wording is more of example "You can eat a 5 servings of starchy carbs, but if you don't want to eat that much then you can just eat 3". For some reason, if you tell me you have to eat this much food or you cannot have this food, you lose me and it sets me up for failure. Just me.

I can do this and I can do it intuitively. Her ideas or a guide for me and I will fit it in my life in a way that words for me. I don't want to have to eat 1200 to 1500 calories. I want to be left to eat less on days I want to. I really think I would probably eat less than 1200 calories many times, but I also know that when you go out to eat that I may eat up to 1500 calories if not more. I really believe that it would even out.

Thanks again friend for sharing your feelings.

Shannon I hope your finger is healing and you will back sharing with us again. You are missed.

dgramie, Rennie, Ruthie and others :wave:

Have a great weekend.

Just had to say YAY:cheer: the new battery and plug came today and DH plugged it in for me and it works. So glad I don't have to buy a new pc right now. Also, as much as I appreciated him letting me use his most of the time, I do like mine better.:)

Trish, is your computer a laptop? We have a laptop but I rarely use it. I can also get online with my Nook, but I don't do that much either. It's OK for reading but it's hard to type on it.

I finished the first part of the dummies book, now I am at the part with the recipes. I just skimmed through it. Some of the recipes look interesting. Now I am at the pat where she tells how to get committed to doing it. That's what I need....some suggestions to help me stick with it.

DH wanted to go out for breakfast both yesterday and today. I always eat too much when we do that. I would much rather eat breakfast at home. I can make it so much cheaper. $15 plus a tip for eggs and sausage!!!

Where is everyone
. I am just posting to see if the site is working since it is highly unusual to go two days with no posts!

Finger still in giant bandage, stitches coming out Saturday, eating awful, looking like a beached whale!