Good Morning Everyone,

Carol Sue Thanks for sharing the sticky about the Magic Foods. I printed it out for reference. There is a lot of info there that I will be using. I found her info about dairy quite interesting and also about our problem with pasta is the amount that we eat is more of a problem. It turned out to be 18 pages printed and I've gotten about half way through. DH purchased whole milk last week and I told him that the fat in milk causes hardening of the arteries. I sure hope he will go back to a lowfat version of it. Thankfully I can handle yogurt and cheese and am thinking about getting a small carton of 1/2% and see if I can handle it or not.

My new way of eating is working for the bs as my fbs was 114 this morning and this is just Day 3 on it Still doing the IF 8 hr window with it. I am very excited about that. Weight is still the same. I remember years ago in WW we were told that you have to be on a diet for 2 weeks before you see a change in weight so I am going to think about it that way. I think my body has to see that what I'm doing is going to be the norm because I've tried so many different diets.

I am trying to put more foods into my diet that slow down the flow of glucose into the bloodstream. I found it interesting that apples eaten with the skin on it does that and I read that if you eat 2 a day that it helps you lose weight. I have never been big on eating apples so for now I am eating only one a day and may eventually add another one. They are so good for so many things. I'm back to eating oatmeal (one of the Magic Foods :)) with blueberries, and yogurt sprinkled with almonds and Stevia. Like my daddy, I love sandwiches and I make a sandwich using the 45 calorie multi-grain bread and use mustard and for fat I eat 1/2 an avocado sliced on it with other veggies. Lunch being our main meal is more balanced. I am only eating 3 meals a day without any snacks. I seem to sleep better if I don't eat after 7 or 8 pm. I am also getting my 8 hrs of sleep. I figure if I practice doing this until it becomes a habit that I not only will lose weight and keep the fbs down, but it will be easy to maintain when I get down to a healthier weight.

Now that I've got it working for my bs, I need to find ways to incorporate some of these Magic Foods that slows down the the bs flow for DH. I'm going to make him start eating apples and also he needs to eat beans and he only like navy beans, but that is better than nothing and I'll just have to learn different ways to cook them. Like me he is a creature of habit/routine so if I can get him eating foods like that, he will continue to improve his health too.

I will close. Things are getting back to normal around here which is good since DGS is home and starts back to school.

Y'all have a great day.

I agree that 2015 will be the year of change for us. :hug::)

Well, thank you! I think that's fear-motivated enthusiasm with a hint of relief. I have insulin in my refrigerator at this very moment and if I can't keep my stuff under control and keep meeting goals, I might have to start using it. I still flinch when I prick my finger so you can imagine how well that will go :o

I am also just very very excited that I seem to actually be responding well to what are major diet changes for me, but not miserable diet changes. Whew!

We took my daughter and niece to feed the ducks yesterday so I walked the quarter mile track around the pond. Unfortunately, I had neglected to wear good walking shoes - Chucks with no socks =/= good walking shoes after a few laps but I aaaaallllmost made my 5000 step goal (realized I was a few hundred short at bedtime) so at least I have a good idea of how much walking 5000 steps really is.

pattygirl, I'm glad things are going well for you!

Just popping by to say hello..... I hurt my knee last Thursday wearing a pair of shoes that I guess are pulling my knee out of alignment or something (they are just regular shoes, not heels or anything like that). Anyway, I have been dealing with alot of knee pain and just having a hard time walking/standing/going up stairs or down stairs. I did not really get back on the low carb eating like I thought would happen with DH gone for work :-( He is home this week then leaving again so maybe I can get my act together soon. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time. I have been really tired lately so I think it is just laziness! Anyway, nothing exciting to report over here so I'm going to bed!

completely different topic:
as a big fan of attachment parenting, I hope it works out having her sleep with you when he is gone.
My daughters did the same.
If I left the house in the middle of the night, the youngest magically heard me leave and crawled in with her Dad, and on the occasions he was gone, I soon realized it was inevitable to have her in with me.
SO I made it special, we would have a girls night, and make it an occasion. That helped he get back to her own bed afterward.
DOn't worry, she will get independent eventually. That girl actually moved her bedroom back upstairs, as she didn't like having a downstairs bedroom. I wondered if she would move out.
She did, and doesn't come home that often. She is still the needier, lives closer, calls more, but is blossoming in independent living. Its all good.

HI friends:
just a quick hello, weight back up to 187, not sure why, but will have to double down. Have been very busy with work, and that affects my weight and eating a lot. Coming up to a 2 week holiday, which includes lots of cross-country (x-c) skiing, so I have no worries about being active enough.
Will post later tonight I hope.

I finally got back to my exercising yesterday. I exercised for 50 min. I do soft and gentle exercise, not really worrying much about intensity. I read that long and low lowers triglycerides and raises HDL. Last month I bought a used recumbent bike at Goodwill for $20. When I first tried it out I had some knee pain, and my knee was clicking. When I exercise I wear an elastic knee brace, and that made a world of difference on the bike. No pain, no clicking. I got rid of 2 regular exercise bikes because leaning over to reach the handlebars hurt my back, but leaning back in the recumbent bike works so much better for me. I also spent some time on the treadmill and elliptical. I like to mix it up so I'm using muscles differently, and also to avoid boredom.

Mad, it's interesting to hear your experience with your kids sleeping in your bed. A lot of people have different views on that subject, but what you're saying makes sense. It's another one of those "one size does not fill all" situations and not necessarily harmful to the kids, as some think.

Shannon, I hope this eases your mind about Olivia. My daughter-in-law has gotten into the habit of lying in bed with my grandson until he falls asleep. She got him to give up his blanky when he went to kindergarten, but he won't go to bed without Mom there.

Maybe a knee brace like I wear would help with your knee. It is an ACE brand, sold in drug stores and maybe even Walmart or Target. If I forget and exercise without it I have problems for a couple days.

Secondhalf, I don't think you will be needing the insulin the way you are handling your diabetes. After a while, the changes you're making will become second nature to you. The walk around the duck pond was a good idea. There are ways to add extra activity into your day.

Trish, I didn't think DH would ever give up whole milk. He resisted. I started buying 2%, then after a while went to 1%, then there's one store in our area that carries 1/2%. By the time I went down to skim milk he had adjusted. It took a few months. Recently, he kept saying the milk tasted bad, and when we took a second look we realized he had picked up whole milk by mistake. He hated the taste and texture!

Carol Sue Great on the exercising. I did end up exercising yesterday. DH was taking a nap and I decided to call my Dad. It is too cold to sit on back porch when on the phone like I usually do so I decided to ride the recumbent bike while talking to him. I like doing that because the time goes back faster. I suddenly realized that I had done 33 minutes. I really enjoy my bike. I experienced the same problem with the knee when I first got my bike. In fact, I had been talking to my Dad when I hurt it because I did pay attention to the time and suddenly realized I had done an hour. I don't do more than 30 minutes at a time any more. However, I must say that when I use it, my joints do not hurt as much as they used to. In fact, I've noticed that when I go too long without using the recumbent bike my joints will hurt. Kind of makes me have to use it. I have one of those seats I fitted on mine with heat and vigbration and when my back hurts, I can turn that on and ride it and the back pain goes away.

Fatmad I'm glad you shared your experience with Shannon I think that will take a lot of stress off of her. Glad you are going to have time for skiing. I remember you always loved it. I can understand how your work hours can be a problem with your eating schedule from the time when I worked nights. I'm sure your holiday will be a time to help you get things working for you.

Shannon I have learned that stress can play havoc with our eating and the bs readings. As I said above, I think when you can get things settled more with Olivia that you will be able to lose some of the stress and that will help you get back OP. Don't beat yourself up, just start doing what you can and take it a step at a time if you have to and you will get it back under control.

Secondhalf I thought the same thing as Carol Sue when I read how good you are doing. I see know reason why you will have to take the insulin. DH is taking the most of the oral meds you can take for diabetes. Our doc said as long as he keeps showing some improvement each time he sees him that he will not put him on insulin.

FBS was 117 this morning and weight was exactly 216 this morning so this way of eating is working. It is so nice to finally working and I can live with. Funny thing is that I've eaten out 2 days in a row and I really expected the weight to be a little higher so I was surprised to see it lower by .4 lbs. I am beginning to see how I have messed up in the past. Although the lunches were not exactly OP, it didn't hurt me because I continued doing breakfast and dinner OP. So the old saying of "staying consistent" is actually true. The rest of the week will be strictly OP so all should be fine. I am pleased..

Have a nice day.

This morning I watched a woman make Shake and Bake fish on TV and decided to try it for lunch. It was OK, but I probably wouldn't make it again. DH would never eat it. I think I would like it better just grilled with salt, pepper and olive oil. I had cod fillets.

I think we're going out for dinner tonight. What I order will depend on where we go, but I will try very hard to stay low carb....no bread or starch. I need to learn to say no to it while it's sitting right in front of me. I can't control what other people serve, I can only control what I put in my mouth.

I have decided my daughter's nighttime issues are a manifestation of her separation anxiety. I try to just work with it - she'll grow out of it eventually. But I have set some boundaries with bedtime that I think have helped. As for when my hubby is gone, yeah, she sleeps with me the entire time - 1 day, 3 days, 8 days - whatever it is. I will say she is pretty good about understanding that once he is back she has to go back to her own room if she wakes at night. I don't have issues with co-sleeping at all actually, the issue is just that there is no room in our bed. Hubby is very tall and very overweight and takes up over half of our king size bed. I barely have 25% of the bed so if Olivia crawls in I end up having to get out at some point and then she eventually wakes up and freaks out that I'm not with her...it's just problematic. At any rate we have been using essential oils at bedtime for almost a month and I do think they have improved her sleep, though I'd love to see it improve even more!

Thanks Trish- I think I am just struggling with feeling like things are never going to settle down. I feel like I'm stuck in some kind of whirlwind that is not stopping. I think back to last year, almost a year ago, when I started making changes. My life seemed less chaotic then. I feel like my life keeps getting more chaotic instead of less. I guess eventually though things WILL settle, right??!

Carol Sue I have wrapped my knee a few times but it doesn't seem to help much, I'm not sure what is going on. I can actually push on an area of my knee on the inner leg side of the kneecap and it feels very tender, almost like it's bruised. I have had issues off and on with this knee over many years but it seems a little worse this time. I'm sure it will ease up soon.

Sorry for all the individual messages filling up the feed today, too tired to get them into one post!!

We are bracing here for freezing rain and ice tonight. They are saying we will likely lose power - oh, I hope not!! They have cancelled schools, etc. already.

It's only Tuesday but I feel like it's been a whole week. LOL! I just can't keep up with life. Monday I forgot about Olivia's dance class, today my debit card was declined which I thought must be a fluke but got home and about fell out when I pulled up our bank account and discovered we were overdrawn and the preschool check bounced and all sorts of other things - totally had no clue, we are eating out all the time because I can't seem to get a meal plan together or if I do have a plan the day just goes crazy and at dinnertime I don't actually get the food cooked - it's like I just can't keep it together and I don't know how to fix things. I think I'm just so exhausted - physically and otherwise. I don't know...just going crazy and I really am a very normal person - all this chaos is JUST NOT ME!!! Okay, done venting - back to your regularly scheduled program....

am feeling rather bummed about the weight gain, but I think I have to own it. I have been lazy about watching my eating. I am also adjusting to not eating certain veggies. I have to say, red peppers are a fav, and giving them up has not been easy. I have to adjust my diet again, and just have to get my head around it. Have also taken up being a total couch potato, and that has to stop. I need a little long on the end of the day, its dark when I get home, and I just want to hibernate.
However, holidays are starting soon and I plan to be active during the day. By the time I am back to work, the sunlit part of the day will be longer and I hope to get back to being more active during the work week again.
ttfn

I ended up eating mashed potatoes at dinner last night, but it was a small portion. I ordered liver and onions (I know, YUK! But I love it.) Mashed potatoes just naturally go with liver.

Now that I am exercising, I'm experiencing a good drop in my blood sugar. It's not yet down to where it should be, but I'm pleased with the improvement. Diabetes Miracle says it's better to split your exercise into 2 20 minute sessions, and I think I might try that. Last night we went shopping after leaving the restaurant so to me, that walking around the store counted as exercise. I went well over 5,000 steps on my Fitbit. That's something I don't do very often.

Shannon, knee problems can be very debilitating, because life naturally involves standing and moving and you need your knees for that! I have never wrapped my knee because that seems to inhibit movement, but these elastic braces have a hole at the knee cap so your knee can bend naturally, and they really help me. Your pain seems to be a different issue than mine. Mine is OA. I hope you find some relief.

For everything else, take a deep breath! Don't try to do everything at once. Keep the eating in the back of your mind, but don't let it become such a big issue. If you have to eat out, make the best choices you can and let it go. It will work out.

Mad, our weight goes up and down. It's good that you are owning it, knowing the food choices and inactivity that are causing it. That's half the battle. It's hard when you have to give up favorite foods, especially when they are healthy foods! When I was working I found it almost impossible to get exercise in. Once I came home and sat down in my recliner I didn't want to get back up. I had such great plans for retirement, but I find that it can be just as difficult to get myself moving, even when I have nothing but time. I have to force myself to get my body going, but I do feel much better afterwards.

One thing I don't understand, when I was working, the snack machine and I were on a first name basis. LOL I ate so much junk food every day, mainly due to stress, and simply the fact that it was there. I wore a lab coat with big pockets, and there was always something in them to snack on. Now that I'm retired, there's very little snack food in our house, except for DH's sweets, which don't interest me. You would think I would be losing weight without all that carby junk. But it's a struggle all the same. Also, you'd think I'd have a lot of extra money. Those snack machines are not cheap!

I guess this is why I've started tracking again, to see exactly where the problem lies.

My daughter just turned nine and my husband is about to go out of town for three weeks. She will absolutely sleep with me the whole time, unless she's having a friend sleep over. I welcome it. Eventually she's going to stop wanting to be with me so much and I will miss stuff like this.

It is interesting to hear about others with knee issues. I'm starting to have some problems with my right knee going down stairs, I wonder if I should look into an elastic brace for support?

On the low carb front, yesterday I made eggplant "pizzas" and while the might not be for everyone, I LOVED them. I roasted 3/4 - 1 inc eggplant slices in the oven for about 20 minutes, topped with pizza sauce, a little bit of skim mozzarella and cherry tomatoes, and then under the boiler to melt the cheese. SO GOOD. But then I love eggplant so I might not be the most objective. Will definitely make again, a lot. My husband said they were ok, but he likes "oven fried" eggplant - with the egg wash, panko and parm, etc. I like that as well and I'm sure you could do that and then make "pizzas" but I wasn't feeling up to all that yesterday.

It seems like I get behind and can't properly reply to everyone like I intend to because I run out of time. I'll try to catch up sometime this afternoon!

Secondhalf, I like eggplant too, but DH would not eat it in any form. I would like those pizzas.

I had xrays done that diagnosed my OA in my knee and fluid. I'm sure my weight makes it worse. I can not go up OR down stairs normally. I have to do one step at a time, leading with my left leg going up, and my right leg going down. People behind me are not happy. I used to run in my younger days, but those days are over. I do find that if I exercise regularly with the elastic brace I can start to go up stairs normally, but never down. Bending my knee makes it more painful. I don't take any pain meds for it. For a while I took glucosemine and condroiten and it helped, but when I tried taking it again I saw no improvement. I don't want knee surgery, so I will deal with it the best I can for as long as I can. I don't wear the brace anytime except when I'm exercising. It wasn't expensive. I have 2 of them for when one is in the laundry. I've had them for over 10 years. If I forget and exercise without it I can't exercise for a few days until the pain and swelling is gone. My brother-in-law used a cream called Australian Dream, bought in WalMart. He said it helped him with his bad knee, but it didn't help me. Maybe I didn't use it long enough. I think if it's OA the treatment would be different than if it was from an injury, like a torn miniscus.

I am finding that as long as I'm eating healthy fats that my joints especially my knees are no longer hurting. I think I read somewhere, maybe on the sticky thread on Magic Foods that people with OA get relief from joint pain when using EVOO. I don't know if that works for everyone, but after reading that, I realized that my joints did not hurt when I am using it. Can't get DH to eat it, but I sneak it into foods where I can hide the taste like the beans I used yesterday.

FBS is still under 120... 115 this morning and weight seems to be staying the same right now. I'm thinking that is a good thing because believe my body is adjusting to my new way of eating. I don't call this a diet because I don't feel like I'm on a diet because I know I can eat this way forever. I don't intend to eat any other way. IE's idea is that diets are something we think of as we can go back to the way we used to eat before we diet. I hope to eliminate that idea by never thinking of this as a diet. I guess it is one of those games we play with ourselves, but if it works great.

I did do 25 minutes on my recumbent bike yesterday. Not setting any long term goals there either. I'm just taking it one day at a time. In the LC book for dummies, she says to spend a few minutes each day thinking about what your goals are and why you are doing this. I've been doing that. My main goal is to get all my blood work numbers normal to get as healthy as I can. I try doing that at least once or twice a day. It seems to be helping too. I'm just not putting any pressure on myself on any of this any more.

Y'all have a great day.