Here it is, May already! Join in with us to give and get support,

This morning I was reading posts on a low carb/diabetes thread and have decided that it is in my best interest to make a big effort to try VLC again. I have unsubscibed the 2 CAD/CALP threads I had been following, because they just confuse me and make me feel that I can follow that WOE. I can't. I realize that there are people who can follow that WOE and do well, but maybe they don't have diabetes, which is a whole new ball game. I am becoming more and more insulin resistant and it is getting harder and harder to lower my blood sugar readings. I don't want to end up on insulin. I will still eat my low carb veggies, but I will change my thinking that a little bit of "whatever" won't hurt. That's getting me in trouble. This is just something I have to do for me. I hope you all can understand where I'm coming from.

Wannab-Thank you so much for starting the May thread! I hope your new WOE works for you!

I took the advice and tested my BS before eating and after...highest swing I had was 18 points, so it seems I can handle high carb with high fat and protein. Think I'm just going to have to cut portions and call it a day.

Mom - did you take it in half hour increments for 3 hours after eating to see the entire up (and down) range? Keep doing it for two days and you will have a much better picture than just one meal.

Well, I ended up losing 2.2 lbs this last month. FBS is up 15 pts. My weight was less a couple of times during the month of April, however, i am grateful that my ticker is what I weigh today. I lost about 4 lbs, but kept only the 2 lbs off. I've got to get the fbs back down. I think LCHF will do that so I'm going to use the guide lines I read on the recent sites and continue the exercising.

Carol Sue I unsubscribed to the CAD/CALP thread weeks ago. I decided that I can use the carby meal allowed when I am in a situation when I have no choice but eat starchy carb(s), but it will not work as a daily lifestyle for me if I want to lose weight and get my fbs under control.

My sister and I were talking this morning about how we have to learn how to eat this way so that it will become our lifestyle for the rest of our lives rather than just a plan to lose weight, get our bs normal and then go back to eating the way we ate before. This is my goal.

I'm finding the stir-fry evening meals are a great help. I just need to figure out some snack foods to help me when I need a snack to get past the urge to eat.

We can do this.

Have a nice day.

I don't think the Januvia is working. I'm going to take my chances of going back to the Metformin and just take it at a different time. Since I'm eating almost Atkins phase 2 plan, my fbs should be coming down. So today I will go back to using it with my lunch. I'm eating no grains, bread, legumes.

Headed out to beauty shop and Walmart afterward. Have a nice day.

Fatmad Thinking of you send good vibes for a good day as you teach your class. I know you will do very well. You know your job so well that your students will appreciate you experience. I know I have through the years that I have known you.

Trish- Not sure you should give up on the Januvia just yet, especially since you haven't had a lot of luck with Met. From what my doc has said, Januvia isn't a quick working drug and definitely needs diet and exercise with it. I apologize if I am overstepping my bounds, but I hate to see you suffer with Met side effects.

JLUS- I only did 3 meals on your recommended plan. My insurance does not cover any testing supplies bc I am not insulin dependent, so I am hesitant to use extra strips.

Wannab- Hope your new WOE was successful yesterday!

AFM, I'm just chugging along.

Trish, if you still have some of the Januvia left I think you should give it a little more time since you already bought it. Your body might have to adjust to it before you see good results, plus you already know that you have trouble with the Met. Just a suggestion.

Not that I'm happy that your sister has developed diabetes, but it's so wonderful that you have each other in this struggle. You two can compare results and learn from each other.

To start with, I am going to eliminate bread, pasta, potatoes, rice etc. Just eat meat, fish and non-starchy veggies. When and if my blood sugar comes down I will do a test with beans and dairy to see if adding them makes a difference. Right now I am so afraid to find out that my Beta Cells are damaged to the point of not working anymore. I need to see for myself that my blood sugar CAN come down, then adjust my eating accordingly.

I have the book Protein Power, but I recently got a related book from Goodwill for $1, Protein Power Lifestyle Plan. I have been jumping around, just picking out chapters that have the information I'm interested in. This morning I was reading the chapter on fat. I don't plan on eating high fat or low fat, but I want to know which fats do what, and learn which ones I want to aim for and where to get them. I will have to read it over again because they get pretty technical about it and although it's useful information, I just want to get to the bottom line.

I also have to go to Walmart to get test strips and a few other things I need.

Laurie, it's good to see you pop in here once in a while. Lets us know you didn't desert us! LOL You always have good information to share.

Momwithdogs, I agree that you should test more, to see just where your blood sugar spikes. Some people don't spike until 4 hours out after a meal. It has a lot to do with what you ate and how your body handles it. To me it sounds like you are in very early stages and it's good to be watching it before it gets worse.

This is Day 7 taking the Januvia so maybe I haven't given it time to work so I will continue using it throughout the month and see what happens. I do have the months supply so I will give it a chance. My plan and exercise is good so there is no reason why I can't give it a little more time.

Trish, I think you're doing the right thing. I read online about Januvia and it says it works when your blood sugar is high and doesn't work when you're blood sugar is low. To me, that means it will not give you lows, the way Glimiperide can, and it also reduces the glucose released by the liver, the way Metformin does, so that's a plus. You just have to watch for the side effects, like you said. If you don't see results by the end of the month then you can let your doctor know.

FBS was 133 this morning. So I guess it is beginning to work. I did do 30 minutes on the recumbent bike yesterday completing the week with my minimal exercise for the week. So I would say the week is turning out pretty good and if all goes well, my weight will still coincide with my ticker.

Although I'm not eating hardly any starchy carbs a day, as most of my carbs come from dairy and veggies. I did have 1 grapefruit today because I have them and don't want them to go bad. They might even work out okay for me. I am mostly eating them at the midday lunch similar to the CAD/CALP RM although my plan is NOT CAD/CALP with a RM. I don't trust myself with that concept. I am eating mostly protein snacks the rest of the day rather than actual meals. Definitely Trish's Low Carb Plan to fit my lifestyle. I trust that eventually, I will be rewarded with a lower fbs and weight loss. I've actually been reading how others on another lowcarb site have tweaked their low carb way of eating to fit their lifestyle. I noticed some of them who have lost a lot of weight seem to eat more protein and fat than a lot of veggies. And some even eat a little bit of fruit at least until they hit a stall.

Looking forward to a good week.

I cannot get my blood sugar to come down below 160 at any time during the day. I trying not to take the full prescription of Glimiperide, but if I don't take it I go over 200. I have only been on this for a year and my dose is only 2gm per day so I don't understand how it could have burned out my Beta Cells already. I guess I should give it more time. About a month ago when I was trying out 5:2 I did an all vegetable day and it went down into the 90s. I hope I can get it there again. I will say I haven't exercised the past few days, so that would help too. This is very upsetting to me, but I did it to myself, so I can't blame anyone else.

I notice they seem to up the fat, too, Trish, but one woman who lost 100 lbs so far did low carb low fat. She did not eat foods labeled low fat, but she chose lower fat meats, didn't use butter or fats for cooking, etc. Protein Power recommends eating fat, but not exactly high fat, more like moderate fat. They said most Americans eat more fat then they think they eat. They also said that for weight loss it's still important to watch your calories. Many people don't worry about calories when they eat low carb. I eat avocados, olives, and some nuts and also salmon and other fatty fish. I also put butter on my veggies. And there's fat in egg yolks. So I think I am getting plenty of fat. But I still need to be concerned with the calories this fat is adding. Tracking should help me with that.

We will figure this out, Trish.

About the time I think I have this all figured out, I DON'T! FBS was 159 this morning. Only good thing is weight is the same. As much as I'm fighting it, I think I may HAVE to do Atkins. DGS leaves Friday to go to FL for a month. Will be a really good time to do a 2 week AI. So I will plan to start that Saturday or Sunday. Still don't know about the Januvia. I did have a CAD like RM so maybe I just can't do that any more or I wasn't on the VLC long enough.

Carol Sue I know we always think VLC for diabetes, but maybe you need to do more veggies since that always seems to do well for you. Also, in the New Atkins book, they say you can do Atkins either way High fat or Lowfat, it all depends on your preference. I personally DO NOT like too much fat however, I also do not like lowfat. And by that I mean I will not buy lowfat products any more. I just don't think they are healthy for us. JMHO

Well company in a few minutes so I will make this a quick one. I'm making a beef roast today since DGS will be here for lunch. He and DH will have potatoes and carrots. I will have salad and veggies no starches. I'm just not happy with a fbs that is going up. I thought about dropping the prescription bs meds and just take the Gluccocil I used to take, but will wait a little longer to see how the diet, exercise and Januvia works out. At least until I start AI this weekend.

I wrote a post this morning about my plans for the Protein Power Plan, but deleted it because I got out the original Protein Power book and it is a little different than the information in the Lifestyle Plan book. They are saying to start out with 30 gm of carb on the 1st phase. The Lifestyle Plan didn't give actual macros, but the example they showed calculated out to 45 gr of carb at my planned calorie level. I am leaving things the way I entered them in my online tracker and see how it turns out. I plan on eating protein and vegetables at 1200 calories, so I will see what it comes out to and adjust accordingly. I just know I don't want to do high fat the way a lot of the low carbers are doing. Last night I watched Dr Fuhrman again on public television. Just watching him made me get up and cook some vegetables. LOL I don't want to give up my vegetables unless I have to. I strongly believe that my body needs the nutrients in them.

Trish, I don't think your blood sugar is as bad as mine. You might truly be able to just use the Glucotrol and control your BS with that. This morning my fasting was 164. I had 2 eggs and 1/4 C of mushrooms and took a Glimiperide. When I checked 2 hrs later I was at 203. What's up with that??? The only thing I can figure out is it was the caffeine and sugar free creamer I use. Or it was some type of fluke. It's very discouraging.

Carol Sue That is crazy your bs being that high. 30 g of carbs a day is what Dr. Bernstein in Sugar 101 (I think it is called) allows. I've decided that using the Glimiperide the way I did me more harm than good. So I'm not going to be doing that any more. I remember Dr. Jung said that you progressively have to take stronger and stronger medications. I don't want that.

I've been checking my 2 and 3 hrs after meals. I forgot to check it after breakfast, but I checked it today 3 hrs and 4 hrs after lunch. I found that my high peak is 3 hrs after a meal. My reading after 3 hrs was 143 which I guess wasn't too bad. And then 4 hrs after lunch was 117. Maybe things are working better than I thought. I am pleased to say that I made the roast with potatoes, carrots and gravy for the guys and didn't eat any of it. I had a nice salad and Brussel sprouts with mine.

I'm not doing high fat either although I have added some fat. I fry my eggs in bacon grease and add butter to my Brussel sprouts and I used a creamy Ceasar dressing on my salad. I really don't want to go extreme on anything. I eat protein, but not going wild on that either. I did give my company the rest of the grapefruit that I had. So that is out of the house. So I'm down to eating protein, fat and veggies no fruit. Not sure DGS is going to FL because he girl who was going to work one of his shifts at work has backed out. Since I've started low carb although not necessarily AI, I am just going to go with it.

I had CO in my 1st cup of coffee this morning. I am drinking caffeine again in the morning. Now that it is warming up out, I am enjoying drinking water. I did make some tea with green tree and regular, but I water it down mostly because I make it in a little coffee pot and then forget it and it is really, really strong. I did up the half and half in my coffee, but still use a little bit of Stevia in it, but I don't add anything to my tea.

We will get this Carol Sue. Hope everyone is doing okay.