Trish, I think you're making a mistake wanting to take glimiperide. First of all, I don't think any doctor would prescribe it with your A1c where it is. My doctor didn't prescribe it until my A1c hit 7.9, and I don't think you want that. It causes your body to release more insulin and insulin stores fat in the cells. I think with weight loss and exercise your BS will go down to where you want it and you'll be happier and better off in the long run. Here I am wanting so badly to get off the glimiperide, and you want to go on it! If you really want to go on it, start eating a lot of carbs and raise your A1c. Then they'll prescribe it.

Carol Sue I'm sure your right. It's just that since I took that Januvia, it has really been difficult to get my fbs back down to what it was before. I'll just keep trucking along.

I did get 45 minutes exercise in today. Don't know if I will do that everyday, but I do hope to do 30 minutes 3 days and the 45 minutes 2 or 3 days a week with 1 day off.

Trish, I hope it didn't feel as though I was scolding you. I didn't mean it that way. I just think you are doing fine, and your A1c was good last time, so I don't think you should worry about it that much. The decision is up to you, of course.

For some reason I don't understand, my psoriasis seems to be improving. I always tell the hairdresser to leave my sides long enough to cover my ears because I have psoriasis on and around my ears. Well, as of yesterday, it's gone from my ears. I keep feeling them and feeling smooth skin. I can't believe it. The psoriasis around my waist area is still there, but it is flatter, not bumpy, and the skin feels very smooth compared to what it usually feels like. I wish I knew what is causing this. If it's something I'm doing, I want to continue doing it. For one thing, I have had this cold for the past 2 weeks or longer. I don't seem to have a fever, but I do get hot and sweaty. Maybe I'm clearing toxin out of my body. Also, my diet has changed. Since I don't feel good, I've been eating more things like noodles and pasta, like in soup, and less meat and vegetables because they just don't appeal to me. I have eaten low carb for so long that this feels like I'm doing something wrong and I keep telling myself that it's because I don't feel well. I just don't know what to think. Usually psoriasis gets worse in the winter because your skin gets drier.

I feel for you Trish my bs readings during the day are rarely over 6..... But yet my fasting number from Drs was 7.2 and I'm on janumet plus glaclizide....right now I'm testing more often. I've had two lows this week. I've been watching my carbs more closely. But, my dr told me if my fasting number isn't down by next appt 3 months) she will change my meds again. She was happy with my numbers just wants me A1C under 7 . I don't know what else to do to get it lower,,,so I will keep losing and exercising and hope for the best in 3 months.
Sometimes I feel like No matter what I do that damn number won't go down.

I'm so glad to hear your psoriasis is going away. :). Great news Carol!!

Today I noticed that my elbows are still rough and red, but the flaking is gone. What's happening? I don't care!!! LOL

p.a. I have heard that fasting blood sugar is the last to come down when you start treating BS. My doctor never cares what my fasting is as long as my A1c is under 7. Hope you get good readings.

All I know to do is to keep doing what I'm doing... exercise and eat less. Hopefully the weight will come down and maybe the fbs will eventually follow.

Carol Sue No I didn't think you were scolding me. I appreciate the input. I hope your psoriasis improvement is here to stay.

p.a. I actually wish I had never taken any diabetic medicine. I think it actually has made it worse. Although I am taking the Metformin 500 ER again and so far so good. My doc doesn't want to give me the glymiperide because he says I'll gain weight. Maybe he is right.

Since he won't give the med to me, I have to continue exercising and watching what I eat. If I could depend on the medicine, maybe I would get lazy and not do either one. I'm doing the 30 minutes a day on the recumbent bike. I'm not doing like I used to do this time. I do the bike regardless of how active/walking etc that I am going to be doing later in the day. I am actually getting to the place to where I am enjoying the bike. I read while riding it and do it early in the morning before I can talk myself out of it.

I only did the extra 15 minutes once this week. I've been having pain in my left hip and leg. Not the joint, just like a muscle. Finally got up this morning free of the pain and figured out it was a pair of shoes that I had started wearing around the house. I put them on and about 15 or 20 minutes later the pain was coming back. I'm using the 10s machine to get rid of the pain again and won't wearing those shoes any more. Talked to my beautician today and told her to stop wearing those shoes as she wears them to work and to gym to wear in the shower. She has been experiencing the same pain I have.

I wish I could be happy doing Atkins lc, but it just isn't me. I am using some of the guidelines of the Low carbing for Dummies hoping it works. Since I want to keep the the dairy in my plan, I have finally decided to go back to lowfat dairy instead of the full fat because this is what the book suggests. I still have some full fat dairy, but I will replace them with non/lowfat ones when needed. Still doing it with IE as well. I still don't want to eat when not hungry.

Trish, so far I haven't actually had a noticeable gain due to glimiperide, but I have had great difficulty losing and I think it could have something to do with that. Another woman on another forum gained 10 lbs as soon as she started taking it. I think it has something to do with your dosage. I am on 1gm twice a day, as compared to your DH who takes 4gm twice a day. Big difference. It's amazing that he hasn't gained, but you said he's been on it a long time. To me, it makes you lazy. You start to think "I can eat this because the glimiperide will bring my blood sugar down." But the way it does that is to increase your insulin levels, and you don't want that if it's not necessary. Insulin is the fat storage hormone. I think you will be able to find a way to eat small portions of the carbs you like and still control your blood sugar, maybe by controlling when you eat them and what you eat with them. They say you should start your meal with protein, then when you eat the carbs, the protein in your stomach will slow down the absorption of the carbs. If I were you, I would wait until you have your next A1c and see where you stand. If it's necessary to take it, then that's different. I am constantly trying to eat in such a way that I don't need it all the time and would love to get off it eventually. I don't mind the Metformin, because it doesn't cause weight gain and I have no other side effects from it.

I was having pain in my lower back and I figured out it was because my recumbent bike needed to be adjusted. After I moved it, the pedals were too far away for me and I needed to stretch to pedal. DH helped me move it closer. Then it was too close. I tried to push it out just a bit but I pushed it too far and now it's too far away again. I will get DH to help me get it just right, then I will put a mark with a Sharpie Pen so I know where it's supposed to be. I have had trouble with certain shoes, too. They just hold your body in the wrong position.

I can't stick to Atkins 20gm of carb but some days it just turns out that way. I don't track all the time so I really don't know what my carb count is. It has been much higher lately because I have had this cold and have been craving things like pasta and potatoes. In spite of that, my blood sugar hasn't been terribly high, and I was shocked to see I am down a couple pounds. But I've lost those pounds before and they always seem to find their way back. I still haven't learned how to keep going on my weight loss. But I still try. Even though some of my snacks are healthy ones, I have quit buying them. When I feel like having a snack, there's nothing here to snack on, so I just wait for my next meal and then I enjoy the meal more because I'm actually hungry. DH hasn't even been buying all his usual snacks. He has been eating apples lately, but he bought Red Delicious and I prefer Gala.

I use full fat cheese, but we still use fat-free milk and probably always will. The only time I buy full-fat milk is when I have a recipe that calls for it.

Carol Sue :wave: Hope your cold is better. I understand about the Atkins 20 g carbs. I'm trying to keep mine below 75 g.

I saw an article on yahoo just before I went to bed and made a copy of some of the important info from it. I wish I had bookmarked it because I could have shared it on here. It convinced me to follow the idea of The LC dummies book.

I think it was shared from Prevention. I really thought it would be on there again today since I found it after midnight, but can't find it today. Any way, when I read it, I could see why my sister loses weight so quickly. The article shared the fact that people who eat more yogurt, seafood, skinless chicken and nuts the less they gain weight. They also said that when it comes to dairy that it didn't seem to matter whether they had lowfat or full fat as the results were the same. They say that eating meat along with low-GI foods such as vegetables helped reduce weight gain. The problem seems to be when we eat high GI foods with eggs, cheese (protein) is what causes the weight gain.

They seemed to have decided that the best diets for weight loss were high in rich protein foods such as fish, nuts, and yogurt which they say helps prevent weight gain. Of course as we all know they say avoiding sugar, refined grains and starches helped.

So I really believe that keeping my carbs down under 100 g mostly around 75 g and making most of those good grains rather than refined, eating lots of fruits and veggies and protein rich foods along with my exercising should eventually bring the weight and the bs and other health numbers down. I am still taking the Metformin. I hope I will be able to take it as according to the doctor it does have some good benefits like protecting us from damages caused by diabetes. So far so good. I may not be able to take a stronger dose of it, so hopefully it will help with my plan. I can live with that.

I've done 4 days of 30 minutes on the recumbent bide and 1 day of 45 minutes. I'm not really going to worry about doing more than 30 minutes a day right now. I also am not going to worry about IF/IE right now. Because of trying to lower and steady the bs, I am going to eat smaller (3) meals and have a small snack at least 2x a day. This morning I had a good healthy breakfast and then around noon right after my 30 minute exercise, I had a small helping of blueberries and yogurt. I will have apple and peanut butter or peanuts tonight for a snack after dinner. Dinner will probably start being egg or tuna salad.

If I can get into a healthy routine, I will do okay since I'm kind of a "routine" person any way. I remember reading in the book Thin for Life where the Masters "Practiced" eating they way they were going to eat the rest of their lives until it became a habit. I figure what I am in the process of doing is "creating a habit" of the way I am going to eat the rest of my life. Another thing that impressed me about the Masters was that, they never saw themselves as being "On a diet". Diet means way of eating and that is how they described it... their way of eating. Also I read to day that they never let a slip/lapse become a "Relapse". They choose to see it as a "choice" to eat a treat or whatever and then moved on. They never allowed it to make them feel like they were "weak and couldn't do it". This illuminated the idea of "Well, I blew it so I might as well give up" and end up binging and gaining back what they had lost.

I want to make these things a part of my "way of thinking". I consider myself a "work in progress". LOL

p.a. Are you enjoying that new baby?

Y'all have a great weekend.

Trish, I think this sounds like a good plan, and is actually more like "normal eating," not a diet. I don't consider myself to be on a diet, either. I eat low carb sometimes and sometimes have some carbs, but just try to keep it in control. I don't know if I'm doing 80/20 but I try. Yesterday we went to the casino and ate the buffet. There is so much protein on that buffet that I rarely eat any carbs, other than vegetables. Yesterday, they had baked macaroni and cheese and it looked so good, so I ate some. It was delicious, the way I make mine when I used to make it. I didn't feel guilty, because I had made the decision to eat it and it's not something I do every day, and it didn't set off a binge. I ate it, enjoyed it, and moved on. I think guilt over food is gone from my life. Sometimes I use discretion and sometimes I indulge. Try to keep it 80/20. I used to eat until I was stuffed, so I think that's the biggest change I've made.

I have always heard that there's something in dairy that helps with weight loss but I don't remember what. It is such a contraversy. So many diet plans say to omit dairy. When I was first diagnosed, the doctor had me on this diet where I drank 3 cups of milk a day, and I lost weight. That's what I go by.

I recently read Ultra Metabolism by Dr Mark Hyman and he said that no one was meant to eat only 20 gm of carb per day. He says that between 50-100 is the best range and to choose a number that works for you. But that doesn't mean sugar, cakes, cookies etc. Healthy carbs. If you think about it, Atkins is only 20 gm of carb during induction. The way the original plan was written you are supposed to add carbs after induction until you find the range where you can still lose weight.

I agree that the Atkins 20 gm was never supposed to be a continual way of eating. If you think about it even the Phase 1 of South Beach diet is only supposed to be for 2 weeks. They were supposed to be a jump start not a for life woe.

I also find that some days I want a little more carbs, but I'm trying to keep them around 75 to 100.

I may have overdone the exercise this past week. Leg is achey between hip and knee. I can tell it is a muscle. It was a little better this morning. I don't know if I will try to go to church tomorrow or not. I want to stay off of it as much as I possibly can.

Did I share that DGS is going to graduate May the 5th after all. DH and his DD think that DGS may have still have some ADD problems and need meds. She wants him to have an MRI and DH told her that they need to do it where she can see to it as she knows a lot of docs where they live because of her job. The college has helped him change his major and minor so that he will be able to graduate with his class. I know we will miss him , but I believe it will be a big stress reliever for both of us.

I think it is good the way it has worked out because from what he said to me recently, he seemed to think as long as he could live here and not pay anything and us take care of him, he didn't have to think about taking any responsibility of himself. I actually said that he could just stay with us and things stay like they are "unless we decide to move" which is exactly what he said to me. I informed him that was not fair for him to think that way because we are sacrificing to do what we are doing and if we ended up losing our house not only would he have no place to live neither would we. What do these kids think?

Our preacher said Sunday that they have created a "new word" for the young people up to 28 yrs old. It is called kidults. These young people do not want any responsibility for anything. They only want to play games, have fun and sleep. DGS had made this statement almost exactly as the preacher described them just a few days before our preacher told the church this. DGS even admitted that this is exactly how he and his friends at college feel and think. What a shame. When I was his age, I couldn't wait to get out and work and take responsibility for myself. Things have really changed over the years.

Trish, I understand how you feel about DGS. I know you love him and have shown that in how much you have helped him, but he is like a baby bird that the mother has to push out of the nest and let him fly on his own. I know I won't be around to see my DGS reach that age, but he is being raised to have everything he wants simply because they can afford to buy it. My friend is doing the same thing with her 2 kids who are now teenagers. They get everything they want no matter how high my friend has to run her credit cards, and they have no responsibility. My friend doesn't understand that she's not helping her kids by treating them that way.

When I graduated from high school I went right out into the working world. Eventually I had enough money to go to night school after work and get a bit more education, but I paid for it all, plus room and board. I think it's nice to do things for your kids but they never learn responsibility that way.

I hope your leg feels better. You're right to take it easy until it heals. I really have to get back to my exercise.

Well, my leg wasn't hurting when I got up. However, it did return somewhat as the day progressed. The change is that it is bearable with Tylenol, Ibuprofane and Advil alternated. I used the 10s machine last night along with heat when I went to bed. As much as I hate not to exercise, I think I may have to either slow down or even back off until this leg is well.

I have figured out my eating plan routine. I will be going low carb most days by keeping my carb count (counting the way the dummies lc book suggests) around 45 gms. I think I remember reading in one of the Atkins book that most of the Atkins dieters keep their carb count around 45 gms on average. I think that is more doable. This way I will use only 1 carb serving at each meal. Using the dummies book, the carbs in nuts and dairy don't count as part of those carb counts. Doing it this way, I've decided to not subtract the fiber mainly because I didn't see any place where she even suggests subtracting them.

Carol Sue Has your cold left you? Hope so.

p.a. and those reading :wave:

My cold is still here, Trish. Everyone is telling me to go to the doctor but I want to wait and see how it goes this week. Tonight I had a couple cups of hot tea and then I coughed up a lot of mucus, so maybe the tea is helping to loosen up the congestion. That's the biggest problem. I didn't have many chills today.

Carol Sue I understand how you feel, but don't let that go too long.

I know what you mean, Trish, and other people are telling me the same thing. Right now since I feel as though it is improving gradually I am going to let it go a while longer. I don't feel sick anymore, but just have the symptoms of watery eyes, runny nose, and cough, and I cough 24/7 anyway. Right now it feels more like allergies than a cold because I don't feel sick. I slept until 9:45 this morning. I was up a couple times during the night but fell back to sleep, and I feel that I really needed that extra sleep. I'm eating good now and think I am on the road to recovery. I might take a Claritin or use my nasal spray and see if that relieves the nasal issues. I was reading symptoms online for bronchitis and there are a lot of them that I don't have, such as dark mucus, bloody mucus, fever, and I haven't had any chills for the past couple days. It only says to go to the doctor if you have those symptoms. I am doing a very good job of talking myself out of going! LOL

I'm losing it,,,,I thought I posted on Sunday...guess not.
Carol I hope you feel better soon,,,,there is a nasty cold going around.
Trish you do have to find your happy balance of carbs. I'm still tweaking ... But trying to cut out a few more these days.

p.a. I am trying to figure out how many carbs I need if any.

Carol Sue This does seem to be the time of year for allergies. I think I've had a touch of something like that along with the leg pain. Not sure. If you are feeling better, that is good.

I talked to my sister each week and I find it interesting that she her program is mostly protein and nuts. She doesn't like many veggies and she doesn't eat fruit any more because they raise her bs. Then I read the article last week about how people who eat more protein including nuts don't gain weight and/or lose weight easier.

Today, since I can't exercise as much as I did last week, I am trying to eat more protein and nuts. Not sure how much veggies I will eat and I may have to give up the fruit as well. I am taking it one day at a time. Of course, no exercise doesn't help my FBS at all.

Trish, if you think this will help you then go for it, but you have tried eliminating carbs in the past and were not successful with it. What works for your sister might not be right for you. I'm sorry to hear that you are having so much anguish over this and I hope you get it figured out soon.

Maybe it would be better if you just cut back on carbs and fruit and increased your protein. Don't try to eliminate anything altogether. I just don't want to see you try this and get frustrated again.

Until you can get back to your bike, try doing some seated exercises, moving your arms, just to be getting some movement. That way you won't feel that you're not doing any exercise at all. When I was in the hospital, they had me doing seated exercises twice a day. If you don't have hand held weights to use, try using some cans of soup or something similar.

I heard a doctor on a TBN program that I partially recorded yesterday. I think from what he said that my problem is gluten. He explained things so clearly about obesity saying that people have been made to believe that obesity is caused from overeating etc, but he said that since the medical field decided that and started people eating more grains that obesity has become worse not better. A lot of grains have gluten in them. He also talked about us missing minerals and vitamins etc.

He explains that you don't have to have celiac or chrons (sorry don't know how to spell) disease to be gluten sensitive. He said that by missing certain minerals (women lose these during pregnancy) and being gluten sensitive can cause people to gain between 20 lbs and up to even 200 lbs. You remove the gluten and take right vitamins and minerals and you will lose 1/2 to 2 lbs a day. It seems that the gluten causes us to experience the munches.

The man is Dr. Joel Wallak. He started out as veterinarian who did a lot of comparative autopsies on animals and humans when he worked with the Wild Kingdom back in the 60s. From these autopsies, he wrote a book that is in the Smithsonian Treasury. He ended up taking what he learned and became a doctor with humans. He speaks of the fact that he can reverse diabetes within 2 weeks. Any way, he does have a lot of youtube videos which DH and I are going to listen to.

For the 1st time, I understand that I really am gluten sensitive. I was told this many years ago when I worked for a Health Food store. The owner did some tests which I didn't take seriously enough at the time. Maybe if I had, I wouldn't be having these problems now. Although, the doctor does explain why being a vegan isn't a good idea. He has his experience with animals and humans to back what he says. I am certainly impressed with him.

I am going to work myself toward a gluten free eating plan.

Morning everyone
Trish you may be on to something. I have a friend who was feeling very bloated and had noticeably started gaining weight around her tummy....she was quite active to and started thinking something was seriously wrong. Well, her and her dh went to Italy for a vacation and while she was there she ate pasta every day! But, lost weight.turns out they use a different kind of wheat there .... It's more 'naturel' then what we find here. I know with myself if I eat a lot of wheat my stomach is very bloated... I ate pizza last week and owwwww my stomach! But my body isn't used to higher carbs these days.
I hope this is your answer, I know how you have struggled.

p.a. I was reading some posts by some people who are wheat/gluten sensitive and they experienced some of the things I experience lately but never thought of it as being caused by wheat/gluten. Funny thing is that when I first heard about this a few years back I asked my doctor about it. He assured me that I only needed to give it up IF I had celiac disease.

What I read by one person here on 3fc is that she has learned that if you don't get the problem taken care of while you are sensitive to it that you run the risk of having celiac disease.

I'm not saying doctors are bad as they only know so much. But we listened to the Dr. Wallak last night and he shows poof of things he says. In fact, some of the things we now know about some things is because he sued FDA to get the truth out about some things. He said that in February 2012 that the FDA sent an email to all of the doctors telling them to STOP prescribing statin drugs and telling their patient to go on cholesterol lowering diets because by instructing them to do so raised those patients chances of becoming T2 diabetic by 50% and their chances of developing Alzhiemers by 100%.

Our doctor keeps trying to get DH to take statins, so we are going to see if we can find a copy of the FDA letter to take to our doctor when we go next time.

I am definitely going to start eating more Paleo/Primal and I'm going to start taking colloidal minerals. I took those years ago and they helped me a lot. In fact, I found that the mineral vanadium (I think it was) lowered my fbs an I felt great when I took them. He says you have to get the minerals replaced in your body before you even think about vitamins because if you don't have the right minerals in your body you don't absorb the nutrients you need from your food.

What he says makes so much sense to me and explains why I have a weight problem. He says obesity is not caused by overeating or lack of exercise and he uses athletes as an example to prove it. I did not know the average life expectancy of athletes is 56. He had told the medical field 58 and they wanted to prove he was wrong and they learned it was 56. All these things are documented and comes out every now and then. He shows the articles etc in his lectures.

It is so much worth changing so I can feel better. Strange thing. He started out as an agriculture biotech, became a veterinarian and then from what he learned there he decided he could help people with what he learned as a vet taking care of animals. So at 40 yrs old he went back to college and got his degree to be a primary medical doctor. He says when he treats his patients who are obese and he says he has treated people 100's of lbs over weight that they lose on average between 1/2 lb to 2 lbls a day with sagging skin. We are going to watch the rest of the video tonight because he says he will show some of them in this video we are watching. I think what will make this easier for me now is that DH is interested in doing this too.

If I have any problems with my doctor, I will see about changing doctors. I know there are doctors in their clinic who eat paleo plan because he has told me about them. So I'm not sure I'll have any problems with him. Besides he knows that I am always researching to improve my health. Like DH said last night. FDA sent out an email for the doctors to stop pushing statins and how many doctors read their email since they get so many of them.

Carol Sue Hope you are feeling okay.

Yesterday I felt worse and today I feel better. It's improving very slowly. I think on some days I feel very cold and that's when I feel terrible.

When I started hearing about the statins raising the risk of Type 2 DM I checked online and mine was not on the list. I take Lovastatin, which is a very old drug. Since my cholesterol went way down I cut my dose in half on my own. I'm sure my doctor wouldn't approve. I pay him to be my advisor, but I'm still the boss of my body.

I have also heard that you don't need to avoid gluten unless you have celiac disease, but what's the harm in eliminating gluten? I would not eat processed foods that say the gluten is removed, though, just avoid the obvious gluten food, or cut back. This is just me though, everyone makes their own choice. By eating low carb, Paleo, Primal, you are automatically eliminating gluten.

Those videos sound very interesting, Trish.

I read of the reactions some gluten sensitive people have when eating wheat and I definitely have those symptoms. We went to eat at Golden Coral. Although I did not eat any dessert, I did eat some breaded fish. We left and went to Sam's then ran by the house to put the groceries up before we went to pick up a friend for DH to check out her car. Between an hour and a half to 2 hrs after eating. By the time I got to my friends house, I had loose bowels.

I read that when one person on a gluten free diet eats gluten she has a reaction within a couple of hrs of either bad cramps or diahrea. Knowing how my body reacts to gluten/wheat, I don't think I will have any problem switching to a gluten free or paleo type way of eating. I am actually afraid to eat anything made with it.

DH and I were at the store last night and he had me to go ahead and purchase some almond flour to replace regular flour in our diet. When I told him that he didn't have to do some of the things I plan to do, he said "I'm taking Invokana and all this diabetes medicine you know". So he let me know he wants to make the changes with me. We are both giving up wheat.

It is nice to have him in my corner and I tell you what has blessed me the most is to find out that my problem really is not my fault. The more I'm learning about the minerals then I'm convinced that getting the right vitamins and minerals will help me get my system working properly.

Dr. Wallak has products to help you lose weight quickly that sounds good, but I am not a person who will drink meals. I plan to get his 90 Essential nutrients product and then eat simi-paleo/moderately low carb. The weight probably won't come off as fast as it would if I used his plan, but it will come off and I believe my body will heal nicely.

DH has decided that he is going to refuse the statins and he will agree to sign some sort of paper to relieve the doctor of any responsibility if anything were to happen to him because of it. I've got to see if I can find a copy of the email the FDA sent the doctors about them before we go to the doctor again in a month.

Catch y'all tomorrow.

Trish, DH refuses statins and he didn't have to sign anything. Every time DH goes to the doctor, he tells him he should take a statin and DH refuses. The doctor enters that information in his file. DH has had a heart attack 22 years ago and has had several stent procedures but does not want to take statins. That's his right to refuse it.

It will be interesting to see how the gluten free diet works for you. I hope it helps you. I get loose bowels for reasons unknown but I know it's not from wheat, as I don't eat much wheat after reading Wheat Belly. I got it twice after eating avocados so I quit eating them and I used to get it when I ate the salad bar at a local restaurant, so I quit eating that. I even got it from there when I had a side salad with my meal, so I think it's some preservatives they put on their salad to keep it from wilting. Otherwise, I haven't learned what caused it in some other instances.

I am always wary of people who push supplements on you. I feel that they are just trying to pad their wallet. I don't take any supplements except the Fish Oil prescribed by my doctor. I tried taking Probiotics but saw no difference after a couple months so I stopped wasting my money. Everyone is different.

I do have Celiac and avoid gluten like the plague. If I accidentally eat something, 2 hours later I throw up for about an hour straight, then feel awful for 3 days. Totally not worth it. Gluten free eating does naturally eliminate a lot of carbs from my diet, though I do use gluten free pasta on occasion.

Hi Watercolor. Welcome to the diabetes thread. I don't know much about Celiac. Is it similar to IBS? Sometimes I think I might have IBS because I get loose bowels pretty often, but I've never been diagnosed. I always just stay away from foods that cause it, and I don't think it's gluten in my case.

I wanted to share something that I was reading last night and I'm going to try. I accidentally fell upon an old thread about Resistant Starch. What these people were doing was boiling a potato, letting it cool naturally, then refrigerating it for 24 hours. Then you peel it and make potato salad with it and eat it. Check your blood sugar before and also at 1 hr, 2 hr, and 3 hr. Not only did they not get a spike, but BS was only slightly elevated at 1 hr, and actually lower at 2 hr and 3 hr. So they are saying that this helps lower blood sugar. I decided to test this theory. Last night I cooked 4 small potatoes, knowing that as soon as they were cooked, DH was going to want to eat at least one of them, and I was right. So I have 3 small potatoes in the refrigerator. Tomorrow I will make potato salad with one of them and do the test with my meter. One woman had great results when she ate 1/2 C of potato salad, but not as good when she ate 1 C. Also, they were using red potatoes and I have russets, so that might also make a difference. If this is successful, it will be great for me, because I really miss potato salad and would be happy to have some once a week or so. It only works if the potatoes are cooled in the refrigerator and eaten cold. Some people tried cooling them, but then reheating them. Results weren't good. So you can't reheat them and enjoy mashed potatoes or fried potatoes.

They were discussing only the potatoes, with just a slight mention of beans and the resistant starch they contain.

I wonder what changes in the potatoes? I've been lucky , I can 'get away' with eating a small portion of potatoes without it rising my bg. But, I am on meds though that help. I normally buy the little baby potatoes, then nuke 3 and I'm good.
Ive been eating full fat cheese, sour cream, butter ( not much it's measured) and I have another 3 month check up so I will see how this higher fat affects my cholesterol....it's been good for losing weight.

Hi watercolour,,,,my old co-worker was celiac,,,,wheat is in everything!! She was like you she got very sick. She was very limited to what she could eat. Welcome to the diabetic forum.

Watercolor :welcome3: and thanks so much for sharing how gluten/wheat affects you. I am trying some gluten-free products but reading to be sure there isn't any wheat in them. I have noticed that they do slip it in sometimes to them. I'm afraid to eat wheat because I was having diarrhea within an hr or 2 after eating it. I agree that eating wheat/gluten just isn't worth it. I've been diarrhea free for about 3 days now.

I really don't want to go VLC unless I have too. Hopefully giving up the gluten/wheat will be all I will have to do.

I found a gluten free diet on line and am using it as my guideline for the moment. I will adjust as needed as I learn more about this way of eating. I have 2 books Wheat Belly and Live Without Bread. I noticed on a lc website that some of the gluten-free eaters read them. I also saw a book for dummies concerning gluten-free diet too. I also noticed that a log of gluten-free eaters follow a Paleo plan.

I would appreciate anything else you might want to share or suggest as this is a whole new ballgame for me.

Thanks.

Trish, I don't think you will have a hard time with this. The more whole foods you eat the more certain you will be that you're avoiding gluten.

My grandson had to be on gluten-free for a while until they found out that wasn't his problem. The hardest thing was not allowing him bread. He couldn't have a sandwich unless he had it on gluten-free bread and he hated it. When they found out he no longer had to follow gluten-free they took him straight to McDonald's and got him a hamburger! He was so happy to be able to have a sandwich with regular bread. LOL

Remember back when I was having a reaction when I took my third Metforin of the day and would be throwing up in the middle of the night? Well I recently went back to taking the third Metformin, but after a few days instead of throwing up I have been in the bathroom with loose bowels. So I have decided that the third tablet just give my body more than it can handle and I have stopped it again. The doctor told me I could just take 2 a day if 3 was too much, but I was going to try to get back to it. The next time I go I think I will ask him to prescribe 2 1000gm tablets per day instead of the 2 850 mg I am taking. That will give me more meds, but not more than my body can handle.

Here it is November and my weight has stayed the same, again. I am not going to start a new thread by months anymore. Unless this thread becomes more active I think we could go about 6 months before reaching 500 posts so we can just continue on.

I just read a book written by a man who lost 75 lbs eating all the foods he liked, but just less of them. To me, that's similar to calorie counting and WW, but he didn't count anything...he just knew he was eating smaller portions. It made him happy that he didn't have to give up his favorite foods. That's fine for someone with no medical conditions, but certain things like diabetes and celiac need to have restrictions on some foods that you just can't eat.

p.a. I too can eat small portions of potato and also pasta and not get a blood sugar spike. You have to be diligent to do that, as these foods tend to be trigger foods for many, and they cannot stop at a small portion. When I was first diagnosed with diabetes, they had me on a diet where I was allowed all foods, but the portions were so small, actually what they were supposed to be, not what Americans are accustomed to eating. Oops! I forgot you are in Canada, but I think Canadians probably have some portion distortion, also. My blood sugar stayed very good as long as I stuck to that plan, but eventually, my portions crept up. They even gave me regular pudding instead of sugar-free and the dietitian said that was OK because the portion was small and it didn't exceed the 15gm of carb rule for snacks. I would have preferred to have sugar-free and use those carb grams for something else.

This morning I logged into an online OA meeting. I just observed. It was interesting, but I don't think it's for me. I eat too much, but I don't think I am a binge eater. It was set up like a chat room, but it was organized so that only one person was talking at a time. They have rules, such as you aren't allowed to mention a specific food because it might be a trigger food for someone who's participating.

Carol Sue I started an OA group in my home about 40 yrs ago in South TX. I used their strict "gray sheet" back then which was extremely low carb. However, it was so low carb that I did have cravings and would have times that I would cheat. I quit because I decided that I didn't need to always be saying "I'm a compulsive overeater" although I have to say I did enjoy the meetings. That is the only reason that I wouldn't go to their meetings now. I had never thought about it until one day my then SIL asked me why I always referred to myself as a Compulsive Overeater. I explained to her why. Then she said, "I don't think you are a compulsive overeater. I'm with you a lot and you do not compulsively eat". Then I realized that she was right. I have always been able to go hours without eating and I don't normally eat just because someone else is eating. Although I do think the "gray sheet" forbade food we've learned that we can have on some moderately low carb plans, I do still like the idea of the plan. They did stress 3 meals a day which we now know that when following low carb plans sometimes you need a low carb snack or 2.

As for me doing a low carb woe, I miss sandwiches sometimes too, but I can make the 1 Minute Muffin that a lot low carbers use for that. I won't need it too often.

I noticed on another site that some are using the 72 gram carbs a day from Life Without Bread. I plan to start reading that today and will probably lean toward the plan.

I knew a woman once who was tiny and she said she had weighed over 200 lbs at one time. When I asked her how she lost weight, she said she only ate one spoonful of each food served. I could do that for a while, but it doesn't last too long for me. It is just too easy to add another spoon etc until I'm back to eating too much. I think that is great if people can do it. However, I know me well enough to know that if portion control doesn't work that would never work for me either.

Well, I managed to lose and keep off .8 lbs last month. It is time to get this under better control. I consider all not lost as I have obviously figured out how to stop gaining, but now I must learn how to start losing.

I have a book on Insulin Resistance. It says to cook pasta exactly the amount of time specified on the box and the let it cool down. Never said how long, but it does need to be cold. Then after it is cooled you can eat it with any sauce you want. I don't remember anything about potatoes, but your info Carol Sue will be helpful since my gluten plan does allow me to have potatoes. I like potato salad.

Ok, here is my first report about the potato salad. This morning when I got up around 6 AM I had 1 egg and one slice of my sprouted grain toast with butter. I did not test, and I did not take any meds. Then around 11 I remembered about the potato salad. I had 3 small potatoes that had been in the refrigerator for over 24 hours and 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped celery, onion, radishes, parsley flakes salt and mayo. Before I ate it I checked my bs. It was 186. Even though that was a little high, I still didn't take any meds because I didn't want the meds to effect the test with the potato salad. I ate the potato salad along with a couple slices of braunswauger for lunch, around 12:30. I didn't measure, but I eye-balled 1/2 cup. I just remembered to test again and it has been 1.5 hr. 166. So my blood sugar has gone down 20 points since eating the potato salad!!!! It will be a couple hours before I eat dinner and I will try not to snack between now and then. I am sure my BS will continue to go down. I will still not take any meds. I am so curious to see what my BS will be in 1 more hour and 2 more hours. I will report in later.

Trish, years ago I printed out a copy of the gray sheet but never actually followed it. The thing about this online meeting (chat room) is that they were mostly discussing their concern about making it through the holidays. I really don't have a problem with the holidays. I rarely gain, and if I do it's a pound or two, and on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day I eat a good meal and try some of most everything, but don't over do it, and anyway, I don't think 1 meal really causes a big problem. I know that some people start eating junk food on Thanksgiving and don't stop until New Year Day, but that's not me. I have always been aware of the fact that danger lurks in holiday eating and kept a tight rein on it. As I understand it, a Compulsive Over Eater is someone who can eat a whole cake in one sitting, then have ice cream with it, and do this all right after having a big dinner. I have probably had some days in my life when I went hog wild, but it's not usual for me. My meals are just bigger than they should be.

This is getting more interesting by the minute. At 2 hours, my bs was up to 177. I was a little disappointed, but remember, I started out in the 180s, so I'm still down a bit after eating potato salad!! At that point, I ate a couple more forkfuls of the potato salad, and now, at 3 hours my bs is back down to 163. I will test again before dinner to see where I stand, but I have to take my meds at dinner so this will be the end of today's experiment.

I intend to make this potato salad every few days and continue testing out the theory. Hopefully the next time I will be starting out with a lower BS.

Carol Sue That is interesting about the bs readings with the potato salad. My readings are always higher the 1st 2 hrs and then goes down at 3, 4 and 5 hrs. That is how I learned that I would probably do better eating every 5 hrs instead of every 3 or 4.

I am enjoying reading Life Without Bread. I like that he puts the plan at the beginning and then explains everything in the following chapters. I always hate how books give you all the medical jargon for chapters before telling you what to do. The thing is that he doesn't really say don't eat bread. He just says eat no more than 72 g a day and recommends not to have too much of certain carbs. I think this is very doable whether I am gluten/wheat sensitive or not. I think I will start this tomorrow but I will still avoid eating wheat/gluten foods. I think the reactions I've had before just isn't worth going through. Plus, I'm taking the Metformin 500 again and some of my problems could be a combo of the two. I guess this will be my experiment for a while.

Oh I forgot to say Carol Sue that this time of the year has always been the best time for me to diet and lose weight. I'm not sure why but I seem to do better during the holidays than most people do. Maybe you are the same way.

Trish, I think the reason we do that is because we are weight conscious and want to be careful that we do not overdo it and have a gain. Since I do most of the baking and cooking in our family, the food and sweets don't tempt me that much. By the time the holiday comes around I'm sick of looking at it. LOL

I have seen the book Life Without Bread but never read it because I did not want a life without bread. LOL That is my biggest carb weakness. I can easily pass up other carbs, but bread gets me every time.

Long
 

Carol Sue I can understand not wanting to give up bread. I have felt the same way. I heard about the Life Without Bread when reading about gluten free eating on another lowcarb site. Someone had asked about eating without gluten. Someone wrote and shared that she pretty much followed the Life Without Bread plan of eating only 72 grams of carbs a day. She also told what she ate. She has 1 slice of toast with breakfast. Someone else made a comment of how it was funny that she ate bread on a Life Without Bread plan.

Of course reading the book, I see that he sees carbs as starchy carbs and some dairy but not all. He isn't talking about non-starchy vegetables. Potatoes, bread, pasta etc are starches and they cannot go over 72 grams a day. So she could have one slice of bread and count it as part of her 72 daily grams. He says not to be fooled by complex & simple carbs... carbs are carbs and should be counted. The difference in his book and the book lowcarb for dummies is that his limits are 12 per serving and no more than 72 grams where the dietician used 15 per serving and 75 grams daily. He says if you eat more than 6 servings a day you risk becoming sick with some disease. 6 or less is 12 g serving X 6 is 72 for living a long healthy life.
So I'm going with his idea. Besides he has the proof of all this in the book according to his references.

Free foods are any kind of animal meat including cold cuts which can be cooked any way you like them. (Much like most low carb free foods). Cheese, sour cream, cream cheese and yogurt without sugar, cream and milk. However, he stresses milk in moderation. I'm not sure you have to count the carbs in milk unless you use a lot of it. I'm not really clear on that so I will see how it affects my. I do like milk once a day and I may have to count the carbs in it. Not sure. We can use all animal fats. On LWB, non-starchy veggies are unlimited except for tomatoes. Nuts are allowed in moderate amounts and alcoholic beverages (unsweetened only) in sensible amounts are allowed. If I understand this right, I can have fruits but they have to be unsweetened ones and the carb count may have to be part of the 72 grams. I'm not sure on that either. I hope the book will clarify this later. He does make a statement at one point that there is nothing anywhere that says that we actually need carbs, but our bodies does need protein and (animal) fats. I will explain the reasons why we need animal fat later.

It appears that if you use a small amount of breading that you don't have to count the carbs unless you use a lot of breading. Sauces are freebies unless a lot I used especially if it is mostly sugar-based such as barbecue sauces which includes sweet & sour sauces.

Since I'm probably not getting any nutrition from my foods etc and DH has a problem swallowing pills, I have found a 5* liquid multi-vitamin and a 5* colloidal minerals products I can get from the The Vitamin Shoppe where I have bought vitamins before. I'm giving up all of our store bought vitamins and replacing them with these to liquid vitamin and mineral products. I ordered them this morning. Being liquid, I believe we will get more nutrition this way. Plus the colloidal minerals has the 2 minerals that diabetics are deficient in vanadium and chromium.

I really believe using these two product along with the Life Without Bread 72 grams daily limit is very doable and gives me a better chance of living the rest of my life healthier. I do want to find some good low carb like Paleo cookbooks for some healthy meals and desserts because DH does like his sweets.

I am excited to say that my ticker is finally right on today. I couldn't believe that I had a whoosh this morning that landed me right back to where I was a few months ago. Now to keep it going.

I've got a beef roast going today and will steam yellow potatoes and carrots and with my glass of milk I'll have less than 40 grams of carbs today. So it is all good. I did find some gluten free crackers and sweet potato chips so I might add a serving of one of those when I have my tuna salad for dinner, but even at that, my carbs will be less than 60 grams. Unless I am gluten sensitive, I can see how I could have 1 slice of the Sarah Lee multigrain toast with my breakfast each day and still be less than 72 grams of carbs. But I didn't have it this morning and I will not eat it for a while to see how I do without the wheat.

If you read this far, thanks.

Oh, I read the whole way down, Trish! LOL I stopped buying the Sara Lee bread and started buying Silver Hills Sprouted Whole Grain Little Big Bread. I buy it in Target in the dairy department, not the bread aisle. I had heard a lot about sprouted grain and wanted to try it. I put it in the freezer and it lasts me a long time because I don't eat it every day. I usually eat my eggs without toast but occasionally I will eat a slice of toast with them, and sometimes I will make a sandwich. The slices are very small and thin like the Sara Lee bread. It is not gluten free. It is not a soft bread, but has a chewy texture. If I am out, I sometimes will get a hamburger with a bun, but mostly eat it without the bun. I do try not to eat much bread, but it is a favorite of mine.

I think when they say we don't need carbs, they are not talking about vegetables and fruit. I think we need the phytoneutrients from them and the fiber. That's just my opinion. But bread, pasta, rice, potatoes I agree we don't need. When I used low carb for maintenance for 10 years, I would eat breaded chicken and not worry about the breading. If that was all the carb I was getting I was ahead of the game, and it never effected my weight. Oh, if I could just get back to the way I ate then!

Congrats on the whoosh, Trish. Errr, you don't HAVE a ticker!! Just your stats over on the left.

Carol Sue No I didn't have a ticker because I got tired of bouncing up and down, but I decided to add one since I hope things are to start going down for me. New look and a new start.

I ended up eating 50 grams of carbs today. DH brought out some candy and I really thought I wanted some, but then I decided that I didn't really want it bad enough to gain any of my weight back. So I ended up with a successful day. :carrot: