I like your new avatar, Trish. A woman on another thread told me that she went to a dietician for her binge eating and was told that when she was tempted to eat something she shouldn't, like DH's candy, to take just a minute to think about it and in most cases you will decided not to eat it. So that worked for you. Sometimes it's hard to do, and the food is in your mouth before you can even think. I do remember that happening to me one time and I ended up spitting it out into the sink. LOL I don't remember what the food was.

I removed my ticker a while back too, and also my stats. It just go too depressing when I kept going up and down. I don't know if I will ever add them back. Maybe if I start seeing success.

Carol Sue When I first went to OA and was starting the gray sheet and I was getting used to not eating any sugar, I suddenly realized one day that I had just put something in my mouth that has sugar in it and I did the same thing you did. I spit it into the garbage disposal. I did that a few times while I got used to being more mindful of not eating sugar. My problem back then was that our sweeteners were so sweet that they would become a trigger. I didn't know that back then and neither did anyone else in our group. When we would come to our TOM we would crave sweets and I would binge on foods made with them if I didn't give in to something sweet.

I wanted to say that I counted the 12g of carb in my milk yesterday since I didn't think the LWB was clear enough about counting or not counting them. So I am making those carbs part of the 72 grams allowed. I decided that it wouldn't hurt for me to count it. It will just be part of my woe of eating on this plan. I really think at our ages that we need to have the calcium.

As for my ticker, I want to see my progress. I weigh everyday, but I might even try to stop that and weigh once a week making Monday my WI day. This might be a good idea since my weight bounces. However, I know it bounces so I'll see how it goes. I also love that avatar. I never felt the way that avatar makes me feel. I decided I needed something to pep me up. LOL

I thought of this when writing out my food plan for today. When I did WW years ago when my kids were little, I got in the habit of us eating the same food each week. WW had recommendations back then of only eating 2 or 3 red meat servings and we had to eat liver once a week. My family loved red meat (I didn't know that my kids got tired of liver until my youngest son said one day when we were waiting to go grocery shopping said to me "Mama, do have to have liver every Wednesday? Can we have something else?). I wasn't going to WW then so I stopped the liver meals however the red met meals stayed. My family knew in advance what we were having to eat for supper on any given day. Example roast was on Sunday. In fact, I finally had to stop that because my oldest son complained about having roast every Sunday. LOL!!!

As I thought about this, I began to think that this would be a good plan for DH and me. Since DH likes only certain foods and we are doing this pretty much together, I have decided to take those foods and make up a weekly plan of what we will eat each day of the week so we can get in the habit of eating the way we need to eat for good health. This should work well by eating only the foods we both like.

On LWB, we are allowed cold cuts which I buy for a quick snack to stay OP and keep me from eating chips etc. I noticed DH is beginning to go into the fridge and himself a slice or 2 of cold cuts and puts mustard on it for a snack. He even picked up a package of bologna at the store last week. That will be so much better for him than some of the junk he has been eating.

I've read that a lot of people who lose weight successfully and keep it off make their menu plans a week in advance. I don't think it has to be written in stone that we eat fish on Monday and pork on Tuesday etc. I think it be flexible so you can switching days up during the week. For example, some Mondays like yesterday I like to make a beef roast, but then some Mondays I like fish or chicken. So it could be flexible and I can also allow for those days when we go out to eat which on average works out to be only 2 to 4 times a month depending on what is going on.

I honestly believe I have found a way to make all this work for me and DH as a lifestyle. Funny thing is, although I now CAN have 72 grams of carbs a day instead of 20 or 30 grams, I do not feel it is necessary to have 72 grams a day. So far today according to my food plan, I only have 30 grams planned and 15 of those may not be used. Isn't it funny how you can take away the strictness of a plan and make it feel more normal and it makes the whole thing easier because it takes away the pressure. :D

I saw you Carol Sue a low carb group that isn't as strict as Atkins etc. I've been reading and thinking of joining there. Now that I have my plan, I may see you over there.

Hello All,
Can i just jump in and comment on Life Without Bread....I've read the book and 2 things that jumped out at me were 1) the doctor's ideas are based on observations of over 10,000 patients with most of those being diabetics, and 2) a comment at the end where he says that in the pre-insulin era, diabetics were told to eat 72 (what he calls utilizable carbs & describes as net carbs) daily. Has anyone here had success with this diet?

joyful retiree Welcome. I have just read part of the book so I've just started this way of eating. I've been looking for something that I could use as a basic way of doing low carb that wasn't so restrictive. I always like Atkins, but never could stay with the 20 grams a day even for the 2 weeks.

I have had the book for quite some time, but recently read it again because I read on another low carb site where others were using it. I will keep sharing on this thread how it works out for me.

Hi Joyful Retiree! I never had much luck with 20 gm of carbs either, but I have not had any weight loss for such a long time I don't know if anything works for me. I haven't read LWB.

Trish, I can't wait to see where you join the Low Carb Group. I post on several of them, so I don't even know which one it could be. I still have not found a WOE that will give me the losses I want.

Hello everyone!!
I went through all of your chat (mostly) and found that you guys count grams of carbs?
Could you help me out with that?
I'm new to the chat, not new to this illness. My mother is diabetic and I'm insulin resistant (sort of pre-diabetes)...
I tried being semi-plant based (avoid most of animal protein, I say semi because I did eat fish & egg, some cheese sparingly but I'm lactose&casein intolerant) for 2 years...
I'm not super overweight but I'm still struggling with the same 20 pounds as when I started this "lifestyle".
I'm not completely improving my numbers, my Uric Acid has gone up (weird right?) and I read this might be because of the fructose in Fruit.
Also my TSH (thyroid hormone) has gone up, and that's SUPER new for me... I don't want to have hypothyroidism so I'm trying to treat all my health related issues with a homeopath right now.. (I also have PCO's)...
All and all the doctors I've visited concur that I must increase my consumption of animal protein since my body is not doing well on all the veggies.
I mostly don't consume bread (maybe a sandwich once or twice a week) and no pasta (don't like it), almost never rice and if I take it I only eat the brown one so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
I'm going to try the low-carb but I really need some guidelines.
It hurts my heart to start eating animals again but I must see if this is what my body needs to be healthy. I've tried stopping and it wasn't working (apparently) for me.

thanks for reading !!!

Hi agutzg! Lots of information. First of all PCOS is involved, and I don't know much about that except that it limits weigh loss and raises the risk of diabetes.

I thought uric acid was raised by excessive animal protein, so that has me stumped.

The vegetables could be raising the TSH, especially if you are eating them raw. I eat mine well cooked and still get a raised TSH occasionally, but not all the time.

You're doing well not eating much bread, pasta or white rice. If you don't want to increase your animal protein you would probably have to look into other protein sources. I think you can still eat some fruit but choose those that are low glycemic, and eat small portions.

I don't know a lot about any of these medical conditions. Unless someone else chimes in here with more information, I suggest you google PCOS, Uric Acid and TSH. And also protein sources for vegetarian/vegan diet.

You could track your food on an online tracker such as Fit Day or MFP. This will tell you how many gm of carb, fat and protein you are eating, and help you see what changes you should make. You can also enter each food individually to see the results for each one rather than for the whole day. I always hear that the carbs in vegetables are minimal and for you, I think it's more important to be aware of the protein since that's where you seem to be low. When I had a home nurse, she told me to eat some protein with every meal. It doesn't have to be a lot of protein, but some.

Sorry I can't be more help. Please continue to come here and let us know how you're doing.

Wannabehealthy, I appreciate your response!!
I know, I was stumped as well but my lab tests don't lie and since I wasn't consuming animal protein other than eggs & fish (sparingly, maybe 1-2 times per week at the most) it just struck me as VERY odd

here's where I saw it, I don't know if it's valid but it definitely rang a bell. I am yet to get my bg monitor which I see might be very helpful to see the effect of food in my system, but I'm trying to take it a step at a time.

/articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/06/19/richard-johnson-interview-may-18-2010.aspx

I've been on a Fit something app/journal but I get desperate of having to put all the foods in. I know it's some time investment that does pay off but I'm just weird that way, I may do it for 3-5 days and then stop for a month. I must get better at it.
I think that the "advantage" is that I do workout a lot. I do HIIT & strength training, I do regular cardio besides that as well 4-6 times a week and that has maintained my health I guess.
My PCOs are a dx I got in 2011, I don't have many symptoms other than lack of my period & some irregular pimples from time to time (those luckily have stopped).

I don't know how to maintain the whole vegan/vegetarian/plant-based approach. I've been fighting to keep eating like that with myself, my family, my work,... and having to give that up is taking a toll on me, most definitely.
What I really wish is to be healthy, that's my main wish, my main goal.

I'll see how my body responds the next couple of months and I'll be sure to keep you guys posted.
Thank you again, you were great :)

agutzg, I found this site that has a list of things that can raise uric acid and one of them is hypothyroid, so there's a tie-in!

http://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/h...s/SYM-20050607

Although I am a meat lover myself, I understand where you're coming from not wanting to eat it, so I hope you are able to find ways to do vegan with more protein and fewer carbs.

Good luck to you!

Agutzg - Do you eat a lot of soy and soy-based products?that could be affecting your thyroid.

agutzg! Welcome to the group. I don't know much about the problems you have, but I agree that a bg monitor will help a lot with the bg readings so you know where you are on that. Carol Sue keeps up with some of the other things you mentioned so she is good at helping you with those things.

I woke up this morning and realized that I can take the info I got out of the LWB plan and apply it to my old Carbohydrate Addict's way of eating. I don't have to count carbs on CAD, but I could have my carbs at one meal and eat them within that hour Reward Meal. My other 2 meals could be carb free so to speak and I can eat those meals 5 hrs a part which will give my bg time to get down to normal between meals. I've learned that by waiting 5 hrs between meals that my blood sugar becomes almost normal. The theory behind CAD is to have only one insulin surge a day so that I can control my bg readings better.

Finally hit me this morning that if this is true, the reason the Atkins type low carb works so well for diabetics is that since you don't eat starchy carbs then you never should get that surge CAD allows you to have once a day. Interesting.

Good thinking Laurie. I forgot about soy being a big thing with vegan/vegetarian diets.

You know Trish, CAD/CALP is geared more for weight loss than diabetes. Diabetes has the issue of BS highs and lows that regular dieters don't have to worry about. Then there's the thing about the carry-over to the second meal that I don't really understand. I notice that most dietitians advise diabetics to keep their carbs the same thoughout the day to keep their BS steady, rather than having the carbs all at one meal. I noticed that at least one of the ladies on the CAD/CALP thread keeps her carbs at the RM pretty low compared to what others do.

I have never tried keeping my meals 5 hours apart. I think I will try that, but to do that I will have to make a serious effort to avoid between meal snacks, which is definitely an issue for me. Because of the snacking, my BS doesn't get a chance to go back down. I didn't feel hungry this morning, but DH made breakfast around 10 so I ate my scrambled eggs. Now I feel a bit hungry. I don't know if it's true hunger or if eating just put my appetite in motion. We usually eat dinner around 4 and scrambled eggs isn't much to hold me for what will be 6 hours. Maybe if I just keep busy I won't think about eating.

This month I joined both a daily weigh-in thread and also a Christmas Challenge. Normally I don't do well with these and usually drop out, but I am determined to continue these faithfully to the end regardless of what happens. Since I already stay on the low carb side, I am going to concentrate more on the in-between snacking, which is my problem rather than my macros. I started out the year with the intention of 2015 being the year for me, but so far have failed miserably. I want to finish up the year on a good note that I can continue into the new year.

I only found out I was celiac about 5 years ago.
I had problems with fatigue and IBS symptoms.
On a hunch, my MD did a couple of blood tests.
They were positive. I started eating gluten free.
The IBS stopped and I felt more energy.
After about 3 months I tried to eat gluten again.
I got very sick. Since then, no gluten.

They used to say that people with celiac were thin.
Now they're finding another group of celiacs
that are diagnosed later in life and are overweight.
Weird, huh?

Watercolor, yes, that is weird. You would expect a celiac to be thin because their bodies are not absorbing the nutrients, but I guess it could go either way, especially if they were diagnosed after they had gained the weight. I only know 2 people with celiac, the mother is overweight but her son is normal weight. The mother was overweight before her diagnosis.

This 5 hour wait isn't working today. As I thought, 2 scrambled eggs is not enough to last me until dinner. I have been really hungry for about an hour now and it's still another hour until dinner. I am actually starting to feel a bit shaky but I checked my BS and it's not low, so that's not it. It's only that I am accustomed to having something else to eat. I could either add more to my breakfast, or eat breakfast earlier and also eat lunch. I don't think eating more small meals is the answer, because that's what I've been doing and it's not working for either my blood sugar or my weight. Maybe I just need to get used to feeling hungry for a while. It's not like it's going to kill me.

Watercolor Thank you for sharing that. It is weird that overweight people are being diagnosed. My MD doesn't even check for that. When I asked him about gluten, he just said your not celiac patient. Strange cause I've been reading about people are gluten sensitive and not diagnosed celiac.

Carol Sue I ended up going approximately 5 1/2 hours after breakfast. I didn't plan on that but it just took me longer than expected to fix lunch than I planned. I didn't eat just 2 eggs though. I had a CAD CM 3 egg omelet with Canadian Bacon, onion pepper mix, kale and grated cheese for breakfast around 10:15. By going over the 5 hrs, I became grumpy because I could tell I really needed to eat. Sometimes I end up going only 4 depending on when I eat breakfast because sometime I don't eat until 11ish. My RM was satisfying enough that I didn't need dinner. I just some cold cuts and cheese snack.

According to one of the Heller's books, the purpose of the carbs at one meal a day is supposed to keep your bs under control. I lost weight and got my bs back to normal eating this way once before so I'm hoping it will work again. I think you are talking about E on that site and yes she did eat less carbs to lose and although she eats some carby foods now that she's lost her wait, I notice she doesn't do it all the time. I started years ago when she did and lost the weight, but I didn't stick with it through the years like she did. She is a real inspiration.

I read about Resistance Starch today on Yahoo, but it seems to be for Type 1 diabetics. So not sure about it.

Took the Metformin for a week and had the bowel issues again or I got some gluten in something and didn't realize it or it could have been caused by the CO in my coffee this morning. Not sure which. I really hope it wasn't the Metformin.

I think I really did eat less by not eating between meals but I got really hungry. I guess my body is just used to having food more often and couldn't figure out what I was doing. It didn't help my BS but it helped my weight. I am back down to 199 this morning. It is usually short lived and I end up back over 200, but I will try to keep it moving down this time by continuing the no in between eating.

I think it was in one of the Hellers books that I read about their plan having an effect on the second meal, but I can't remember what that was. I will have to look it up. I read too many books and get them mixed up.

Good day everyone.

Carol / Trish - so you're only eating twice a day??

Is it not truth that we must eat 3 normal meals & 2-3 snacks?

Getting confused...

agutzg We are told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that we need to eat 3 meals and 2 or 3 snacks. Through the years we have learned that "One size doesn't fit all".

I grew up eating 2 meals a day with only an occasional coke date. Also there have been a few times I only ate one meal a day. I just wasn't hungry and I only ate if and when I was hungry. During those times, I was thin and never had a weight problem until I was convinced by different people over the years that "you have to eat 3 meals" a day.

I told my doctor one time that I was doing WW but that I had a problem because they were insisting that I eat ALL the points they told me to eat and I didn't I didn't like having to eat when I was not hungry. He told me that they do that because they don't want you to get hungry. I am 72 years old. I have eaten 3 meals or more for most of 50 yrs. I do not lose weight eating the way "they say". I just do better when I eat 2 meals days a with a snack.

Once I read Dr. Rachel Heller's experience in their 1st book Carbohydrate Addicts (CAD). She had scheduled a fasting test one morning because she knew or thought she could not go all day without eating. She weighed over 300 lbs. She was called waking her up and told they had to reschedule late that afternoon and without thinking she agreed to the new time. Then when she realized what she had done, she panicked when she realized that she had to go all day without eating and she didn't think she could do it. She got a little something to eat in case she couldn't make it and went to work.

She worked all day without eating anything, but after the test she went directly to a restaurant and ate a big dinner and even got a dessert to take home which I don't think she ate. She got up the next morning and weighed because she was sure she had gained weight. To her surprise she had lost weight. So she began to continue eating this way as an experiment and she was amazed that she kept losing weight and that her health improved. She began to help others do the same as they saw her lose.

Later she met her husband who is also a doctor and he had learned through his expertise how and why this works. If I remember right as I haven't read the book in years, he ate only 2 meals a day making one of the a carb meal because he felt it was important to eat them. When they worked together in their clinic once they married, the wrote this CAD book with things they had learned through research and working with their patients.

In the book they had several ways to eat through the day using what I call low carb meals; they call CM Craving-reducing meals and then what they call one RM a reward meal which I call a carby meal. The RM is supposed to balanced 1/3 carbs, 1/3 protein amd 1/3 fat eaten within 60 minutes with no more than a 5 minute break within that 60 min.

The book gives several options as to how many CM meals and or snacks you need. That is a personal choice according to how each person needs to eat. I seem to do well with 1 CM breakfast and the RM in the afternoon. Since I've become a evening grazer, I allow myself 1 CM snack in the evening just so I don't end up grazing.

Now they have come out Intermittent Fasting where there are people who only eat once a day 2 days a week or like I used to do I ate 2 meals within 5 hrs. Some people within an 8 to 10 hrs eating window and fast 14 to 16 hrs.

I share all this to show you that like my doctor finally told me one day. He said, "We haven't really told people but they did a research and learned that ANY DIET will work. The secret is that YOU have to find a diet that you can LIVE WITH". I've learned that what he said is very true. There many ways to eat and lose weight.... look at all the diet books out there that proves that to be true. I had to find a way to eat that would help me to lose weight and live with for the rest of my life and the only way I do that is to find a way to eat so that it could become a lifestyle.

I've tried it everybody elses way off and on for 50 yrs and it their way has never worked for me. The only time I've ever lost weight was when I ate only 1 or 2 meals a day with an occasional snack. I finally decided that is the way my body functions at its best so why do I keep trying to do it the way someone else says to do it when it obviously doesn't work for me.

As I've read the book Thin for Life which is a book of many people who have lost weight and kept it off successfully for 3 to 25 yrs, I've learned that some of them followed a diet, some didn't diet at all and some took the best of certain diets and made up their own. The key is that they learned what would work for them personally. One of their rules was "break the rules".

So this is what I have done. I took the info I've learned from different ideas and I'm now applying them to the lifestyle idea of CAD. And I am excited that it is working for me and I believe it is working because I'm finally working with my body rather than against it.

Weighed this morning, not my WI day, and I've dropped another 1.4 lbs on this way of eating. My FBS which has been really high for me is slowly coming back down. I really blame the Januvia for my high FBS because it was always high and went down after breakfast. I believe by waiting the 5 hrs between breakfast and late lunch early dinner not sure what to call it, the bs will finally get back to normal. May have to give up the Metformin again. I took it last night and had bowel problems again this morning and I haven't eaten anything with CO today. I won't take it tonight or tomorrow since I will have to be out tomorrow and Sunay.

Carol Sue This may not be the year we get our weight down to normal, but it just may be the year that we learn how to do it so that we get a head start in 2015 and for a great success in 2016.

Laurie I quit using soy recently because I heard bad things about it although some say it is okay. I decided there were too much disagreement back and forth as to whether it is good or bad for us to just not bother with it. I fell in love with edamme peas years ago in a restaurant and I miss them but not sure about eating them so I don't.

Sorry this is so long. Y'all have a good weekend.

Trish!
I loved your post since it was very informative and right on point.
Yes, so true. I'm not sure 1 or 2 meals are for me but sometimes I feel I HAVE to eat because it's time...
But also sometimes I am waiting for the 3/4 hour mark to eat.

I've just started (like a week) taking homeopathic treatment for my PCO's which are my main problem and which probably triggered my insulin resistance... This has helped me SO much!
It has almost virtually stopped the cravings and right now I get hungry slowly not all of a sudden like before.

Also, if I get hungry I usually try drinking a glass of water or tea before eating something, just to make sure it's really hunger and not only emotional eating

It's a journey for sure and I'm still discovering what works for me. I'm about to get a blood glucose monitor to see the effects that certain foods have on my body
I'm also keeping track of my food (already day#3) on myfitnesspal, which I find has a more complete database than other food diaries.

:D

Good article explaining the Dawn Phenomenon. Also explains how to lower it which explains why my FBS was so good when I wad doing IF eating within a 5 hrs window eating my second meal between 3 and 4 pm. I may have to go back to that, but I'll have to get back to the place where I can eliminate the evening snack.

http://dm2.newlifeoutlook.com/avoid-...nsulin-spikes/

agutzg, I agree with Trish that each person has to find the eating schedule that works best for them. It is true that most diabetes educators suggest 3 balanced meals and 2 snacks per day for even consistent blood glucose. That worked great for me when I was first diagnosed, but I think I eventually increased the size of my meals and ended up eating too much over all. I find that not eating until I am hungry works best for me. If that means I skip a meal, then I skip a meal if I'm not hungry.

PCOS adds so many different issues into the mix so you have more to consider. I'm glad you found something that helps with that.

Trish, I still have not fully conquered the Dawn Phenomenon. I have tried no evening snacking and also a couple different evening snacks. It seems that having 1 egg before bed helps, but it's not consistent and I don't know why. My doctor pays no attention to fasting bg, and only looks at the A1c, so I tend to follow his lead. I would love to wake up with a bg of 85, but I don't see that happening. My AM testing is only to find out if I need meds and how much I need.

I think there are other things that cause Gluten Intolerance besides Celiac. My DIL tried gluten restriction with my grandson to help with his ADHD, but it made things worse, probably because he resented having to give up foods he likes. If you are having problems that you feel are related to wheat and gluten, then by all means, eliminate it. If you find that you still have the problem, then it's something else causing the problem. I get bowel issues and I don't think they are gluten related. For me,they are probably related to diverticulitis, but I don't want to accept that. I don't get gassy and cramping with it and I can't pinpoint what's causing it. I used to think the salad bar at a local restaurant caused it, but I ate that salad bar last week with no problem. This week I cooked grilled salmon, mixed veggies and rice-a-roni and was in the bathroom within an hour. I just live with it and keep my Immodium handy as I don't want to go through a lot of tests to find out what's causing it. I didn't have this issue for a couple years after my bowel surgery but recently, it's returned.

My weight is coming down a bit since I started paying more attention to snacking between meals. When I head toward something to eat, I stop myself and tell myself that it's habit, not hunger, and to wait until my meal. There's nothing to say that I can't include the item in my next meal. One thing I have been snacking on is Monterrey Jack cheese. I will have to stop buying it so it can't call my name. DH eats swiss and american, and I can easily pass on them.

I didn't eat breakfast this morning. Decided to see if I could fast this morning for a change. I never ate breakfast until I lived with my aunt after when I quit college and moved in with her. She insisted on 3 meals a day and yes I gained weight so she took me to a diet doctor and he gave me shots every 2 weeks for me to lose weight and the cycle began. When I moved out on my own, I lost weight because I went back to eating the way I liked to eat. Sometime 1 or 2 meals a day. Then when I married my 1st and the my 2nd husbands the weight came back on because they wanted 3 meals a day. I don't know why I thought I had to eat just because I cooked for them and our kids. The only time I've ever been thin was when I ate the way I'm eating now. Another thing I noticed with me eating this way, I do not over eat. I have learned through the past few years that over eating does cause the fbs to go up.

My fbs is coming back down. When I fast, I don't check it until I get ready to eat. It was 145... way better than the 199 and 200 I saw last week. I've about decided that when my bs is that high that I do not need to eat. I'm not hungry then so why eat. I wonder if that is what I heard someone call eating toward your bg monitor. I assume it was. I also read somewhere that some doctor told his patient that he wasn't as worried about the morning readings as he was what her readings were during the day after she ate. I think the A1c is probably the best guide. I think I'm going to tell my doctor that all I want him to do is check my A1c every 3 or 6 months. I think if I tell him I don't want to use anything except diet and exercise he will accept it. My weight this morning was 224.2 lbs. I haven't gotten down to this in ages. Hope it is this good on my WI Monday.

Carol Sue I've about decided that maybe my bowel issues is not gluten. I think it is the Metformin and the coconut oil or maybe even too much fat. In fact from something I heard that Dr. Wallach say, I'm thinking it is caused from vegetable oils even EVOO. I am going to give up the Metformin again and the EVOO so I can see if that is the problem. It obviously is not caused by the gluten since I experienced it some yesterday too. I'm like you I don't want to go through all the tests. I will figure it out on my own and use my anti-d pills to keep it down.

I've pretty much decided that I won't worry about the gluten, but I won't be eating loads of wheat either. It really is confusing to prepare meals for it.
I saw an article yesterday on Yahoo about the Resistance Starch. I've got a book on that and I just might try that when I want noodles or potatoes etc. DH and DGS loves potato salad better than mashed which would make it easy to have coled when I want them. DGS will take just potato salad to school for lunch for days when I make it. They would love to have their spaghetti and I can eat mine cold.

Carol Sue Here is a link concerning IBS at WebMD. I think this is my digestion problem. It seems that maybe the low carb raw veggie salad just might be my problem or maybe a combination of a few foods. I don't seem to have as much a problem with putting the veggies in soup so I think I will start making a soup with them instead of a salad. Of course I will have to test some of the other foods as well. I've already given up gum and sugar alcohols. Now I will have to give up some other things. I still think I will give up the Metformin for now because I'm thinking that it may aggravate the IBS. Hope this helps you too.

http://www.webmd.com/ibs/default.htm

Trish, I don't know if my problem is IBS or not. I don't get any pain or cramping usually.

I got up at 4:45 this morning and I'm so tired. For some reason my CPAP mask was hissing and I couldn't get it to stop. I couldn't check it out without turning on the light and I didn't want it to disturb DH so I got up. Now I am so tired and also hungry. I know if I eat now I will want to eat all day, so I'm putting it off and hoping coffee holds me over until DH gets up. My blood sugar also won't come down. It was over 200 at bedtime so I took 2 Glimiperide. It came down a bit overnight but was still over 200 so I took 2 more Glimiperide this morning. DR wanted to increase my dose at the last visit but I told him I didn't need it. I should have let him increase it and will probably do that next time if things don't improve. I don't know what's going on. At this rate I'm going to run out of pills before it's time to reorder. And this is all going on while leaving a longer time between meals, so maybe that isn't for me. I cut way back on my vegetables and now I'm thinking that I need to get back to eating them daily. I could go for a big plate of veggies right now. Anything. I'm hungry. I think all the veggies I was eating was keeping my BS lower. I just think my BS should be coming down if I go 5 hours with no food. Sheesh!

Trish, I have also heard about eating to your meter. I've heard different explanations of what it means. Some say that it means to check your BS after you eat foods to see how they effect your BS and if it spikes, avoid that food or eat a smaller portion, but I thought everyone did that when they are first diagnosed.

Morning everyone
I did not fall off the face of the earth. I had cataract surgery on Thursday and my depth perception is a little wonky and will be for a week so not on iPad as much.
I'm reading a bit of what you are all going thru....and nodding my head. No one knows our bodies like us...
Have to go to store with dd , ( can't lift or bend so she's my helper) ...
I'll be back later in week

TRISH,
I had ibs symptoms for a few months after starting Metformin, then it went away. My Dr said it's a common side effect. Hang in there.

CAROL
Have you checked your blood sugar before and after exercise?
It's a bigger decrease than if you just put off eating.

P.A.
Glad to hear your cataract surgery went well. Your vision will be back and better than ever soon. It's an amazing surgery.

Me
I saw my Dr last week. Last A1c was 8.3, insulin was discussed. This time A1c was 7.6, still too high but improved. I keep having trouble keeping my carbs low enough. Dr says 75-90 grams a day is good, but I sometimes eat much higher. It's time for me to say goodbye to gluten free carb snacks like pretzels and popcorn. I ate raw carrots last night and it filled the crunchy need. Onward and downward!

Thanks Carol Sue and Watercolor for the encouragement and ideas. That is one of the nice things about our little group. I'm not sure what I will do about the Metformin.

I did lose 1.4 lbs this week and changed my ticker to show it. I didn't hold on the lowest weight I had this past week, but I'm thankful for the loss I have. A lso thankful that a month ago I decided to measure because I've always heard that the measuring tape is better than the scale. I measured this morning that and I have lost 5.75 inches this past month. That is very encouraging to me.

I am going to eat VLC for a while as I know this will give my body time to adjust without them. Maybe I can take the Metformin on a VLC woe. It is worth trying to do it. One thing I know is that I will not give up.

I have not been consistent with my exercise. That might be the reason for the increase in BG. I did see somewhere online where they said that exercise is the best thing for BS control. I did some this afternoon and will go back to my short walk after dinner.

p.a, I'm so glad you didn't fall off the face of the earth, but I did wonder where you were. I will probably need cataract surgery in the near future. Several years ago I was told I had one starting, but haven't been to the eye doctor since. Hope you're improved, soon.

p.a. Sorry I forgot to say anything earlier, but glad your cataract surgery went well. Everyone I know who has had it were happy with the results.

Carol Sue I haven't been doing any formal exercise either while getting on my plan. Will add that to my plan soon however, I'm not going to go as aggressively as I have before. I think consistency is probably the best thing. I plan to go back to 20 minutest every other day.

Didn't give up the RM today. After all a 1.4 lb weekly loss isn't a bad thing. Only thing I did do today is that I didn't drink the milk. That was 2 hrs ago and no IBS problems. Maybe I need to back off the milk for a while. Funny thing is cheese I had with my eggs and in my chili didn't present a problem either. I didn't take the Metformin last 2 nights, but not taking it didn't keep me from having problems the past few days either. So I will take a Metformin tonight and see how it affects me tomorrow. I'll just lay off of the milk for a while.

I am doing so well with the CAD plan I'm doing so I don't think I should change it. I just may have to make some adjustments like not drinking the milk.

I exercised twice yesterday. It didn't change anything with my FBG though, still over 200 this morning. I had a small carb snack last night instead of a protein snack. Didn't help either. I plan on continuing the exercise though and try to do it daily. I did 20 min in the afternoon but only 10 in the evening. I forgot to put my knee brace on for the evening exercise and my knee started bothering me so I stopped. I only planned on doing 15 min in the evening so I was only short 5 min. I will increase the afternoon exercise by a few minutes every day until I do at least 30 or more minutes, but will keep the evening exercise at 15, unless I skip the afternoon. Does that make sense? The only good result was that I went over 5000 steps for the day on my Fitbit. LOL

Trish, drinking milk really helped me after I got out of the hospital, but I don't drink it much now as it is a mucus producer and I have a lot of congestion recently.

They say beans are resistant starch and should not raise blood glucose, but I had chili with beans for dinner yesterday and my BG went up. It was from a restaurant so maybe there was something else in it.

I also know I'm not getting enough sleep but the time change really throws me off. If I wake up I try to go back to sleep but after a half hour I give up and get up and read.

I added some sausage to my breakfast eggs and it's holding me longer than just the eggs. I also put some sauteed mushrooms in the eggs when I have them. I bought 2 small pkges of sausage. If there isn't some improvement by eating the sausage I will not buy it anymore.

I'm glad you're doing well with CAD. I can do a form of Cad, but I don't do the salad before the RM.

Morning everyone
I forgot when I first started taking Janumet ( form of metformin) I also had diaherrea , stomach pains, dizzy etc but after a few months it's all good now. All symptoms are gone and my diabetes is now 'under control' according to my dr.

Hi watercolour! I'm doing low carb as well....trying to get it lower as well. Careful with carrots they are a higher glycemic food. I'm reaching for cucumber slices and celery for crunch.

Carol I have one starting in my good eye as well but it's not ready yet. I can't believe how my eyesight has improved already....I can see in great detail! It was so bad I could only see 'shapes' from my left eye.

Off fo lunch today,,,,ttyl

p.a. I have a hole in the retina of my left eye. Under normal circumstances I can't tell, but one day I was rubbing my right eye and looking at TV and everything was blurry out of my left eye. I went to an eye doctor and they diagnosed the hole. I have my periferal vision but no central vision. It could have been repaired but after they fix it you have to lie face down for 10 days. You are allowed to get up a couple times a day to eat and go to the bathroom, but are to keep your head facing down when you get up. I was to go home and decide if I wanted it done. In the meantime, my bowel perforated and I had to have emergency surgery and had a colostomy bag for 6 months. You can't lie face down when you have a colostomy bag. LOL If you wait to long to have it repaired the chances of success are less, and I don't really know how long I had it before the day I rubbed my eye. They said it would not get worse or go into the other eye. That is the eye that is starting to get a cataract, but so far my vision seems OK. It's hard to explain, but if I look at someone with just my left eye I can see them, but I can't see their face, since it's right in the middle of my line of vision. It is similar to macular degeneration but not exactly the same, and it does not continue to get worse, from what they told me. This was around 2010 and it hasn't become worse that I can tell. So many people tell me how much better their sight is after they have cataract surgery. My BIL is in his mid 70's. He got to the point where he would not drive at night, but now he had both eyes done and he can drive at night again.

Trish, good going with CAD. Keep it up.

p.a. Thanks for the advice, gotta get me some celery!

Carol, I really have to get exercising too. I do feel much better when I do.

Evening everyone
Carol...ouch! Have you had your eye checked since? Maybe there is new surgical options for you.
Watercolor my dr insists I get more exercise in..I'm walking most days and when I'm done my 4 wk post- surgery I plan to start aquafit again.

p.a. I have not had my eyes checked since. It is really not a problem unless something happens to the right eye. I can see fine as long as I keep my right eye open. It's only affected when I close the right eye. A friend of mine knew of a woman who had the surgery they suggested and something went wrong and now her sight is completely blurry in that eye. If I was younger I might look into other options.

Yesterday my FBG was over 200 again. I took meds, ate eggs for breakfast and veggies for lunch, and before dinner my BG was 108. So it WILL come down. But after I ate dinner it was back over 200. I think my body is becoming more sensitive to carbs and I have to do some serious carb elimination. Also, I probably ate too much at dinner since I am no longer eating anything in the evening. Large meals will spike BG too, even if they are low carb. I'm working at this. I'm doing well keeping the between-meal eating to a minimum, and if I do it long enough it will be a habit, but I can't do the 5 hours between meals AND eat small meals. My weight is starting to come down. Maybe I should concentrate more on losing weight and the BG will come down as a result.

p.a.
Yup, exercising is the ticket for controlling our sugars. Keep moving. I put on music and dance around the living room. That gets my heart rate up.

Carol
I hear you on trying to make healthier eating a habit. My sugars were okay the first ten years of diabetes, but now they are not good at all.

I followed doctor's advice to exercise and eat no more than 75 carbs yesterday. Well, it worked in spades! Fasting sugar this morning was only 132! I've previously been averaging fasting sugars in the 170s, so this is a big deal! Now, on to another day!

Watercolor, I am doing well eliminating carbs and sugars, but not so much with the exercise. I have a lot of gym equipment in my house so I have NO excuse except procrastination. I have had diabetes for 7 years and BG is getting harder to control now.

The meds seem to keep me from losing weight, but if I don't take them my BG spikes. It's a vicious cycle.

Diana
Yup, depending on the meds it can be easier or harder. We're all chemistry sets!

My fastng BG this am was 147. I'll take it, had extra carbs yesterday.
I also find if I eat no carbish in the evening my BG is much better in the morning.

My FBG was below 200 this morning for the first time in weeks, and before dinner my BG was 120. So it is improving gradually and I'm finding out that it will go down if I eat right.