[Wannabehealthy]

I don't pay a lot of attention to my fiber, but I just checked on MFP and I have been getting very little. Yesterday, I only had 6 gm of fiber yesterday. That was in a half cup of bran cereal that I ate. This is not acceptable. I know it's because I have not been eating any vegetables. I want them, but since my appetite is so low right now I'm only eating foods that are easier to obtain. Yesterday DH bought a new head of lettuce and I intended to have a salad with my lasagna, but I didn't want to stand any longer to make the salad. I stood to put the lasagna together, then when it was done, DH brought my plate to me in my recliner so I didn't have to get up and walk, so that's all I ate. I know that's a poor excuse. I will make a point to eat more vegetables. I ate the small bowl of cereal because DH bought it and I had missed it since I hadn't had it for a while. It is store brand from our local supermarket, and it tastes so much better than any other brand I have had. Crunchy, and doesn't get soggy in milk. And only $1,99 a box. The first time I tried it I bought it because they were out of Fiber One. Now I like it so much better, and it's half the price of Fiber One but a larger box. I will continue to mix a small amount of Fiber One in it for extra fiber. I could probably add some crushed Fiber One to some of my other recipes, like meat loaf, and we both would get some needed fiber. And I could mix some in my yogurt. I think it's the highest fiber cereal on the market. I wish Aldi's had something comparable.

[Wannabehealthy]

Hi IdealProteinNewbie! Glad you stopped in. I do realize I am going to have to go to a podiatrist eventually, after I get all the heart issues ironed out. This pain isn't going to go away by itself. I am always concerned that my shoes are going to be too tight if I add an orthotics device in them. I don't want to have to buy all new shoes. When this first started I bought OTC orthotics at Walmart and find that they do help a bit, but they only can go in one pair of shoes. The rest of my shoes are too tight if I put them in.

Years ago, my husband had an aunt who always complained of foot pain but no doctor was ever able to get to the bottom of it. They all made fun of poor Aunt Martha, always complaining. I told him that now I understand what Aunt Martha was going through. It's really terrible to have your feet hurt.

[pattygirl63]

Well, I did fairly well yesterday except I ate too much sodium. For all the sodium I ended up with yesterday, I may as well have stopped for fried chicken, but I wouldn't do it because I wouldn't et it in front of DH since he had already eaten soup. I was so swelled by the time I went to bed that I had to take one of DH Lasix which I don't like using. I definitely have to watch the sodium.

I came home and just through food together and decided to eat two eggrolls which I didn't eat al of them because they were terrible. The local store had 3 boxes of those for $5 a few months back. I threw once box away because it tasted awful. I still had 2 boxes and decided to eat 2 of the chicken ones. I've decided that what is left is going in the trash. I don't like throwing food away, but they will just sit in the freezer and ruin any way. So today I will be eating less sodium.

We were going to go out to eat today since DH had to go for blood work, but we decided to stay home. I will cook fish and veggies and a salad for lunch.

Carol Sue I've decided that since I like veggies and fruit and I don't really have to eat loads of meat because I'm not doing low carb that I could just have veggies and/or fruit in the evening. I've got loads of frozen veggies that I've bought so I may as well use it.

I'm noticing that by adding a few good starchy carbs along with the veggie and fruit carbs that the fiber kind of lowers some of those carbs. I think that is why adding lots of fruit and veggies on WW and other diets work so well. All that fiber kind swooshes those carbs out of the body. I just don't think you have to eat a whole lot and that is why calories do still count regardless of how low you keep your carbs.

I'm glad you are back down to 192 and hope you will be able to maintain and keep going down. I hope you can get relief for the foot pain.

Daddy was in good spirits today. I think they must having a turnover of workers at the facility and they are short handed. Things aren't getting done much. His breakfast try had not been picked up and the new shift nurse came in to evaluate him and talk to him. She wasn't happy that I was cleaning his room. I told her they hadn't picked up the breakfast tray and that I had brought Clorox wipes to clean his tray as it never get cleaned off. I told her that he has been off thickened liquids for days and the box of thick water, etc had never been removed and I had moved it to bathroom to empty the water it was sitting in and left it there for someone to move it. She said she was going to send for someone to clean up his room. I hope she will be able to get things straightened out.

I guess since I decided to cook lunch I better go do it. Later.

[Wannabehealthy]

That's a shame that you have to clean your Dad's room, but it's good that someone saw you doing it and realized that his family knew it wasn't being done. The Clorox wipes are a good idea.

My foot felt great when I got up this morning. Then it swelled up a little bit and ached a little bit as I was getting around fixing the coffee pot and brushing my teeth. I sat around in my recliner most of the day and had very little foot pain. The swelling is back down now. I did not take a pain pill all day, not since 10PM last night. I don't want to take them unless I really need them to make them last longer, plus the doctor said 3 times a day, but only if I need it. So it's not something I have to take continuously. We found out our microwave is leaking, so we need to get a new one. I was going to go to Lowes today to get the one I want, but I wanted to continue to rest my foot and not aggravate it. It won't get better if I don't stay off it as much as I can. I will rest it the rest of the day, but will take pain meds at bedtime, even if I don't have a lot of pain. It seems to get worse during the night and I want to keep the inflammation down. I feel bad that I'm not getting much done, but I feel that healing is most important. It was so nice to get up to go to the bathroom last night without pain. This has been going on one month, today. The left foot pain lasted 2 months, so I'm still hoping this goes away on it's own, too.

[pattygirl63]

I should be in bed, but got to reading back emails from Livestrong and other places. I just read something interesting in an article from Livestrong I think it was on how low carb a person should eat. I learned that keto carbs are less than 50 grams a day or 10% of calories. Low carb diet is 50 to 130 or 26% of calories each day and Moderate carbo diet is 130 to 225 grams. I never eat a total of more than about 160 g but see no reason I couldn't do up to 130 grams and still be in a high low/moderate carb diet. I found this quite interesting and thought I would share.

However, if I followed what they suggest of meals are to have 15 to 25 grams each and snacks should be 10 to 15 grams for a total of 55 to 105 a day I would actually be doing low carb. This is extremely helpful to me.

[Wannabehealthy]

I waited too long to take the pain meds last night. I think I need to take it as soon as I notice a twinge of pain. I took it when I went to bed, but had a little pain all night and still when I got up. But the swelling goes down overnight. DH wants to go to the casino today and I am going to go, but don't know how it will turn out. I will have to walk to the buffet which is in the back. After that I think I will just hang out where he is instead of trying to walk around to various games like I usually do. I wish I didn't have to go, but it's the only thing that gives him pleasure anymore. He has done so much for me during this illness and I feel that I owe him this. I will just do the best I can. I will say, it's a whole different ball game when he's sick. LOL There is an option to rent a wheelchair there. We'll see.

Weight is down to 191 this morning, but blood sugar is up to 170. I am not watching my carbs as close as I usually do, but eating what's available. I have still not had a good salad or veggies which seems to keep blood sugar down, and I'm eating some bran cereal at bedtime to get some fiber.

Trish, I think if you are losing weight and your blood sugar is in a good range, then you are eating the amount of carbs that are right for you. We are all different, so I don't know how they can make a blanket statement that is supposed to be for everyone. Having said that, I read a lot of that stuff too. I think it's OK to use it as a guide, but the numbers they say might not be what's right for any of us. We just have to try it out and adjust as we go along.

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue I think if I were you, I would suggest to DH that you might should get a wheelchair. Praying your foot will weather it fine. My previous DH had a doctor who used to fuss at him because he would wait too long to take his pain pills. He told him, if you don't take the pain med as soon as the pain starts to come back, but wait a while that it takes longer to get it under control again. You might try taking it as soon as you have the twinge and maybe it will begin to heal and not hurt all night. Just a thought.

I like learning the guidelines I read on the carbs because I don't want to do keto, but I do want to do low to moderately low carb. I like having the info on what is moderate carb diet because I try to never go over 150 or 160 total carbs which included my dairy and fruit. The suggestion to be sure and use quality carbs from veggie, fruit, grains and beans. This is so helpful. It mentioned upping protein, but didn't mention fat too much but I've heard that is important too. It helps me to know that if I want to go moderate carb diet and eat up to 150 or 160 that I am still in the ball park of MCD and not in high carb eating. This way I can choose to either tweak my plan to eat any where between 50 to 225. It tells me that I can shoot for 130 and if I go up to 225 some days like when eating out that I'm still eating a MCD not a high carb. The thing I think that makes the weight go up when I go over on carbs is the sodium not the carbs because very rarely will I go over 160 grams carb. So you see why this is so helpful to me.

I set my carbs at 35% because you can't do a 26% on MFP. I will see how that goes and tweak from there.

I like my eggs cooked in spray fats because it is easier to keep clean. I nuke my bacon so that I get little to no fat from it since I like it very crispy. I added half avocado to that and with my Sara Lee Multigrain toast and half banana I have 36 g carb and 10 g fiber. I really need the potassium in both the banana and avocado because I'm getting leg cramps changing back to low carb and I just don't want to add more sodium than the 2300 mg MFP recommends. The fact that Daddy has CHF makes me want to eat to keep that from happening if I can. Although it is medically advised to eat 25 g carb per meal, that doesn't work for me since don't eat snacks between meals. I still hope I can get to the place that I don't eat any snacks at all.

I planned to cook a whole chicken today, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow to cook it. I really wanted to cook it in the air-fryer so it will come out like the roasted chickens in the store and it won't cook like that in the crockpot. We are going out to see Daddy because he is having difficulty locking his wheelchair and needs WD 40 on it. He doesn't want to complain to the facility because he is afraid they will change the chair and he likes that one. DH will fix it and I need to put eye drops in his eyes and I bought some drops to clean out his ears. Supposed to use ear drops 2x a day but can only do it on the days I go. DS doesn't always go on days I don't and for some reason she never remembers to do the eye drops so I know she won't be able to do the ear drops when she does go. We will leave there and go to Sam's because we need some tomatoes and DH will only eat the ones from Sam's. I have to admit that I've bought the same brand at local store and they are not as good as Sam's.

Sounds like we all are busy today so have a great day.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, I don't know why DH won't agree to buy a wheelchair from Goodwill, because they are very cheap there. I got a nice walker there, because I want to have these things in case I need them. If I see one I will talk him into buying it. I did OK at the casino. I took a pain pill when we were a half hour away so it was working by the time we got there and I didn't walk around a whole lot. DH seems to think that I need to walk around MORE to loosen this up, but I told him that's not the way it works. I was just looking up foot doctors in my area and I think I have the one I want to see. I hope he's good. I don't want it to be too far from home. I want to hear what he has to say, to verify that my PCP has the right diagnosis and what he suggests as treatment. When I make the appointment I will have to verify that he accepts my insurance. It said online that this will not go away on it's own, but the pain can come and go. I just want it to go. LOL We didn't win at the casino. I wish DH would get over this.

When I cook eggs I cook them in spray, but DH is usually the egg cooker, and he uses butter. I actually like the way they taste in butter.

When in the hospital, they tell you the same thing, not to wait too long to take pain meds because it makes it harder to get it under control. I don't want to take more than 2 per day to make them last longer, but today will be 3 per day since I took one knowing I would be doing the walking at the casino.

DH went to bed, so I guess I'll follow him.

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue I'm glad you did okay at the casino. I thought about you all day and prayed you would be okay. Your DH reminds me of how my Daddy used to do my Mama. He was one to walk a lot for exercise and he would push Mama to walk with him. I remember she would get a pain in the upper part of her leg and probably should have set out when it bothered her, but he would insist she walk with him and she would. I have had that catch in my leg like that and I have to just rest until it goes away and then I have no problem. I think the reason you DH doesn't want to get the wheelchair is because he probably doesn't want you to give in to using it. Also just like pushing for you to go to the casino, he may be in denial of how bad your foot is. I say that because he doesn't want to know if he has problems because he doesn't want to face them. Men are funny.

I'm glad you found a doctor and hope you can go to him and find this is something simple. I don't think your diabetes has been bad enough to be diabetic related. So hopefully whatever it is will be fixable perhaps a special shoe or treatment.

I've had a pretty good day with my eating. I'm going to work at trying to keep my fiber up around 22 grams. I read today the importance of fiber for blood sugar control and for those of us over 51 yrs old should eat 22.5 grams a day. I figure 22 or 23 would be good. I have a diabetic cookbook from Prevention that I got years ago and I remember reading in it that fiber was the key to controlling blood sugar. So if I can keep the carbs around 130 to 140 grams and the fiber around 22 or 23 grams then I should be well on my way to controlled bs.

I want to do the exercise I read about too called Interval Cardio which is supposed to help losing belly fat. The article I read said you have to do 20 minutes 3 x a week on either the elliptical machine or recumbent bike. You do a 3 minute warm up. Increase resistance and sprint for 30 seconds, then reduce resistance again and perform a 90 second cool down. You do this 8 times followed by a 2 minute cool down at the end for a total of 19.5 minutes only 3 days a week. I'm also adding green tea and a little more fat which they claim also helps lose belly fat.

So I have my diet and exercise plan which supposedly will get the weight and the blood sugar under control and should be healthier plan as well.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, from what I've read online I think my PCP diagnosed it right when he said Mortons Neuroma. The only thing is, it does not feel like a pebble in my shoe like they said. It feels like a 400 lb man stomped on my foot. LOL I could easily tolerate a pebble in my shoe although it would be annoying. It said online that this rarely goes away on it's own but the pain cam come and go. It said the various treatments are shots, custom orthotics and surgery. The surgery is outpatient and the recovery is 1-2 weeks, which is very reasonable, so I would like to have that and be done with it. I don't want something that's going to be temporary. It's a very small incision on the top of the foot and they remove the small damaged portion of the nerve. I told all this to DH and he said "You know they tell you not be believe what you read online." But I trust certain sites, and most all sites say the same thing. Also, a woman on another forum told me her ex boyfriend had this and that the surgery was relatively easy. When DH is sick, it's a whole different ball game, for sure. I will be fine.

I used to do interval sprints on my elliptical. I want to heal so I can get back to exercise. I am supposed to go to cardiac rehab but won't be able to go with this foot pain. I feel like I am making excuses for not exercising, but pain is pain and I don't want to aggravate it. I know people who work through their pain, but on the internet it discourages that with this injury because it can make it worse. It suggests being gentle with it. I am going to try doing some exercises that are seated and low impact that do not involve putting my weight on my foot.

High fasting blood sugar this morning. I was afraid to take Glimiperide last night since I was going to sleep and didn't want a hypo. I didn't get on the scale yet.

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue If I remember correctly the PCP said for you to stay off the foot as much as possible so I think the online sites saying be gentle confirms what you learned at the doctor. DH needs to realize that you need to be careful because of the diabetes. One of the things they stress in diabetic care is to take care of your feet. I wear shoes I probably shouldn't but I am very careful to take care of my feet as I'm sure you do to.

I have actually found my food combinations of protein, fat, carbs and fiber. My weight was up a little but that was because we had hot dogs yesterday because it was easier to cook when we got home and I always have a slight gain when I eat them because of so high sodium. However, this morning my FBS was 136. It has been a long time since I've seen a 136 FBS. BS reading before dinner last night was 112. Did a lot of walking so that was my exercise and had a lot of laundry to do when I got home so I did get a bit of informal exercise. Making my bed is always so difficult for me because I have to wash the sheets after 8pm on my free electricity hours. I am usually so tired by then and my back hurts after I make it. So it was nice to get the lower FBS reading as a reward.

Staying home today. I'm cooking that chicken I wanted to cook. I was going to cook it whole like roasted chicken, but I may just cut it up and use pieces. Not sure. Either way I will cook it in the air-fryer.

The next plan is to get with DH and work with him on getting his diet corrected so he can get his bs under control. I learned years ago that I had to work at this on my own. My doctor can help but I'm the one who has to learn how to successfully treat this. It has taken a lot of prayer and research, but it is worth it although it did take me a long time. I believe a lot of it has to do with the new things they have learned over the years and doctors can't keep up with all of it so we have to.

Daddy has finally made the decision to get rid of his apartment so now we will have to work at deciding what to do with his things. DS and I need to go in and decide what we want and DS is going to write his grandchildren and let them know they can come and take whatever they want. We plan to take a few things we aren't sure what we want to do with and put in storage. Some of this isn't all that easy to do but it has to be done.

[Wannabehealthy]

I took the pain pill without the Tylenol today so I stll have a little achiness but I don't want to take more Tylenol than I have to. It is Tylenol Arthritis so it's stronger than regular Tylenol. I took the pain pill around 9 am and don't plan on taking it again until 9 pm, so I might take the Tylenol now and see what it does by itself. I feel that my life is revolving around this foot.

I'm glad your fasting blood sugar is coming down and I'm sure your weight will follow. I wish we had that option for free electricity. I don't know if it would help me with laundry because my dryer is gas. (natural gas) Electricity runs the motor, but the heat is provided by natural gas. You might have that option because it gets so hot in the summer and people are running their air condition and they try to get people not to use other appliances during peak hours. We don't have that option here and I've never heard of it until you mentioned it. It's a nice feature to have.

I recommend getting another set of sheets so you can change the bed earlier in the day when you feel better and then you just need to wash the dirty ones later in the evening. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding.

I can't imagine how hard it was for your Dad to make the decision to give up his apartment. It's hard, but not as hard if it had been his home throughout life. This would have to be done when he eventually goes on to be with our Lord, and it would be harder for you to do it then. You all can keep things that will always be a momento of your Dad. It would be nice if you could take a few things for him to have once it is decided where he will live from now on.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, I googled about the free electricity at night and most of what came up was about TX. But it seems there are similar offers from companies in MD and NY. There is also one available in PA. There was also a site that warned against taking these offers because they could be charging more during peak time, charging high fees cancel and switch to another company, etc. So i guess it depends on what type of contract you received from the company. We get offers from other companies who offer lower rates, but my DIL's father discouraged us from doing that due to the fact that they tie you in for a certain time period. Our rates now go up and down at various time of the year. The free evenings would be great for a family that worked and was only home during the evenings.

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue My special plan with my electric company is the same electric company that has been here all of my life although they changed the name sometime after I left TX. So it is the old original company with a new name. It does lock you into a number of months which locks my rates in place, but they have several plans and you choose the best one for you. This was the best one for us since DH stays up most of the night. We can run the air condition free during the night for hours.

We have some other companies that offer specials but I chose this company we have because I knew the company and I don't know anything about the others. I've heard that some of them will turn off your power without letting you know you are getting to the end of your contract. This company reminded me a couple of months in advance so I was able to go online and continue the service without any interruption. Another problem I had with these other companies was that I wasn't sure how quick they would get electricity back on when we lose power due to weather. I figure why not get electricity from the company that probably services us to start with. Not sure about a company that says I can get money back either as that sounds kind of fishy to me.

[Wannabehealthy]

Fasting blood sugar at 165 this morning, so still need some work to get back where I was. Weight is 192, so still in range, but fluctuating. I want to see 189 so badly!!! But I guess I have to do the work to get there. I'm still not back to eating the salads and vegetables. It seems that it's much easier to eat what DH cooks, which isn't always the healthiest or weight friendly food.

I did something to my computer this morning and I think I might have gotten rid of some of the ads at the top and sides of the screen. Time will tell, I guess. I still have the one that shows up at the end of the last post here, but so far it's just a black box and says "loading" but I can't see the ad. I don't know if I should be blaming Firefox or Kasperskys for this change. Kasperskys offered to help me if I contact their help desk, but when I do that, I usually don't understand half of what they are saying. People tell me things like "go to system and click on such and such" but I don't know how to get to system, or whatever. I just need to have a computer that works perfect every time, or my own personal tech guy. LOL I remember back when DH used to tell me that he always knows what I have been looking up online because when he gets on he would see an ad for it on the side. LOL Good thing I'm not looking up porn sites.

DH always tell me that I should always know how to fix things on the computer because I worked on computers all those years, but I did the data entry, and when there was a problem, I called IT and they came out and fixed it. I was never a computer repair man. LOL