Hello ladies!
Feels like forever since I checked in. Last wed we had 3 family members die within 17 hrs. They were all very sick. My precious sister lost her battle. We spent the next 3 days traveling to funerals. I am back home and exhausted.
Food wasn't horrible but not totally on plan.

dgramie So sorry about your losses especially of your sister. Bless your heart, I guess you are worn out. One funeral takes a lot out of you, but 3? I can't even imagine. My prayers are with you.

Well, yesterday I read an article on Yahoo that they are doing a research because they think Coconut Oil prevents/delays Alzheimer's. They say that Coconut Oil is believed to be a Brain Food. There is a Dr. Newport whose husband was battling Alzheimer's disease. So she began giving him CO and he has improved so much that she is doing a 1 yr research with USF (University of Southern FL) to see if this works with everyone.

The article said that CO has 66% of the MCT (Medium-chain triglycerides) which the body turns into fuel which they say the body only uses 2 types of fuel for energy fat or carbs/sugar. They said that ketones are what the body produces when it converts fat to energy instead of glucose. I found this interesting because they are learning the importance of ketones in the body instead of carbs. Maybe USA is going to learn.

The article even went so far as to say that the lowfat craze may be why we are seeing the rise in the Alzheimer's disease. I do remember that my beautician back in TX told me once "People in this town have dried out their hair with all this lowfat dieting". She has always lowcarbed.

They also quoted some things from Dr. Perlmutter's book Grain Brain warning that we should stay away from wheat and why.

From this article, I learned the importance of starting slow and working up to at least 2 to 4 T a day of CO. I wish I had saved the link. I will try to find it and share it if I can.

I am excited because after reading it, I have decided to do the Intermittent Fasting (it was recommended). I drank my 1st c of coffee with a teaspoon of CO in it. I don't have any unsalted butter so can't do the Bulletin Proof coffee. I think I can drink it since I'm not taking the Metformin. I am going to eat main meal with DH around 2 pm and then have my last meal around 7. The article if you do this with even an 8 hr eating window that it is good. Shares some other vitamins etc that we need to take. Of course, this is to prevent Alzheimer's disease, but I can see why it is so important at my age or any age.

I went on another lowcarb site and got a ratio of protein/fat/carbs and put that into MFP and got my day's eating planned for today. A lot of the Atkin's people on there use a 60 to 65% of calories for fat. I made my ratio 10% carbs/65% fat/25% protein. I've got planned to exercise 30 min. minimum 3 days a week. The nice thing about MFP is that it also counts housekeeping etc which I do everyday. So I have that everyday plus the other 3 days of planned exercise. MFP makes that so easy.

I prayed for the Lord to give me an incentive to do this and while I find it so difficult to do it for any other reason, I will do it to protect my mind.

Have a great day.

Here is the link to the article that was on Yahoo about CO and alzheimers.

http://m.theepochtimes.com/n3/108601...g-coconut-oil/

Checking in, I went to the doctor at the beginning of the month and my A1c is a whopping 5.3! My doctor was very pleased.

On another note, my daughter in law passed away on Sunday. I can't go to the funeral (it is across the country and our family is in a perpetual state of being broke) feeling bad that I can't be there for my son. He may come out and spend some time here after things settle down. I can only hope.

Donna Great report of 5.3 A1c reading. You are doing great. So sorry to hear about your DIL. Your son and your family are in my prayers.

Hi Ladies! I am doing good Although my Big toe is bothering me it seems to be infected I am on antibiotics and all will be good. My Daughter will be 17 here in two days am I feeling old she is my baby. Then my son announces to everyone that him and his girl friend is trying to get Pregnant . A about a week before my 20 year old daughter tells me her and her hubby is trying. I am gonna have babies popping out the wood work.
All is going well with my weight loss and my eating I have a fit bit and a Garmin that tells me how many steps and all I have done threw the day. They both have their likes and dis likes. I fear I am getting Sick I am fighting a sore throat. I know it is cold here as snot but I want to go walking so bad. I love to get out of the house put the ear phones in my ears and take off I usually do 5 rounds around the neighbor hood it is not quiet a mile around so I end up doing about 4 miles every time. The high here today is only 46 so I might jest put in some Dvd they jest aren't the same.
I hope everyone is doing well I have laundry calling my name again. Plus I am trying to decide if I want to start putting up Christmas decorations.

Hello all,

May I join your group? I have been on 3FC for a long time and when I first began, I was part of the 100 lb club (not because I had lost 100 pounds, but because I had that much to lose). Then as I got older, I didn't feel like I fit in as much with that group as most of them were younger. I found a new home with the ladies in the 50+ area ~ the Golden Girls (I know Carol Sue from over there). Sadly that group has dwindled.

I thought maybe I could learn some things from you all. When I first started here, my main concern was trying to lose the weight. I am (was ~ now am retired) a nurse and knew what the health risks were if I did not get this weight thing straightened out. So, my years of piddling around have resulted in me having high blood pressure and last year went from pre-diabetes to full blown diabetes and also stress triggered my body to start with Rheumatoid arthritis.

I have struggled with weight all of my adult life. I've tried many diets and succeed for a while, but eventually fall back into my old bad habits. Sadly, back in 2000, I was about ˝ way to my goal ~ I was inbetween jobs at the time and walked with my husband every day and had time to count calories and do all the “right” stuff. Then I went back to work and it all fell apart ~ too tired, no time, no energy. I thought that when I retired ~ I would have time to exercise and do better with the eating. The RA thing made a lot of pain and messed up my plans for getting regular exercise.

I can't blame it all on the pain issues ~ part of my problem is that I am not ~ have never been ~ very self disciplined or consistent with things. I don't know how to fix that.

I did have some success since this diabetes stuff ~ following a way of eating of a nursing school classmate of mine who is also a diabetic. She did sort of a low carb/paleo kind of thing ~ kind of did her own thing with that. She and her husband were very successful with that. She has lost 50 some pounds and has been able to come off the diabetic meds. Her labs were back to normal. Her husband lost 75 pounds. I lost weight too eating like she did. Then we had our granddaughter in the day during the summer and also took some short trips and it was hard to eat the way I had been. I got off track and gained back about 25 pounds now and I will start with all of the best intentions to get back on track ~ make it maybe a coupld days then fall off the wagon again. I am so frustrated with myself.

Right now, I am having trouble because of the cold weather. When it is warmer I think I do better because I eat salads and snacks of fruits, vegetables. But those things don't appeal to me as much when it is cold.

Anyway ~ maybe I can gather information and suggestions and ideas from you all.

Thank you for listening ~ sometimes just being able to share with people who understand helps as much as anything.

Welcome Gayle! We'd love to have some new regulars around here! With your RA and prediabetes you may want to look into giving up wheat and/or grains. Alot of folks with autoimmune and inflammatory conditions seem to be having just amazing results from that. My body seems happiest when I eat no grains/no sugar....my glucose results are best then as well and the scale moves nicely. I am 41 (not a spring chicken but not in menopause yet either) but I talk online with lots of ladies much older than me having the same results. But, with that being said it is not for everyone and I have trouble myself staying committed so just take my suggestion with a grain of salt, I'm not a zealot!

Gayle Glad you decided to join us. We are sometimes a very talkative group and then lately we've been a little slow. Usually means either we are very busy doing other things or we are struggling with staying OP. I hope with Thanksgiving day coming up soon that everyone is busy.

I noticed that you are from Houston, TX. I am from Waco originally and lived in TX until I married my IN hubby who lived in FL when we married. Never thought I would ever leave TX. Four years later when his mother passed away, we decided to move to SC. My 2nd hubby and I lived in League City, for about 8 yrs when our children were growing up6. Last time DH and I went to see my son who lives in Webster, I decided that Houston is just too big for me and I couldn't believe how League City had grown and changed.

I was diagnosed diabetic about 20 yrs ago and got busy and lost weight and got things under control until about 6 yrs ago. I have periods of time when I've gotten it under control and almost always by losing weight. I know that I can get it under control with very strict low carb, but I cave in when I want some kind of starchy carbs and then I find myself struggling like I am now to get it under control again. Good luck with your journey.

Right now I am struggling to stay OP. I start out doing good and then lose it by the end of the day like I did yesterday. Since I'm working at getting back on Intermittent Fasting, having a bite before I went to bed last night screwed up the whole day. I actually did good during the day by eating within only a 6 hr window cutting off my eating time at 6:30. But I stayed up too late. I know that when I stay up past midnight that it might be a problem for me. Got to get to bed earlier. So I am putting that behind me and today is a new day and I'm back OP drinking my 1st cup of coffee with a teaspoon of Coconut Oil.

Shannon I read that the Bullet Proof Coffee has to be made with unsalted sweet butter and it was stressed by the lawcarbers talking about it on a lowcarb site saying "DO NOT USE BUTTER WITH SALT". Are you aware as to why? Sounded serious so until I can get to the store to get some unsalted butter, I'm making it without butter.

Carol Sue Where are you? Are you okay?

I've read the 1st part of the on brown fat. I haven't gotten to the diet yet although I think he is going to say stay away from wheat and gluten. One of the things I have always loved and thought was a plus about lowcarbing is the way it seems to handle the elasticity of the skin and you don't wrinkle as much as you do with lowfat. I am wondering if when lowcarbing and exercising if maybe it is making the brown fat. However, I think he does allow some grains but haven't gotten that far yet.

Bonnie, dgramie, Donna, Ruthie and others

Have a good day.

We have been having trouble with our cable modem that runs our computer. DH was online with the cable company yesterday and twice this morning and right now, they got it working, but it's not up to par. They said we need a new modem, which they are sending to us. I thought I'd better get some posting in so everyone knows I'm OK, just out of contact. Who knows how long this will work before it shuts down again. Luckily our phones and TV are still OK, but I miss my computer!

Hi Gayle! I'm so glad you stopped over. We have a nice group of posters but not everyone posts every day, but we're always happy to have more.

Good to see you here Gayle. I am 55 and you are right, some of the forums tend to be younger people.

I follow a plan called Trim Healthy Mama, which is separating good carbs from good fats. I eat E meals (higher in good carbs) or S meals (higher in good fats) I lost my first 70 pounds doing a low carb diet when I was first dx'd with diabetes but my hair started falling out and I felt so tired. Now that I've added a few good carbs back into my diet I think my hair is happier. I've lost another 20 + at a much slower rate, but I feel like my body has healed in a lot of ways.

173.8 today, it will likely bump up a bit but that is a new low for me!!

Donna I haven't read anything about Trim Healthy Mama diet, but sounds a little like the way this book I'm reading The Brown Fat Revolution. Interesting about hair falling out, because my hair has been dry and I think I comb out more hair than I used to. I do know that my nails are very frail.

I think this is more doable for me since I just cannot stay focused on lowcarb. I do like the foods allowed on it although I'm not sure I like the idea of thinking good/bad carbs and fats which is contrary to Intuitive Eating's way of thinking. However, I will have a problem learning to eat 6 meals a day, but eating mostly complex carbs spread throughout the day is supposed to keep the bs from spiking and that is a good thing.

I had already started lowcarbing at breakfast, but started the new plan with lunch. He gives the ratio of carbs/protein/fat so I have entered the ratio in MFP and will end my day within the guidelines meaning I will have day 1 OP.

Carol Sue Sorry to hear about your bad modem. I do understand about missing the computer. I didn't realize how much I use it or depend on it until I had to go almost a week without it. Using DH pc helped some, but I like mine better even with its quirks.

Hello all,

Thank you for your kind words of welcome. I look forward to getting to know you all and learning from you and to be able to be supportive of you all too.

Donna ~ is the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating easy to follow? I hear of new things to try, but they often times seem complicated to me. I will start to try something new, and eventually end up back to an old way that worked. I guess when something new comes along ~ I am kidding myself that maybe this is the magic answer. It isn't ~ no matter which way you choose it takes work and discipline. I need a good big dose of self discipline. Something that is not too complicated seems easier for me to succeed at. I tried to see if I could get the book at our library, but it says it is not available. I hate to keep buying books and then not using them. Maybe I can find some information online about it.

Carol Sue ~ hope you get your modem problem fixed. Frustrating when the computer doesn't work. I go through withdrawals ~ LOL.

Trish ~ I am not originally from Texas. I was born and grew up in Ohio. Got married and moved with my husband for his job to Maine (18 years). Then another job change for him took us to Kansas City, Missouri (4 years). That job transferred him to Greensboro, North Carolina (8 years). We ended up in Texas because two of our kids were here and the grandkids. Our daughter kept saying ~ move down here. So, we did. DH says no more moving. That is fine with me ~ my joints don't like the cold anymore. I always thought I couldn't stand the heat, but guess I have gotten used to it (thanks to air conditioning ~ LOL). We've been down here since 2007.

Shannon ~ the way of eating you describe kind of sounds like what my diabetic friend and her husband are doing. She trys to stay away from bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, wheat stuff. They eat eggs, meats, vegetables, cheese, fruits. I just need to get back to what I was doing when I tried to follow what she told me. I did real well for a while and lost. I was almost down to 200 at the start of the summer. I don't know why when I get off track I have such a hard time getting back to doing the right things.

I added my info to the profiles/bios sticky thing.

Hope you all are having a good day.

So far my computer is working, but not as well as it did before. It keeps logging me out of all the forums I post in, and sometimes it won't bring up the server on the first try. I notice there are a lot of updates that need to be installed, so that might be part of the problem. I will have to do a few at a time, or wait until I have extra time to install them.

I can get on my tablet and read the posts, but I don't like to post from it because I don't like the keyboard. I am used to having a full regular keyboard like is on my PC.

I have gone back to taking my Glimiperide. It doesn't seem to be having any side effects. I have been using some petroleum jelly on my dry skin and it's helping. It gets red and itchy once in a while, but it doesn't last long.

My eating is not necessarily out of control, but I've been eating pretty much whatever I want. I will get back to low carb, though, because that's what is best for me. I haven't been eating any kale and my hip has been hurting. It was bad last night and this morning until I got up and started moving around. I will be going to the store this morning for some kale. So many people, including DH say that it's a coincidence that the kale helps my hip pain, but I have no other explanation for why the pain goes away. DH told me to look for a kale pill so I don't have to eat it. LOL He can't understand that I LIKE kale!

Dgramie, it's good to hear from you, but I'm sorry to hear of the 3 losses in your family. I think sometimes family members will fight to hold on for each other, then when one passes, the other feels free to let go. May they all rest in peace.

Donna, I am sorry for your losses also. The loss of your DIL must have been very hard on your son.

Gayle, it was interesting to read your bio. Even though we have posted together for a while I didn't know the details of how you got to where you are. I'm glad you decided to come to the Diabetes thread.

Donna, my hair is so thick, I don't think I would mind if a little bit fell out! But I never have that problem. The healthier I eat, the thicker my hair gets. Both of my parents had very thick hair and all of us kids inherited it. It's not always a blessing, especially when it's hot in the summer.

Bonnie, hope you're able to fight off those cold symptoms!

Yesterday eating with some of the guidelines of this new book went very well. I was totally amazed at how well it went and the results of dropping a few lbs and my fbs back down to 134 this morning. This very doable for me and I haven't even gotten to the actual eating plan yet. I decided to ride the recumbent bike after lunch and was amazed at how easy it was to do 3 miles which takes me about 27 minutes. I haven't looked at the exercise he recommends as of yet. I was able to clock almost an hour of exercise yesterday on MFP. I did decide to take 500 mg of Metformin with a late snack last night. I am very pleased with this way of eating.

Another amazing thing about eating this way is that the rash is gone. I honestly believe that eating too much protein was feeding the rash. I'm still eating protein, but not quite as much as I did on HFLC. As long as this works, I will continue to eat this way because I can live with it.