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.

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.