Made it through Day 5. Feel like I'm on my way. Thank God. Even did 30 minutes on the bike while talking to my sister.

Hi everyone- I hope everyone is doing well! I have to share today's NSV that is related to this thread- about 6 months ago I had my HbA1C tested and it was 5.7. I got "the talk" from my doc about how if I went to 5.8 I would be pre-diabetic (per the ranges she uses) but after researching I realized I really was already pre-diabetic. Testing my fasting and post-prandial blood glucose it was routinely higher than it should have been, and a recent CT scan revealed I have fatty liver. So I'm definitely insulin resistant / metabolic syndrome.

I began a regimen of low carb (sort of a cross between primal and keto, some days in the keto zone and some just in the primal/paleo zone) and also began intermittent fasting (Daily 16/8). I got new lab work done last week- my HbA1C is 5.2! I'm very pleased with this improvement. My goal is to get my HbA1C to 4.9.

EagleRiverDeeCongratulations!!! You are doing great. You are so smart to get this all under control before you became full blown diabetic. I thought about doing a primal/keto combo way of eating before settling into CAD. I finally settled into doing CAD with 16/8 IF. You obviously have found what works for you.

I finally got to see my best friend. I've been here a year and a half and with things we've both been through we just never had the time to get together. DS and her hubby, my best friend and her hubby, DH and I met at our old eating place Cracker Barrel for an early dinner. It was nice to hook up together again.

PattyGirl63- can you tell me what CAD stands for? I'm glad you got to see your best friend!

I believe CAD is Carbohydrate Addict's Diet?

Thanks for advice about eating afterward. Not surprising re tiredness. My prep sheets say I can't drive for 24 hrs, and I remember from days nursing about the meds used, (its was versed and buscopan and diazepam back then) so soup may be good

I have no plans or responsibilities until Thursday afternoon and I have told the folks I am meeting with that I may be unable to participate.

Eagle, you should be really pleased with how well you have done. I am interested in what has happened with the fatty liver, if your doc will test to see if that has improved. There dines't seems to be good evidence about what helps that, though weight loss should be part of the improvement.

Quite tired already, and cooler than usual from the clear fluids fast. I stayed off the sweet stuff (apple juice and regular ginger ale) and stuck to broth, tea and water. Did well except while DD and DH cooked and ate supper. Now I am better. Thanks for all the best wishes and insights.

EagleRiverDeeCAD stands for Carbohydrate Addict's Diet by the Richard and Rachel Heller. I go by the original book where you basically eat one meal a day they call a Reward Meal (RM) which includes whatever starchy carb or sweet that you really wouldn't want to have to give up, but the meal has to be eaten within 60 minutes without a 5 minute break. That does not mean you have to eat the whole 60 minutes. It just means that when you take your first bite of this ( call it a carby) meal that you get an insulin surge. However, if you stop eating for as much as 5 minutes and eat something else that is starchy/sweet, you will get another insulin surge. All the other meals/snacks or called Complimentary Meals (CM/CS) which consist of lower carb veggies and protein which I just call low carb meals or snacks. They always insisted this is not a low carb meal and technically it isn't because of the RM. The original CAD was eat whatever you want during RM but don't make it a binge of carby foods. All their other books say to balance the meal 1/3 protein, 1//3 low carb veggies, and 1/3 whatever carby food that you want; however, you are to start the meal with at least a 2 cup salad and the same rule follows that you eat it within the 60 minute time limit. My meals usually last about 30 to 35 minutes when I am trying to slow down and taste what I'm eating. I have never gone more than that because longer always made me feel like I overate. I usually do a low carb/keto type breakfast and 1 low carb/keto type snack if I need one.

fatmad It is good to hear from you. How did your colonoscopy go? What does the doctor think? When will you get the actual results? Sending prayers your way.

That is nice how you look after your Daddy's lady friend and it was nice the way you and your sister spent time together in honor and respect to your Dad.

It was a joy to see Daddy yesterday. He was so excited because he actually stood and took a few steps in therapy. He is progressing very well. He is wanting me to go by his apartment tomorrow after I get through at the beauty shop and get him a clipboard and paper so he can start trying to write again. DS and I still don't think he can ever go home again, but we are waiting for him to suggest giving it up. He is still on a lease.

After being here for 1 and 1/2 yrs, I finally got to see my best friend that I ran around with before I married DH. She was seeing her ex when I married and moved to FL. They are married now and we met them and DS and her hubby at Cracker Barrel for an early dinner. It was great seeing them again. She wants us to get together once a month if we can so we will try. There used to be a whole slew of us who ran around together and I would love to get them to meet us at Cracker Barrel sometime. A lot of our group has died, but it would be nice to see the ones who are still living.

I did great when we ate out, but really went crazy when I came home. I think I was rewarding myself for being so good eating out. Crazy, crazy All isn't lost, just counting it as a "cheat" day and back OP this morning. FBS was 153 and weight up .6 lbs so not bad at all. Learning not to let it derail me.

Carol Sue I hope you are doing okay.

Y'all have a wonderful Wednesday.

Fatmad- the fatty liver was just discovered. From my reading, IF is a good way to get rid of fatty liver, because when you IF your body resorts to gluconeogenesis where it makes glucose from fat. The liver is responsible for gluconeogenesis, and will preferentially use its own fat stores before it will reach out into the body for fat elsewhere. I did used to have unhealthy liver test values, which have improved, I suspect I had fatty liver before and that it's actually improving over the last 5 months.

PattyGirl63- thanks for the detailed explanation. In a way, it sounds like this may be more what I'm doing- CAD. I do keep breakfast (if I eat it) and lunch very low carb. Dinner is nearly always a large meal, and all my carbs are in my dinner. It's an area I struggle with and continue to work on, I feel like if I were to reduce my carbs at dinner I'd really be kicking butt. For example last night's dinner was chicken breast on a bed of asparagus (probably 3 cups worth, so a lot of asparagus) coated in butter and then (argh) panko crumbs on top. Probably 1/4 cup. Is it a crazy amount of carbs? Not by SAD standards, but I know I shouldn't be using bread crumbs and I know I'd further drop my A1C and BG if I'd stop that and if I'd limit my veggies to a more reasonable portion. It's a work in progress, I guess.

colonoscopy was uneventful and nothing of concern was found. However the doc is doing some follow-up regarding something else found on the CAT scan. Funny, the concern with the private clinic was lack of follow-up, but she is doing follow-up, so I feel well cared for.
I had juice and a couple of cookies there, I didn't complain, was hungry and needed something for sure. Had some chicken with rice for lunch, and then a nap.
Still have a bit of gas cramping and will do some short strolls to keep things moving then start back to normal tomorrow am. I am hoping to turn the fasting to my advantage and start some smaller meals and perhaps some IF to get the weight down again. I was doing 2 meals a day for a while, but those meals got bigger instead of staying small.
Thanks for all the support, think another nap in order now.

fatmad - I'm glad the colonoscopy went well and no concerns from it. I hope whatever the concern with the scan will prove to be nothing serious.

EagleRiverDee - Thanks for the info on the fatty liver. I've never had mine checked that I know of, but my doctor back in SC told me once that he thought I was more Insulin Resistant than diabetic. I can see from your explanation why Low carb and especially keto along with IF can work as it uses the fat for glucose. Helps me to understand how it works.

I would love to be able to do keto as I really think it is the best way to stay completely healthy, I just like some carby foods so much that I am not I could stick with it long term. I did Atkins for 6 months when I lived in SC and I would not eat anything with a lot of carbs in it and my doctor was so thrilled with the fact that all my blood work #s were normal. I don't know what I was thinking because I went right back to eating the way I did before and gain back the weight and the numbers came back up. I can get the bs under control some with CAD maybe even completely, but unless I stick with it I will never know. I just know that I have a better chance of not getting worse as long as I do it. I am on 6 month doctor's visits now and only take 2 medications which neither are diabetic meds and I'm trying to keep it that way.

You are smart to keep up the good work you are doing and you will never be a full fledged diabetic.

Doing well today, had a great sleep last night. I feel like the effects of the anesthetic are gone now, have had good energy today. DH and I have been cleaning up a lot, and are getting rid of a few things, re-organizing some other stuff. I have no plans for work things for a few days, just fun (concerts Friday, Saturday and Sunday!) So feel good about getting around to house stuff. When we are done cleaning today, I hope to get to part two, which will be organizing papers etc.

SO: more to diet related stuff.
I really truly believe in low carb. Doing it by Atkins, CAD, even south beach is fairly low carb, etc is debatable, and I am willing to try any thing. However, I am finding it really hard to stick with, and cravings for sweets and salty treats like chips and popcorn overcome me and undo what I have done. I have tried upping the fat as discussed on the Atkins thread, so I don't feel hungry, but I am eating for other reasons than hunger. And of course, If I don't plan, and have appropriate food handy when I do get hungry, or get too hungry and tired, I go off plan.
I am trying to figure out how to handle this. I am getting back to the crazy tapping course at Daily OM to see if that will help cravings. I think now is a good time to try to work with all of this. My gut is as empty as it will ever be. I am taking probiotics to encourage healthy bacteria there.
Should I stick with low carb, or start calorie counting again?
(NO, I don't think y'all should decide for me, but I do value your opinions).
I am having light carbs right now, to help the bacterial buildup. Will see how that goes with cravings.

have a good day friends.

Hi everyone. I went on a little impromptu "vacation." On Monday afternoon I was calmly sitting in my recliner and I had a heart attack. I didn't know that's what it was, only that I felt terrible. DH called the ambulance and away I went. By midnight they admitted me. They did tests on Tuesday, stent procedure on Wednesday, and home today. By comparison, 25 years ago DH had a heart attack, received the exact same test and treatment as I did and was in the hospital for 2 weeks. How times have changed. Actually, by Tuesday I was no longer having any symptoms, but they could tell by bloodwork that I had had a heart attack and found a blocked artery in my heart. I am still amazed that I'm home already.

I'm going to take a shower and wash away all the hospital cooties, then lie down for a nap. You don't get any sleep in the hospital. I see everyone has checked in with good news and test results, so I will be back later to respond.

Carol Sue I am so sorry about you having to go to the hospital. I wondered if something was wrong because it is unusual for you to stay away so long. I'm surprised that you are back home so quickly too, but I am glad you are home. You take good care of yourself.

Not much happening here. I'm off plan today. Didn't really plan to be but didn't plan well. My calorie count is okay, as I've decided to continue tracking again on MFP and although it isn't a CAD day, I still ended up with less than 1200 calories which is good. Just was not in the mood for low or moderate carb today although even my carbs were within range on MFP so I guess I didn't do too bad.

I had 1 egg, 1 sl bacon, 1 sl 2% cheese on MG English muffin for breakfast. For lunch I pan fried a fish fillet and DH wanted air-fryed fries and I cooked some baby carrots in butter with it and a salad. I finished it off with my regular c coffee and a few mint dark chocolate pieces I found at Sam's club that are 30 calories a piece. It is just enough sweet, but not too sweet to end my RM with. Actually lunch would have been a good CAD RM, but since I had the English muffin for breakfast, that means I had 2 RM. I know this happens once in a while and not to worry about it but just keep going with next meal which is what I'm doing. Our moderator of the FB group shared with us one time that she had not always been 100% on plan and that there have been times over the years on CAD where she had 2 RM and never worried about it. She said that she just got back OP at her next meal or snack and she still has lost weight but just not as fast as she could have. Remembering her experience I've decided to do the same and moving right back OP this evening. I have a snack planned for later of 1/2 avocado with 1 egg. I shouldn't need it, but I have it planned just in case. If I don't need it, I won't even make the almost 1200 calories today.

fatmad As you can see, I'm not one to give advice on what to do. Saying that, my advice would be you know how you like to eat and what works for you. You also know what makes you feel good too so I would say use that as your guideline. This is what I have had to do for me. I don't really know how it is going to work for me, but I am choosing to eat and exercise the way that makes me feel good physically as well as emotionally.

I had a busy day since my beautician is going out of town with her hubby tomorrow she did our hair today. I didn't see DS as she couldn't do us together today. Her husband races and she doesn't always go with him but decided if he would get a camper that she would start going with him some. He did and she is.

I went to the store before I went out to see Daddy because he wanted a clipboard, paper and deodorant. I also wanted to get some air freshener products to put in his room. I used to think it was crazy when people couldn't open things, but now that is me. I got 3 Renuzit's and had to have one of the girls at the health center open them and set 2 in his room and 1 in his bathroom.

He said the girl in rehab that worked with him this morning had him stand up with his back against the wall and do some moves and he did them. He had problems with his bp so they were going to come back and get him this afternoon to work with him some more.

Well, I've gotten lazy sleeping in each morning now that I don't have to get up early so now I need a nap.

Hope you're recovering well, Carol!

Thank you for the well wishes, Trish and Sundove, and stop in more often Sundove. We like to have variety in our discussions.

Trish, in the ER they told me I had Congestive Heart Failure. I'm not sure what they based that on. While in the hospital I saw my cardiologist and told him what they said and he said "We will see about that" as if he believes they were wrong. I didn't receive any new meds that would be for CHF so maybe they realized they were wrong. They also told me that I had a urinary tract infection and treated me for that with intervenous antibiotics and also oral antibiotics at home, but I had no symptoms of that at all so that poses another question I don't understand. I guess I will find out after I get this additional blood work.

My DH is normally a very neat person, but I came home to a very messy house. Then I realized that for the past 4 days all he has done is run back and forth to the hospital, so I'll go easy on him. LOL If you remember, I was struggling with my sore foot and trying to keep up with my house work. I am allergic to Contrast Dye so I had to be given steroids to avoid an allergic reaction. The steroids completely took away my foot pain.....while I was taking them.....but now the foot pain is returning as the steroids are wearing off. Also, the steroids drove my blood sugars into the 400 and 500 ranges. I was in a total panic. I've been doing so well lately with blood sugars and these high numbers are disturbing to me, even though they are from meds and not poor diet. They kept saying "It's because of the steroids" but that was no consolation to me realizing those number go against my next A1c. I think my weight stayed the same or went up 1 lb.

Mad, I agree with Trish, do the best you can and eventually you will turn this all into better eating habits. The cravings will get to be less and less. I'm glad you are gradually starting to feel better and glad things went well. When asked, I will always vote for low carb, whatever that means to you, but in reality, do whatever works best for YOU. I greatly reduced my cravings for sweets and salty snacks after I started increasing my vegetable consumption. I did not cut sweets at the same time, it's just that I started to acquire more of a savory taste and lost a lot of my sweet tooth and wasn't as interested in them anymore. This is why I seem to crave some weird stuff, like I was craving sweet potatoes last week. You might surprise yourself of how it can work. Shortly before Lent I noticed I was getting into the candy more and more often, so I gave it up for Lent and that did the trick. I'm not thinking about it as much. I think it's funny that I can give something like that up for Lent and never waiver once, but to just say I'm giving something up for the next 6 weeks, it's just not the same.

Carol Sue I'm curious to see how quickly your bs will come back down. Are they still high since you came home?

Thursday was a washout food wise. I just realized I'm going to have to be careful what I keep in the house even for RM. Someone on CAD posted a picture of taco salad they made. I got hungry for it so made it a few days ago. I use restaurant chips for mine to make it like Dairy Queen makes one here in TX. That was fine that day for RM, but tonight I got into them. When I came to my senses, I put the rest of them down the garbage disposal. I have made it with Dorritos so next time I will get a little 1 serving bag at the store for the salad so I won't have any left over to tempt me. We quit buying the big box of 1 oz packages of potato chips because I was getting into them too much. Some things just can't be brought into the house even if I can have them at RM if I can't keep my hands off them at other times.