As the cool people say, 'I'm in the groove'. I have settled in to a good routine, taking care of my diabetes, the food, some exercise, and lots of adaptation as I go along. Okay, well, the exercise could get better but until life settles down so that I'm not busy 20 hours out of 24, it's likely to be on and off. At least it's on more than it was...a step ahead.
The food, diet, eating plan is so much better than I was eating before my diagnosis. I'm very pleased with that. I owe a lot to my diabetic educator. So a BIG thanks to she who helps me see the light and not the guilt. Anyone, of any age, who read the title to this blog instantly thought of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups because that was their advertising campaign when I was a wee girl...yeah, the candy love of my life, those are. And this time of year...oh my, they have them in egg shapes, for Easter, which for some reason is the PERFECT way to eat their peanut butter and chocolate! I had some mini ones this week...and now they are gone, which is a good thing. When a craving hits, I find it's best to have a little of what I want, over a day or two, then be done with it. It's working, so I'm going with it, until it doesn't work anymore.
But words, actions, deeds, can be misleading and alas, I'm not here to discuss the perfectness of Reeses's Peanut Butter Cups, though they are perfect in every way. Rather, as a person venturing deeper into the myriad ways to get foods I enjoy on my plate in ways that are better for my sweet self, I am looking at odd and strange combinations that provide that same satisfaction ,only with less risk.
This weekend I found myself returning to a snack that I hadn't had in years. Radishes and peanut butter! Yeah, I know what you're thinking...'Bless her heart, she's so deprived, she's losing her mind AND her taste buds!' Well, before you go writing off my buds, let me tell you what a tasty treat this is! Sounds strange, kind of like Pop-Tarts and Velveeta cheese, another taste sensation...albeit trailer trashy, but it works. I discovered how well these two little foods went together back when my now 21 year old son was about 3. My former husband and I, worked in Huntsville, Alabama with abused children. In a group home setting, we took care of 8 boys who, for many reasons, could not live with their own parents, and tried to help finish raising them to be able to go out into the world. One of the things we did with them, was to grow a garden. The land behind the house was some of the most fertile I have ever planted in and whatever we planted grew like crazy! We had over 100 watermelons from two little rows...the boys sold watermelons at the church we took them to, for spending money. We planted two rows of radishes...so do the math, 100 watermelons in two rows, radishes are smaller...my estimate today is that there were approximately 136,292 radishes in that garden to be eaten by 10 people. Needless to say, radishes, trimmed prettily and sliced in every conceivable fashion, were on the table at every meal, including breakfast. I hate wasting anything, and I'm a tightwad deluxe, so the radishes were on the menu, 24/7. It came to pass that radishes landed with lunch on a day when lunch was peanut butter sandwiches. Hmmm...let me just say, a delicious little treat was discovered! I love the peppery flavor of the radishes with the salty peanut butter taste.
Fast forward to 2011, and my low carb, low cal, high fiber, sugarless life...my brain reminded me when I looked at the peanut butter jar that the peanut butter tasted real good with radishes. So, I created myself a little light snack, sliced radishes dipped in peanut butter! I still love it, 20 years later...and that's about how long it's been since I ate that food combo. It's a great low carb source of protein that provides that satisfied full feeling with the crunchy fresh peppery radish texture in the background. I have a feeling it will be my 'go to' snack this summer. And I'll be looking for more funky, fun, tasty snack combos that I can slide into my menu. I was reading a review of a book written by a woman about the saga of her husband's diabetes, it's toll on his life and how it ultimately took his life. I'm good with not leaving anyone to write a book about my saga. I'm really great with controlling my sugar and living to tell my own sweet tales of woe and joy. I understand that it could easily be what causes my death....eventually. But I plan on eventually being when I'm so old that it won't matter...it'll be my time.
So, run on down to the grocery now, I can just hear you scrambling for car keys, and get some radishes and get snacking...cause two great tastes taste great together...feel free to think of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups while you eat!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Dear Diary
Two visits ago, my diabetic educator said it was time to work on finding target foods that were going to make my sugar go crazy and happy dance all the way to numbers unknown. Cool, okay... Then she said how we do this is, you write down everyyyyyyyyything you eat at every meal and snack. Not cool, so not okay. I wasn't good at diary writing when I was a girl kid and was supposed to love, love, love putting down all my happy thoughts (on good days) and all my angst (mom said no, dad took her side, my friend at school didn't like my outfit today!) thoughts. However, the diary when I was ten wasn't going to help me live longer, this one would...yeah, okay. Not cool but I get it.
Instead of taking my blood sugar every morning before nary a bite of anything has been eaten, I choose a meal and two hours after I eat it, I take my blood sugar. The goal being that if the sugar spike that naturally occurs after eating, hasn't come back down to some semblance of normal (my new normal, ya know the sweet kind), then one of the foods I ate may be a trigger food for me and I might need to avoid it. Armed with all this new information...I swear, if you are diabetic, go go go to your educator. I learn something every month and there is someone to listen to my concerns that KNOWS what should and should not be happening. It is invaluable to anyone trying to manage this disease. Plus, it helps keep you accountable. It's hard to eat crazy bad for you foods and then go talk about it! Anyway, so I set off with my Dear Food Diary plan. It was a month of tediousness, let me tell you. I tend to be a little OCD about stuff...where things are placed on my desk, the straightness of my folder stack...this was no different. I just couldn't stand not to stop and write down every little teensy thing at the very moment it happened and it was SO inconvenient. I did not enjoy it. But, and this is such a big but...I learned a lot. About my eating habits, about the things that affect my choices...PMS? YES! Must have DONUT! Tired, stressed? YES! Must have CHOCOLATE! I'm an idiot. My food choices are so often guided by things not even partly related to food. I didn't resist all temptations but at least I can, and am, more readily identifying the moments when my choices are being driven not be hunger and need but by some other influence...be it internal or external.
I didn't identify any food triggers, so that was really good. I did identify, that for my best after dinner blood sugar, I really need to take my medication a bit earlier in the evening. I had mostly good eating choices and had my first really normal, as in normal for all folks not just for diabetic people, blood sugars...which read below 100 several times! I was really happy about that and so were my kidneys and various other body parts. They didn't thank me, but I'm sure it's true. So off I went back to the diabetic cheerleader lady with my pink food diary and all my information, gleefully celebrating the end of writing all that stuff down!
Oh wait...there's more? Oh, of course there is! You know it wasn't that easy. She was very pleased with my progress. My overall average blood sugar was down almost 20 points! That was really excellent news. I lost a little more weight, another plus. So I'm clipping right along with this management business. All the more reason to think I was free and clear of this diary thing. She wasn't on my plan...and I couldn't persuade her with my whining about how UNfun it was...I did try. She said she wanted me to continue the food diary with an added bonus. At the end of the month I need to go back and highlight, ugh...highlight (really???), all the not good, UNbest, really bad food choices that I made. So for those of you paying attention...I get to highlight DONUT and CHOCOLATE and all the other stupid stuff. I understood immediately the point of the exercise. A continuation of helping the person (in this case, falling off the wagon donut snacking ME) making the choices, to choose more wisely. When it's there in black and white you cannot ignore what you've done. Oh sure, you could not write stuff down but what would be the point in that?! Is the new assignment helping me pick better? I wish I could say 100% of the time that was true but that would be a 100% big fat lie! There are some foods I've given up and I don't miss them (or rarely miss them, and not enough to have them) but there are some things that I love like a fat girl loves donuts...oh wait, that IS what I love. Those aren't so easily banished forever. It's a work in progress and I bet in 10 years or 30 years it will still be a work in progress. Cause I still like food, I still think chocolate is a vegetable, and I still think the calories fall out of the donut hole. But I'm controlling it, the choices, the sugar, the whole kit 'n caboodle! Maybe my highlighter won't run out of ink...
No links this time, go back to some of those other links in past posts and find a good recipe that will make a good for me donut...will ya!?
Instead of taking my blood sugar every morning before nary a bite of anything has been eaten, I choose a meal and two hours after I eat it, I take my blood sugar. The goal being that if the sugar spike that naturally occurs after eating, hasn't come back down to some semblance of normal (my new normal, ya know the sweet kind), then one of the foods I ate may be a trigger food for me and I might need to avoid it. Armed with all this new information...I swear, if you are diabetic, go go go to your educator. I learn something every month and there is someone to listen to my concerns that KNOWS what should and should not be happening. It is invaluable to anyone trying to manage this disease. Plus, it helps keep you accountable. It's hard to eat crazy bad for you foods and then go talk about it! Anyway, so I set off with my Dear Food Diary plan. It was a month of tediousness, let me tell you. I tend to be a little OCD about stuff...where things are placed on my desk, the straightness of my folder stack...this was no different. I just couldn't stand not to stop and write down every little teensy thing at the very moment it happened and it was SO inconvenient. I did not enjoy it. But, and this is such a big but...I learned a lot. About my eating habits, about the things that affect my choices...PMS? YES! Must have DONUT! Tired, stressed? YES! Must have CHOCOLATE! I'm an idiot. My food choices are so often guided by things not even partly related to food. I didn't resist all temptations but at least I can, and am, more readily identifying the moments when my choices are being driven not be hunger and need but by some other influence...be it internal or external.
I didn't identify any food triggers, so that was really good. I did identify, that for my best after dinner blood sugar, I really need to take my medication a bit earlier in the evening. I had mostly good eating choices and had my first really normal, as in normal for all folks not just for diabetic people, blood sugars...which read below 100 several times! I was really happy about that and so were my kidneys and various other body parts. They didn't thank me, but I'm sure it's true. So off I went back to the diabetic cheerleader lady with my pink food diary and all my information, gleefully celebrating the end of writing all that stuff down!
Oh wait...there's more? Oh, of course there is! You know it wasn't that easy. She was very pleased with my progress. My overall average blood sugar was down almost 20 points! That was really excellent news. I lost a little more weight, another plus. So I'm clipping right along with this management business. All the more reason to think I was free and clear of this diary thing. She wasn't on my plan...and I couldn't persuade her with my whining about how UNfun it was...I did try. She said she wanted me to continue the food diary with an added bonus. At the end of the month I need to go back and highlight, ugh...highlight (really???), all the not good, UNbest, really bad food choices that I made. So for those of you paying attention...I get to highlight DONUT and CHOCOLATE and all the other stupid stuff. I understood immediately the point of the exercise. A continuation of helping the person (in this case, falling off the wagon donut snacking ME) making the choices, to choose more wisely. When it's there in black and white you cannot ignore what you've done. Oh sure, you could not write stuff down but what would be the point in that?! Is the new assignment helping me pick better? I wish I could say 100% of the time that was true but that would be a 100% big fat lie! There are some foods I've given up and I don't miss them (or rarely miss them, and not enough to have them) but there are some things that I love like a fat girl loves donuts...oh wait, that IS what I love. Those aren't so easily banished forever. It's a work in progress and I bet in 10 years or 30 years it will still be a work in progress. Cause I still like food, I still think chocolate is a vegetable, and I still think the calories fall out of the donut hole. But I'm controlling it, the choices, the sugar, the whole kit 'n caboodle! Maybe my highlighter won't run out of ink...
No links this time, go back to some of those other links in past posts and find a good recipe that will make a good for me donut...will ya!?
Sunday, December 19, 2010
A1C, LGI, and Other Capital Letters
Once upon the beginning of this blog, I said I'd talk about some big 'ol medical words and abbreviations at some point 'later' in the blog. Well, it's later...so off we go! Everyday blood sugar readings are measured by pricking a digit with one of those unpleasant pointy pokey sticks (lancets-which is just a fancy way of saying needle mounted on little plastic thingamajig), (after two months I don't like them anymore than I did on day one-and I still jump every time I do it!), then squeezing out a nice perfectly round drop 'o the red stuff, which is kind of magically sucked up by a second absorbent stick thingy (test strip) that you've inserted into the little machine (glucose monitor), prior to the whole unpleasant poking moment. You wait 5 seconds (can't ya just hear the Jeopardy music playing in the background?!) and it tells you how sweet you are (or aren't-if you are crazy enough to poke yourself to check when you aren't diabetic! Ha!) Actually, it tells you the sugar (glucose) level in your body at that very precise and pinpointed moment in time. This is great, but it doesn't tell the whole picture. Look how many cool words we got in, just in one paragraph!
See, your sugar level varies throughout the day and as I'm learning, gets more and more complicated. There's that failing (but still loved-we don't want to shun our pancreas...it could do wayyyy worse things!) pancreas that keeps on keeping on to try and make some insulin, there's your heroic liver, trying valiantly to take up the slack for your vacationing pancreas, there's those crazy kids we call the hormones running amok all up in the mix, then there is that invisible, but very real, wall that your body is erecting to get between your cells and the blood, where that sugar is swimming along like so much sludge, to prevent the cells from sucking the sugar out, to go burn it off as we work and play...la, la, la. Still with me??? Okay. So, this is all going on and then we throw in food we eat, the medicine we're taking, and all the external factors that come into play including stress, lack of sleep, sickness, and on and on. As a side note, so we understand that it all plays a part...yeah, we'll get back to the main point, I swear!...I was sick two weeks ago and even after eating oh so well the day before, after one night of congestion and little sleep, my blood sugar was the worst it has been, the next morning when I checked it. All of this means that those individual readings, while handy at the time, need a way to get grouped, or put together, to mean something over a longer period of time.
I check my blood sugar once a day, but what is it at other times of the day? I don't know. Ah, but my body is keeping track of it. And there's a handy little test to gather that stored information and tell doctors what my sugar is doing on average, over time. How cool is that!? The test is called an A1C. By taking a much larger sample of your blood (not nearly as much fun as the pokey thing you do to yourself, but the nurses mean well!), the doctor can tell what your blood sugar average has been over 2-3 months. It has to do with hemoglobin protein linking up with sugar in a way that leaves a trail (just think of it as NCIS for diabetics but without that cute Mark Harmon-just another part of the major suckage of this disease). I cannot possibly do the explanation justice, so check out this article on the ADA website at http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/blood-glucose-control/a1c/. This number is what really matters and is the number used to determine if you are diabetic or just 'glucose intolerant'. Isn't that a hoot?! A kinder gentler way of saying my body sucks at getting rid of sugar! When I had my inital A1C it was right at an 8...eh, not so good. After two months, I'm down to just below a 7...which is much better. Not where I want it to be, and maybe never where I want it to be, but it's a start. The number assigned (called an Estimated Glucose Average) has to do with your blood sugar average level, which takes us back to our daily readings that usually fall in a three digit range...like 145 or 168. For example, someone with an 8 is running an average level over 2-3 months of 183. The information about this scale and where the averages fall can be found here, http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/blood-glucose-control/estimated-average-glucose.html, so check that out. To have 'normal' blood sugar you have to run below 100 which puts your A1C at a 5. I miss being a 5...
A big part of diabetes control is all about the mouth, and what you put in it. Seeing as I'm a food loving human, I have spent a lot of time learning how to make typical foods I eat, fit into the new lifestyle I must now lead. That lead me to reading all about foods with LGI's! Turns out all carbohydrates are not created equal. Nothing is ever easy...as they say, whoever 'they' are. All carbohydrates have a glycemic index, which measures how a food containing carbs, raises blood sugar levels. A HGI (high glycemic index) food raises the blood sugar more than a LGI (low glycemic index) food. Arming yourself with knowledge about which carbs raise your sugar less, goes a long way toward balancing your overall eating throughout the day. And for me, it really helped focus some eating choices very early on. Some low GI foods include: dried beans, most fruit, and many whole grain breads and cereals. I have found switching over to some lower GI foods a pretty easy thing to do, to make a meal still seem about like it was before all this started. For example, sweet potatoes have a lower GI than regular potatoes, so I try to make that change to keep my potato in my meal. There are some factors that affect the GI level of foods and you can read all about that in this article: http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/planning-meals/glycemic-index-and-diabetes.html Suffice to say, our good friend FIBER, is a key component to lower GI levels. I'm loving me some fiber these days!
There are about a million other little words we could discuss but then this would be a dictionary and not a blog. Dictionary=boringggggggg...blog=fun with a wee bit of learning. At least that's the plan! So gather up your alphabet, all these new fun geeky words, and go take care of yourself. You only get one shot at that...don't forget it.
See, your sugar level varies throughout the day and as I'm learning, gets more and more complicated. There's that failing (but still loved-we don't want to shun our pancreas...it could do wayyyy worse things!) pancreas that keeps on keeping on to try and make some insulin, there's your heroic liver, trying valiantly to take up the slack for your vacationing pancreas, there's those crazy kids we call the hormones running amok all up in the mix, then there is that invisible, but very real, wall that your body is erecting to get between your cells and the blood, where that sugar is swimming along like so much sludge, to prevent the cells from sucking the sugar out, to go burn it off as we work and play...la, la, la. Still with me??? Okay. So, this is all going on and then we throw in food we eat, the medicine we're taking, and all the external factors that come into play including stress, lack of sleep, sickness, and on and on. As a side note, so we understand that it all plays a part...yeah, we'll get back to the main point, I swear!...I was sick two weeks ago and even after eating oh so well the day before, after one night of congestion and little sleep, my blood sugar was the worst it has been, the next morning when I checked it. All of this means that those individual readings, while handy at the time, need a way to get grouped, or put together, to mean something over a longer period of time.
I check my blood sugar once a day, but what is it at other times of the day? I don't know. Ah, but my body is keeping track of it. And there's a handy little test to gather that stored information and tell doctors what my sugar is doing on average, over time. How cool is that!? The test is called an A1C. By taking a much larger sample of your blood (not nearly as much fun as the pokey thing you do to yourself, but the nurses mean well!), the doctor can tell what your blood sugar average has been over 2-3 months. It has to do with hemoglobin protein linking up with sugar in a way that leaves a trail (just think of it as NCIS for diabetics but without that cute Mark Harmon-just another part of the major suckage of this disease). I cannot possibly do the explanation justice, so check out this article on the ADA website at http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/blood-glucose-control/a1c/. This number is what really matters and is the number used to determine if you are diabetic or just 'glucose intolerant'. Isn't that a hoot?! A kinder gentler way of saying my body sucks at getting rid of sugar! When I had my inital A1C it was right at an 8...eh, not so good. After two months, I'm down to just below a 7...which is much better. Not where I want it to be, and maybe never where I want it to be, but it's a start. The number assigned (called an Estimated Glucose Average) has to do with your blood sugar average level, which takes us back to our daily readings that usually fall in a three digit range...like 145 or 168. For example, someone with an 8 is running an average level over 2-3 months of 183. The information about this scale and where the averages fall can be found here, http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/blood-glucose-control/estimated-average-glucose.html, so check that out. To have 'normal' blood sugar you have to run below 100 which puts your A1C at a 5. I miss being a 5...
A big part of diabetes control is all about the mouth, and what you put in it. Seeing as I'm a food loving human, I have spent a lot of time learning how to make typical foods I eat, fit into the new lifestyle I must now lead. That lead me to reading all about foods with LGI's! Turns out all carbohydrates are not created equal. Nothing is ever easy...as they say, whoever 'they' are. All carbohydrates have a glycemic index, which measures how a food containing carbs, raises blood sugar levels. A HGI (high glycemic index) food raises the blood sugar more than a LGI (low glycemic index) food. Arming yourself with knowledge about which carbs raise your sugar less, goes a long way toward balancing your overall eating throughout the day. And for me, it really helped focus some eating choices very early on. Some low GI foods include: dried beans, most fruit, and many whole grain breads and cereals. I have found switching over to some lower GI foods a pretty easy thing to do, to make a meal still seem about like it was before all this started. For example, sweet potatoes have a lower GI than regular potatoes, so I try to make that change to keep my potato in my meal. There are some factors that affect the GI level of foods and you can read all about that in this article: http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/planning-meals/glycemic-index-and-diabetes.html Suffice to say, our good friend FIBER, is a key component to lower GI levels. I'm loving me some fiber these days!
There are about a million other little words we could discuss but then this would be a dictionary and not a blog. Dictionary=boringggggggg...blog=fun with a wee bit of learning. At least that's the plan! So gather up your alphabet, all these new fun geeky words, and go take care of yourself. You only get one shot at that...don't forget it.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
One Down...One to Go
Thanksgiving has come and gone, we finished the last of our holiday meals tonight. Part of the time I did really well with my food choices, and part of the time I tanked like the Titanic. Weirdly enough, Thanksgiving day, although not perfect, I held up pretty well. It really is a bummer you can't accummulate your carbs and have them when you need them rather than spread out, cause I could do that! It would sooo work for me! Anyway, I ate all my favorite stuff, in reasonable, although I'm sure not reasonable enough, amounts. As I added in my head, I figured I was about 2 carbs over for the day. Not bad. I can live with that for the biggest holiday meal I will have.
Oh but the fun was just starting. A day that shouldn't have tripped me up at all, just threw me for all sorts of curves. The day AFTER Thanksgiving...it was laying in wait for me, I swear! There were all the combinations of things that fit together perfectly to add up to a bad day of food choices for me. First, Caroline and I were alone for the most part, so there wasn't visiting to do or visitors to see and keep occupied with entertaining. Second, neither of us were feeling very well (she had a cold and I was on day 3 of a headache), so we didn't want to get out and go do anything or even really do much around the house. Boredom setting in is so not a good thing for me and food! Since I didn't feel good, I didn't want to cook either, so other than a healthy breakfast (I set out on this day with good intentions!), I left us to nosh on leftovers from Thanksgiving and whatever we could rustle up. Well, you and I both know that if you rustle up something...it's usually the rustling of a chip bag, or the rustling of a wrapper on candy...it's never the rustling of fresh vegetables! Alone, bored, feeling yucky, not cooking...I was doomed when I got out of bed. It didn't help that pecan pie was sitting in my fridge feeling neglected because I only ate one small piece the day before. I could just hear it calling my name...
The only good thing I can say about the day was, it was at least grazing all the wrong foods, and not a big sit down fest of feasting on junk. There were natural consequences, of the kind that I love, love, love to have happen to my children. You know the ones, where you don't have to punish your kids because the outcome of their choice is so awful that they are punished without you having to say a word!? I got just that kind of moment, only it was all mine...every last bite. Ugh. I just thought I felt bad. By the end of the day I was good and miserable, with only myself to thank. At the end of it all, I realized there hadn't even been a vegetable on my horizon, not all day long! That's just nuts.
Which made me think...how often do we just eat, without thought, without effort, without care? We get one body, one shot at taking care of what we've been given, and how often do we expect our bodies to just keep up with what we're doing to it?! As I lay in bed last night, praying...being thankful for my warm house, and my great kids, and memories of happy wonderful holidays from years gone by, I spent a little time talking to the Lord about my choices that day. And I'd love to say there was a bright light moment of knowing I'll never make that mistake again, but who am I kidding? In general, we, as humans aren't nearly as well trained as our pets...we keep sticking our hands to the fire, knowing what happens! But I got up today, with resolve to be thinking about, looking at, aware of what I was eating. Eating with awareness, whether you are diabetic or not, is a real good idea. If you have that down, yay! I don't, I'm still working on it. I'll be working on it when I leave this world, I'm sure. But working on it is better than doing nothing at all.
I refuse to just 'do nothing' about this disease. That would be like standing on the railroad tracks with the train coming and 'hoping for the best'. Uh...NOT. So today was a good day. Even though we had another big dinner with lots of goodies. I ate well all day, and I didn't feel deprived. I felt great actually. And I ate what I wanted at dinner, within reason. As much as anything, this, for me, is a journey about self-control. And never have I had a harder time with anything. I bought a lesson this week though. Hopefully, it will be awhile before I have to buy another.
So for those days when you are losing your mind and eating without using your brain, try a few of these top 25 diabetic snacks from the Diabetes Living online mag. They are good for anyone, you don't need diabetes to enjoy them, I promise! http://www.diabeticlivingonline.com/food-to-eat/nutrition/top-diabetic-snacks/
Oh but the fun was just starting. A day that shouldn't have tripped me up at all, just threw me for all sorts of curves. The day AFTER Thanksgiving...it was laying in wait for me, I swear! There were all the combinations of things that fit together perfectly to add up to a bad day of food choices for me. First, Caroline and I were alone for the most part, so there wasn't visiting to do or visitors to see and keep occupied with entertaining. Second, neither of us were feeling very well (she had a cold and I was on day 3 of a headache), so we didn't want to get out and go do anything or even really do much around the house. Boredom setting in is so not a good thing for me and food! Since I didn't feel good, I didn't want to cook either, so other than a healthy breakfast (I set out on this day with good intentions!), I left us to nosh on leftovers from Thanksgiving and whatever we could rustle up. Well, you and I both know that if you rustle up something...it's usually the rustling of a chip bag, or the rustling of a wrapper on candy...it's never the rustling of fresh vegetables! Alone, bored, feeling yucky, not cooking...I was doomed when I got out of bed. It didn't help that pecan pie was sitting in my fridge feeling neglected because I only ate one small piece the day before. I could just hear it calling my name...
The only good thing I can say about the day was, it was at least grazing all the wrong foods, and not a big sit down fest of feasting on junk. There were natural consequences, of the kind that I love, love, love to have happen to my children. You know the ones, where you don't have to punish your kids because the outcome of their choice is so awful that they are punished without you having to say a word!? I got just that kind of moment, only it was all mine...every last bite. Ugh. I just thought I felt bad. By the end of the day I was good and miserable, with only myself to thank. At the end of it all, I realized there hadn't even been a vegetable on my horizon, not all day long! That's just nuts.
Which made me think...how often do we just eat, without thought, without effort, without care? We get one body, one shot at taking care of what we've been given, and how often do we expect our bodies to just keep up with what we're doing to it?! As I lay in bed last night, praying...being thankful for my warm house, and my great kids, and memories of happy wonderful holidays from years gone by, I spent a little time talking to the Lord about my choices that day. And I'd love to say there was a bright light moment of knowing I'll never make that mistake again, but who am I kidding? In general, we, as humans aren't nearly as well trained as our pets...we keep sticking our hands to the fire, knowing what happens! But I got up today, with resolve to be thinking about, looking at, aware of what I was eating. Eating with awareness, whether you are diabetic or not, is a real good idea. If you have that down, yay! I don't, I'm still working on it. I'll be working on it when I leave this world, I'm sure. But working on it is better than doing nothing at all.
I refuse to just 'do nothing' about this disease. That would be like standing on the railroad tracks with the train coming and 'hoping for the best'. Uh...NOT. So today was a good day. Even though we had another big dinner with lots of goodies. I ate well all day, and I didn't feel deprived. I felt great actually. And I ate what I wanted at dinner, within reason. As much as anything, this, for me, is a journey about self-control. And never have I had a harder time with anything. I bought a lesson this week though. Hopefully, it will be awhile before I have to buy another.
So for those days when you are losing your mind and eating without using your brain, try a few of these top 25 diabetic snacks from the Diabetes Living online mag. They are good for anyone, you don't need diabetes to enjoy them, I promise! http://www.diabeticlivingonline.com/food-to-eat/nutrition/top-diabetic-snacks/
Saturday, November 13, 2010
A Roll by Any Other Name is Still a Carb
Hightailed it to Paris this week for my first visit with the Diabetes Educator. Like most people, the last place I normally want to find myself is in some medical office, but I was actually in a very positive frame of mind and looking forward to finding out more about how to help myself. I was not disappointed. First of all, the very knowledgeable professional that I saw was wonderful. She explained so many things to me, things that I knew on the surface, but didn't have all the details I wanted. She also made me feel a little less afraid and certainly like I wasn't alone in the medical management of this disease.
We talked about several aspects of diabetes and I suspect each visit will leave me feeling more in control of what happens from this point on. Things I'm obsessed with at this moment, however, that I'm going to get tired of quickly: reading, reading, reading labels and counting, counting, counting carbs. Which package has the fewest grams of carbohydrates per serving? I'm looking for every opportunity to save a carb, picking up every package to read. And while I will get tired of reading and counting, I will never be able to stop. Not if I like breathing deep on the topside of planet earth...and I do. So, guess we should talk about carbs and what makes a standard serving of them for a diabetic.
There are three types: starches (complex carbohydrates), sugar, and fiber. On a label, the Total Carbohydrate, is the number you are looking for because it combines the totals of all those together for one happy number you can use. Starches include foods like corn, peas, dried beans, potatoes, and grains like wheat, oats, etc. Sugar includes those naturally occurring like in milk and fruit and added sugars from food processing. Fiber includes the indigestible parts of plant foods.
The magic number of grams in a serving for us sweetest folks? 15...You read that right, 15. Want to know how long it takes to get to 15??? One-half of a hamburger bun. One slice of many breads. One-third a cup of pasta. I scoured the shelves today to come up with some kind of pasta that magically did not have 42 grams of carbohydrates in a 2 oz. serving. It was nowhere to be found. I'm not Italian but I mourned a little, right there in the aisle of WallyWorld.
Every diabetic has a diet/menu plan/new way of eating forever that sucks big time, assigned to them, because this is a customized disease. All us sweet people are not created equal. So, you have to find out how many carb servings you can have a day from the trained people that know. All I know is what I get to have, which is 3 carbs per meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and 2 carbs for one snack. Of course I get all the other food groups, also in assigned amounts, but we're talking about the foods that turn to sugar at the moment. Now, the most un-fun news I received this week from this fabulous diabetic educator? You can't bank these bad boys for a rainy day! Oh no, forget skipping breakfast, and lunch in favor of overdosing on spaghetti at the local pizza joint...it ain't happening! We cannot save them, to use later. We eat them at the meal they are assigned or we lose them. It's not like counting calories on the lastest fad diet or counting points on Weight Watchers (great program, by the way, just saying). Once your body no longer makes enough insulin you can't bombard it with a boat load of carbs all at once, and feel good about yourself, because you skipped breakfast to do it. That's kinda like a full assault on your organs that are trying valiantly to keep on, keeping on, for YOU! As much as I'd personally love the save 'em for later plan, my body disagrees and if I don't care, who else will?
I learned a lot more and over time will share the bestest bits here. Mostly, I left her office less stressed because of her reassurance. It was very comforting, by the way, that she is diabetic, too. So she gets it, on every level and there was none of the pious, 'I know better than you' attitude. Read up on all things carby at this great page on the diabetes association website. It is my online diabetes bible, I swear, I don't know what I'd do without it. You certainly don't have to be that excited, but give yourself a little learning and you'll be glad you did. http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/carbohydrates.html
We talked about several aspects of diabetes and I suspect each visit will leave me feeling more in control of what happens from this point on. Things I'm obsessed with at this moment, however, that I'm going to get tired of quickly: reading, reading, reading labels and counting, counting, counting carbs. Which package has the fewest grams of carbohydrates per serving? I'm looking for every opportunity to save a carb, picking up every package to read. And while I will get tired of reading and counting, I will never be able to stop. Not if I like breathing deep on the topside of planet earth...and I do. So, guess we should talk about carbs and what makes a standard serving of them for a diabetic.
There are three types: starches (complex carbohydrates), sugar, and fiber. On a label, the Total Carbohydrate, is the number you are looking for because it combines the totals of all those together for one happy number you can use. Starches include foods like corn, peas, dried beans, potatoes, and grains like wheat, oats, etc. Sugar includes those naturally occurring like in milk and fruit and added sugars from food processing. Fiber includes the indigestible parts of plant foods.
The magic number of grams in a serving for us sweetest folks? 15...You read that right, 15. Want to know how long it takes to get to 15??? One-half of a hamburger bun. One slice of many breads. One-third a cup of pasta. I scoured the shelves today to come up with some kind of pasta that magically did not have 42 grams of carbohydrates in a 2 oz. serving. It was nowhere to be found. I'm not Italian but I mourned a little, right there in the aisle of WallyWorld.
Every diabetic has a diet/menu plan/new way of eating forever that sucks big time, assigned to them, because this is a customized disease. All us sweet people are not created equal. So, you have to find out how many carb servings you can have a day from the trained people that know. All I know is what I get to have, which is 3 carbs per meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and 2 carbs for one snack. Of course I get all the other food groups, also in assigned amounts, but we're talking about the foods that turn to sugar at the moment. Now, the most un-fun news I received this week from this fabulous diabetic educator? You can't bank these bad boys for a rainy day! Oh no, forget skipping breakfast, and lunch in favor of overdosing on spaghetti at the local pizza joint...it ain't happening! We cannot save them, to use later. We eat them at the meal they are assigned or we lose them. It's not like counting calories on the lastest fad diet or counting points on Weight Watchers (great program, by the way, just saying). Once your body no longer makes enough insulin you can't bombard it with a boat load of carbs all at once, and feel good about yourself, because you skipped breakfast to do it. That's kinda like a full assault on your organs that are trying valiantly to keep on, keeping on, for YOU! As much as I'd personally love the save 'em for later plan, my body disagrees and if I don't care, who else will?
I learned a lot more and over time will share the bestest bits here. Mostly, I left her office less stressed because of her reassurance. It was very comforting, by the way, that she is diabetic, too. So she gets it, on every level and there was none of the pious, 'I know better than you' attitude. Read up on all things carby at this great page on the diabetes association website. It is my online diabetes bible, I swear, I don't know what I'd do without it. You certainly don't have to be that excited, but give yourself a little learning and you'll be glad you did. http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/carbohydrates.html
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Lions and Tigers and Fears...OH MY!
Tomorrow morning I'm off to meet with the folks who specialize in dealing with extra sweet people like me! You know, this new sweet label is about all the coolness coming from this disorder deluxe, and I'm getting the mileage out of it. Anyone that knows me at all, knows I'm not a waster of much of anything. But, I'm getting off topic. This little meeting is all about teaching me what I already know, what I don't know (which is plenty-but I'm working on that real hard!), and how to put it all together and 'fix' myself...sorta. There's no fixin' the pancreas, former producer of insulin I needed, so I could have Snickers without added fiber. It's about fixin' me...the brain part, that's hard-wired to connect food and everything wonderful. Or food and everything awful. I expect to hear that I've not done enough to get my sugar low enough (oh margarita, how thou betrayed me!) when they look at my sugar log. It's not terrible, matter of fact until they tell me how un-good it still is, I've been pretty okay with it. But I know that it still isn't in the normal range, you know, for people who are not as sweet and I'm sure it's supposed to be.
But before this meeting there is some handy dandy paperwork to fill out...as there is with all disorder'ish type things, and I set out this afternoon to complete said paperwork. I arrived at two questions, about halfway through the litany, that made me stop and think, really take stock of what I should say. Kinda odd, I thought, with all these practical, easily answered, medical questions to throw in a couple that emotionally pricked me.
The first was a version of 'what do I know about this disease?' What they want is the facts I have and the ones I don't, but that's not what they got, because in that moment all that came to me about what I know is this...What I know is that this disease took one of my favorite people in the whole world from me. Absolutely, 100%, no other explanation will do. It destroyed his kidneys and you have to have those bad boys to get by in this world, and so at the ripe old age of 58, his body could stand no more and God scooped him up. Now, I just want God to drop him and let's have us a do-over. I'm selfish that way and seeing as he was my biggest fan, my go-to guy for all things, ever, I miss him beyond expression. But we don't get do-overs on that dying business. Armed with that knowledge, the second part of my answer was this...I don't want this disease to take me. It was my first stark acknowledgement, out loud, so to speak, that I really don't want to die from diabetes. It's not a real friendly way to go. If you don't have first hand experience, just trust me on this one. That led me to the understanding that fear is a big part of what I'm wrestling with, in the early stages of this thing in my life.
These folks must be pretty smart, because no sooner had I had this grand a-ha moment, than the next question said something to the effect of...What are you most afraid of? My response? It was eloquent, let me tell you! And, probably the most efficient use of words ever!!! Those of you reading along know I have no shortage of words, but today, to answer that question, I only needed one...Everything. I tried to pick the one thing about this disease that scares me most and I couldn't. I'm afraid of everything it can do to my body. With every bite I take, good or bad, (yep, bad, I'm a work in progress...I'm the Sistine Chapel of diabetes, difference is Michaelangelo did eventually finish and I suspect I'll never be finished) I think about what kind of damage it can do to my innards. Isn't that a great word? Garfield the cat used it in a Halloween cartoon when referring to the insides of a pumpkin and I've loved it ever since.
Sugar looks so sweet and innocent, just lying there in that peanut butter cookie, or simmering along in your blackberry cobbler...but it's not. Left to its own devices, it tramples your very valuable organs, some of which you just can't live without. I suppose sugar is the bully on the playground, insulin is the playground guard, and my playground guard took early retirement. Just my luck. He could have at least checked with me first!
Fear is a powerful emotion and motivates many different types of people for many different reasons. In small doses fear can be a good thing. It can make your hairs prickle just enough to know you are headed into something that's over your head and nudge you to turn back. It can also overwhelm you and leave you a prisoner in your own home or in your own mind, too paralyzed to do anything. I'm going to have just enough to, hopefully, keep me heading the right way with this disease until I have it as controlled as I can get it. So for now, me and my fears are headed to learn some stuff that will give me more control. Control I must exercise, because the knowledge does nothing for me if I don't put it into practice. And when I am losing control, and facing the 'fear of failure', I'm going to take myself right back to that first question...what I know is...I don't want this disease to take me.
A little learning is good for us all so check out this cool site I found connected to Kraft Foods. I am digging these recipes! http://www.kraft.com.au/RecipeCollections/HealthyEating/DiabeticRecipes/
But before this meeting there is some handy dandy paperwork to fill out...as there is with all disorder'ish type things, and I set out this afternoon to complete said paperwork. I arrived at two questions, about halfway through the litany, that made me stop and think, really take stock of what I should say. Kinda odd, I thought, with all these practical, easily answered, medical questions to throw in a couple that emotionally pricked me.
The first was a version of 'what do I know about this disease?' What they want is the facts I have and the ones I don't, but that's not what they got, because in that moment all that came to me about what I know is this...What I know is that this disease took one of my favorite people in the whole world from me. Absolutely, 100%, no other explanation will do. It destroyed his kidneys and you have to have those bad boys to get by in this world, and so at the ripe old age of 58, his body could stand no more and God scooped him up. Now, I just want God to drop him and let's have us a do-over. I'm selfish that way and seeing as he was my biggest fan, my go-to guy for all things, ever, I miss him beyond expression. But we don't get do-overs on that dying business. Armed with that knowledge, the second part of my answer was this...I don't want this disease to take me. It was my first stark acknowledgement, out loud, so to speak, that I really don't want to die from diabetes. It's not a real friendly way to go. If you don't have first hand experience, just trust me on this one. That led me to the understanding that fear is a big part of what I'm wrestling with, in the early stages of this thing in my life.
These folks must be pretty smart, because no sooner had I had this grand a-ha moment, than the next question said something to the effect of...What are you most afraid of? My response? It was eloquent, let me tell you! And, probably the most efficient use of words ever!!! Those of you reading along know I have no shortage of words, but today, to answer that question, I only needed one...Everything. I tried to pick the one thing about this disease that scares me most and I couldn't. I'm afraid of everything it can do to my body. With every bite I take, good or bad, (yep, bad, I'm a work in progress...I'm the Sistine Chapel of diabetes, difference is Michaelangelo did eventually finish and I suspect I'll never be finished) I think about what kind of damage it can do to my innards. Isn't that a great word? Garfield the cat used it in a Halloween cartoon when referring to the insides of a pumpkin and I've loved it ever since.
Sugar looks so sweet and innocent, just lying there in that peanut butter cookie, or simmering along in your blackberry cobbler...but it's not. Left to its own devices, it tramples your very valuable organs, some of which you just can't live without. I suppose sugar is the bully on the playground, insulin is the playground guard, and my playground guard took early retirement. Just my luck. He could have at least checked with me first!
Fear is a powerful emotion and motivates many different types of people for many different reasons. In small doses fear can be a good thing. It can make your hairs prickle just enough to know you are headed into something that's over your head and nudge you to turn back. It can also overwhelm you and leave you a prisoner in your own home or in your own mind, too paralyzed to do anything. I'm going to have just enough to, hopefully, keep me heading the right way with this disease until I have it as controlled as I can get it. So for now, me and my fears are headed to learn some stuff that will give me more control. Control I must exercise, because the knowledge does nothing for me if I don't put it into practice. And when I am losing control, and facing the 'fear of failure', I'm going to take myself right back to that first question...what I know is...I don't want this disease to take me.
A little learning is good for us all so check out this cool site I found connected to Kraft Foods. I am digging these recipes! http://www.kraft.com.au/RecipeCollections/HealthyEating/DiabeticRecipes/
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Fiberlicious
Fiber is an important part of any healthy diet but it can be especially beneficial to a person with diabetes. Blah, blah, blah...don't fall asleep on me just yet! It gets crazy interesting in a minute...we'll do some math! I spent this afternoon reading up on fiber articles, from websites like MedlinePlus, the ADA, and several in-between. Fiber is not digested as it goes through our bodies, so having a higher dosage of it in the carbohydrates we're eating is a big plus. You aren't adding sugar to your bloodstream, or any of your other 2,000 parts, if you aren't digesting it!
Of course the recommendation of all these healthy life promoting websites is to obtain your fiber naturally, in your food, rather than through a supplement. No shock there. Nice thing these days, especially if you have a busy lifestyle, is they are adding fiber to everything from single serving applesauce to yogurt to artificial sweetners. Seriously, I bought applesauce with extra fiber...it was tasty, too. Not to mention the foods that already have a lot of fiber to which they are adding MORE fiber! Remember that double fiber bread? It's pretty good by the way, a bit drier than average, but not enough to worry about. Well, Bunny Bread it ain't and the Wonder Bread folks are perfectly safe, too, but it really is edible.
The 'best' fiber count, according to all these fine professionals, is a serving of food that has 5 or more grams of fiber in it. 2+ up to 5 grams is considered 'good'. Most breads (the ones I've been stalking in the grocery store), contain 2-3, some 4...you have to go looking for those 5's and better. See, I told you there was math! The level of fiber affects how you count the carbohydrates, too, as a diabetic. Far too much information to re-type here (and even more math...some dividing and subtracting...*gasp*), so I'm adding a link at the bottom for you to go read all about carbs, which includes fiber and what you want to know. It's riveting reading...I swear! And there's no pop quiz to follow, aren't I sweet?! Of course I am, that's how I got here in the first place!
Now if I can just figure out how to get more fiber in my Snickers...
http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/carbohydrates.html
Of course the recommendation of all these healthy life promoting websites is to obtain your fiber naturally, in your food, rather than through a supplement. No shock there. Nice thing these days, especially if you have a busy lifestyle, is they are adding fiber to everything from single serving applesauce to yogurt to artificial sweetners. Seriously, I bought applesauce with extra fiber...it was tasty, too. Not to mention the foods that already have a lot of fiber to which they are adding MORE fiber! Remember that double fiber bread? It's pretty good by the way, a bit drier than average, but not enough to worry about. Well, Bunny Bread it ain't and the Wonder Bread folks are perfectly safe, too, but it really is edible.
The 'best' fiber count, according to all these fine professionals, is a serving of food that has 5 or more grams of fiber in it. 2+ up to 5 grams is considered 'good'. Most breads (the ones I've been stalking in the grocery store), contain 2-3, some 4...you have to go looking for those 5's and better. See, I told you there was math! The level of fiber affects how you count the carbohydrates, too, as a diabetic. Far too much information to re-type here (and even more math...some dividing and subtracting...*gasp*), so I'm adding a link at the bottom for you to go read all about carbs, which includes fiber and what you want to know. It's riveting reading...I swear! And there's no pop quiz to follow, aren't I sweet?! Of course I am, that's how I got here in the first place!
Now if I can just figure out how to get more fiber in my Snickers...
http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/carbohydrates.html
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