Diabetes

[daugen]

Wakey, I promise I watched part of that. I could hear my arthritic bones cracking. A few too many operations and fusions for
some of those gyrations. But the breath control is important. Does calm you down.
Nothing like a good deep breath of fresh air and a drink of clean water

I don't drink enough water. May be dilution is the solution. Drink a lot of coffee and V8 though.
I also drink a fair amount of Diet 5 cran-mango. Maybe I should cut that out and just drink nothing but water.
That would be a good test.

my understanding is they still don't have a non invasive way of checking your blood sugar.
Something without a needle poke of some type. Ok once in a while, long term not so sure.
I want Star Trek's hand held analyzer....

 

[Spike56]

You are right, at that point the pancreas will never function like it used to, but if a person doesn't have to take meds/injections for it and their blood sugar is within normal, healthy range as long as they eat correctly, they are as "cured" as they are going to be. Much better, imo, than relying on a daily shot or two so I can continue eating the garbage food that most supermarkets are chock full of. And, will probably extend that person's life, and allow them to enjoy the benefits of overall better health, too.

Agree. There are / have been all kinds of rumors about "curing" diabetes. All hogwash, just trying to sell books or some products. Maybe someday, but not today. ONE, person had an experimental pancreas stem cell treatment, and it was claimed to "cure" but I do not know any details or why only ONE person.

 

[Rustyiron]

All I drink is water, and although retired I still cut about 7-8 cords of firewood yearly (mechanized) and am just finishing a 2 year project.

A building for my sawmill.

So I'm on my feet most of the day. I think this is very important as we age and probably very difficult if you "grew up" an office worker living in a development. (No judgment from me)
My land and my lifestyle I believe helps me with this.

 

[MossyDell]

My new young doctor, an internist, took me to the woodshed a year ago about being pre-diabetic, at 99 fasting glucose, and obese. It was the kick I needed. I got heavy 15 years ago in a perfect storm of stress. I'd manage to take off 10-15 pounds in the last few years but would put it back on. This time I got serious and have lost 45 pounds. My numbers are great.

I lost the first 20 pounds the hard way, my own "low carb" and intermittent fasting diet with help from a brother who does low carb and keto and fasting sometimes. I didn't have enough information, didn't know what to eat. He gave me grief for eating an apple daily. I didn't go all in, no fruit etc. and was probably falling between two stools—never converted my body to burning fat instead of carbs. I did try hard. For instance, I did TWO three-day water-only fasts. No food at all. But it was crazy to consume heavy cream with frozen fruit as a treat, when at the least I should have been consuming skim milk. Super high calories in heavy cream compared with skim!

So I joined Noom, a calorie-counting weight loss program like WW. But new and up and coming. Not sure it's better, have known friends WW worked for, including a friend who lost 50 and has kept it off for 15 years. But I felt I needed actual calorie counting knowledge at least at first, rather than the WW point system. Noom doesn't ban anything but is big on eating less calorie dense foods. They divide foods into green, yellow, and orange. So fruit and veggies are basically green, carbs are yellow, and fatty meat and cheese etc. are orange.

Each day now starts for me with a 10-12 minute Noom lesson on my phone, stuff like psychology and food knowledge. I log my meals and snacks on the phone app and try to stay under my calorie goal. Noom adjusts my maximum upward if I get in a lot more steps. I still have issues, such as binging when I feel bad, but have built new habits. I also enjoy my food a lot more.

 

[crashz]

Mossy - I did very similar.

My blood sugar was at 111 last year. At my heaviest I think the scale once read 340. I tried every imaginable diet plan possible. Fasting, Atkins, Low Carb, Keto, etc. Bought Golo by the case.

Still big. Some heart issues brought it all to the forefront.

I've been using an app called MyFitnessPal and its working pretty good to count my calories. I set it originally to a pretty aggressive setting of 1700 calories a day. By limiting calories, I had two choices: Eat lots of healthy, low calorie foods (mostly unprocessed vegetables and lean meat) or eat tiny portions of less healthy food. I chose option one.

Really my diet was never very bad, I just ate way too much and ate some foods that were surprising to me. Two of which are olive oil and cheese. Both I have nearly cut out because they are extremely calorie dense. I used to eat A LOT of both.

The gym is also a great way to log extra calories per day and get in shape too. Both have been good for me. I'm getting good strength back, feeling good, and currently down to 270. I'm shooting for a goal weight of 240, but slowed my loss rate down.

 

[ljjhouser]

Diabetes is an experience that affects everyone and changes over time differently from one person to the next. We learn what we can eat. Then do the best we can. Only at the end of the road can we say whether we were right or made a mistake.

There is an excellent book titled "Dr. Berstein's Diabetes Solutions." It gives a complete coverage of both type one and Type two. Understanding how the body works with the production of insulin and how the cells accept or reject glucose helped me understand what may or may not work for me.

There is also an book "The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes: by Gretchen Baker.
This book has a chart in it - showing the projected outcome of high A1C It is based on the national average of 8.4 A1c.
Even though it is a projection, it is "eye opening" in itself.

Well, a lot of time has passed since your first post. I hope you are doing well.
I did not read all 17 pages of the thread. Best Wishes.

 

[dmccarty]

Gracious this is an old thread. Interesting to see what I said years ago.

Seems like "journey" is a new word to use so I will use it. My weight loss and weight maintenance journey still include walking for my exercise, tracked by a cheap Fitbit, and trying to eat better. "Better" is a key word since everyone seems to have a different definition. I walk 10K-15K steps a day which is 5-6 miles. Sometimes 20K.

For the last few years I have been doing intermittent fasting. It took awhile, but I figured out, well my body told me, that I needed a good 16 hour fast to loose weight and limit my usual calories intake to loose weight. I can eat as usual to maintain weight. The problem is I need to loose 10-20 pounds which what I always need to loose.


Earlier this year I was down about 15 pounds which I gained back when the wife fell down and could not get back up. She missed a single step, fell down, yet somehow did not get seriously injured but was not able to walk for months. Usually, we just graze at night and I would eat limited amounts of food, but I had to feed her so I would cook some really good meals. The meals would be a bit more calories than I would normally eat, very healthy though, but the problem was BEER. If I have a good meal I want a good beer or two to go with it. Danged beer is what makes me maintain or gain weight due to the extra calories and carbs.

As mentioned years ago in this thread, in the past I would drink flavored carbonated water to keep away from beer. Over the last few years, I have been making a herbal iced tea that did not need sugar. When I would drink the tea and just eat a bit of food for dinner while intermittent fasting, I would drop weight fast. However, there always has to be a however, the tea changed and would make me sick. The tea is made from apples and is sweet but I wonder if they sweetened the tea even though the label says no. I also wonder if they were sweetening the tea and then started using a sugar substitute than I cannot digest. Any who, it was back to beer and I gained some weight back.

I found some different tea on the shelves and have been drinking that instead of beer. Just found some herbal teas on Amazon that I will try as well.... Will see how this works out.

With the intermittent fasting, for years I was eating a cut oatmeal with almonds, fruit, and cinnamon. I was wondering if that was preventing or minimizing my weight loss so I started eating a breakfast burrito. The burrito has cheese, onions, colored bell peppers, arugula, a hot dog like sausage or maybe bacon. Pretty healthy, depending on who you believe but I don't think it made a difference from a weight loss perspective. Going to keep eating the burrito until I get my blood work checked and then maybe go back to the oatmeal.

Intermittent fasting does help me if the fast is at least 16 hours and I stay away from beer.

Why is beer, pizza and bread sooooooo good? Well, and white rice!

My granny always said there were three evil white foods. White rice, white sugar, and white bread. She picked up processed food being bad for you at least 40-50 years ago. Wish I knew how she knew.....

 

[txdon]

I could use some advice before I get an earful from a specialist.

New info since 2012.
It's not the sugar it's the fat.

Added Dietary Sugar Poses No Prediabetes Risk

Cross-sectional review of more than 5000 US adults showed no apparent link between added dietary sugar and prevalent prediabetes.

www.medscape.com

 

[txdon]

Gracious this is an old thread. . . . .
With the intermittent fasting, for years I was eating a cut oatmeal with almonds, fruit, and cinnamon. I was wondering if that was preventing or minimizing my weight loss so I started eating a breakfast burrito. The burrito has cheese, onions, colored bell peppers, arugula, a hot dog like sausage or maybe bacon. Pretty healthy, depending on who you believe but I don't think it made a difference from a weight loss perspective. Going to keep eating the burrito until I get my blood work checked and then maybe go back to the oatmeal.

Who is this that you believe that hot doglike sausage, bacon, and cheese are healthy?

 

[dmccarty]

Who is this that you believe that hot doglike sausage, bacon, and cheese are healthy?

There are all sort so doctors with YouTube channels and books saying to minimize carbs to loose weight and to improve general health. Others say otherwise, thus my statement on who you want to believe. Also as I said, I will get my blood work checked and see how the numbers go. Then go back to the cut oatmeal and get tested again. That was the plan before the pandemic hit and there was no going to the doctors at that point.

 

[txdon]

There are all sort so doctors with YouTube channels and books saying to minimize carbs to loose weight and to improve general health. Others say otherwise, thus my statement on who you want to believe. Also as I said, I will get my blood work checked and see how the numbers go. Then go back to the cut oatmeal and get tested again. That was the plan before the pandemic hit and there was no going to the doctors at that point.

I'm glad you are getting your blood worked checked.

 

[m7040]

There are all sort so doctors with YouTube channels and books saying to minimize carbs to loose weight and to improve general health. Others say otherwise, thus my statement on who you want to believe. Also as I said, I will get my blood work checked and see how the numbers go. Then go back to the cut oatmeal and get tested again. That was the plan before the pandemic hit and there was no going to the doctors at that point.

Getting the numbers checked is the key to see if you need to make diet changes. First there are blood sugar monitors to see what your level is at a given moment and then there are the A1C tests that you get from the lab. The A1C levels are a look back 3 months that essentially gives the results of what you have been eating in that period as well as how much exercise. The number is supposed to be less than 5.7. I am getting my A1C checked every 6 Months to see if I am tracking as well as my cholesterol. I have had some A1C numbers above that but generally they have been lower. A period with less exercise and more eating out will increase my number. I can literally take my blood sugar level before and after exercise and see significant reduction in sugar level.

 

[MossyDell]

There are all sort so doctors with YouTube channels and books saying to minimize carbs to loose weight and to improve general health. Others say otherwise, thus my statement on who you want to believe. Also as I said, I will get my blood workther anduff all the st checked and see how the numbers go. Then go back to the cut oatmeal and get tested again. That was the plan before the pandemic hit and there was no going to the doctors at that point.

DM, my impression from my low carb brother and all the stuff out there is that replacing carb burning with fat burning ONLY works if you go all in 100%. This is extreme, where fatty meats and cheese are fine but not any oatmeal or a single piece of fruit.

Speaking of fruit. I cannot see how it is bad for diabetes. Fruit is low calorie density and full of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and fluid. It is filling. Fruit juice is bad, sure. It is so much fructose, you'd have to eat a crate of oranges or apples to get that much fruit sugar. You couldn't do it. But fruit juice has to hit a diabetic body, or any body, hard.

I shake my head at my own prior ignorance about calories and portions. Didn't know what to say when my brother, bless his heart, would give me grief for eating an apple. He was right per Keto diet. But I see now my weight wasn't from the 200 calories I gained from eating an apple and a banana but the 2,800 calories from everything else that day!

 

[daugen]

what is the current thinking on sugar substitutes? I drink Diet 5 cran mango or cran something and I wonder if the artificial sweetener is just as bad for me as the sugar.
plain water is so boring...
what else to drink that is refreshing and not glycemic? Iced tea? Fizzy water?

Don, thanks for info on fat. Well.....maybe after planting tulips today I'll go for a long walk. With my arthritis and plantar fasciites, walking is no longer fun for me, but
being sick or really unhealthy is even less fun for sure.

saw three docs in last week. Two thought fasting was good. Appears morning food very important.
any suggestions here for a newbie faster?

 

[ArlyA]

what is the current thinking on sugar substitutes? I drink Diet 5 cran mango or cran something and I wonder if the artificial sweetener is just as bad for me as the sugar.
plain water is so boring...
what else to drink that is refreshing and not glycemic? Iced tea? Fizzy water?

Don, thanks for info on fat. Well.....maybe after planting tulips today I'll go for a long walk. With my arthritis and plantar fasciites, walking is no longer fun for me, but
being sick or really unhealthy is even less fun for sure.

saw three docs in last week. Two thought fasting was good. Appears morning food very important.
any suggestions here for a newbie faster?

Its not understood, but people who consume a volume of artificial sweeteners tend to be overweight and run high A1C's. We best limit them.

 

[txdon]

saw three docs in last week. Two thought fasting was good. Appears morning food very important.
any suggestions here for a newbie faster?

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[ArlyA]

No one else here is using a CGM? I have for about 5+ years and you could not get me to quit. Knowledge is your freind.

What is a CGM?

What is continuous glucose monitoring? Continuous glucose monitoring automatically tracks blood glucose levels, also called blood sugar, throughout the day and night. You can see your glucose level anytime at a glance. You can also review how your glucose changes over a few hours or days to see trends.

 

[daugen]

Don, thank you. I need real food. That stuff was tea and gruel. Maybe that's what it takes.

Arly, hope I never need it but good to know. Is the sensor under your skin, attached to a vein?

 

[ArlyA]

Don, thank you. I need real food. That stuff was tea and gruel. Maybe that's what it takes.

Arly, hope I never need it but good to know. Is the sensor under your skin, attached to a vein?

Skin. All home diabetic control items go into your skin. (all commonly used items)

 

[ljjhouser]

Over the years living with Type 2, I have learned certain facts:
1. Diabetes is not curable, but can be tolerable.
2. Every person with diabetes reacts different to certain foods and meds or treatments.
3. A dietition is good for education and learning about nutrition.
4. It is good to talk with your doctor. That also is education and learning about diabetes and possible treatments.
5. If you MUST eat foods you do not like, learn about spices and make it to your liking. I hated broccoli. Learned a better way to cook it with some spice. Love it now.
6. Your doctor, your dietition, and your wife can tell you what to do. BUT, only you knows what you can do and are willing to do. For that reason alone, take charge of your own treatment and rules.
8. If you are not successful maintaining diabetes, it is not your doctors fault. LEARN how it works and do the best you can. Own it.
9. If diabetes is the wagon, we ALL fall off and then try to get back on. Never give up. It is not so hard to do well. It is very difficult to continue to do well as the years pass. Some foods are just so good they deserve to be served. Maybe not eaten.
10. For me, Insulin is NOT THE answer, only the last answer. It must be used responsibly. Too much insulin is the road to weight gain. Weight is the circle that increases insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can mean more insulin is needed.

This is what I have learned. Your experience will probably be different. But most important, OWN IT. I had a friend who was feeling sorry for himself because he found he was diabetic. I asked him - which would you choose - diabetes - heart attack - cancer? Of course he responded Diabetes. Then we are lucky, be grateful and do the best you can. Take care.

And about sweeteners. Like Splendia and Stevia. They are great tools to help remove sugar from the things you like. Stevia is good if used in drinks. Splenda can be substituted for a certain amount of sugar and will bake.

I should also add, there is a liquid sweetener named EZSWEETZ. It can be added when the recipe calls for added sugar. One drop = one teaspoon. One teaspoon of it = 2 cups of sugar. It is 0 calories and 0 carbs. The bottle I have has lasted for 7 years and cost $15 when I bought it. Mine is a 2 oz dropper bottle. Today, it is on Amazon for $30 for 3 bottles. Also great for adding to liquid drinks.