For about a week and a half, my blood sugars had been in the 150s when they are usually in the 120s to 1teens. So, I was a bit confused. I thought I'd been doing pretty good, but I had been eating some whole wheat bread, so I cut that out completely. And, it did not help. Hmmmm...
Then, 2 days ago, I got a total surprise. It was my diet drink. I don't know what made me think to read the label (boredom, perhaps) on my Diet Orange Crush, but imagine my surprise at its number one ingredient.... high fructose corn syrup.
WHAT??? That's killer carbs from Hell!!!! How did that get in my diet drink?? It's the only diet drink I have ever seen that has calories, let alone carbs. And, oh, did it have carbs. 4 per serving. And, how many servings? 2 per bottle, that's how many. So, for one bottle, I could have eaten 1/2 a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Or, 1/4 cup of frozen yogurt. Now, considering that I usually drink about 4 bottles a day, and you begin to see where my elevated blood sugars came to be. Siiiigh.
I have to admit thinking that it was such a great drink, because it didn't taste like diet at all. Yeah, well, guess I know why now!!! So, I switched to drinking Diet Sunkist, which is almost as tasty (and carb/calorie free, as a diet drink should be), and suddenly, my blood sugars are much better! So, even if common sense says that I should be safe eating something, I will rely on label reading from here on out!!!
As a side note, I have found a great diabetic magazine in "Diabetic Living". It has some great articles on everything from side effects of common meds, new research, recipes, new meters, etc. I have definitely sent in my check for my subscription and made a couple of recipes from it already!
I also found a lousy magazine called "Diabetes Self Management." It had a 4 page article on whether or not diet drinks are linked to diabetes that basically concluded "we don't know" and an article written by a type 1 diabetic that basically implied everyone with Type 2 was fat, slovenly and brought it on themselves and everyone who had type 1 hates type 2s and wishes no one would help us. Hey, that's the way to handle a disease, folks, turn the 2 types of people that have it against each other. Helpful!!! So, needless to say, my one free issue to that one is the only issue I'll be reading. It was truly just a craptastic useless magazine. Oh, well, at least it was free.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
NYC with Diabetes... Easy Going!!!
Well, Springtime in New York is the best time for Diabetics!! Holy cow, it has been super easy to "be good" here. First of all, the walking.... you walk everywhere here and exercise is like the anti-diabetes. It lowers your blood sugars. So, I've walked probably 5 miles or so each day.
Then, you add in Vitamin D. Recent studies have shown that Diabetics have very low levels of Vitamin D. They think that may cause lower abilities to correctly process sugars/insulin. So, I'm out in the sun on the double decker bus and walking and getting my Vitamin D!
Then, you add the food. Okay, sure... I've passed 200 bakeries and thought about throwing a temper tantrum in front of a cheesecake place today. But, with all the other food here... bread can kiss my tushie!!! In Chinatown, I brought a super cold, freshly cut up mango that was literally so perfectly ripe it dripped juice all over me (worth every shirt stain). The street vendors have kebabs, shwarma, kosher dogs, etc. Every street corner has a fresh fruit/veggie stand. Healthy food is everywhere!!!
The funniest thing has been trying to find Diet sodas that I like. I am addicted to fizzy drinks (although drinking much less of them than I used to), but I hate the taste of diet cola. So, I usually drink either diet orange soda or diet root beer. I couldn't find either one here for the first day. But, found a 2 liter of Diet Sunkist, so I've lugged that back to the room and am going to town on it!!!
On a side note, the absolutely GORGEOUS and perfectly, wonderfully functional meter case I had made on Etsy is doing a GREAT job and has garnered many a compliment. So, good to know!
Even after erratic sleep on the way up here, and meals at odd times yesterday, my blood sugar was only 130 this morning! I was very pleased! I will be interested to see what it is tomorrow. I had several pieces of fruit today. And, even though it is healthy sugar, it's sugar none-the-less. So, we shall see.
On yet another side note... Mom has been eating almost healthy while we are here. She is diabetic and is so non-compliant it is not even funny. But, she did only eat half of her bagel this morning and has drank all diet drinks! Probably because I am the one who ordered them, but hey... whatever works. Right?!
Well, off to take a shower, take some glucophage and take a nap. LOL!!!
Then, you add in Vitamin D. Recent studies have shown that Diabetics have very low levels of Vitamin D. They think that may cause lower abilities to correctly process sugars/insulin. So, I'm out in the sun on the double decker bus and walking and getting my Vitamin D!
Then, you add the food. Okay, sure... I've passed 200 bakeries and thought about throwing a temper tantrum in front of a cheesecake place today. But, with all the other food here... bread can kiss my tushie!!! In Chinatown, I brought a super cold, freshly cut up mango that was literally so perfectly ripe it dripped juice all over me (worth every shirt stain). The street vendors have kebabs, shwarma, kosher dogs, etc. Every street corner has a fresh fruit/veggie stand. Healthy food is everywhere!!!
The funniest thing has been trying to find Diet sodas that I like. I am addicted to fizzy drinks (although drinking much less of them than I used to), but I hate the taste of diet cola. So, I usually drink either diet orange soda or diet root beer. I couldn't find either one here for the first day. But, found a 2 liter of Diet Sunkist, so I've lugged that back to the room and am going to town on it!!!
On a side note, the absolutely GORGEOUS and perfectly, wonderfully functional meter case I had made on Etsy is doing a GREAT job and has garnered many a compliment. So, good to know!
Even after erratic sleep on the way up here, and meals at odd times yesterday, my blood sugar was only 130 this morning! I was very pleased! I will be interested to see what it is tomorrow. I had several pieces of fruit today. And, even though it is healthy sugar, it's sugar none-the-less. So, we shall see.
On yet another side note... Mom has been eating almost healthy while we are here. She is diabetic and is so non-compliant it is not even funny. But, she did only eat half of her bagel this morning and has drank all diet drinks! Probably because I am the one who ordered them, but hey... whatever works. Right?!
Well, off to take a shower, take some glucophage and take a nap. LOL!!!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Holy Hooters, Batman! My diabetes may save my girls!!!
Well, for once, there is good news about a drug!!! Usually, I get on a medication and 2 years later they find out that it causes some hideous infection (oh, that's where that came from...) or possibly a third eye (preeeeetty...). But, for once, it would seem that something positive may come from the medication I am on to treat my Diabetes!!! It may reduce my risk of breast cancer! YAY!!! Here's the link to the article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36691860/ns/health-cancer/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36691860/ns/health-cancer/
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Time away
I have been curious lately as to how I would do if I were kitchen-less. Meaning, could I control my blood sugars as well if I were to be out and about, not able to take my food with me, not able to cook everything on my own, etc. It is a little harder to control blood sugars when you are not the one cookin'.
So, off we go. Every meal this weekend was out somewhere. The only thing I "brought" to the party was my own yogurt for night snacks, a bag of beef jerky for snacks and several bottles of diet drinks.
I figured rather quickly that the order of the day was... custom order. So, instead of the hamburger on a kaiser bun that came on the menu, I got just the patty with some cheese added. NO BREAD. And, instead of chips, I got a 1/2 order of sweet potato fries (sweet potatoes are better than regular potatoes, but still, you need to watch your intake). I have found that most places think if you ask for a smaller portion, they think you are expecting the food cheaper. When I tell them to bring me half an order of fries, I've learned to clarify that I do not expect to pay less for them. They are more than happy to comply after that.
Also, I had fajitas, and just did not eat the tortilla wraps that came with them. Kebabs, but only ate a small amount of the rice that they came with and asked for baba ganoush (eggplant dip) instead of potatoes. A sirloin with steamed veggies instead of fries. Nowhere did they have problems with my special requests. As a matter of fact, several places realized I was trying to avoid carbs and even offered some other choices that were not on the menu (I got a GREAT greek salad with feta as a side at K-town Kebabs in the West Town Mall in Knoxville).
The hardest part of eating out is not asking for substitutions or figuring out what to eat... it's the freebies!!!! Would you like a basket of bread? Chips and salsa? A sopapilla with honey, perhaps? Free ice cream with your meal! Those are the ones that are just killin' me!! I have learned to just tell the server ahead of time that I don't want the extras. Bless them, some of them are so entrenched in people hounding them for the rolls (Logans, anyone?) that they try to bring them anyway, but stop themselves or laugh at themselves when they realize what they have done.
With a weekend of eating out, I was terrified that I'd lose sense of portion control or miss my snack times and have my blood sugars yo-yoing. Or, gain some of my weight back. But, I am happy to report that my highest sugar all weekend was 133, which is totally acceptable. And, I actually lost a pound!!! Of course, we also hit the pool 2 nights so we were able to get some exercise in! So, that didn't hurt!
So, I guess what I am saying is that at least my travel is something that diabetes did NOT take away from me. I packed my glucometer and glucophage and hit the open trails. Or, the malls at least!!
So, off we go. Every meal this weekend was out somewhere. The only thing I "brought" to the party was my own yogurt for night snacks, a bag of beef jerky for snacks and several bottles of diet drinks.
I figured rather quickly that the order of the day was... custom order. So, instead of the hamburger on a kaiser bun that came on the menu, I got just the patty with some cheese added. NO BREAD. And, instead of chips, I got a 1/2 order of sweet potato fries (sweet potatoes are better than regular potatoes, but still, you need to watch your intake). I have found that most places think if you ask for a smaller portion, they think you are expecting the food cheaper. When I tell them to bring me half an order of fries, I've learned to clarify that I do not expect to pay less for them. They are more than happy to comply after that.
Also, I had fajitas, and just did not eat the tortilla wraps that came with them. Kebabs, but only ate a small amount of the rice that they came with and asked for baba ganoush (eggplant dip) instead of potatoes. A sirloin with steamed veggies instead of fries. Nowhere did they have problems with my special requests. As a matter of fact, several places realized I was trying to avoid carbs and even offered some other choices that were not on the menu (I got a GREAT greek salad with feta as a side at K-town Kebabs in the West Town Mall in Knoxville).
The hardest part of eating out is not asking for substitutions or figuring out what to eat... it's the freebies!!!! Would you like a basket of bread? Chips and salsa? A sopapilla with honey, perhaps? Free ice cream with your meal! Those are the ones that are just killin' me!! I have learned to just tell the server ahead of time that I don't want the extras. Bless them, some of them are so entrenched in people hounding them for the rolls (Logans, anyone?) that they try to bring them anyway, but stop themselves or laugh at themselves when they realize what they have done.
With a weekend of eating out, I was terrified that I'd lose sense of portion control or miss my snack times and have my blood sugars yo-yoing. Or, gain some of my weight back. But, I am happy to report that my highest sugar all weekend was 133, which is totally acceptable. And, I actually lost a pound!!! Of course, we also hit the pool 2 nights so we were able to get some exercise in! So, that didn't hurt!
So, I guess what I am saying is that at least my travel is something that diabetes did NOT take away from me. I packed my glucometer and glucophage and hit the open trails. Or, the malls at least!!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Stick me with ya best shot!!
Okay, as previously discussed, I am a big, fat, feathery chicken when it comes to sticking my finger for blood sugars. It's not that it hurts much at all. It really doesn't. It's just that I can't stand to see the needle hitting my skin.
Well, that's not it, exactly. I can watch someone else do it. It's the combo of being the one to jam the "thumbtack" into my finger and watch it go in. I am so pitiful. I should get my big, bad nurse badge taken away.
But, the good news is, I found something I can use very easily and it is actually the least painful lancet I have used thus far. It's an Accuchek Multi-clix. It's a pen-type lancet device that holds a barrel of lancets. You load them in, click to arm it and then push the little yellow button. It sticks you at a depth varying from no-one-can-have-skin-this-thin to seriously-are-you-checking-a-rhinos-blood-sugar. I use a 3.
The niftiest part (other than me finally being able to stick myself with a minimum of whining) is that you don't have an exposed lancet to try to wrestle out of your device or to possibly stick someone else. They all go back into the drum. When they've all been used, you simply pop out the drum and put in a new one. I toss the used drum into my sharp's container, but you don't really have to. There is no way anyone can accidentally stick themselves with your used lancet. I am all about sharps safety, so this makes me tremendously happy.
Another nice thing about the multi-clix is the ability to find the lancet drums locally. Wal-mart and Walgreens carry them for sure. I'm sure other places do as well. I got a box of 120 for $16. Not bad.
I hope that this blog is helping a few people. If you know someone who has Diabetes, please feel free to have them jump in and contribute or even just read and lurk. The more I learn, the more I am going to share.
Oh, and one more quick note, Books-a-Million has a large sale section. In it, I found 2 Diabetes cookbooks and a low-carb one. They really had some good recipes I'm going to try.
If I find good ones, would you like me to post the actual recipe or just a hint of what I made? Feedback, people, I need feeback!
Well, that's not it, exactly. I can watch someone else do it. It's the combo of being the one to jam the "thumbtack" into my finger and watch it go in. I am so pitiful. I should get my big, bad nurse badge taken away.
But, the good news is, I found something I can use very easily and it is actually the least painful lancet I have used thus far. It's an Accuchek Multi-clix. It's a pen-type lancet device that holds a barrel of lancets. You load them in, click to arm it and then push the little yellow button. It sticks you at a depth varying from no-one-can-have-skin-this-thin to seriously-are-you-checking-a-rhinos-blood-sugar. I use a 3.
The niftiest part (other than me finally being able to stick myself with a minimum of whining) is that you don't have an exposed lancet to try to wrestle out of your device or to possibly stick someone else. They all go back into the drum. When they've all been used, you simply pop out the drum and put in a new one. I toss the used drum into my sharp's container, but you don't really have to. There is no way anyone can accidentally stick themselves with your used lancet. I am all about sharps safety, so this makes me tremendously happy.
Another nice thing about the multi-clix is the ability to find the lancet drums locally. Wal-mart and Walgreens carry them for sure. I'm sure other places do as well. I got a box of 120 for $16. Not bad.
I hope that this blog is helping a few people. If you know someone who has Diabetes, please feel free to have them jump in and contribute or even just read and lurk. The more I learn, the more I am going to share.
Oh, and one more quick note, Books-a-Million has a large sale section. In it, I found 2 Diabetes cookbooks and a low-carb one. They really had some good recipes I'm going to try.
If I find good ones, would you like me to post the actual recipe or just a hint of what I made? Feedback, people, I need feeback!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
eBay is even sweeter than ME!!!
As I mentioned in my very first post, diabetic testing strips are outrageous!! So far, my favorite meter of the 4 I am trying is the Acensia Breeze 2 by Bayer. It is a super easy to use meter that is self contained. You put in a little packet of strips (they remind me of the old film discs if anyone remembers the Kodak disc cameras), and they spit out each time you need to test. So, you test 10 times before you have to load a strip. No coding (lots of meters require that you have a chip with a certain code for your strips. Lose that code chip and you have a bunch of useless strips. Try and use a strip with a different code and it errors out), very small sample size. The downside is, of course, it is expensive to get the strips. The cheapest I'd found them so far was $67 for 50 strips at Walgreens. On a whim, I thought... why not try eBay??
One of the better thoughts I've had lately, can I just say!!! I just bought a lot of 100 strips for $19.95 plus $5.48 s&h. Holy cow! I'm figuring this guy probably hijacked a truck of diabetic supplies for them to cost this little, but I am pretty sure I don't care. Sure, hijacking is wrong, but so is highway robbery! LOL!
So, to alla you folks who are stickin' yourselves for blood sugars, it may behoove you to check into eBay for some of your supplies! I'll update this when I actually get the strips and tell you how it goes!
One of the better thoughts I've had lately, can I just say!!! I just bought a lot of 100 strips for $19.95 plus $5.48 s&h. Holy cow! I'm figuring this guy probably hijacked a truck of diabetic supplies for them to cost this little, but I am pretty sure I don't care. Sure, hijacking is wrong, but so is highway robbery! LOL!
So, to alla you folks who are stickin' yourselves for blood sugars, it may behoove you to check into eBay for some of your supplies! I'll update this when I actually get the strips and tell you how it goes!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Product Testing... a position NOT for sissies.
OK, I am doing great on the low-carb thing. Still have not cheated at all. Of course, it's only been a little over 2 weeks. You people know me... I got fat for a reason. It's not that the fat chased me down and attacked me, inserting itself under my skin in a horrible process. I put it there all by myself. With lots of help from my friends... Mr. Bakery and Mrs. Pasta. Oh, we had good times, but they were not the friends that I thought they were... they turned on me!!!
So, I know that I am not going to last forever on grilled chicken and iceberg lettuce. I'm going to have to give myself an occasional treat. But, if I can find a way to fee myself the things I love without them being bad for me, all the better. Then, I do not have to ration them, and treat them as if they were radioactive.
So, I cruised a ton of websites and read a lot of reviews. So... I decided to start my search with a few relatively easy items. The first? Pasta.
Or to be more accurate... "pasta substitute". That's what the bag actually says. The most highly recommended low carbohydrate (2g of carbs per serving versus 14-40 for most) noodle substitute is "Tofu Shiritake" noodles. They are about $2.99 for a pack (which contains 2 servings) on the internet, but they are available for $1.89 locally at the Asian Grocery inside the Stock Pot on Hanover Street in JC. They're refrigerated. I got the "fettucine" package. Every review I read stated emphatically that if you did not rinse, boil, drain and dry, you would really regret it. The package actually tells you to rinse for at least a minute, then "parboil" for 2-3 minutes then drain and dry to "decrease the authentic aroma." That is packaging speak for killing the oddly fishy smell of the product.
So, cooked and drained and dried, I put a little veggie-rich pasta sauce on them. I took a deep breath and I tried them.
Not bad.
Second bite had a lot less sauce on it. Not as good. That's when I realized that the noodles themselves do not really have much of a taste at all. Much like birthday cake (in my opinion), it's not there to be eaten. It's there to give the main ingredient something to ride on (icing in the birthday cake analogy, but the pasta sauce in this study). Basically, it's just there to give you something to munch on as you taste your sauce of choice.
Consistency wise, they will take a little getting used to, as well. They are, as my mother would say, "squiggly". Which means a little chewy, a little squeaky on the teeth. Sorta rubbery.
So, does it hold your pasta sauce? Yes. Was it a noodle substitute? No. It tastes nor feels nothing like actual noodles. Is it hideous? No. It'll do in a pinch, but truly, I'd rather just have a tiny little serving of whole wheat noodles than have a big serving of these things. So, right now... the search continues and I will not be buying a case of these rubbery noodle subs.
So, tomorrow, I will be trying a rice noodle that I found at the Asian Market. It has no carbs at all. It also looks a little like hot glue strings. We shall see...
Wish me luck.
So, I know that I am not going to last forever on grilled chicken and iceberg lettuce. I'm going to have to give myself an occasional treat. But, if I can find a way to fee myself the things I love without them being bad for me, all the better. Then, I do not have to ration them, and treat them as if they were radioactive.
So, I cruised a ton of websites and read a lot of reviews. So... I decided to start my search with a few relatively easy items. The first? Pasta.
Or to be more accurate... "pasta substitute". That's what the bag actually says. The most highly recommended low carbohydrate (2g of carbs per serving versus 14-40 for most) noodle substitute is "Tofu Shiritake" noodles. They are about $2.99 for a pack (which contains 2 servings) on the internet, but they are available for $1.89 locally at the Asian Grocery inside the Stock Pot on Hanover Street in JC. They're refrigerated. I got the "fettucine" package. Every review I read stated emphatically that if you did not rinse, boil, drain and dry, you would really regret it. The package actually tells you to rinse for at least a minute, then "parboil" for 2-3 minutes then drain and dry to "decrease the authentic aroma." That is packaging speak for killing the oddly fishy smell of the product.
So, cooked and drained and dried, I put a little veggie-rich pasta sauce on them. I took a deep breath and I tried them.
Not bad.
Second bite had a lot less sauce on it. Not as good. That's when I realized that the noodles themselves do not really have much of a taste at all. Much like birthday cake (in my opinion), it's not there to be eaten. It's there to give the main ingredient something to ride on (icing in the birthday cake analogy, but the pasta sauce in this study). Basically, it's just there to give you something to munch on as you taste your sauce of choice.
Consistency wise, they will take a little getting used to, as well. They are, as my mother would say, "squiggly". Which means a little chewy, a little squeaky on the teeth. Sorta rubbery.
So, does it hold your pasta sauce? Yes. Was it a noodle substitute? No. It tastes nor feels nothing like actual noodles. Is it hideous? No. It'll do in a pinch, but truly, I'd rather just have a tiny little serving of whole wheat noodles than have a big serving of these things. So, right now... the search continues and I will not be buying a case of these rubbery noodle subs.
So, tomorrow, I will be trying a rice noodle that I found at the Asian Market. It has no carbs at all. It also looks a little like hot glue strings. We shall see...
Wish me luck.
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