Feeling Different

They say that one feels different or better when one's BG is in the range in the mornings where it should be. I don't know about feeling better when this happens. I have only once had my morning fasting BG in the range. I did not feel any different then than when it is between 100 and 120 in the mornings. The only difference I feel is that my feet have more feeling and less numbing. This includes more aching pain and less numbing.

Hopefully when my weight goes down some more that the morning fasting BG readings will also go down more in the range.

Last week's weight was staying at 305 pounds. My goal is to get another 20 pounds off before the next doctors meeting in April.

By the way, here are the BG readings since Feb. 22:

Sat, Feb. 23: 8:00 a.m., 135

Sun. Feb 24: 8:02 a.m., 102

I still have a few morning readings that are in the 130's, but this is due to the fact that I am still trying to get rid of the remnants of the flu. I have stopped taking the medication since the coughing is hit and miss now and the sniffles are very minor. But I still get BG readings in the mid-120's to mid-130's in the mornings. I am not eating differently nor have I been eating more than I should have nor do I eat anything I should not eat.

Hopefully, as my body recovers from the flu, the morning readings will get better too. I also am hoping to start exercise, although slowly, again on Monday, Feb. 26, in the mornings. Now that I don't have to be in to work until 8 am, I don't have to get up at 5 am. I noticed that when I was younger, I could get up that early, but now that I am just under 40 yrs old, getting up at 5 am is a little harder. I tend to be more of a late night person than a morning person.

Anyway, today I have to finish moving my computers to the new computer desk location in the middle of the house. This will be the central location for both of my computers (Mac and PC). I will be building a shelf above the computers where I will be storing all things Diabetes, in addition to having a shelf for my architectural information.

Diary Post for Feb. 22, 2008

Had a long sleep. Feel a little better than last night. Sugar was high this morning but that is because I am still taking the flu medicine. Menu today will be the same as yesterday.



BG:
6:34 a.m., 134

Diary Post for Feb. 21, 2008

Slept a little better last night. Still battling the flu. Had same menu today as yesterday.

Here are my BG Readings:

6:48 a.m., 109
11:56 a.m., 100
5:01 p.m., 89

Am tired and coughing still. Going to bed early after taking my flu medication.

Diary Entry for Feb. 20, 2008

Well, slept a full night last night. Went to bed at 9 pm and got up at 6 am. Started doing exercise again in the mornings with the rower machine. I only did 9 minutes 40 seconds this morning and was out of energy but am working my way up to 30 minutes again. Had a good BG reading and a good breakfast. At lunch today it is planned for me to go walking. Lunch is simple. Dinner will also be simple.

Here is my BG:
6:33 a.m., 97 ****


My menu is:
BK = 1 cup plain toasted oats w/ 1 cup plain 2% Kefir and 1 cup 2% milk, hot tea

L = 1 small can Bumble Bee Tuna Salad w/ Crackers, 1 small container (1/2 cup) Granny Smith Apple Applesauce, 1 container 0% Kefir, hot tea

D = 1 bowl (2 cups) homemade beef stew, containere Kefir, hot tea

Lots of water today and hot tea. Maybe a 5g carb hot cocoa.

I will update tonight on BG readings.

Update in BG:
12:05 p.m., 104
12:57 p.m., 91 (after 30 min walk)
5:43 p.m., 81

Diary Entries for Feb. 18 & 19

These 2 days I was starting to feeling better from the flu. I ate minimal foods, mainly oats for breakfast, soup for lunch and salad for dinner.

My sugars stayed in their normal range for what I had prior to being sick with the flu.

Here are the readings:

Feb 18:
6:53 a.m., 114
12:@6 p.m., 98
6:02 p.m., 87

Feb. 19:
6:35 a.m., 135
5:56 p.m., 110

News Info on eating fruits

Most citrus fruits have a low glycemic index so if you are trying to lower post-prandial blood glucose levels, they can be a great choice when selecting fruit. As with all carbohydrate foods, you need to count the carbohydrate in your meal plan.

Serving sizes for 15 grams of carbohydrate are:
1 small nectarine or orange (5 oz)
2 small tangerines (8 oz)
1/2 large grapefruit (11 oz)
3/4 cup canned mandarin oranges
1/2 cup of orange or grapefruit juice

Found this great Hot Chocolate Mix

Made by Nestle
Carb Select, Fat Free with Calcium
Serving Size: 2 tbsp
makes 6-8 fl oz.
5 g carb / serving

Ingredients:
Dairy Product Solids, nonfat milk, cocoa processed with alkali, calcium carbonate, cellulose gum, salt, and less than 2% of artificial flavors, sodium aluminosilicate, sucralose, sodium phosphate, acesulfame potassium


Takes good for a low-carb hot chocolate mix.

I make it with hot water at work.

An Article written by David Mendosa

Here is an article that David Mendosa wrote on the website: www.healthcentral.com:

http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/20506/announcing-weight/

Check it out!

Thanks David! 

Your support continues to guide me each and every day!

Diary Entries for Feb. 16 & 17

Well, yesterday I was still feeling quite sick, but around the afternoon felt somewhat better. I went out to go walking in the local park and decided to check my sugar. I did not notice that there were a few other people out in the park as well and when I did my sugar check, got reactions such as "Gross!!!" and "Can't you do that at home in private?"

With Diabetes so common now-a-days, I am amazed that these kinds of reactions are still given when someone decides to check their sugar.

I even got this kind of a remark: "If you had taken care of your body when you were  younger, you would not have this problem now."

And these remarks came from a person who also had T2 Diabetes.

My hope is for people to get more aware and become more public about diseases like Diabetes. Only thru knowledge and openly admitting that this is a problem can we better treat Diabetes and find a cure.

Knowledge is Power.

Ignorance is dumbness.

Diary Entry for Feb. 14 & 15

Due to this mild flue / cold, I am getting behind on postings. Here is a posting for 2 days in one.

My food came in pieces, i.e., 6 smaller meals instead of 3 main meals. I had plain oats for cereal, tuna fish for lunch and soup for dinner. Snacks were either nuts or tuna fish or plain kefir.

BG Readings:

Feb. 14:

5:56 am, 116

 3:01 p.m., 104

Feb 15:

6:48 a.m., 109

12:32 p.m., 112

3:21 p.m., 99

6:33 p.m., 111

Diary Entry foe Feb. 13, 2008

Well, after another night of battling this cold, here are my readings for the 13th of February. I went to CVS at Lunch time and got a cough supressant and a decongestant for diabetics. Both are helping slowly. But, as you can see, the body's defensive measures are keeping my BG a little higher than they would be when I am feeling fine and not sick.

BG:

6:13 am, 118

10:05 am, 105

12:23 pm, 105

5:33 pm, 100

9:12 pm, 129

Menu:

BK = bowl of plain cheerios w/ milk

L - smoked turkey and bacon sandwich with lettuce & tomato, bag of sun chips, water

D - grilled avocado & chicken quesadilla, white chicken chili soup, new orleans seafood platter: 1 fillet tilapia, 5 shrimp (both grilled), 1  cup sauteed mushrooms, 1 cup brown rice, water

Diary Entry for Feb. 12, 2008

I just noticed how hi my sugar was this morning. And I know why - I have a cold. I have been coughing, sneezing, have a stuffed up nose and higher sugar in morning than normal.

BG:

7:06 a.m., 138

I feel like the energy has been drained out of me. I am going to take some cold medicine and go to work, hopefully feeling better at the end of the day.

My weight this morning dropped to 305.8 lb. I weighed 309 lb when I was at the doctor's office on Feb. 1, 2008.

More info later.

8:28 p.m. update:

Lunch today was a green salad w/ grilled terikyaki chicken and ranch dressing and a grilled cheese. I had not tea with that.

Dinner was tomato soup, 1 packet of star kist tuna creations, 4 slices of pot roast w/ johnny's bbq sauce dip.

BG Readings:

10:02 a.m., 104

12:23 p.m., 93 (after walking 10 minutes to and 10 minutes back for getting lunch)

2:30 p.m., 115

5:25 p.m., 115

8:27 p.m., 122

By these readings you can see how a cold affects the BG readings. Normally my BG readings are lower than this.

During the daytime I took Dayquil. Tonight I am taking Nyquil - just so I can sleep and not wake up so much to cough. My voice is about gone.

Diary Entry for Feb. 11, 2008

Well, after a night dealing terrible skunk odor and going thru nausea and a lot of coughing, I am having to wash my clothes again. If I feel better by noon and the clothes are done by then, I may go in to work. 

BG:

7:48 a.m., 115

BK = Beef Broth

I will try to eat something later as I am trying to keep stuff down this morning.

7 p.m. Update for this blog:  I did not feel like eating much today. I drank some hot tea, had beef broth twice and had some pot roast in cubes with bbq sauce prior to going into work. I got home around 6 pm, checked my bg and decided to try to make dinner.

BG: 6 p.m., 101

Dinner:

1 packet star kist tuna creations

1 bowl soup

1/4 cup cream cheese

hot tea

Bed will be early tonight, as I did not sleep but not more than 1-2 hours last night. It still smells like skunk, but it is bearable. I hope that the skunks don't have a pow-wow again tonight. As for that problem, I have a person from Critter-Ridder coming tomorrow to investigate if there are skunks under the house. I am hoping that he will find nothing, which would then only cost me $185, but if he finds skunks, then it is and additional $135 per skunk for trapping and removal.

Lovely.

But I still won't move from here. The country has too much to offer for me to leave that easily.

ewwwwwwwwwwwwww

Skunks!

They look cute, but oh do they stink.

I went to bed at 9:30 pm and light's out at 10 pm. Woke up, first thinking the skunk aroma was strong in my dreams, but, nooooooooooooooooooo.

IT was strong in the house.

Here it is middle of February and I have the doors and windows open and the fan on trying to get the skunk aroma, or at least the stronger aroma, out of the house so I can sleep. I am sitting here in from of my MAC type this blogger, dressed in jeans, a thick pullover shirt, and a winter jacket, because it is very cold outside.

I have had skunk aromas in the past, but never as strong as this. It is so strong it makes you want to puke. I tried to sleep in the car, but the entire outside is also this, so it begs to question - why have the windows open and fan on, right?

 The life in the country. The cleaner air and simpler life is good for a diabetic who also has high blood pressure, but this is rediculous. 

I went around the house to check for skunks, but did not find any. They probably are having a  skunk pow-wow in the woods. They are probably thinking how strong they have to make it to get me out of the area. I don't know what I did to deserve this??

But, it makes for one long night. Not only am I going to lose precious sleep tonight, but now ALL of my clothes smell after skunk. And I just washed some clothes last night. I don't have $$$ growing out of my hair to afford the water and detergent price that I will be incurring to re-wash my  clothes. Not to mention the funny looks on my co-worker's faces should I come to work with the state my  clothes are in currently.  What a lovely excuse for work tomorrow. At least it is a new pay period for me and won't affect what I get this time.

Slowly I can tell the air getting very slightly better here in the living room. But my bedroom is where my bed is, not the living room.

Oh well, I might have  to sleep in the living room again.

This is ridiculous. If we would have had ac old winter all the way thru, this skunk problem would not be so bad. But, nooooooooooo, we have to have cold, then warm, then cold, then warm.

It is getting colder in the living  room. The air is still skunky, but slowly, and I mean ever-so-slowly, getting to a point where it is not so strong I want to puke. Once that happens I can go to sleep - on the sofa!!!!

healthy & simple snack

Here is a simply & healthy snack I have been making.  Take a slice of WASA crisp bread, spread 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of goat cheese on top. Season with freshly ground back pepper & freshly ground sea salt. Peel a fresh Avocado. Slice it. Place a layer of these slices on top of the cheese. Reseason with the same salt and pepper. Enjoy!

This is delicious. If you don't like goat cheese, use fat-free cream cheese instead. Or use Greek Yogurt or Yogurt cheese.

Try it.

You'll fall over for the taste.

Diary Entry for Feb. 10, 2008

Well, slept good last night. I can sleep better without the heater on, unless it gets so cold at night that the heater has to stay on for the pipes. I slept until 9 am. Made a simple breakfast and checked my sugar before. It was good. Made the hot cocoa and, you know what, it can really warm your soul up. Today's game plan is to finish the cabin plans. Also work in vineyard pruning the vines. If time left over, then do some cleaning in kitchen. I have a load of laundry going as I type this.

BG:
9:18 a.m., 108


Menu:
BK = 2 slices WASA crisp bread w/ 1 tbsp. cream cheese, hot cocoa (see recipe)

L & D not planned as of this writing. Will update later today.

Hot Cocoa Recipe

I have just tried a new recipe and it tastes great. I had been looking for a hot cocoa recipe to make, since I love hot cocoa w/ milk. Now I have one.

Ingredients -
3 level tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons of water
1 level tablespoon of Splenda

Directions -

Mix all 3 together into a smooth paste. Add 1/2 mix for every 8 ounces of milk.

Delicious!

Curious about Avocados???

Since I eat avocados on most days, I decided to post a few links to a site where you can get more info on them.

Enjoy and add them to your menus.

A New Low Carb Food => Avocados

Avocados

Hass Avocados

Diary Entry for Feb. 9, 2008

This morning, after first getting up at 7 am, was still tired, so I slept for another hour. I got up at 8:15 a.m. Checked my sugar and the started planning my day. I have to go get some eggs, since I am out of milk and milk cost more than eggs. Today I have to finish a house plan for a friend and then get it emailed to another friend to be printed. Then its on to cleaning the house - moving trash out and moving recyclables to the shed for sorting. Tonight I want to start scanning in photos that I have been collecting from past trips. I am working on a website at dot mac and want to post the photos there. Tonight I might watch a movie or read a book.

Menu for today =

BK: 2 eggs, scrambled, with swiss cheese and diced onion, hot green tea

L: salad, tuna flakes, chevre cheese, vinaigrette, hot tea

D: pork and mushroom ragout, veggies, hot tea

During the day - plenty of water

BG =
8:31 a.m., 131

February 5th to 8th, 2008

This week has been busy at work. On top of that, I have been fighting either a cold or a very slight touch of the flue. All-in-all, I have been keeping my BG in good control. I am still working on getting the reading in the morning down to the range I need and think that that will happen as my weight comes down even more.

Menu has been light = Breakfast has been the fiber one & 2% millk & 1/2 cup fruit bowl, Lunch has been a salad with tuna fish, black olives, blue cheese and a vinaigrette and Dinner has been either fish with veggies, pork tenderloins and veggies or a pork & mushroom rague.

BG Readings for the week:

Feb. 5 = 6:18 am/ 112; 9:32 pm/ 110
Feb. 6 = 11:58 am / 103; 5:31 pm / 98
Feb. 7 = 5:26 am / 129; 7:07 pm / 102
Feb. 8 = 6:33 am / 108; 4:47 pm / 92; 10:28 pm / 122

Diary Entry for Feb. 4, 2008

Well, this starts a new week. I had a great weekend. I spent time with my mom in Huntsville. She enjoyed having me there. We worked in the backyard together cleaning up from the last storm and from the kiwi cuttings. I helped get her computer running faster as well. Last night I started working on my taxes. I might actually get something back this year, which will go into savings.

My weight this morning showed 306.1 lb. My goal is to get down 20 lb before the next office visit in April.

This mornings glucose was good for me to start with. All this week, fish will be on the menu. I want to eat more fish than other meats.

Menu =
BK: fiber one, 2% milk, 1/4 cup diced fruit, 1 cup kefir, hot tea

L: herrings in wine sauce with white onions, 2 slices wasa crisp bread w/ cream cheese, hot tea

D: salad w/ tuna fish, 1/2 diced avocado, vinaigrette, hot tea

BG:
6:30 a.m., 117 (pre-bk)

Exercise: none this morning.

2/9/08 Update: My BG this evening was 110 at 6:14 p.m.

Diary Entry for Feb. 1 & Doctor's Visit

Today is the day I go to the doctor. Went out last night. Due to no exercise this morning, my sugar was higher than what I normally have.

Bk and L will be the same as yesterday. Dinner tonight is at mom's. Tomorrow's BK and L are at mom's. Then I am back home for dinner.

BG:
7:15 a.m., 135

I will update this later today on results from Doctor's visit.

10:25 a.m. Update:

Here is the update from the Doctor's visit. As for the HbA1c test, that will be done in 2 months. Doctor Bostick wants to see a 4 month track. My cholesterol is ok. When that test is done, I will also get my cholesterol numbers. Dr. Bostick also told me the ranges I need to be in:
Fasting Glucose Reading: 125-135, but if I can get it closer to 100, that is fine as well.
2 hrs. post meal: 150 or less, with absolute max 175 or less.

He still wants me to have between 45-60 grams carbs per meal. This is needed to make the medication work.

As for my weight update: Officially I have dropped 19 lb. since the last visit, which was Dec. 6, 2007.

As for my ideal weight goal: Dr. Bostick told me 230 lb.

So now my next visit is in 2 months. I go in and get blood work done - HbA1c, cholesterol, etc., and then come back 3 days later to talk to Dr. Bostick.

Update for today @ 9:21 p.m.:
Lunch Menu =
1 tilapia filet, broiled
5 grilled shrimp
1/4 cup parmesan cheese sauce
1 cup steamed broccoli florets
1/2 cup steamed brown rice
1/8 cup diced tomatoes
1/4 cup grated cheese on top of tomatoes
1.5 cups spinach & artichoke dip
1 handful of tortilla chips
water with lemon (3 glasses), approx. 12 oz. each

Dinner:
1 duck breast
1 duck leg
1 cup cauliflower w/ 1 tbsp butter/bread crumbs sauce
1/2 of a whole sweet potato, peeled and baked
(1) 12 oz. glass of water

Also had 12 oz. of water prior to dinner and one 12 oz. glass of water after dinner.

Diary for Jan. 31

Jan. 31 was relatively calm at work. Since I did not due exercise this morning like I should have, my BG was up higher.

I had a good salad for lunch and went out to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's.

The fish was good but I gotta not eat those pot stickers. I think they increased the sugar some.

BG:
5:45 a.m., 129
9:26 p.m., 129

Menu -
BK = fiber one, milk, orange sections
L = salad with grilled chicken breast, ranch dressing, water w/ lemon
D = asian potstickers, tilapia, grilled shrimp, broccoli, sauteed mushrooms, water w/ lemon

Effect of exercising on BG

I have noticed that when I don't do my rowing machine in the mornings for 30 minutes how much the sugar goes up. This morning it was 135. Yesterday morning it was 129. When I exercise it is usually between 100 and 110.

You learn thru trial and error.