New here

Scooter,
Shouldn't be a problem if you are sharing this for free... (If you're selling it there will be a problem.) How are you doing with your sugars? What kind of food plan are you on? Meds? Exercise regimen?

Anyway, welcome to HealingWell. We share ideas and gripes about diabetes but we have some fun, too.

Scooter,
I'm gonna "mother hen" you here and tell you to set a new goal of a morning blood sugar of under 110 and an A1C of under 6.0. There are other members here who will ask even more of you. I am not trying to be bossy or unkind. I only want to help you to understand how diabetes works and how patients and doctors deal with it.

Most people spend the time early in their diagnosis pretending that it's just another disease and these little pills will help it. That's what I did... for almost 10 years. I sort of was good, I mean I didn't eat too much 'bad' stuff and only drank once in a while or while on vacation... Basically I stuck my head up my behind and tried to ignore the fact that I had a progressive and possibly fatal disease. The list of complications that go with this disorder is endless. So what did I get for my behavior?

First they added another med to my list to help "fight the high blood sugar". Then they upped the dosage. Then I had to get glasses because of eye changes (not readers but distance glasses.) Then I started insulin. HELLO JEANNIE!!! Time to wake up!!! That's when things got interesting and I took another diabetes class and learned that I had to start being pro-active if I wanted to keep my feet and my eyesight and not get put on dialysis. I worked really hard to keep things in line. I kept a log of foods and exercise and tried so hard.... But the doctor had to keep upping my insulin to keep the numbers down. Then to add to my stress (and help elevate my blood sugars!) my husband lost his job and we lost our insurance.

All of a sudden my metformin, Avandia and Lantus insulin was costing me over $500.00 a month and I still had 6 other prescriptions to fill for the rest of my health problems! So I came back here to ask my buddies to help. There's a funny Scottish man and several very smart people who are chemists and rocket scientists (or something). Anyway they put me on the path to the 'nothing white but cauliflower' food plan.

No rice, potatoes, pasta,milk, nothing that is made from grain except some occasional oatmeal in the meatloaf. Breakfast is an egg with cheese and an orange. Lunch is about 4 oz of deli meat rolled up in spinach leaves, romaine lettuce or collard greens & mayo with an apple. Dinner is meat, two or three kinds of veggies & salad. Snacks are a banana slathered in peanut butter or a one inch block of cheese with 20 peanuts or 6 almonds.

My sugars dropped like a stone! I stopped the Avandia at the same time I started the new food plan. (Good thing, too, since some people were getting heart attacks!) I had to cut my lantus down right away and slowly dropped the dosage until I stopped taking it (with my doctor's permission). And, along with my better sugars, my weight dropped which also helped lower my need for the amount of meds I was on.

This plan doesn't work for everyone. But this plan has helped many people on the forum. Read back in the posts and see what others say about their eating plans and meds. You will learn a lot.

~Jeannie a.k.a. Mother Hen

Hey there Scooter, you hit the nail on the head with what you said:  low carb intake, more creative cooking, don't overload on calories.  But as you get into your own "groove", you'll find it easier to deal with this change in eating.  Make sure you read food packages for carb content.  It's surprising what you'll find in seemingly simple food as far as the additives.  Even ketchup has carbs, as Robert noted in one of his posts.  In any case, think nice vegetables with melted butter or cheese, a piece of chicken or any meat or fish with lemon and dill or parsley.  Cauliflower looks like a carb and mashes up nicely like mashed potatoes.  In past threads we've talked about good food and recipes, so check back on them.  And, as always, check your blood sugar to see how different food affects it because we're all different.