Instant Results

Just to see what would happen to my BS if I tried the 'no starch' plan, I skipped my usual potato with supper last night & tried an egg with a piece of cheese (usually have cereal & fruit) this morning.  My before meal reading was 7.1 (app. 126 according to Lainie's chart) and 7.9 after meal.  The after-meal reading has usually been 10-12.

Virtually instant improvement!

Chris

I started my log book & diet the day after I saw the nutirionist. Glad I did ... good reference. Since I'm also a bit anaylitical (a bit ?!?), I even ordered the software that was available for my meter (One Touch Ultra Mini ... like Syndee's). It allows you to connect the meter by way of a USB cable ($39 ... over priced ... only available from One Touch ... the RATS!) and load all your readings into the program. One of the simple charts it produced showed me that most of my trouble was in the morning and that I do well for the rest of the day. Very helpful.

I guess however we do it, keeping tabs on all the readings is the important thing.

After Googling "diabetes software free", I found this among others:

http://www.brothersoft.com/d---diabetic-software-138877.html

There seems to be a wealth of diabetes & diet related programs out there.  I suppose its a case of buyer beware ... especially when they're free but most look reputable.

I'm going to give a few of 'em a try and report back once I've tried them out.

BTW:  If anyone wants help installing programs or making them work, let me know.

hmmmmmmmmmmm   If my BG was 7.1 before a meal, I would skip the meal, except maybe some raw veggies.  Isn't 7.1 what it should be approx? 2 hours after you eat?  That's what I thought anyway.  I never eat unless my level is at least 4.3 but not lower of course.

 

Lanie?

In the 2 weeks after I saw the nutritionist, I managed to bring down my after-meal numbers from 16 to around 6-8.  The before-meal numbers have been pretty steady at around 7 or 8.  Whenever I have dipped below 6, I needed a power nap like you wouldn't believe.  I started to suspect that this is when I need a snack & sure enough, the last time it happened, I grabbed a granola bar & didn't feel the need for sleep anymore.

Since I haven't been prescribed any meds yet, I'm just doing some experimenting with diet to see what 'my normals' are.  I thought I was getting a handle on things and starting a downward trend in the numbers but when I saw the nurse, all she noted were the high numbers (above 7) in my log book.  So, I guess, 7 is high but for me it is better than when I started.  That's my approach to all this -- slow but sure improvement.

I hope the medical profession agrees with me

"So perhaps, a 7 for you is normal pre-meal level."

Well, I'm still too ignorant to know better, as far as the docs are concerned, but I feel better so I think I'm on the right track. Like everyone here, I'm sure, there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than what appears in type.

My Dad raised me like a Viking. Vikings (like me) used to (way back in June of 2008) eat a couple of eggs, a stack 'o pancakes, a slab 'o ham, 16 oz. of milk and a cuppa coffee for Sunday breakfast. Unfortunately, it took Dad a heart attack, a stroke and a side of diabetes to realise that us modern Vikings don't do as much running around as the guys from the old country used to. Dad's still around ... 79 in a couple of months ... Mom too ... 81 this year and darn near beat me in a round of golf last week ... Vikings and Vikingettes are tough stock ... you should meet my little sister ... when she yells, bark falls off trees!)

Editor's Note: A story that made my doc laugh out loud (no easy thing to do):

I told him about my Dad's Dad (a blacksmith); sometime around 1930, his doctor told him he was diabetic.

"What does that mean?", he asked.
"Well, that means you can't use sugar.", the doc replied.
"OK."

He went home, threw out all the sugar in the house and ate nothing but farm-fresh honey as a sweetener for the rest of his life. Smoked like a chimney, drank rye whiskey, yelled at the TV when the soccer match reception was poor and made it to 69 with no meds or treatments. Of course there was the daily walk to the shop where he lifted steel, iron and horses for a living so I guess that says a bunch about exercise?

A fellow diabetic & good friend once told me:

"When you're born, you're given a piece of string that's just so long and when you get to the end of the string, that's it. If you work at it once in a while, you can make the string a little longer but if you spend all your time thinking about the string, you'll miss a lot of things. That's what makes life interesting."

I like this outlook. I find that the more time I spend worrying about numbers and doctors (I absolutely know that my doc is not typing a message on a forum about me right now ... no, I'm not psychic), the more my stomach hurts and the more I eat and the more the numbers go up ..............

... so right now, I'm just trying to put things in perspective.

Thanks to the Dianes, Lanies and everyone else around here, I think that's going to be easy to do

Oh yeah; one other thing ... you've got to have a sense of humor! A 4 foot 2 x 4 with spikes on the end of it will also do the job ... but there's usually a lot more paperwork associated with that solution

Chris

P.S. Is there a limit to the amount of talking allowed here? Once I get started, I'm hard to stop.

NO! Really?!? yup

Chris, for most people in those days, life demanded more physical action and all that activity (ok, let's call it exercise) helped keep blood sugar in check for type 2 diabetics.  Even in my own generation (and I'm 59), we were more active as kids on a daily basis than kids today.  Larger meals were probably more easily worked off then.  Wow, we could talk about the past forever.    Dealing with the reality now was a hard adjustment for me and probably everyone here when told they're diabetic, but just as I got used to computers and cell phones, I got used to changing my diet and lifestyle and so far I've been keeping normal levels.  It's not easy because sometimes I want to be lazy.     I have to say though that knowledge is power and I've learned so much here, other places online and just by testing that I doubt I'd go back to my old eating style.  Sure, I miss some of the food but the monitor keeps me on track.  Everyone is wonderful here, sharing their own experiences and advice, so we don't feel like we're on this road alone.  (Yeah, there's a limit to talking here, and we're not supposed to go "off-topic" but let's call this support therapy.)   And, well, Vikings sure were interesting.  Funny? 

Gee, Chris, seems like we have more in common.  I also wear hearing aids, a legacy from my mother's side as well as the diabetes.  And without a doubt facing that for the first time a few years ago had me kicking and screaming all the way home from the audiologist.  It began to seem I was really following in my mother's (and grandmother's) footsteps when the diabetes came up, but I was determined to face it (after several months' denial) because it killed them both.  My mother died of a heart attack in the hospital after they amputated a leg at the knee.  She did not eat right and made no effort to exercise.  So, I decided I was going to do everything to stop the progression of the disease.  It's not that I'm opposed to taking meds if I have to (I already take BP meds but the dosage is too strong now, so I've got to see the doc.) but if I can control this without them, I prefer that.  My last A1c was 5.6 and I hope to get it even lower if I can.  It gets easier, honest.  

(Gosh I miss sledding.  I grew up in NY with lots of nice snowy winters.  We don't get that in Memphis. )