Diabetes Diet Alternative

There was a reader here recently, Somer, who liked several posts.  Somer is another blogger who writes about vegans; the benefits of being a vegetarian.  Now, folks, I am not a vegan, but I know there are some of you who would consider it - and there are a lot of benefits.

What are those benefits?  Very low carbs if you pay attention to what you are eating.  There are a lot of fruits that are high in sugar, and therefore high in carbs, so some care is needed.  Very high in fiber.  Loaded with vitamins and minerals.  As a result, if you choose to be a vegan, your blood sugar should come down pretty fast.  And, vegans can eat out almost anywhere - big plus.

If you think you want to be a vegan, or even if you want great suggestions on how to prepare vegetables, you have to take a look at Somer's blog.  She has a sense of humor that is really refreshing and an approach that is gentle.  Vegetables are probably (should be) going to be a big part of your diet if you are going to manage the disease.  Why not make them as good to eat as possible?

Diabetes Survival Guide!

You've been told you have Type 2 Diabetes.  Your A1c is something higher that 6.5.  So, now what?  You have three basic tools to control Type 2 Diabetes: medication, exercise and diet.  Using all three, you can control and manage the disease.  But, what in the world is diabetes?

(I have used survival guides most of my professional life.  A survival guide gives you just enough information to 'get your work done' if everything is normal and is a reference resource until you gain experience.  And, I probably should have written this a while back, but it just occurred to me that it might be needed.  Plus, it also helps that I have a number of the pieces in place to which to refer.  Could it be seredipity?)

Your doctor has told you that you will probably have to take some medication to lower your A1c.  No surprise.  The doctor wants to get your A1c down ASAP - think of it as getting the poison out of your system.  So, meds are a very normal route.  In fact, they might start you on metformin, one of the most widely prescribed drugs fo diabetics.

Dr. K has written about metformin, and you should read it to understand the drug and  how it works.

But, what if you don't want to take a medication?  Well, there are those who decide they want to control diabetes through diet and exercise - and some are successful!  Some control and beat back the disease through the diet and exercise route.  But, the number who are successful is limited - very limited.

The first goal is to get your A1c down as soon as you can.  You can always stop taking meds if you see your numbers dropping and getting an A1c under 5.5; there is no rule that states you have to take them forever.  This is a decision you should make after talking with your doctor.  So, think about taking the medication.

For me, it was a no brainer.  I knew diabetes could cause serious damage and could lead to death.  I chose to take the meds to get myself back to 'normal.'  Diabetes normal is not good enough for me.  Normal is normal is normal, even if it's done with the aid of medication!

Regardless if you are taking medication, or not, you should start to exercise.  Read about my post on exercise to get a beginning point.  I still just walk, but a lot faster than I did at the beginning.  If you are going depend on exercise to gain more control, you will need to use cardio exercise and resistance training (aka weightlifting).  And, plan to spend about an hour a day, five or six days a week of exercise time if you have the weights at home.  If you go to a gym during a busy period, figure at least two hours a day.

You are going to have to start glucose testing at least twice per day.  Most of the instruction I have seen is either incomplete, or really cause pain.  For complete instructions on how to get a good reading without pain, read this.

And, you are going to examine your diet. Chances are it will change.  Mine did - a lot.  I started a lower carb diet and over the course of nine months I lost about 60 pounds between diet and exercise.  Diet is so very, very important as you work to control diabetes.

And, to bring it all together, I have strongly recommeded a food diary.  Keeping one was so helpful in the beginning as I was lowering my A1c - it told me what I could and could not eat if I paid attention to my meter readings.  The food diary continues to be a tool for success and something I go back to when I see my numbers creeping up.  You can read about it here and then download it by following the instructions in the post.

Just so you know, I started my diabetes journey with an A1c of 13 - that's pretty high.  My most recent test gave me a 6.1.  Blood pressure 114/80.  Weight seven pounds up over a year's time, which I am losing - I got a bit cocky when I had a test result of 5.9!  I lose the weight, keep up with my diet and meds, and I should be at about a 5.8 or lower when tested again.  I mention all of that just so you know I have first hand knowledge of what you are facing - and KNOW you can be successful!

As always, thank you for reading.  God Bless and know you can beat the enemy; you CAN control diabetes.

Please feel free to send me your comments.

Keep Veggies Fresh Longer - A Simple tip

You are going to be eating more salads now, right?  Or, you want to eat more salads, but the lettuce gets kind of slimy before you can finish it.  I know the feeling.  Well, I KNEW the feeling.

A very simple thing to do to keep any green leafy vegetable (lettuce varieties, spinach, etc.) fresh longer is to put a paper towel in with the item.  You see, water is the big culprit  here, so if you reduce the water, these foods will last longer - far longer.  When you get home from the store, and before you put the vegetables into the refrigerator, just fold a paper towel into quarters and put it in the bag.  It's that simple.  don't forget to check the paper towel in a couple of days - you might need to change it in the event it gets wet.  It might be damp, but that seems to be okay.

So, don't be afraid to buy that good food - it won't spoil in three days and you will have time to eat it.  You are changing your diet, right?  This will help - it did for me.  And, you oon't need to buy any extra containers or bags - just use the bags your put the vegetables in when you bought them.

As always, thank you for reading.  You can control and manage diabetes!

Sam's Club - Free Diabetes Screening

I know I posted this at the end of the previous blog, but it's so important, I thought it needed a posting of its own.

Did you know free diabetes screening is available?  It is.  Sam's Club locations have free diabetes screenings once a month.  Call your closest location to find out when it's going to happen and get screened.  The screening will tell you if you need to see your doctor for a more sophisticated test and treatment.

The next testing day is Saturday, October 13th from 11:00 to 3:00 pm.

Don't know where the closest Sam's Club is?  Check here.

If you know of anywhere else that offers free diabetes screening, please leave a comment, or let me know.

As always, thank you for reading and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Do You HaveDiabetes? Symptoms

It just occurred to me that I have never written about the symptoms of diabetes.  You know, it is a disease, so it does have symptoms - it can't exist without having an effect.  Symptoms are nothing more than the effects diabetes could be having on your body; these are effects that you will feel and/or know about.

Symptoms of diabetes (both type 1 and type 2) are:

• Fatigue.  Being tired pretty much all of the time.  Now, just because you are tired does ont mean you have diabetes.  You might be the parents of three children under five years old - you have a right and a reason (three of them) to be tired.
• Unexplained weight loss.  You can't process the food you eat correctly, so a lot of it just kind of goes through you without gaining any benefit. And, with this might come...
• Near constant hunger. If your body can't process the food you put in it, it will want more. It's just that simple.
• Excessive thirst.  I know about this one first hand!  I used to drink about two gallons of water a day.  Why?  Because my body could not deal with the sugar - could not process it -  which led to excessive urination which led back to thirst.  See a cycle here?
• Excessive urination.  See above.  I sued to get up five or six times a night to urinate.  You know, you'd think I would know something was wrong, right?  But, I worked hard, perspired and figured I was just putting water back in my body which led to the urinating.  Clearly, I'm not too smart.  Please be smarter than I was.
• Wounds don't heal very well.  You know the scratches and bruises you get from everyday life - that kind of wound.  High blood sugar does not let healing take place.

There are some others, but these seem to be the ones most people experience.  If you even suspect you might be diabetic, get tested.  Please get tested.

More on the symptoms of diabetes from The Mayo Clinic.

Did you know free diabetes screening is available?  It is.  Sam's Club locations have free diabetes screenings once a month.  Call your closest location to find out when it's going to happen and get screened.  The screening will tell you if you need to see your doctor for a more sophisticated test and treatment.  The next testing day is Saturday, October 13th from 11:00 to 3:00 pm.

Don't know where the closest Sam's Club is?  Check here.

If you know of anywhere else that offers free diabetes screening, please leave a comment, or let me know.

As always, thank you for reading and please feel free to leave me a comment.

What is Diabetes?

I assumed anyone reading this blog would know what a diabetic is, but I could be wrong.  So, just what is diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease that is caused by too much glucose (sugar) in the blood.  You see, for all of the different types of abuse our bodies survive, they are really pretty delicate chemical factories where thousands of reactions are going on every moment of our lives.  If they get out of balance, there can be problems.  One of them is diabetes.

Diabetes occurs when there is too much sugar floating around in your blood and not enough in your blood cells.  This happens because insulin, which the pancreas produces, is  not working like it should, or is in pretty short supply.  Think of it this way, insulin is a key to a door in the cell wall.  If everything is working right, insulin comes along, opens the cell door and sugar enters the cell and leaves the blood.  All pretty simple, right?

But, in diabetics there is either not enough insulin, or the insulin is not working correctly.  If sugar can't get into your blood cells, then it's floating around in your blood causing all kinds of havoc on your organs - not good at all!  Which is why it's really important for a diabetic to control the disease - because it can to lead to so many other problems.

So, now you have a basic idea of what diabetes is.  And, you know that it's caused by an insulin shortage of some kind.  Which will all make even more sense as you read Dr. K's description of the various diabetes drugs being used today and what they seek to do.  Go back and read her post on Metformin - it will make more sense.

This article provides a decent overview of diabetes and how to deal with it in general terms.  Remember, as you battle to control diabetes, not everything will work the way researchers say it will because they deal with large numbers of folks and do not know you or your body.  Your body chemistry might be different, so you will find a lot of guidelines, but fewer hard and fast rules.  The car manufacturers have a phrase for this kind of difference: "Your mileage may vary."

Your fight with diabetes is a personal fight - one that you must win...and CAN win.  I know you can do it.  I know you can beat back and beat down the disease and have a wonderful life.  I know it. My goal is to help you find the tools you need to win the battle.

You can read more about what makes a diabetic here, on a previous post.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Medical Tags Make Great Gifts!

There was a lot going on during the week after I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.  So much to do if I was to battle and control and manage diabetes.  Changes had to be made, and I have written about those.  But, there was one more thing I did.  I made sure I ordered a diabetes medical alert tag.

This is one of those must do's for a diabetic.  Why?  What if you are in need of emergency medical care?  Who's going to tell them you are a diabetic if you are alone, or are with folks who don't know?  Nobody!  It's very important for First Responders, and those providing emergency medical treatment to know you have diabetes - it might effect what they do and how they do it.  They need to know.

You can wear a bracelet. A dog tag.  Have a tag on your key chain.  Anywhere and anything that will let folks know you have diabetes.  I've even seen a tattoo which makes it really tough to miss.

I was putting off writing this post because I wanted to be able to offer alternatives and savings for tags.  I did not want to sell them, but be able to offer you places and a coupon code to put in so you could save a few dollars.  But, it's just too important to wait.  I will search out a decent deal for a tag, but please don't wait for me.  Go and get one.

Do an Internet search on "medical tags diabetes" and you will find there are a number of folks who offer them from basic aluminum tags to MedicAlert who maintains your records for emergency responders...and everything in between.  Oh, yes, there are some cute tags, too, in case you are interested in them.  Just remember that you don't have to spend a lot of money; you want to be able to communicate in case you can't talk.

Decide what you need and want and please get a tag. Or, get a tag for a loved one.  Please.