Diabetes and Clean Eating

We've been hearing about clean eating but do you really know what it is? This will explain.

via a daily dose

This certainly sounds like a meal plan that would be good for a diabetic.

Diabetes and a Healthy Breakfast

Whether you prefer eggs, yogurt, or oatmeal, getting a healthy breakfast under your belt sets the tone for a day of weight control and fewer calories overall. In fact, research shows that people who start their day with breakfast make healthier choices and have a lower body mass index in general. The breakfast effect is even stronger for women than men.

"If we skip breakfast, we'll make unhealthier choices at lunch. People who skip breakfast eat more during the day," says Emily Banes, RD, clinical dietitian at the Houston Northwest Medical Center. This is partly due to a thought process in which people believe — incorrectly — that if they don't eat breakfast, they can eat more at lunch or dinner.

Here's the reality. On a physiological level, your breakfast choices — or lack of them — can set off a cycle of cravings and blood sugar spikes that spells doom for weight control. Better to start the day with stable blood sugar and ultimately fewer calories, courtesy of breakfast, says Banes.

Breakfast Calories: What to Eat

You may have to find your perfect breakfast food through a trial and error process. Banes advises thinking outside the breakfast box. It's fine if you prefer a small turkey sandwich or a hard-boiled egg to traditional breakfast foods, she says. Here are other ideas:

Consider whole grains. Whole grains are a good choice because they keep you feeling full, according to a dietary study that compared feelings of satisfaction between people who ate a hot whole-grain cereal for breakfast and those who ate refined wheat bread. Those who ate the whole-grain breakfast reported feeling less hungry over the following eight hours than the comparison group.

Opt for eggs. A study of people between the ages of 25 and 60 who were trying to lose weight found that those who ate two eggs for breakfast lost 65 percent more weight than those who ate bagels, and they also reported having higher energy levels throughout the day. Although this study showed no effect of egg consumption on cholesterol levels, Banes cautions that this may not be the right choice if you already have high cholesterol. Ask your doctor about egg-white alternatives.

Avoid high-sugar choices. Eating doughnuts, breakfast pastries, and sugary cereals may begin that cycle of cravings and blood sugar lows that can undermine your efforts.

Breakfast Calories: Ideas for Slow Starters

Not everyone leaps out of bed ravenously hungry.

"When you first wake up in the morning, if you are not a breakfast person, but you can eat two hours later, that's fine. Have a little yogurt with cereal in it, a little bit of peanut butter on some crackers, or a granola bar with a little bit of protein in it. It doesn't have to be traditional breakfast foods," says Banes.

Once you find the breakfast options that suit your diet and your taste buds, plan ahead so that these foods are on hand when you want them — and you can solidify a healthy habit that will last a lifetime.

Via Every Day Health

Diabetes and Foods You Should Eat to Prevent Spikes

9 Foods You Should Be Eating for Type 2 Diabetes

Healthy eating for type 2 diabetes is about losing weight and preventing dangerous spikes in blood sugar. Nutrition and health expert Joy Bauer explains how these nine foods can help.

Beans

If you're looking for foods that raise blood-sugar levels slowly and gently, choose high-quality carbohydrates instead of low-quality carbs like refined grains and sugary foods. Whenever possible, you'll want to couple these carbs with protein and/or healthy fat. Beans (including black, white, navy, lima, pinto, garbanzo, soy, and kidney) are a winning combination of high-quality carbohydrates, lean protein, and soluble fiber that helps stabilize your body's blood-sugar levels and keeps hunger in check. Beans are also inexpensive, versatile, and virtually fat-free.

Via everydayhealth.com

Click through to read the entire article. 

Diabetes and Stress

via Heart Math

STRESS is so important in controling

your diabetes.  Pay Attention.

Diabetes and Numbness or Pain

via Diabetes Treatment Guide

Four Crucial Diabetes Symptoms 

Of Numbness

Diabetes and Exercise

Walking Wednesday - Don't be a Maxine....

Diabetes and Tips for Losing Weight

We all know weight issues increase the problems that come with diabetes.

Just like I don't want to exercise, I don't want to count calories or carbs or sugars.  I just want to eat without all the hassle.  My new best-laid-plan is PORTION CONTROL.

I'm not a pasta, rice or bread aficionado, thank goodness, but I'll use those carbs as examples.  If I felt I would die without one of these carbs at a reasonable interval, I think PORTION CONTROL is the way I would handle it.

There are many gadgets out there that measure for you.  My suggestion is to try the gadget that looks like a baby's divided feeding bowl.  Then put that CONTROLLED PORTION of rice in there.  One helping, one time, once a week.  Would that help you?

If you knew that portion was coming could you stay away from the mac 'n cheese, the dinner rolls or, god forbid, the cinnabon?

Yesterday I had 4 Halloween-size candies (2 Reese's peanut butter cups and 2 Baby Ruths).  Remember that Chocolate is my Devil.  I can't have just one and even those very, very small helpings of chocolate were over my limit.  But I did feel good.  I surpassed my limit but I acknowledged my limit, met the Devil head on and did a pretty good job of resisting him.

I wasn't perfect, but I'm pretty proud.

PS:  I did take my walk last night and I do feel better today.  My numbers came way down but I found I was extra hungry.  Think I'll do a little research on that next.  

Diabetes and Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday. 

Today I am thankful that I wrote the post on exercise yesterday. 

Last night was the end of a rough day.  I took Buddy for a walk of less than 5 minutes.  I did it only because he gave me those sad eyes that said I want to pee on every bush between here and the corner. 

I literally only walked to the end of the block and back.  I did not work up a sweat.  I did not get my muscles warmed up and stretched out.  I did not take my hot soaking shower that ends my exercise period.  I did not take my sugar reading when I got back. 

Today I am in agony.  My law back aches which causes my legs to ache.  I feel frustrated and angry (Hello old friend anger) that I took the time to write a post about the benefits of walking and then didn’t do it.

Does it make a difference I ask my diabetes-self?  Most definitely.  To my back, anyway.  I do not know about my blood sugar since I didn’t take a reading   Duh.

I am thankful today for the lesson learned.  I will take my walks.  It will help my back and I’m pretty sure I will find that it decreased my blood sugar and that in turn will raise my spirits. 

Lesson learned.

Diabetes and Walking Wednesday

What can I say to you about the need for exercise that you haven’t said to yourself?  I hate to exercise.  I hate to get sweaty.  I hate that “forced-to-do-something” feeling. 

People have said to me, “How can you bear to give yourself a shot?”  My answer is always the same, “Because I feel so much better taking insulin.  The stick of the needle is nothing compared to how much better I feel.” 

Now, I may gripe about the cost of the insulin and I may gripe about running home after a meal out with friends because I forgot to bring my flexipen.  What I never gripe about is how much better I feel twelve hours after that meal than I would have if I had not taken the shot. 

When considering exercise, what to ask your diabetes-self.  Do I feel better after exercising?  Are my numbers better?  Are my spirits better?

Some of these exercise fools will tell you that you will feel so much better after exercising.  I don’t.  I’m hot and sweaty and generally feeling putout.  It only helps a little that I get an adoring look from Buddy Boy for taking him on that walk.  It does not relieve my putout feeling. 

Does exercise pay off for me 12 or 24 hours later?  I will admit that I sleep better after an evening walk.  My low back seems to have stretched out and that ache in my low back that keeps me awake at night seems a little better.  A nice hot shower to wash away the gloom, sweat and exasperation also helps me to get a good night’s sleep. 

My biggest problem with diabetes is morning fatigue and depression.  I do find that I have been waking up easier since I started walking and while still grumpy (I am a morning grump with or without diabetes), I am able to stumble into the shower for a wake-me-up shot of hot, then cold water. 

Is this a benefit from the walk the night before?  I can’t be sure just yet.  While I am sure the insulin shot makes me feel better, I have to consider that the evening walk (two walks on the weekend) might be contributing to my physical and mental well-being.

And isn’t that what you are really asking your diabetes-self?  Would you eat spinach for breakfast every morning if you were guaranteed to sleep better and wake fresher?  Yep.  Spinach omelet here I come. 

Just a thought. 

Too tired to get moving? These practical exercise tips will give you the jump start you need to be more active, lose weight, manage your diabetes -- and help you figure out what's draining your energy in the first place.

via DiabeticLivingOnline

Diabetes and Food Labels

I wrote an earlier post about coffee creamers.  I use Coffee-Mate.  I love my morning coffee.  I drink about a cup and a half each morning and those few moments in my day are totally mine.  Totally dedicated to my happiness.  Depending on the day of the week, I drink my coffee, read my email, organize my desk, talk to my dog, or just wake up slowly.

My previous research on coffee creamers proved that I put more creamer in my coffee than I should to keep my sugar and fat in line for the day.  But, with that information in hand, I choose to balance the rest of my day around the amount of sugar in the creamer.  And, what is diabetes about?  Keeping track of the sugar in the products we eat.

Reading further on the subject I find this article on creamers and, guess what, they, the product maker, may not be quite honest with the consumer, namely me.

It is past time for vendors to become accountable.  I want to buy a can of soup or a container of creamer or any other food product and read the label which should CORRECTLY reflect 1 tablespoon
(or liter or pound) = X calories with Y sugars, Z fats, ZZ sodium or whatever other ingredients a person may need to count for their health issues.

These are health issues are important.  People live and die by the statistics on the label of food.  We, the consumer, are experts at misreading the label and misinforming the ourselves.  We do not need help making a healthy diet harder.  We have the choice of sugar or no sugar.  We have the choice of high sodium content or low sodium.  We do not want to take out a pen, paper and calculator before we open a can of tuna or sloppy joe or spinach.  We want to look on the label, see what portion size we are allowed and happily and easily consume the correct amount.

I'M MAD AND I'M NOT TAKING IT ANYMORE.  

That reminded me of a scene from the 1976 movie Network starring Peter Finch  and Faye Dunaway.  

This is exactly what I want to say to the food producers.  If you can't make a label I can read and use realistically in my life, then don't bother spending your advertising dollar on me because I'm not using your product and I'm going to tell everyone I know to boycott your product until I can read the damned label and use it.  

Diabetes and Self Control

via TwistedSifter

For those of you who are midnight bingers.

Stress and Diabetes

via bookfessions.tumblr.com

Right now I'm under major emotional stress and looking for ways to comfort myself. Bookstores and libraries have always been some of my favorite places.  Another great place to de-stress is a card shop.  

A few years back when I worked down town, one of my friends and I would go to the card shop when one of us was having a not-so-great day and read cards together.  We would end up laughing and suggesting various people that the card could be sent to (some nice, some not so nice people).  We did not always come back with a card, but we always came back with a lighter, happier frame of mind.  

PS:  My stress = youngest child and grandchildren moving to a different city.  Not that far but no longer in a "I'll jump in the car and see what the grandkids are doing" location.  The thing about stress is that it doesn't have to be rational to upset your blood sugar.  Mine is jumping up and down like a yo-yo.  

My attempts to balance it included taking the dog for an extra long walk, while performing healthy breathing and mind chants.  I also cleaned the h, e, double l out of house my last night.  I do feel a little better today and I will repeat the process tonight with some different chores and more mind chants.  "This too will pass." 

Using Smartphone Apps to Manage Your Diabetes

via University of Florida

This is a very interesting article about the types of apps that are available on Smartphones to monitor and assist you with your diabetes.  

I have decided to invest in a smartphone to help me since I can't be trusted to record everything I eat (but I can take a picture to remind me to put it in the log).  I have also decided that I would like to see a graph with my hourly, daily, weekly and monthly blood glucose numbers.  It seems to me if I could make the connection between the bouncing numbers and the foods I eat I might be able to make better food choices.  

I've been reading some good personal blogs from people who have done this and it has inspired me to make the investment.  Did anyone say Diabetes is expensive, and in my case, that's just referring to my research and book buying.

How did Diabetics manage before the Internet?   

Hypoglycemia

Do any of these symptoms seem familiar.  Here is an interesting slide show from Diabetic Connect that talks about Hypoglycemia.