Christmas wait turns to Christmas weight

I am not getting near the scale. I have been enjoying homemade Irish Cream, one chocolate truffle and loads of plum glazed ham. The big gift this year was a recumbent bicycle for the exercise/theater room.  I have used it twice so far. It really gets my heart rate up and therefore really gets me sweating up a storm.  I have made better food choices this Christmas than past ones. I would have eaten loads of sugar and never tested my blood sugars. This year I am loading up on the green veggies and eating lots of salad before I munch on the sugar and carbs. I only ate one tiny red potato instead of four. I don't miss the carbs in potatoes so much but when the Rum cake comes out.. oh boy. I want to take home a few slices with me. Thank goodness the only thing I brought home this year was smoked salmon. That was delicious.  I think its best to avoid the scale for a week or two. Have to continue to make healthy food choices. Have to continue to exercise. Have to get my blood work done. Have to keep my appointments with the doctors. Have to live a long healthy full life.  Journaling helps me. I stay focused and on track when I write things down.  I hope you find low sugar numbers in your 2012 New Year. 

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from The Schmuck Family

135 and Holding

It's official. I have finally landed 135.  (I still need to land 135 as my fasting number) I have officially lost 15 pounds. I wish it came off like the first 10 pounds did in three week. These last five pounds took nearly three months. WHY? Don't know. But they came off. With lots of exercise and staying on the better eating plan. My pants are loose. My belly is not flat. Lets face it, my belly was never flat. Even in childhood days, I had a roley little belly. I was never in a bikini bathing suit.
I am feeling sexy. Course hubby telling me I am sexy is wonderful and makes me blush. I don't look at the scale as the defining moment any more. I see it as the tool to get an accurate number. The proof is in the clothes. I have to buy new shorts. All my shorts are so big they fall off my hips. Belts help but the amount of fabric bunched up around the waist really looks odd. So come springtime, this girl is going shopping. I hate shopping. Even if its for me, for new shorts... I still hate shopping.

Well its time to go bike riding with the kids.  Hope you get great numbers this week. Get healthy, stay happy and live long.  Amy

Holiday struggles

I am Still eating low carb and still losing ounces. Not pounds but ounces. But after a few months ounces do add up to pounds. I have been nursing a cold so have put working out on hold for a few days. I have discovered that bread causes me serious indigestion and eventually diarrhea. For me, avoiding wheat and bread products isn't really all the difficult because I just feel so much better when I don't eat it.
The holidays are a challenge aren't they? Stuffing with Thanksgiving was a huge challenge for me. I ate one piece of bread pudding fore dessert on turkey day and that's it. I loaded up on veggies. I made asparagus this year for myself. I made beets for my hubby. I stayed away from those. I had a small piece of regular sweet potato. I wanted to drown it in brown sugar and marshmallows. But I didn't. I made sweet and sour red cabbage. Oh yum.
So now what good choices can we make for the December holidays? I am not sure about foods served for the Jewish holidays or even if the Jewish descendants battle with the diabetic incline  the rest of the USA population does.  I do know I love potato knishes and big fat New York Bagels.  I have learned to eat my smoked salmon without the bagel and instead add it and cream cheese to my scrambled eggs. I have made lettuce wraps with salmon and asparagus with dill and capers and a squeeze of lemon.  Of course I really like food like this and don't have a problem with giving up the almighty baguette. I do miss the chips though. Every once in awhile I will sneak a few from my kids bag. It is my achillis heel.

Do you struggle with anything special during the holidays? Have you had an opportunity to reinvent a favorite food to make it healthier? I would love to hear from you.

Amy

Your Endocrinologist

Every diabetic should have a endocrinologist. I just had my first appointment with mine. I am so glad I did. He was able to give me answers and I needed answers. My regular doctor could not give me information about the endocrine system and what the hell it was doing (or not doing) in my body. I was trying to find out if I am insulin resistant or insulin dependant.  What is the difference between the different drug therapies for diabetics?  Can you take pills and injections and still be a type 2 diabetic? (and the answer is a firm YES) And exercise. Exercise helps make the body less resistant to the insulin your body is producing (type 2), even if your not losing weight....keep exercising.

My Endo was impressed with me exercising every day, losing 15 pounds and bringing my blood pressure under control. My bloodwork in another couple of months will tell us more.  For now, I am to keep doing what I am doing, taking the medication I am on and recording my glucose numbers. And exercise daily.

Actually what I said before was not entirely true. I had a endocrinologist years ago as a teenager through a HMO.  I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome as a teenager. It was a horrible experience. That's way I never went back. However, as an adult I am in charge of asking questions and I don't have to accept crappy bedside manners from a nasty doctor who doesn't have time for me.

To all my fellow diabetics out there; I hope you have an a relationship with a good endocrinologist. I hope and pray your on a  LOW carb diet and I pray your exercising daily with me. I wish you love and health from my corner to yours.

Rat family and their cheese addiction

"Mama, I'm hungry." I must hear this 14 times a day. Seriously my tiny little thing should weigh in at 50 pounds. She is only in the 10% on the average growth chart. I buy more cheese than Kraft does.  (I swear just as I wrote that last sentence, she just asked me for crackers and cheese and I threw my head back and cackled) I love to cackle.

There are three reasons I have to make an emergency grocery shopping run.

 1. We are out of coffee creamer.

 2. We are out of dog food.

 3. We are out of cheese.

I buy cheese in the bulk form. I buy cheese sticks, shredded cheese, block cheese and cheese slices. I buy cream cheese, colbyjack, sharp cheddar, Velveeta, Swiss, mozzarella, American, muenster, provolone, goat cheese, feta and then special aged Gouda cheese just for Mama Rat. At any given time, I might have no less than 5 kinds of cheese in 4 different forms in my refrigerator at one time. My baby rat can eat cheese for breakfast, cheese for snack with crackers, cheese with more crackers for another snack before lunch. She will come home from school or a friends house and want a snack and it will always have cheese in the product. Like goldfish, cheddar cheese crackers.  It's mac and cheese of dinner.. sometimes. Mostly its just cheese and crackers. Today, its apples, cheese, crackers and peanut butter...all together. Hey its protein.

That is the point of this post. Protein and fat do NOT raise your glucose like carbohydrates do. Protein still will raise your blood glucose a little bit, but not much. And fat, good healthy fat like olive oil won't raise your glucose at all.

I sorta found an answer

Turns out that diabetics do increase their blood sugar when exercising. Here is what I found on WebMD.

How Does Exercise Affect Blood Sugar Levels?

Normally, insulin is released from the pancreas when the amount of sugar (glucose) in the blood increases, such as after eating. Insulin stimulates the liver and muscles to take in excess glucose. This results in a lowering of the blood sugar level.

When exercising, the body needs extra energy or fuel (in the form of glucose) for the exercising muscles. For short bursts of exercise, such as a quick sprint to catch the bus, the muscles and the liver can release stores of glucose for fuel. With continued moderate exercising, however, your muscles take up glucose at almost 20 times the normal rate. This lowers blood sugar levels.

But intense exercise can have the opposite effect and actually increase your blood glucose levels. This is especially true for many people with diabetes. The body recognizes intense exercise as a stress and releases stress hormones that tell your body to increase available blood sugar to fuel your muscles. If this happens to you, you may need a little bit of insulin after intense workouts.

For a variety of reasons, after exercise, people with diabetes may have an increase or a decrease in their blood sugar levels.

Source: WebMD.

If you want to read the entire article go to WebMD and search why blood glucose goes up during exercise.
It doesn't state when the blood sugar will come down and exercise is still suppose to lower overall exercise. I guess it goes back to my original question, Am I insulin resistant or Insulin depleted?