TexChem
04-24-2008, 01:58 PM
I'm not looking at a calendar but it's been about a month to five weeks since I began treating my newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes. I posted on here soon after diagnosis and received a great deal of information, advice, and encouragement. I appreciate all of the above.
I began with 1000 mg of metformin at night and was told to work up to 1000 at night and 500 in the a.m. and finally to 1000 mg at night and 1000 mg in the morning. I assume that the results i've been seeing (which I think are quite favorable) are due in part to life-style changes and in-part to diet changes and in-part to the metformin.
BG on the dracula-test when I was first diagnosed was 180 mg/dl (fasting overnight of course). When the nurse showed me how to use the glucometer, about an hour after a nice breakfast of migas (that's a Mexican dish made of corn chips, eggs, cheese, hot sauce, onions, more cheese.. you get the idea). That got me a 225 on the glucometer.
That was the day i started my meds and my new food choices (notice I didn't say diet). I've seen after-meal readings as low as 88, but the average around 130 to 145. When I get home from work, after about a 4 hour period with no eating, it's almost always 110 or lower. I just checked my meter and the 30 day avg is 135, the 14 day avg is 123 and the 7 day avg is 125. Not there yet but much improved from the 145 to 165 readings that I used to get.
I'm still walking. Have worked my way up to half an hour on the treadmill at 3.5 miles per hour on a 2.0 incline (whatever that is). Heart-rate runs about 120 to 130 the last 20 minutes of the walk. It's about as vigorous as I care to get for now. If I skip a walk, I swear I can see it in the BG numbers that night.
Alcohol isn't gone, I might as well be honest, but it's about 1/5th (no pun intended) of what it used to be. I will ask the doc for some Antibuse or some **** good relaxants when I get ready to say adios to the vodka. Oddly enough though, some of my best readings are 2 hours after a meal, when I've had a bloody mary with the meal. Go figure.
Current challenge... I'm in England, living out of a hotel for five weeks. The plus side is that I do a LOT more out-door walking. Another plus is that there is a full-blown gym (the kind you join) in this hotel, so work-outs are available. The bad news is I often don't get back to my hotel till 7:00 or 7:30 and the gym closes at 8:00. This is hopefully offset by me walking for half an hour to an hour up and down the streets of Southport.
Back to the challenge... Restaurant food. Nothing against England but most of the food here is served with "chips", contains pototoes, contains rice, is sealed in a heavy pastry, and/or covered in gobs of gravy.
Potential solutions to this challenge: the hotel I'm in has a fruit and cereal bar going in the morning. I chow out on grapefruit and strawberries, sometimes some Stilton, and some lean ham. I then (hey I'm hungry) eat two poached eggs with mushrooms and baked or steamed tomatoes. No toast, no scones, no jelly, no marmalade... i'm trying to watch it. I'm a captive at lunch... we eat at the office "canteen". So far I've managed with a salad and a piece of fruit but I don't see that holding out for another 30 days. I've gone to the local grocer and bought bananas (jeeze I'd be dead without bananas), pears, fresh tomatoes, shredded carrots, tangerines (not many) and prepared melon. I take that to work with me and I leave some in the room for late-night snacks. Other snacks I've discovered are dill pickles, olives (yes I know 100% of their calories comes from fat --- I've read more labels than newspapers over the past month), wholegrain rye crisp things, wholegrain rye crisp things with pumpkin seeds embedded in them, canned mackerel in brine (sounds lovely), canned sardines in brine (even better), and spicey whole mustard to combine with some of the above.
When I eat out, which is the only choice at night besides sardines etc; I'm as careful as I can be but like I said it's difficult. Tonight I had grilled king prawns in a chili pepper dipping sauce.. a great appetizer. I ordered chicken STIR-FRIED with onion, tomato and some other vegetables in a red wine reduction. I got tempura fried chicken with what amounted to a sugary sweet n sour sauce on it. So let's see i'm picturing "naked' chunks of chicken, veggies in chunks, and this red wine sauce. **** I might as well have ordered the sweet-n-sour fried chicken bits from the KFC. What do ya do? I went ahead an ate it. I figure no one meal is gonna kill me and I took some solace from the fact that the meal I saw on the menu sounded potentiall healthy. Oh, and they asked "what kind of rice?" I said, no bread or rice please. Out of sight out of mind. Last night it was an Indian restaurant and I got onions Bharma or Gharma or something as an appetizer and Vegetable vindaloo for my main course, with a raita. The **** oinions were deep fried and the main vegetable in the vindaloo was potato. Once again no bread, no rice, but how was I supposed to know the onions were Indian onion rings?
So I'm doing some searching here, looking for veggie dinners that aren't potato based, looking for poached fish that isn't served with chips, The bad news is I'm here till the 25th of May. The good news is I've got 32 more days to settle into a rhythm and find things I can have for dinner.
That's the highs and lows of the past 3 weeks or so... postcards from the edge I guess.
Keep trying, keep testing.....
I began with 1000 mg of metformin at night and was told to work up to 1000 at night and 500 in the a.m. and finally to 1000 mg at night and 1000 mg in the morning. I assume that the results i've been seeing (which I think are quite favorable) are due in part to life-style changes and in-part to diet changes and in-part to the metformin.
BG on the dracula-test when I was first diagnosed was 180 mg/dl (fasting overnight of course). When the nurse showed me how to use the glucometer, about an hour after a nice breakfast of migas (that's a Mexican dish made of corn chips, eggs, cheese, hot sauce, onions, more cheese.. you get the idea). That got me a 225 on the glucometer.
That was the day i started my meds and my new food choices (notice I didn't say diet). I've seen after-meal readings as low as 88, but the average around 130 to 145. When I get home from work, after about a 4 hour period with no eating, it's almost always 110 or lower. I just checked my meter and the 30 day avg is 135, the 14 day avg is 123 and the 7 day avg is 125. Not there yet but much improved from the 145 to 165 readings that I used to get.
I'm still walking. Have worked my way up to half an hour on the treadmill at 3.5 miles per hour on a 2.0 incline (whatever that is). Heart-rate runs about 120 to 130 the last 20 minutes of the walk. It's about as vigorous as I care to get for now. If I skip a walk, I swear I can see it in the BG numbers that night.
Alcohol isn't gone, I might as well be honest, but it's about 1/5th (no pun intended) of what it used to be. I will ask the doc for some Antibuse or some **** good relaxants when I get ready to say adios to the vodka. Oddly enough though, some of my best readings are 2 hours after a meal, when I've had a bloody mary with the meal. Go figure.
Current challenge... I'm in England, living out of a hotel for five weeks. The plus side is that I do a LOT more out-door walking. Another plus is that there is a full-blown gym (the kind you join) in this hotel, so work-outs are available. The bad news is I often don't get back to my hotel till 7:00 or 7:30 and the gym closes at 8:00. This is hopefully offset by me walking for half an hour to an hour up and down the streets of Southport.
Back to the challenge... Restaurant food. Nothing against England but most of the food here is served with "chips", contains pototoes, contains rice, is sealed in a heavy pastry, and/or covered in gobs of gravy.
Potential solutions to this challenge: the hotel I'm in has a fruit and cereal bar going in the morning. I chow out on grapefruit and strawberries, sometimes some Stilton, and some lean ham. I then (hey I'm hungry) eat two poached eggs with mushrooms and baked or steamed tomatoes. No toast, no scones, no jelly, no marmalade... i'm trying to watch it. I'm a captive at lunch... we eat at the office "canteen". So far I've managed with a salad and a piece of fruit but I don't see that holding out for another 30 days. I've gone to the local grocer and bought bananas (jeeze I'd be dead without bananas), pears, fresh tomatoes, shredded carrots, tangerines (not many) and prepared melon. I take that to work with me and I leave some in the room for late-night snacks. Other snacks I've discovered are dill pickles, olives (yes I know 100% of their calories comes from fat --- I've read more labels than newspapers over the past month), wholegrain rye crisp things, wholegrain rye crisp things with pumpkin seeds embedded in them, canned mackerel in brine (sounds lovely), canned sardines in brine (even better), and spicey whole mustard to combine with some of the above.
When I eat out, which is the only choice at night besides sardines etc; I'm as careful as I can be but like I said it's difficult. Tonight I had grilled king prawns in a chili pepper dipping sauce.. a great appetizer. I ordered chicken STIR-FRIED with onion, tomato and some other vegetables in a red wine reduction. I got tempura fried chicken with what amounted to a sugary sweet n sour sauce on it. So let's see i'm picturing "naked' chunks of chicken, veggies in chunks, and this red wine sauce. **** I might as well have ordered the sweet-n-sour fried chicken bits from the KFC. What do ya do? I went ahead an ate it. I figure no one meal is gonna kill me and I took some solace from the fact that the meal I saw on the menu sounded potentiall healthy. Oh, and they asked "what kind of rice?" I said, no bread or rice please. Out of sight out of mind. Last night it was an Indian restaurant and I got onions Bharma or Gharma or something as an appetizer and Vegetable vindaloo for my main course, with a raita. The **** oinions were deep fried and the main vegetable in the vindaloo was potato. Once again no bread, no rice, but how was I supposed to know the onions were Indian onion rings?
So I'm doing some searching here, looking for veggie dinners that aren't potato based, looking for poached fish that isn't served with chips, The bad news is I'm here till the 25th of May. The good news is I've got 32 more days to settle into a rhythm and find things I can have for dinner.
That's the highs and lows of the past 3 weeks or so... postcards from the edge I guess.
Keep trying, keep testing.....