Critique needed, please.....

[Cinnabon]

Ok as you can tell, my motivation is running a bit low and I was in need of a bit of criticism. This is my daily schedule. Only cheat if hthere is a HYPO applying the 15 -15 so I wont over do it.
This is my daily menu followed by my insulin regime. My blood sugar averages with this schedule are: 105-110 weekly.

Breakfast:
1/2 wheat Eng. muffin
1 cup of 1% milk

Lunch
Locarb (7 G)Wrap
1 slice of 2% cheese
1 slice of chicken breast, not every day

Coffee before wk out

Dinner
Squash/ broccoli
Egg whites

Bfore bed: 1/2 c lfat cott cheese

Water/ iced tea and 1/2 diet soda.

INSULIN"
8 am
8R
15 N

3pm- 1 Humalog unit

Dinner
8 R

Bedtime
12.5 N

[CarlyesHope]

Oh my gosh, is this what you eat every day? Where's the food?

Is this how the rest of you eat? Carlye and I are in trouble, big time if it is.

Sorry I don't know how to critique that, too new at this game.

[sparkle9]

Cinnabon,

Your numbers are admirable but I can't imagine eating this way. I don't see how you can possibly be getting enough nutrients. Is this a diet you were given by a doctor/CDE or did you devise it yourself?

Sparkle9

[Belinda]

OMG...not enough nurtients in your diet here....either your a picky eater or just very regimen in your diet....

[am1977]

I'm not sure what kind of criticism you are looking for :confused:, b/c it sounds like your blood sugar average is very, very good :) . I'm no nutritional expert by any means, though I like to believe that sometimes :whistling, but it does not seem like you are eating enough. Your meals are very small as are your snacks. Do you not feel hungry during the day or are you just trying to cut back on what you eat? If it's that you aren't hungry...well I guess if this is working for you, it's fine. However, if you are eating this way in an attempt to lose weight, I think you are cutting back too much. And to restrict too severly could be harmful to yourself and your health. Not to mention that it could slow down your metabolism as well by eating too little. If you haven't seen or discussed this with your CDE or dietician I would recommend it. Sometimes they are very helpful in suggesting new meal ideas or ways you could improve what you already are eating.

Speaking for myself, I know your meal plan would never be enough for me. I'd feel very deprived and I'd really lack energy. But that's me, if you are feeling ok and are content with how things are (and seeing how your blood sugar levels are good), whom am I to judge?

Take care,

Andrea :nerd:

[Cinnabon]

By all means.. I love all your criticism. I am trying to loose weight, now here is the thing, I thought the more insulin the more weight is gained? Misconception or truth? The more I eat the more insulin I would need to cover, correct?

[daddyo]

Cinnabon, you need to get yourself a cinnabon, Go ahead live a little.

[MarkMunday]

..... I thought the more insulin the more weight is gained? Misconception or truth? The more I eat the more insulin I would need to cover, correct?
Cinnabon,

Hmmm ... this looks like a starvation diet!

Your are right ... up to a point. Too much injected insulin will cause weight gain, because you will have to eat more than you require to keep your blood sugar level up. But your body requires insulin to function. And insulin is required to metabolise food that also contains essential nutrients. So you can't reduce your insulin too much.

Not supplying that required insulin will jeopardise your health. For example, you require about 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight each day. But much of that protein is converted into glucose. Without insulin to help metabolise it, protein will make your blood sugar go up. And the answer isn't not eating protein.

It doesn'tlook like you are getting enough protein. Are you finding that, with your workouts, you are losing muscle?

You have cut down on carbs, which is good for controling bg. But you need more fruit and vegies for the vitamins and phytochemicals they contain. You have also cut down on fats. Where are you getting your calories from?

I would suggest that you figure out how many calories you need a day, how much protein you require and structure a nutritional diet around that. You can still go lo-carb, as long as you get all the essential vitamins.

Cheers,

Mark

[tony_acunar]

wow, u definately do not eat enough...

my shedule is 1 bowl of quaker 1 peta bread and 1 hamburger patty for breakfast,

lunch is any 4 choices of carbs.. usually rice and a fruit with protein.. chicken, or porkchops whatever...

dinner is 5 choices of carbs rice, granola bar, salad, veggies, and a piece of meat.

theen before bed, 2 carb choices.. like cookies or whatever

its a good diet, keeps me full and my glucose levels are between 120 and 150 2 hours after eating. imagine if i were to work out.. i would be in exzeelent shape.
you need more variety..
ohh and meat.. meat does not turn into glucose... not from what ive read, if u feel hungry .. go for that protein

[Cinnabon]

Thanks you guys for a better understanding and you are right about the little food, Im just trying to gain too perfect control of my BS. About how many units of insulin do you take in a day?

Tony your diet looks good.

[tony_acunar]

i am currently taking a glucose inhibitor for my liver and.. actos.. the type 2 pill. so noooo units for me..

[MarkMunday]

Thanks you guys for a better understanding and you are right about the little food, Im just trying to gain too perfect control of my BS. About how many units of insulin do you take in a day? ....
Cinnabon,

You will find that different people require very different amounts of insulin, for a number of different reasons. The number of units required depends on diet, level of activity, weight, age, hormones, state of the counter-regulatory system, etc. Don't agonise over the number of units you are injecting. It will put you on a hiding to nothing!

First get yourself onto a balanced diet, in terms of the the basic food groups and satisfying your energy requirements. Ensure that the number of calories is just low enough to allow gradual weight loss. Then inject as many units of insulin as you need to achieve stable and reasonably low blood sugars.

Cheers,

Mark;)

[mark-TN]

ohh and meat.. meat does not turn into glucose... not from what ive read, if u feel hungry .. go for that protein


By weight, about 20% of the "meat" you eat is protein. This amounts to about 6g of protein per 1oz of animal protein food. Protein is made up of amino acids. When a protein food is eaten it is broken down through digestion into its components which are than reassembled into muscle, hormones, enzymes, etc... About 1/3 of the protein (or 2g per oz of protein food) is very slowely converted into glucose, mainly by the liver, thru gluconeogenesis.

You may believe that protein is not turned into glucose because the ADA does not use protein in the calculation of a meal bolus in their plan. That does not mean it does not happen. Biology shows that it does happen and it is a normal part of protein digestion. Here is a copy paste from the following site: http://www.med.unibs.it/~marchesi/aametab.html (start) In this respect amino acids fall into three categories: glucogenic, ketogenic, or glucogenic and ketogenic. Glucogenic amino acids are those that give rise to a net production of pyruvate or TCA cycle intermediates, such as a-ketoglutarate or oxaloacetate, all of which are precursors to glucose via gluconeogenesis. All amino acids except lysine and leucine are at least partly glucogenic. Lysine and leucine are the only amino acids that are solely ketogenic, giving rise only to acetylCoA or acetoacetylCoA, neither of which can bring about net glucose production. (end)

Mark

[Cinnabon]

All of you have offered WONDERFUL advise. Silly enough, I was under the impression that the less amount of insulin, the better help for weight loss. Only way I could balance all this out was in order to cut down the insulin amount , would be to eat foods that had a very minimal affect on blood sugar. I got here, by trial and error lol. I have shown 2 of my last Endos this diet and they have never advised me any different. I don't believe Endos have the knowledge of a dietician. Unfortunately, I can't afford one know, but thankfully I have all of you. I am not a picky eater by no means, lol. I do need to loose 15-20 lbs.

[Erin]

There is only one healthy way to lose weight. (regardless if you are diabetic or non diabetic) that is to eat fewer calories than you burn in a day. You can do this in one of two ways. Eat less or exercise more. The diet you described was wayyyy too few calories and nutrients to keep me going for a day (and I'm only 5'1")

The reason you heard that less insulin = losing weight is because if you take lots of insulin you will have lots of lows and have to eat food that you wouldn't ordinarily eat in order to treat the lows. Alternatively if you took less insulin than you need for the food you eat your body can't use the food that is there and you effectively pee out the calories in the meal (plus some more). This is not good for you (high high blood sugar levels result) and it is actually a form of eating disorder that is specific to diabetics.

You obviously don't want to lose weight this way. What you want to do is take the appropriate level of insulin for the amount of food you need to keep you healthy and lose some weight. A good way to start doing this is by eating lots of vegetables. Vegetables have a relatively low amount of calories and carbs in them, and they are packed with vitamins and they fill you up.

[zookeeper671]

Six small meals a day, at a total of a minimum of 1200 calories, will keep your metabolism revved up. As soon as you venture below about 1200 cals, your metabolism will put on the breaks in order to conserve energy for survival. Starvation diets always end up backfiring with rebound weight gain. http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/confused/1/confused60.gif

Seeing a nutritionist would help you a bunch.

[Cinnabon]

I am SOOOO wanting and looking for a nutritionist.

[Eri's mom]

Eri's nutritionist is wonderful...
They actually have Eri on a 2000calorie per day plan...and are showing her now how to exchange one carb for one meal, etc...(that 5 carbs for lunch is what gets her)...
It's really great when we see the nutrionist...she always gives some great recipes as well :)(she's also the one who is going to be teaching us on the advanced carb counting class to prepare for the pump).

[Cinnabon]

I am SOOO glad that this is working out so well for both of you. I was ecstatic to hear about this relief for you & Eri , keeping my fingers still crossed so everything within the prep for the pump goes as smooth as possible.

[am1977]

I think my diet could use a little critique too. I'm doing my best to lose weight and become more fit, but I still carry extra weight which I find very unpleasant and uncomfortable. It looks gross to me, especially my stomach and love handle area. Yuk! :eek: .

I know no one here is a dietician or nutritionist (at least I don't think so :confused: ), but I'd like to see what you all think about my diet.

Here's what I generally eat during a typical day:
Breakfast:
1 egg and 1 egg white fried with some PAM
1 whole wheat english muffin (sometimes with fat free cream cheese and a little jam)

hard candy

Lunch
Frozen dinner...like Lean Cuisine, or Smart Ones
or roast beef sandwich with lots of red. fat mayo on whole wheat eng muffin
popcorn or strawberries or other snack

Snack
Granola bar or low fat ice cream

Dinner
Big salad with greens, lots of cucumbers, egg whites, red peppers, lots of onions, bacon bits, and fat free Italian dresssing
sometimes with a frozen dinner or sometimes alone
or sometimes just a frozen dinner

snack
popcorn or low fat chips
or low fat Ice cream

That's basically what I eat, although sometimes I graze a little too :o during the day. I also exercise most days between 1 hr and 1 hr and a half.

What do you guys think?

[daddyo]

Less insulin, more food, your numbers go up, the pounds come off, This is not a good way to lose. Basicly that's how many of us found out we were diabetic. Sorry to say, but good healthy food and a good exersize plan. Is the best way. It works, and like anything else with this diesease, it just takes time.