"carterjp" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:Beav, I meant I feel "little relief" in the sense of "I feel little or no relief."
Yep, sorry Cart, my bad reading:-(
I am still a diabetic under a different name, which is
Quoted message said:good in terms of preserving my insurance options for now,
Yeah, but keep schtumm about ANYTHING related to glucose while you can.
but
Quoted message said:potentially even more dangerous than a diabetic diagnosis if I allow myself to become unconcerned
and say "hey, I'm not diabetic."
Oh indeed, but at least you KNOW you can't do that and that you've got to keep on top of things.
testing is the only sure fire way to "catch" any changes before they become problematic.
Quoted message said:
I cannot eat what non-diabetics do without dire consequences.
Now THAT can be taken as either a "half empty" or "half full" glass. Lots of problems (not
necessarilly diabetes) are caused or excacerbated, by what we eat, so you COULD end up living a
longer and more healthy life now that you KNOW what you can't throw in the trough, than you would
otherwise have done. although I'm not a flag waving "I'm glad I'm diabetic" type, it HAS made me eat
a lot more healthily and the result has been good weight control and high energy levels and
apparently I don't look anything like my age. (according to everyone I know that is)
Would I have been in the same condition had I NOT become diabetic? Who knows, but personally, I
doubt it, I'd have been a fat arsed couch potato.
I cannot
Quoted message said:live life like they do. If I relax on this score, it is super-clear to me that both I and my
family will pay the price. When I ate that dinner my bg (at least on the home meter) touched 202.
I know enough now to know what that means. I seriously doubt I have anything other than a diabetic
phenomenon going on - my mother is a diabetic (she was diagnosed at age 43), as was her mother.
It's in my genes. I am on a progression, a continuum that includes prediabetes, diabetes, and
diabetic complications.
The complications issue isn't guaranteed. Some people who exercise VERY poor control don't get
complications and some who exercise very GOOD control still get them. It's a [censored] shoot, but it's
been proven that we reduce the risks dramatically, by exercising good control, so we at least have a
GOOD weapon to use in our fight. We have another one too, and that's the knowledge that we ARE at
risk, and armed with that knowledge, we can make the choice about what level of control we exercise.
I'm still a learner at this diabetes thing (just 15-16 years) but so far, I'm untouched by any of
the usual complications that have appeared by this time, so for me, SOMETHING'S working, and I
believe it's a combination of good control (but not obsessive), a PROPERLY balanced diet and a
positive mental attitude.
The break at 200mg/dl seems quite random to
Quoted message said:me. I have read again and again that non-diabetics don't break 110-120mg/dl no matter what they
eat. Well, I clearly do.
Over here in the UK, it's 11.1mmol/l, but in reality, on our meter's it's actually only about 9.8
(IIRC) because of the way our meters generally measure sugar levels. Whether it's an arbitrary
number or not isn't really important, the important thing is if you DO go above that number (more
than once), then you've got to take a long hard look at your eating habits for the rest of your
natural. If JUST doing that (and some exercise of course) realises a normal BG level, then that's
what you do, and you get on with getting on.
Quoted message said:
I have a meter and I have strips and I will be testing, testing, testing.
I agree, you DO need to test, but you also need to record EVERYTHING for the next few months. What
time you test, what time you ate, WHAT you ate, what each meal did to your BG levels (another test).
And by "record" I don't mean "remember". Write everything down in your monitoring diary and you'll
very quickly learn what foods (and combinations of foods) yu can eat with impunity and which you
have to avoid like the plague. It's actually quite an eye opener to see that generally, we eat very
simliar foods on a day to day, week to week basis, so working out what you're BG's will be after a
particular meal soon becomes almost 2nd nature. This obviously makes "getting on" that much easier
and less worrying.
Quoted message said:
My Cholesterol is high - 210 (155 LDL, 55 HDL). I need to dig-out my trig levels (I have them
somewhere). I am exercising aerobically 30-40 mins every day, since my first post to this group. I
have exercised in the past too, but with lower intensity, alternating 20 mins aerobic one day with
25 min weights the next. I will soon add some limited strength training on every alternate day on
top of the aerobic exercise, with aero only for the other days. Should I take a break from
exercise on any day?
Personally (and it IS only a personal opinion) I would. If only because exercise CAN become
addictive, and I'm THE easiest person in the world to "addict" :-) That's why I don't do drugs and I
don't drink. I KNOW I'd be an addict overnight. You could well be different, so it'll be a personal
choice, but I dont think exercising every day will cause you ANY harm whatsoever.
Quoted message said:
I have definitely noticed that it is now harder for me to shrink and get rid of my potbelly than
it was 5-10 years ago. Maybe it's the fact I am no longer 25 or 30.
I'd say age makes a HUGE impact on our shape. At least for the majority of people, enen "straight"
guys like you were a few months ago:-))
And maybe it's the insulin that's been
Quoted message said:"helping" me grow my belly.
It's a possibility, but not one that I'd "blame" on insulin. Granted insulin is a growth hormone and
it reduces our ability to burn fat, but that would require somewhat more than normal levels, and for
somewhat more than a few months, or even a year or two.
Quoted message said:
The glycemic index makes perfect sense to me, but there is so much conflicting info out there.
Should I go on a low-carb diet for life or not?
Again a personal opinion only, but I'd give a very emphatic NO to that idea. Why? Simply because I
believe we need something of ALL the food groups, so "low" X, Y, or Z won't work for me. I eat LESS
carbs than I ever did, but I don't eat LOW carb. I try for a fairly even 33/33/33 split
(fat/prot/carb), but if I'm going to err on the side of anything being low, it WILL be the carbs,
but if you're heading off to the gym every day )or every other day) carbs will be needed in higher
quantities than ANY low carb diet could provide, so use your meter and base carb and exercise levels
on what both do to your BG level.
Can I eat any kind of bread on a regular basis, or should all my
Quoted message said:carbs come from oats, brown rice and veggies?
I eat bread every single day. On average 3 slices. One with my 5:00pm (what we call "tea" over here)
meal and two with my 10:00pm supper. Sometimes 3 slices if I've been very active, but usually just
2. I can have ANYTHING on that sandwhich.
Should I go high-meat or
Quoted message said:low-meat or completely veggie?
Neither. You should go "high balanced" :-))
What should I endeavor to be my maximum
Quoted message said:bg 1 hour after meals? 100? 120? 130?
I attempt to keep it below 120, but I'm a T1 "insulin shooter" so I CAN do it with a bit of needle
jiggery pokery, providing I don't go crazy at the meal table.
Quoted message said:
How do I know my arteries aren't getting blocked unless I do one of those dye tests?
You don't, but you don't need to worry about it either. You're till a young bloke and you're going
through what MANY MANY of us have been through. Being young(ish), having a family to support and a
life to live, then WHAMMO,
didn't. (Well I did, but I refused to pay the funeral costs so they wouldn't bury me:-)
Cart, DON'T let this thing cost you your life (and by that I mean don't let it RULE your life). It's
early days and right now, it's right at the front of your mind, but that WILL change, as will your
percepton of the seriousness of it all. Let your arteries worry about themselves for now.
Quoted message said:
In these past days, I have learnt much better what my mother went through and how she held
herself, her spirits and her family together through that. She has been a tightly controlled
diabetic for over 20 years now. I am her son and if she can do it, I can too.
Absolutely you can.
I loved that
Quoted message said:quote at the beginning of The First Year book - "The best way to ensure you live a long, healthy
life is to get a chronic disease.
Yeah, that's the "half empty of half full" thing again.
Quoted message said:Because you really learn to take care of yourself." The hell with the simple carbs. I want to see
my son grow-up and have kids.
That's what I thought 16 years ag, and I'm now watching my daughter-in-law grow the first one, so
it'll happen.
My mom saw
Quoted message said:and held my child, I want to see and hold his. I can live without the candy, and the exercise I
should be doing anyway. I guarantee you that I will be telling my son to monitor his bg on a
regular basis once he hits 25.
As I get mine to do already. Fortunately he's a stick insect:-) and hes a very hard worker, so he
TAYS "stick insect". No pot belly on him and no signs of one developing.
Quoted message said:
As you can probably tell, I'm still pretty emotional. I cannot even begin to thank everyone on
this group for being there for me.
We ALL understand where you are right now, and one day YOU'LL be typing a response out like this to
another newbie to the club. THAT'S how we thank each other.
Beav
