Next on the agenda, eating better

[missdiane]

After doing a pantry sorting (thankfully not much to toss out or to donate), yesterday morning and this morning I did some planned out grocery shopping, not too much, though. I also ordered a few healthy foods and supplements from Vitacost.

One thing I made a batch of yesterday is a healthier rice and grain mix. My little rice cooker was full of 3/4 white rice to 1/4 barley and then I drained and rinsed a bag of konjac/miracle rice (ordered a few bags from Vitacost) and mixed it all together, portioned some out to go with the string bean and mushroom stir fry I made last night and portioned the rest into three small leftover containers. I got a small salmon filet from HMart which I'll cook up momentarily and have half of it with more veggies and one of the rice.

A little while ago I made this bigger batch of pesto pasta salad since I had fresh pesto, cherry tomatoes and roasted peppers that needed used up. I put in half a box of protein pasta and a can of low sodium cannellini beans. I figured it would make a good breakfast to pack for work for several days with some of the mixed salad greens I got


I might also make some faux "egg" salad with some firm tofu I got at HMart yesterday. They had a sale this morning on all of the Dave's Killer Bread so I got some Thin Sliced good seed bread. I have some sprouts that need used so an open faced sandwich there would be delicious.

It's going to take a while but hopefully if I can behave, I'll be able to improve the BP, cholesterol, blood sugar, etc. If it results in some weight loss to ease the stress on the joints, even better.

Now just to sleep better because man, found out this morning that crappy sleep makes the glucose number suck. Ah well. Baby steps and stuff.

Comments

[halfmoon_mollie1]

One step at a time, I have been told so many times. If you try to make too many changes at one time, you'll end up deep sixing all of them.

Oh, surprise you're having crappy sleep! I mean, what in the world in your life could possibly cause that? (/sarcasm).

[missdiane]

I'd like to go back to vegan or at least vegetarian but nutritional needs come first. So priority is making healthier food that still tastes YUM. Such as today's lunch which OMG so good


I know, right? I should be sleeping SO soundly! lol

[halfmoon_mollie1]

oh, that looks SO good.

[vysila]

I'm so glad you are focusing on trying to improve your diet.

It all looks yummy but PLEASE be sure to test before and after eating the pasta and rice. Every hour after you take your first bite, until you return to your pre-meal reading. They may not spike you as badly as they do me, but I bet you see elevated readings for at least 3 hours.

[missdiane]

Half of the rice is konjac which has no carbs or calories. I did test an hour after eating a meal with it this afternoon and it was the same. I seem to be stuck in the 130s.

The pasta that I got has more protein and less carbs than regular pasta and I used half the amount that I normally would but I will test afterwards to see what the effect is 👍🏻

[vysila]

Yes, I saw that you had modified the carb content a bit, although I believe it would still be in your best interest to test out well past the meal to see where the high is hitting. Not everyone peaks at one hour and returns to baseline (your pre-meal number) at two hours. Until you completely test out until you do drop back to baseline, you will not know if that meal is truly appropriate for you. You may have gone up quite a bit after that one hour reading and stayed there for some time. Or that indeed may have been your peak at one hour and at two hours were back at baseline. But you don't know that unless you test, and test, and test!

[bluecatartist]

I'm type 2 diabetic and so is my husband. 3 yrs for me, 6 or so for him.
Someone else mentioned doing one or only a few changes at a time and I agree. You're eating a better diet than we are, mostly we are low carb and Mike eats more meat than I do. He's lost 25 lbs cutting carbs way down.

Having to cut carbs when Fibro makes me crave carbs was harder to limit in the beginning. I've managed to cut back. I don't metabolize carbs like Mike, he's much more sensitive. I'll have a peak but usually don't go over the alarm set for too high and then it comes down, not too fast but w.in a short amount of time. His will go up and stay high for hours and hours.

There's only so many times I'm going to stick my fingers in a day even if I was having issues. We both have the new Freestyle Libre glucose sensors and it's been helpful - that's how I realized I metabolize carbs better than he does, I can adjust my food choices to add in more if I want. Medicare pays 100% on the sensors, not sure w.
Overall, changing one of two things and see how that works, then do something else when you've incorporated that change into your life. I have done this a long time w. adding meds or supplements for fibro, etc, to see what is what what - I have side effects easily, need to see what new med has caused something so it can be stopped. Learned this after being bombed w. several rx's and couldn't tell what was making me feel worse and stopped them all.

[missdiane]

So far with the levels, I don't seem to be seeing very many high spikes. The issue is just that the number stubbornly won't go down below 130 with one exception one fasting morning. Once I can get my doc on the ball to address things and ponder meds, I'll see if she can send a script for a CGM. My sister and her husband are prediabetic and into "trendy" things so since my BIL is more prediabetic, his doctor wrote them a script and my sister wears the "extra" one. It also sounds like one or the both of them may be on Ozempic which kind of pisses me off when people that aren't actually diabetic get those meds and it causes a shortage for people that really need them.

My best chance at getting things reversed is losing weight and moving so while I wait, I'm planning. I need to cut out time on each weekend for meal or at least ingredient prep since that's the best way for me to consistently stick to healthy eating.

[bluecatartist]

You have a good plan to begin IMO. I'm just sorry you're having to deal w. it.
I forgot to say Mike is on Metformin 10mg and Glimperide 4mg twice a day. He's been on both for several years. He's more sensitive to carbs as I said, he's had to work hard to eliminate foods and then build a diet where he eats enough. He eats more protein. He's lost about 20 to 25 lbs, cutting carbs had made a difference in his stomach. He loads up at lunch to keep him from having low blood sugar crashes in the afternoon when he's driving the bus. We keep glucose tablets in the kitchen, in the cars, in my purse.

I take Januvia which is pricey and bumps me up a tier in Medicare prescription program but I can't take MetFormin. It caused the worst digestive upset, I could not bear it. TMI, diarrhea doesn't even describe it, constantly leaking liquid poo, diapers and pads. The smell. I'd have not taken any med for diabetes if it was MetFormin only. We budget for the meds.

We have both found the meters to be helpful, I understand Mike's reactions better than I did as well as my own.

Your family on Ozempic, yeah that sucks but it is so common. Why Dr's will rx it so quickly bc patients ask. I don't know availabity local, there's a guy who drives buses w. Mike who is on it for obesity and he says he's lost weight but not lost too fast. He was proud to get to buy new pants w. a smaller waist, put another notch in his belt to tighten it. He's in his 60's, like us type 2 in recent years. He's like Oprah, a whole life of dieting and he couldn't lose it and keep it off. He played high school football and in college before he blew out his knee, so being a big guy was his identity for years even after he stopped playing.

Something gossipy I read, bc I read a lot of ridiculous crap since I use internet for pain distraction. I go down such stupid rabbit holes... Kylie Kardashian is supposed to be using it - she and Kim want those skinny arms and their collar bones sticking out. It gave Kylie Ozempic butt where it drooped. There's a photo of her in a sheer dress and it's visible to see she's wearing some garment sort of like big panties w. a big bulge out the back and it was slipping downward where her "butt" sat too low on her body. She was padding her butt to keep it looking big and the fake butt wasn't staying in place. I know w. AI and photoshop, I don't know - but Kylie will get preference to get Ozempic where regular patients who need it for diabetes will not get it or not get it regularly. The shots are supposed to be taken every week on the same day to work the best.

[bluecatartist]

I forgot to say that being on the Libra meter it recommends to not eat a lot of Vitamin C or take supplements. After all I wrote, I forgot that! Pain increase and I can't get to the point, just write all the words, I'm sorry.