Figuring out the poking thingamabob

[missdiane]

Documenting diabetes stuff for me, mostly but anyone with knowledge about this stuff is very welcome to weigh in:

I slept somewhat better last night (took the last med from my previous batch) and the fasting blood sugar this morning was 124. Was hoping for even better but I'm not on meds yet - hopefully the doc will get back to me in a few days - so I'll be ok with that number for now. The day before when I got barely any sleep the fasting was 133. Yuck. So obviously working on better sleep is on the agenda, but when isn't it?

Yesterday at lunch, I had my low-ish-carb rice mixture with salmon, green beans, cucumber and sriracha, an hour after the number was 133 which is pretty decent. But per advice to see when the peaks and such are, this morning I did one hour after and then again two hours after. I packed the pasta salad with some mixed greens and put a little vinaigrette (1 carb per serving) on it since it seemed dry. I also added a packet of tuna when I got to work. An hour after I was at 155. Hm. Also, my stomach didn't like something since half an hour after the test it was all acidy. I think I'm going to pick out the cherry tomatoes since sometimes tomatoes disagree with me and until I get things regulated, I might avoid them. I also think instead of breakfast, I'll pack something else and do tomorrow's pasta salad for lunch with some other form of protein added. The two hour reading was 139 so it's coming down but it will be interesting to see if the omission of the tomatoes helps since the pasta itself is lower carb with more protein and fiber.

Oh I also figured out how to do the stick without causing bruising and a lasting finger ache. Go me!

Comments

[spiffikins]

You might look at the (original) south beach diet book - it has a lot of good information on "low glycemic" foods - while it is not technically a diabetes diet, it really does help you identify foods that won't spike your blood sugar.

I found the foods list - and uploaded it here, google drive link - I think you can download it? Let me know if that doesn't work.

[missdiane]

It had me click a thing to request access?

Knowing which foods to keep an eye on is a good thing.

I'm wondering if my recent weight gain, while minor compared to what I have weighed, was enough to trigger the PCOS again. I haven't heard back from the doc yet aside from her thinking that I'll be fine to take the antidepressant she presecribed

[spiffikins]

weird - ok - i found your request and told it yes! try again?

some of the list is surprising - but when I followed SB properly, ages ago, it really worked for not only regulating blood sugars but also losing weight.

[missdiane]

I got it! Thanks!

I've a feeling that metformin will be recommended which I did lose a modest amount of weight on that, though it took a while to regulate the side effects. But it also started my periods which I'm hoping THAT doesn't happen lol

[spiffikins]

Metformin seems to be the first med they prescribe - and it does do a good job usually. I never had any luck with any weightloss on it, sadly.

The one thing with metformin, vs something like glyburide (which was the next one they put me on) - is that metformin won't ever *drop* your blood sugar down too low. Glyburide will actually cause you to go hypoglycemic, if you do what I occasionally did, and take my pills and then NOT eat properly - wop wop.

So I was glad when I was able to get off that one :D

Super weird that metformin kickstarted your cycle though! I hadn't heard THAT side effect!

[missdiane]

PCOS mimics insulin resistance so once they get your insulin a little more regulated, your girly hormones kick in and your cycles start. I am perfectly fine with getting the hormones OK so that it gets a handle on the diabetes, but I do not want my periods again.

[spiffikins]

Yeah - that would be an awful downside!

[missdiane]

Aw maaaan, my favorite food in the whole wide world is high GI *snuffles*
https://glycemic-index.net/dumplings/

[spiffikins]

Ooh - have you seen these? https://www.eyesandhour.com/gyoza-recipe-healthy/

I like daikon - but I've never seen them used as tiny dumpling shells! Tiny gyoza tacos!

[missdiane]

That looks like a lot of effort though I will have to say I don’t know if you’ve ever tried the daikon rounds that are pickled in different flavors but they’re really good and they would make interesting little fusion tacos

[halfmoon_mollie1]

that's the way it ALWAYS works, your favorite foods are a no go. I think you are amazing.

I second the suggestion about the Original South Beach diet. It isn't difficult (I just got lazy).

[missdiane]

Yep, I'll just have to do my dumplings in moderation. Since I have some in the freezer, the smartest thing will be to put them in things like egg drop soup with veggies. I'll eat less dumplings and the soup will keep me filled more.

South Beach does a keto-type diet which while I'll do lower carb, I don't intend to do super low carb but the info is useful to find things that I didn't know were higher carb. One trick that helped me lose a lot of weight about 15 years ago was packing my lunches to work in bento boxes for portion control. I may start doing that for breakfast so that I don't get tempted to snack on any goodies that people leave around.

[spiffikins]

The *original* South Beach is not keto at all! It's not even low carb - it's "good carb" - other than the first 2 weeks.

Once you get through the first 2 weeks of Phase one - which is the toughest part, because you really do get rid of all grains (and fruits, sob!) - Phase two, is back to all the veggie and fruit carbs you can eat, so long as they are on the list, and "moderate" amounts of whole grain carbs. Phase one isn't about putting you into ketosis or anything - it's about killing off cravings for processed grains and sweets.

South Beach changed a few years ago and got on the low carb/keto bandwagon, and then apparently merged with Jenny Craig - but I only use the original book, back when Dr Agatson was adamant that his diet was NOT LOW CARB DAMMIT :D

Portion control is key - although I will say that I got away with NOT worrying about that, when I was being good about eating only what was on Phase 2 lists. I never measured anything out, I just was like "if it's on the list, I'm allowed to eat it"

[missdiane]

I’m really bad about following actual plans, but I do like to have lists handy of things that I might want to do less of. I got out my Bento boxes so that I could be better about portioning things and I did make the cutest little bunny and bear head shaped hardboiled eggs.

[spiffikins]

Yeah - that's why, when I was doing South Beach, I liked it - because once I got my kitchen set up that the only foods in it, were all SB-friendly - there was no "following a plan" - it was just 'make food with stuff that is in your kitchen, it is all on plan'

There are recipes and suggested meal plans - but I never followed any of them, LOL

I do remember one time my friend T got some brown rice pasta - thinking that would be better than regular pasta - but when we looked it up, it had a higher glycemic index than the regular pasta did - rice flour is like 95 and regular pasta is like 50!