DIABETICS ON THE BEACH (10/17 to 10/31/2004) Please join us!

[tennie]

Burdle
Seems like your mom did real well to get to 88 and is just pre-diabetic. As I understand it, that means fasting levels from 100-120--I may be wrong because it seems even the medical profession can't always agree.

In any case, she may do well with just eliminating the refined sugar. My hubby did this and has controlled well for 5 years (he was diagnosed as diabetic, not pre-diabetic) with no medication.

The whole grains are supposed to help stabilize the BG levels, but everyone's different. Try her with a whole grain a day and also with some kind of fruit--strawberries, blueberries or apples are my choices.

We know that this may be a 'trial and error' time. Did he prescribe a glucose monitor? If so, you can track food/blood sugar problems. If not, then he probably feels that just a healtier diet with less sugar is the answer.

Follow the SBD guidelines, reduce refined sugars and see what happens. Try to not get her too obsessed with 'which grain or vegetable', but rather with a healthy diet.

Lots of luck--your parents are lucky to have you so close in concerned.

Marilyn

Disclaimer: Above opinions are my own. I am not a medical person, just one who has done a lot of reading and studying in the nutrition area. Wish I could say I know it all, but at my age--NO!

[Burdle]

Thanks, Marilyn. The doctor did not suggest any type of monitor, but that she has to lose weight. He told her at her last visit to lose 10 lbs. in 4 months, she lost 3...LOL. He said that was good on Tues., guess he really didn't expect her to lose 10.
I told her she can have 2-3 servings of grain based foods a day, and 1-2 servings of fruit. She has already lost 1 lb. (I got a call about that at 7AM this morning!).
Burdle

[bobbeleh]

Hi Marilyn:

Seems like your mom did real well to get to 88 and is just pre-diabetic. As I understand it, that means fasting levels from 100-120--I may be wrong because it seems even the medical profession can't always agree

.

Actually, most conventional thinking considers normal blood sugar range to be 80 to 120; 120-140 is pre-diabetic and above 140 is considered diabetic. Conversely, below 80 is dropping into the hypoglycemic range.

The whole grains are supposed to help stabilize the BG levels, but everyone's different. Try her with a whole grain a day and also with some kind of fruit--strawberries, blueberries or apples are my choices.

Again you want to be careful here as not all whole grains are created equal. Rice, for instance, can be a diabetic nightmare on a plate, while pearled barley about the lowest grain available glycemically. The fruit choices you mention are totally spot-on!

We know that this may be a 'trial and error' time. Did he prescribe a glucose monitor? If so, you can track food/blood sugar problems. If not, then he probably feels that just a healtier diet with less sugar is the answer.

It has been my experience that too many doctors are not proactive enough with their pre- and even newly diagnosed diabetic patients. I think Burdle's mom would be smart to request that her MD prescribe a monitor for her as well as self-management classes. My doc wanted me to take the classes before I was officially diagnosed -- she said even if I wasn't diabetic, I'd end up with the best eating plan available (in retrospect, I now have issues with the way the ADA eats). I put off the classes until I had no choice in the matter.

Follow the SBD guidelines, reduce refined sugars and see what happens. Try to not get her too obsessed with 'which grain or vegetable', but rather with a healthy diet.

There is a great book (available on Amazon.com), titled, The New Glucose Revolution. There's also a G.I. counter that goes with it. I find it extremely helpful in making appropriate choices. Case in point: I know a woman on another list who is Type II and honestly thinks a Wal-Mart non-fat banana bran muffin and a banana is a good diabetic breakfast.

Lots of luck--your parents are lucky to have you so close in concerned.

I have to second that thought wholeheartedly

Bobbe

[bobbeleh]

Hi Burdle:

I told her she can have 2-3 servings of grain based foods a day, and 1-2 servings of fruit. She has already lost 1 lb. (I got a call about that at 7AM this morning!).

I know you of all people really know your way around food out of necessity, but as per my previous post -- it seems as if you might want to clarify "grain" and "fruit" since as we well know, they aren't created equal. After all, corn and rice are grains, but not particularly good for those watching our sugar intake. I've always been given to understand that strawberries are one of the best fruits diabetically, while bananas, pineappe and watermelon are the worst.

Of course the old "apple and string cheese" is kind of the ultimate diabetic snack.

I know you'll take good care of your mom.

Bobbe

[bobbeleh]

Hi All:

Today I passed my first mini-goal of 15 lbs!!! When I got on the scale, it showed I'd lost 15.5 lbs and this in spite of the fact that this is proving to be an exceptionally social month for me. My original goal was to lose 10-15 lbs by mid-November, so it looks like I'm in ahead of schedule.



Bobbe
Female/50
Began: 8/26/04
Start Wt: 242.5
Current Wt: 227

[Burdle]

Thanks, everyone. I've already warned my mom about pineapple, watermellon, and canned fruit packed with any sugar. She is only using brown rice, has been for awhile. She only eats 1/2 small banana a day. The doctor told her to for the potassium.
I've stocked her up with sugar free gelatin and the lowest sugar, highest fiber bread we could find. Also almond and peanut butter, both with no added sugar. I also bought her the Good Fats Good Carbs Guide, which she is reading.
Her state of mind is pretty good right now, my dad is going to eat what she eats, perhaps a little more because we don't want him to lose too much weight.
I'd still like to know what you more experienced folks have to say about sweet potatoes, millet, and spaghetti squash, please.
Thanks, again,
Burdle

[Burdle]

And, by the way, I'm doing The Burdle Bean Dance just for you, Bobbe!
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations, doesn't it feel great?
Hugs,
Burdle The Bean Queen
172/123.6/120 started 1/5/04

[bobbeleh]

Hi Burdle:

I haven't been able to find spaghetti squash in my books yet, but I've always understood it to be really good for you. I love the stuff. I'll keep looking for the G.I. value of it.

Sweet potatoes are good for fiber if you limit the quantities. A squeeze of lime juice brings out the sweetness of them. Or cinnamon -- which helps lower blood sugar.

Millet (boiled) is 71 -- eeeps! And the flour is 107. I'd stay away from it. If you can find high amylose rice (28%) that's the best rice out there. Bangladeshi rice seems to be the highest with a G.I. value of 28.

Bobbe

[bobbeleh]

If you can find high amylose rice (28%) that's the best rice out there. Bangladeshi rice seems to be the highest with a G.I. value of 28.

That should have read: amylose content of 28%. The G.I. value for Bangladeshi rice is 35. Still darned low!

Bobbe

[tennie]

Hey Bobbe!!!! Woweee---see what an active social life can do for you.
Congrats on the loss.

I meant to ask before--what is Ramadan?

Thanks for the correction on the pre-diabetic BGL range. I have a lot to learn on this yet.

A question about beans, are they veggie or grain? I was part of WHI (a women's health study) and they put beans in the grain catagory. And they had corn in the veggie area. So when I think of grains I really only think of wheat, oats and beans (probably because they're the only 'grains' I generally eat).

Yeah, I know--I'm very limited.

Marilyn

[Cetaganda]

Today I passed my first mini-goal of 15 lbs!!! When I got on the scale, it showed I'd lost 15.5 lbs and this in spite of the fact that this is proving to be an exceptionally social month for me. My original goal was to lose 10-15 lbs by mid-November, so it looks like I'm in ahead of schedule.

Hi Bobbe,

Congratulations on meeting your goal, even earlier than you set it for. That's terrific any which way you look at it!

We started out with similar stats, that is we weighed in at about the same weight. I first weighed in on August 9th, although I had tentatively started on the SBD in mid July. So, I have been on the SBD for about a month longer than you have.

I have not been getting any exercise lately. I have just been too busy trying to de-clutter my house and take care of us in general. The dark, rainy season has arrived here in the Pacific NW. It's going to be difficult to motivate myself to get out for a walk for a while. I can only take the Lhasa Apsos (Toby and Riley) out for a walk when we have a dry spell because they are so low to the ground that their undersides get sopping wet and very, very dirty ... and it's no fun having to give the dogs a shower after I take them for a walk.

I'm asking for an elliptical machine for Christmas. I have used one in a health club and liked it much better than a treadmill.

[Cetaganda]

Thanks, everyone. I've already warned my mom about pineapple, watermellon, and canned fruit packed with any sugar. She is only using brown rice, has been for awhile. She only eats 1/2 small banana a day. The doctor told her to for the potassium.
I've stocked her up with sugar free gelatin and the lowest sugar, highest fiber bread we could find. Also almond and peanut butter, both with no added sugar. I also bought her the Good Fats Good Carbs Guide, which she is reading.
Her state of mind is pretty good right now, my dad is going to eat what she eats, perhaps a little more because we don't want him to lose too much weight.
I'd still like to know what you more experienced folks have to say about sweet potatoes, millet, and spaghetti squash, please.
Thanks, again,
Burdle

Hi Burdle,

Your parents are very fortunate to have you looking out for them. It's great that you have already learned the SBD ropes and have had a lot of success with it. That should help your mom out a lot as she loses her 29 pounds.

When my mother was here with me in September I enrolled her in my 2 week South Beach Diet bootcamp. She did very well and graduated with honors. Then she went home to Florida. I help her stay with this new way of eating by calling her almost every day.

She is having a challenge getting whole grain bread. I found on the Internet that a health food store in her town carries sprouted grain flourless bread and this is what I want her to eat.

Your Greek Beans and other beans would be good for your mother because of the many vitamins and minerals, fiber and protein. However, she will need to limit herself to either 1/4 or 1/2 serving at a time, depending upon the affect it has on her blood glucose level.

Will her doctor prescribe a glucose monitoring meter for her? Maybe she does not need it. However, if she follows the SBD guidelines as you are doing, she should be fine and she should lose any weight that she needs to to be healthier.

Best of luck to your mother and dad!

[Cetaganda]

From the Joslin Diabetes Center

http://www.joslin.harvard.edu/education ... ance.shtml

What is Insulin Resistance?

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that helps unlock the body's cells so that sugar (glucose) from the food we eat can be used by the cells for energy. In people with type 2 diabetes, a combination of problems occurs, and scientists aren't really sure which is the chicken and which is the egg.

The person's body may not be producing enough insulin to meet their needs, so some glucose can't get into the cells. Glucose remains in the bloodstream, causing high blood glucose levels. In many cases, the person may actually be producing more insulin than one might reasonably expect that person to need to convert the amount of food they've eaten at a meal into energy. Their pancreas is actually working overtime to produce more insulin because the body's cells are resistant to the effects of insulin. Basically the cells, despite the presence of insulin in the bloodstream, don't become unlocked and don't let enough of the glucose in the blood into the cells.

Scientists don't know exactly what causes this insulin resistance, and many expect that there are several different defects in the process of unlocking cells that cause insulin resistance. Medications for type 2 diabetes focus on different parts of this insulin-cell interaction to help improve blood glucose control. Some medications stimulate the pancreas to produce more insulin. Others improve how the body uses insulin by working on this insulin resistance. Physical activity also seems to improve the body's ability to use insulin by decreasing insulin resistance, which is why activity is so important in diabetes management.

For questions about diabetes and pre-diabetes visit the Joslin's Online Diabetes Library website:
http://www.joslin.harvard.edu/education ... html#omeds

[tennie]

Linda, Interesting article. Wish the website had given some guidelines on how to determine a daily 'allowance' of carbs.

Actually, I wish the medical profession and dieticians could come to some sort of agreement on the care and feeding of diabetics . Especially for those of us who would really like to stabilize and lower our BSL's.

Marilyn, I am just speaking off the top of my head, but have you tried eating a meal or snack before exercising?

Sorry it's taken so long to answer, but yes Linda, I do have breakfast before going out to play. There is always a carb and protein---may be different ones, but always the combo. I have a feeling that much of the rise in BGL's was due to stress on the body. We've had a hot and very humid summer, add to that an old, overweight body trying to run around and the body tends to be under stress. Since it has cooled some the rise is BGL's hasn't been as dramatic.

Marilyn

[bobbeleh]

Hi All:

I'll try to answer each of you. Thanks for the congrats. This morning, I was down another 1/2, so I'm at an even 16. I know I shouldn't weigh every day, but I can't help it.

Last night I had dinner with a friend -- we went to Carrow's. I had the 12-oz prime rib, double veggies (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots) instead of potato, inherited my friends veggies and a side salad with ranch dressing, no croutons. I decided to go ahead and have the wedge of cornbread (either that or the garlic cheese toast) and still did okay. Tonight is Persian food, so I'm making up for it in advance by doing a strict-strict Phase I today -- chicken liver omelet (yummm!) and sliced tomatoes.

What is Ramadan? Ramadan is the 9th month of the Islamic calendar. Since Muslims use a lunar calendar and the start of each month is based on moon sightings, Ramadan can be either 29 or 30 days, but never more than 30 days. During Ramadan, all Muslims who are able must fast from sunrise to sunset. During that time, a Muslim may not eat, drink, smoke or have sex. Generally, a person rises before sunrise, chows down a nice big breakfast, prays, goes back to sleep for a few hours, then goes about the day.

At sunset, the fast is broken generally with dates, cheese, fresh herbs, nuts and bread. Then it's feast time.

Those who are ill (either chronically or temporarily), those traveling on a journey lasting more than three days, women who are pregnant, on their period or nursing are excused from fasting. For temporary conditions, such as your period or the flu, the missed fasting days are made up later. For the chronically ill -- like diabetics -- you can either feed the less fortunate or pay money for the equivalent meals.

Apparently, the sin of harming oneself (fasting for diabetics) trumps the sin of not fasting during Ramadan.

Ramadan is a very spiritual month for Muslims and a time that we do a lot of soul searching. Technically, one is not allowed to harm others during this time for any reason. (That doesn't stop the fanatics, though).

Ramadan is also an incredibly social month since iftaars ideally are shared with friends, family and the community. At the end of Ramadan, there's a huge party (usually about 3-5 days) called Eid (pronounced eed). New clothes, gifts for the kids, special foods. Eid is generally celebrated by a prayer breakfast.

Just so you know, I'm not fanatically religious or anything, but Ramadan is kind of like Easter and Christmas all rolled into one.

Beans: That's a Burdle question, isnt' it? They're legumes and that also includes pulses (peas), lentils and peanuts. The ADA considers them a starch, I consider them an excellent addition to any diet.

Corn is technically a grain, i.e., it's a cereal grass like rice and wheat, but it's often eaten as a vegetable. But then tomatoes and avocados are fruits, but we eat them like vegetables. I recently found out that eggplants are berries. I knew that bananas were.

I have discovered that besan (chickpea) flour is an excellent breading substitute for regular AP flour. So is almond meal. You can get most of that stuff at health food stores or if you're lucky enough to have Middle Eastern or Indian markets nearby, you can get all that stuff at a fraction of the price!

Wow Linda! 50 lbs! You go, grrrl! I'm a slow loser (that month-long plateau was really depressing), but now I'm losing again. Since we seem to be basically alike in size and bone structure, we'll possibly end up at around the same size by the end of it.

I hope you get your elliptical trainer. I've started digging for my treadmill. I enjoy using it especially if I can watch tv while I do.

Marilyn: Have you tried quinoa (pronounced keen-wah)? You have to rinse it in cold water first to get rid of the bitter coating, but it cooks up like rice and has a delicate but nutty flavor. It makes wonderful pilafs. Also, if you have the time, wheatberries are nice. And if you can find basmati rice, you're doing well.

Using chicken broth to cook your grain in adds extra flavor.

Well my friends, I'm off to shower and then head out for the evening's festivities. Anyone with questions, please feel free to ask me or private message me or whatever.

Have a safe and sane Halloween, y'all!

Hugs,
Bobbe
female/50
Start date: 8/26/04
Start weight: 242.5
Current weight: 226.5