I ran across the phrase 'suffers from diabetes' the other day, and disliked it intensely.
I don't suffer from diabetes. I'm annoyed by it, stressed by it, occasionally pained by it or maid sick by it.
Suffering brings to mind children in war torn countries to me, or slow painful death or torture. Suffering is not having to watch my carbs, poke my finger, worry for my future. Worry and fear don't mean I am suffering.
Worry is part of life, in my opinion. I can't escape it, in any case. If I wasn't worrying about diabetes, I'd be worrying about other things.
I'm not suffering. I've got a good life, and far more positives in it than negatives. I'm never going to accuse anyone else of suffering this disease either.
We aren't suffering it, or defined by it, or submerged beneath it.
We're all just living it.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Diabetic Fingerprints and Rainbows
"Are you bleeding?"
My husband shouted this down the hall at me today. I guess I kept bleeding after my last test, and left a few diabetic fingerprints on the fridge door. It's not the first time I've left a smear behind, but usually I notice! I'm glad it wasn't the work fridge - that might have been embarrassing.
I also saw a fabulous rainbow today! We get rain rarely enough that it's more of a treat than anything. But the rainbow was an extra treat. I haven't seen a two side rainbow before - we usually just get a half arch. This one was beautifully complete, amazingly bright, and had a shadow rainbow on one side. Just amazing!
My husband shouted this down the hall at me today. I guess I kept bleeding after my last test, and left a few diabetic fingerprints on the fridge door. It's not the first time I've left a smear behind, but usually I notice! I'm glad it wasn't the work fridge - that might have been embarrassing.
I also saw a fabulous rainbow today! We get rain rarely enough that it's more of a treat than anything. But the rainbow was an extra treat. I haven't seen a two side rainbow before - we usually just get a half arch. This one was beautifully complete, amazingly bright, and had a shadow rainbow on one side. Just amazing!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Off Plan Day
Today was fairly momentous. My husband is now officially a Permanent Resident of Canada. We've been married since August of '06 and filed for his residency in April '07. So it's been a long road to get today. Now he can work, get health insurance, and we don't have to renew his visa every six months. I think it's still sinking in.
I was going to not blog about it initially, because talking about today would mean talking about what I ate today. I have no idea how many carbs I've had today, but it's been more than I "should". I don't like admitting when I've blown my diet completely out of the water.
But I'm going to. Consider the rest of this post my 'carb confessional'. I'm not perfect. Today I was far from it. But I'm trying hard to not say I 'cheated'. Instead, today is just a little bit 'off plan', as Jenny of Blood Sugar 101 says. I'm going to enjoy this day, with as little guilt as possible.
On with the confession: feel free to skip these carb ramblings.
I had not one but two Chinese custard buns for lunch. White bread, sugar, custard and some mysterious crumbled topping. And I had TWO, double my usual dosage.
I did skip out on snacks the rest of the afternoon - I think. It kind of went by in a blur, with the sleepless night catching up with me. But I stuck with green tea. I was 7.6 (137) two or so hours after the second bun.
Then we went out to celebrate. I had every intention of having the baked potato and apple crisp for dessert. We went to Montana's, who have really excellent huge baked potatoes. I found out for the first time that they'll put cheese on your baked potato! Yum, yum yum. I surprised myself here - I had only a quarter of the baked potato - usually I scarf down half of one. I had wine instead of a fruity drink. I only stole a few bites of my husband's corn bread. And I skipped dessert - at the restaurant.
I thought that'd be the end of it, but we ended up going out for an emergency monitor replacement. In our house, a broken monitor is a crisis to match a broken car - or perhaps worse! So out we went. I bought some dark mint chocolate to try later, stocked up on my secret indulgence of sweettarts candies. If I have them in the house, it's (usually) easier to not go overboard on them.
Then we went to Tim Hortons, and I had a cheese croissant. Another favorite food that I don't eat often. It vanished very quickly. I had tested before we left at least, so I knew I was around 5.6 (101).
Finally, at my husbands urging I had a small scoop of carmilk ice cream. Very very tasty.
I suppose all in all, that's not that bad. I could have done far worse. I did pull back a little bit. And I feel pretty good. I can live with not being perfect - and there's always tomorrow to get back 'on plan'.
I was going to not blog about it initially, because talking about today would mean talking about what I ate today. I have no idea how many carbs I've had today, but it's been more than I "should". I don't like admitting when I've blown my diet completely out of the water.
But I'm going to. Consider the rest of this post my 'carb confessional'. I'm not perfect. Today I was far from it. But I'm trying hard to not say I 'cheated'. Instead, today is just a little bit 'off plan', as Jenny of Blood Sugar 101 says. I'm going to enjoy this day, with as little guilt as possible.
On with the confession: feel free to skip these carb ramblings.
I had not one but two Chinese custard buns for lunch. White bread, sugar, custard and some mysterious crumbled topping. And I had TWO, double my usual dosage.
I did skip out on snacks the rest of the afternoon - I think. It kind of went by in a blur, with the sleepless night catching up with me. But I stuck with green tea. I was 7.6 (137) two or so hours after the second bun.
Then we went out to celebrate. I had every intention of having the baked potato and apple crisp for dessert. We went to Montana's, who have really excellent huge baked potatoes. I found out for the first time that they'll put cheese on your baked potato! Yum, yum yum. I surprised myself here - I had only a quarter of the baked potato - usually I scarf down half of one. I had wine instead of a fruity drink. I only stole a few bites of my husband's corn bread. And I skipped dessert - at the restaurant.
I thought that'd be the end of it, but we ended up going out for an emergency monitor replacement. In our house, a broken monitor is a crisis to match a broken car - or perhaps worse! So out we went. I bought some dark mint chocolate to try later, stocked up on my secret indulgence of sweettarts candies. If I have them in the house, it's (usually) easier to not go overboard on them.
Then we went to Tim Hortons, and I had a cheese croissant. Another favorite food that I don't eat often. It vanished very quickly. I had tested before we left at least, so I knew I was around 5.6 (101).
Finally, at my husbands urging I had a small scoop of carmilk ice cream. Very very tasty.
I suppose all in all, that's not that bad. I could have done far worse. I did pull back a little bit. And I feel pretty good. I can live with not being perfect - and there's always tomorrow to get back 'on plan'.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Jugo Juice: I am not a carb hater / carb crazy!
We ordered from Jugo Juice for lunch today. I knew it would be a bit tricky because they're not exactly carb-lite. They do have a low-carb smoothie, but all whey protien and no yogurt is not my kind of smoothie.
So I check out the "grilled fare" section and pick out a club sandwich - 64 grams of carbs on some kind of (I think) white bread. I ate half, a reasonable amount of carbs. The description on the page irked me though. It started out with a line like
I'm not a carb hater. I don't tell non-diabetics not to eat carbs. I tell diabetics not to eat carbs that raise their blood sugars out of range.
But I love carbs. I didn't skip the 80 carb smoothies my coworkers were enjoying because I am a carb-hater, I skipped them because I didn't want to have a nasty carb overload reaction.
I did check out their website looking for the same content, but there's no mention of carb-haters there. Perhaps I got an old menu? On the website they simply talk about how their food is full of "healthy carbohydrate" on a page much more politically labeled "carb conscious".
They have a diabetes page that offers the following advice
Update!: The actual page reads as follows:
I'm still not very impressed. Yes, going no-carb is unhealthly, but there's a lot of debate on what counts as a healthy level.
Plus the wholes thing seems silly - 40-60 carbs for a fast food sandwich isn't so bad, relatively speaking. So why make such a big deal over the fact they are offering no reduced carb offerings? There is no one-size-fits-all 'just the right amount' of carb. I don't like opening a page, looking for something that fits my diet, and seeing 'carb crazies' in the first sentence, no matter how they qualify it.
Ah well, life is full of these annoyances.
So I check out the "grilled fare" section and pick out a club sandwich - 64 grams of carbs on some kind of (I think) white bread. I ate half, a reasonable amount of carbs. The description on the page irked me though. It started out with a line like
Don't let those carb-haters fool you!or similar. I didn't write down the exact wording so I'll have to post an update with it from work tomorrow.
I'm not a carb hater. I don't tell non-diabetics not to eat carbs. I tell diabetics not to eat carbs that raise their blood sugars out of range.
But I love carbs. I didn't skip the 80 carb smoothies my coworkers were enjoying because I am a carb-hater, I skipped them because I didn't want to have a nasty carb overload reaction.
I did check out their website looking for the same content, but there's no mention of carb-haters there. Perhaps I got an old menu? On the website they simply talk about how their food is full of "healthy carbohydrate" on a page much more politically labeled "carb conscious".
They have a diabetes page that offers the following advice
People with diabetes are often very active in regulating their eating habits and medication – they are free to enjoy Jugo Juice smoothies, beverages and wraps.Perhaps for some, but for me, 'regulating my eating habits' means not enjoying the smoothies and beverages.
Update!: The actual page reads as follows:
Don't let those carb crazies* steer you away from balanced meals. We've chosen our bread products carefully, with just the right amount of cabohydrates and fiber. Moderate amounts of breads and grains are an important part of a well -balanced diet (and frankly, so satisfying!).
*carb crazies: folks that consider all carbohydrates evil.
I'm still not very impressed. Yes, going no-carb is unhealthly, but there's a lot of debate on what counts as a healthy level.
Plus the wholes thing seems silly - 40-60 carbs for a fast food sandwich isn't so bad, relatively speaking. So why make such a big deal over the fact they are offering no reduced carb offerings? There is no one-size-fits-all 'just the right amount' of carb. I don't like opening a page, looking for something that fits my diet, and seeing 'carb crazies' in the first sentence, no matter how they qualify it.
Ah well, life is full of these annoyances.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
iTest / Keynote Meter Followup
Back in April I posted my first-impression review of the iTest or Keynote Meter. I meant to follow up at the end of the month, but work exploded and it got put on the back burner.
But have no fear! My follow-up review is here. I've actually been using a Freestyle Lite for the past few weeks, but I'm going to save most of my commentary on that for another post.
Accuracy
On my first review, I was fairly concerned with the accuracy level of the iTest due to what I considered 'random high numbers'. After a month's use, this really amounted to about 5 tests in a hundred. 4 of these were in the first couple of weeks of using the meter, so I'm inclined to blame some kind of user error for these. As well, several of these were the second test on the same drop of blood. I found a mention somewhere - curse me for not bookmarking - that testing the same drop twice can sometimes lead to wonky results, so this may be another cause here.
I did run into several bad -low- results. About three or four times, I didn't get enough blood on the strip (the little fill window was not full) and the meter processed it but showed a low number, like 4.5 (81). A retest on a new blood drop would give me a more expected value like 6.5 (117). So I think there may be issues with under filled strips not being properly recognized. These were the only times I saw numbers in the 4's on this meter, so I sure noticed when this happened!
Overall though, I'm pretty confident personally in the accuracy. There's one big reason on this - the Freestyle Lite, which I'm testing now, was rated as the most accurate meter in a recent study of meters. They tested the Freestyle Flash, but as far as I know the Freestyle Lite is the same meter or the Canadian edition. In any case, my iTest results are nearly identical to my Freestyle results. They agree within 0.3 (5) points. That's pretty amazing consistency across brands.
All in all, I did end up re-testing a few times, but it got pretty predictable when I needed to - usually when I didn't get quite enough blood.
Lancets
I was really impressed with the lancets when I first started using the iTest. However in the long run, I won't keep using their device. Painless? Yes. But my skin is just a bit too calloused to work well with it. Typing all day long must really toughen up my fingers. Even on my easy to bleed pinky fingers, I need to massage it to get enough blood with those tiny tiny pinpricks. This leads to more bruising - an ultimately sorer fingers.
I did dial up the lancet device - and accidentally hit a nerve! I think that's what I did anyway - my entire finger stung for a day and I was anxious not to repeat the experience. While it's still leaps and bounds over the Contour's lancing device, it's not a personal pick for me.
However, as far as lancing devices go, I'd recommend trying this. This would be my 2nd best lancing device - and one I'll keep around for backup for sure. I have a feeling that even though it's not perfect for me, it'll be a huge improvement for other people.
Software
One big reason I had for trying out the iTest / Keynote Wave was to try out their shiny shiny Zero Click software. However, it turned out this was not to be.
If you go to the http://www.itestglucose.com/ website, and click on "Discover iTest" you'll see a screen that extols the features of the meter.
It lists the "Dynamic Electrochemistry" feature, the "Extreme Accuracy" feature, the "Screen Settings" feature, and the "Zero-Click Data Management" feature. Click on Zero-Click, and you get:
"World's only Zero-Click System now available in Canada!" and "Just plug the meter in, and Zero-Click does the rest!". I guess I was being a little too optimistic when I interpreted this to mean the software was installed on the meter, and came with it.
So I found a USB cable with the right ends - we have a ton lying around, and plugged it in. No go. As far as my computer was concerned, the meter wasn't even attached. I decided to do some more research. I re-read the page, looking for a download link. Nothing - just a pdf brochure. No mention of the software on the list of products on the left side either (the meter, the lancets, the strips).
I went to the US site - often US companies will have a considerably different site for US customers. WaveSense /AgaMatrix is no different. The Zero-Click software is at least listed as a 'product' there. I knew I had to buy it, but didn't know how much. If I could recommend a single update to the AgaMatrix websites, it would be a 'SOLD SEPARATELY' notice on the Zero-Click pages.
Checked the website of the pharmacy chain (London Drugs) where I bought the meter, but couldn't find it listed. This is undoubtedly the responsibility of London Drugs and not AgaMatrix, but it was another annoyance. After more googling I found it listed at the DLife Store. $40 US, Regularly $45. And that was the end of that story. I'm doing this new-meter-every-month thing because it costs me nothing. I'm going to be shelling out $75 for strips no matter which meter I choose, so I might as well make use of the free meter offers that abound in Canada.
But I'm not paying $40 for results software ON TOP of that. Not when there are amazing free software apps like Sugar Stats that will manage my results. Even Ascensia / Bayer didn't make me pay for their (pretty sucky) software - it's a free download on their website. Bayer did sell me a 'cable & software kit' for $20-30 ( $24.99 on their website right now), that turned out to be a generic USB cable I could have bought for a lot less at my local electronics store, which annoyed me to no end.
I think a lot of us feel we're being bilked by these companies - 75cents per strips works out to a considerable profit margin I am sure. And anecdotally I've heard that while meter prices have decreased, strip prices have gone up - I haven't been testing long enough to see price changes yet, nor can I find a chart online to prove this, so perhaps I'm wrong. But in any case, we're spending a LOT of money on these things and it can hurt to pay even more for extras.
So, long rant and story short, I'm just not willing to pay for the software. I don't analyze my results enough now to pay $40 on the chance that it'll be useful enough to pay for itself. If you're a user that does depend a lot on stats, this software could be useful for you.
For more details on what the software can do - the product description pages are pretty scanty - I suggest you download the user manual here. I tend to always check out the support forums and user manuals of software before I buy - I learn more about what it actually does from those than any brochure. From a quick skim, the software uses a special USB cable - so you won't be getting a generic cable for an upgraded price at the very least.
You'll be able to adjust all your meter settings, break your day into 8 chunks to represent meal times, set your target numbers, and view, print and email 6 reports such as log book and trends. There is also a 'backup database' feature, but no details on what format the backup takes, so I have no idea if it will allow you to export the results in a format that would allow you to bring them into other software. The import feature appears to only read backup files made by Zero Click, so I'm not sure how you get your backlog of data into the software either. You also cannot delete bad results (from testing someone else or having something on your hands). There is no way to enter medications, exercise or notes on any of your readings.
I have not actually used the software, so this is all from the user manual. I'd suggest reading the manual yourself, talking to someone who has actually used it or checking with AgaMatrix before making a decision to buy or not to buy.
Meter Charts
Another feature I was really interested in on the iTest / Keynote was the built in charts. In addition to 30,60,90 averages, they have little built in graphs to show you trends over the same time periods. These turned out pretty useless for me. My blood sugars stay in such as small range (5-8 or 90-144) usually that they don't even make a bump in the chart. I just get a straight line on all three. This tight range is not the usual for diabetics - but I'm pre-diabetic so it's something I can maintain. I'm not sure at what point the chart starts showing something other than a straight line, but I would assume that the average PWD would see something different.
Company
I've been impressed with AgaMatrix as a company in the last month and a half. They are the only meter company that I am aware that actually spends time on diabetes sites. They've commented on a discussion about meters at Tudiabetes.com, posted on my blog, and they have an employee who blogs about diabetes, even though he isn't diabetic. That kind of online presence is really important to me. It makes me feel a lot more connected and valued as a consumer than any other company has.
Final Impression
This is a good, solid, accurate meter. Once I'm finished testing various meters, this will definitely be on my short list for a meter to stay with. While there is room for improvement, as with all meters (check out my initial review for my wishlist) they do very well in other places. And for any meter, accuracy is KEY. Actually, precision is even more important, but accuracy is a huge deal. Seeing how it's results compare closely to known-to-be-accurate the Freestyle Flash really elevates my confidence in the meter.
I recommend the iTest / Keynote, especially over the Ascensia Contour or Breeze.
But have no fear! My follow-up review is here. I've actually been using a Freestyle Lite for the past few weeks, but I'm going to save most of my commentary on that for another post.
Accuracy
On my first review, I was fairly concerned with the accuracy level of the iTest due to what I considered 'random high numbers'. After a month's use, this really amounted to about 5 tests in a hundred. 4 of these were in the first couple of weeks of using the meter, so I'm inclined to blame some kind of user error for these. As well, several of these were the second test on the same drop of blood. I found a mention somewhere - curse me for not bookmarking - that testing the same drop twice can sometimes lead to wonky results, so this may be another cause here.
I did run into several bad -low- results. About three or four times, I didn't get enough blood on the strip (the little fill window was not full) and the meter processed it but showed a low number, like 4.5 (81). A retest on a new blood drop would give me a more expected value like 6.5 (117). So I think there may be issues with under filled strips not being properly recognized. These were the only times I saw numbers in the 4's on this meter, so I sure noticed when this happened!
Overall though, I'm pretty confident personally in the accuracy. There's one big reason on this - the Freestyle Lite, which I'm testing now, was rated as the most accurate meter in a recent study of meters. They tested the Freestyle Flash, but as far as I know the Freestyle Lite is the same meter or the Canadian edition. In any case, my iTest results are nearly identical to my Freestyle results. They agree within 0.3 (5) points. That's pretty amazing consistency across brands.
All in all, I did end up re-testing a few times, but it got pretty predictable when I needed to - usually when I didn't get quite enough blood.
Lancets
I was really impressed with the lancets when I first started using the iTest. However in the long run, I won't keep using their device. Painless? Yes. But my skin is just a bit too calloused to work well with it. Typing all day long must really toughen up my fingers. Even on my easy to bleed pinky fingers, I need to massage it to get enough blood with those tiny tiny pinpricks. This leads to more bruising - an ultimately sorer fingers.
I did dial up the lancet device - and accidentally hit a nerve! I think that's what I did anyway - my entire finger stung for a day and I was anxious not to repeat the experience. While it's still leaps and bounds over the Contour's lancing device, it's not a personal pick for me.
However, as far as lancing devices go, I'd recommend trying this. This would be my 2nd best lancing device - and one I'll keep around for backup for sure. I have a feeling that even though it's not perfect for me, it'll be a huge improvement for other people.
Software
One big reason I had for trying out the iTest / Keynote Wave was to try out their shiny shiny Zero Click software. However, it turned out this was not to be.
If you go to the http://www.itestglucose.com/ website, and click on "Discover iTest" you'll see a screen that extols the features of the meter.
It lists the "Dynamic Electrochemistry" feature, the "Extreme Accuracy" feature, the "Screen Settings" feature, and the "Zero-Click Data Management" feature. Click on Zero-Click, and you get:
"World's only Zero-Click System now available in Canada!" and "Just plug the meter in, and Zero-Click does the rest!". I guess I was being a little too optimistic when I interpreted this to mean the software was installed on the meter, and came with it.
So I found a USB cable with the right ends - we have a ton lying around, and plugged it in. No go. As far as my computer was concerned, the meter wasn't even attached. I decided to do some more research. I re-read the page, looking for a download link. Nothing - just a pdf brochure. No mention of the software on the list of products on the left side either (the meter, the lancets, the strips).
I went to the US site - often US companies will have a considerably different site for US customers. WaveSense /AgaMatrix is no different. The Zero-Click software is at least listed as a 'product' there. I knew I had to buy it, but didn't know how much. If I could recommend a single update to the AgaMatrix websites, it would be a 'SOLD SEPARATELY' notice on the Zero-Click pages.
Checked the website of the pharmacy chain (London Drugs) where I bought the meter, but couldn't find it listed. This is undoubtedly the responsibility of London Drugs and not AgaMatrix, but it was another annoyance. After more googling I found it listed at the DLife Store. $40 US, Regularly $45. And that was the end of that story. I'm doing this new-meter-every-month thing because it costs me nothing. I'm going to be shelling out $75 for strips no matter which meter I choose, so I might as well make use of the free meter offers that abound in Canada.
But I'm not paying $40 for results software ON TOP of that. Not when there are amazing free software apps like Sugar Stats that will manage my results. Even Ascensia / Bayer didn't make me pay for their (pretty sucky) software - it's a free download on their website. Bayer did sell me a 'cable & software kit' for $20-30 ( $24.99 on their website right now), that turned out to be a generic USB cable I could have bought for a lot less at my local electronics store, which annoyed me to no end.
I think a lot of us feel we're being bilked by these companies - 75cents per strips works out to a considerable profit margin I am sure. And anecdotally I've heard that while meter prices have decreased, strip prices have gone up - I haven't been testing long enough to see price changes yet, nor can I find a chart online to prove this, so perhaps I'm wrong. But in any case, we're spending a LOT of money on these things and it can hurt to pay even more for extras.
So, long rant and story short, I'm just not willing to pay for the software. I don't analyze my results enough now to pay $40 on the chance that it'll be useful enough to pay for itself. If you're a user that does depend a lot on stats, this software could be useful for you.
For more details on what the software can do - the product description pages are pretty scanty - I suggest you download the user manual here. I tend to always check out the support forums and user manuals of software before I buy - I learn more about what it actually does from those than any brochure. From a quick skim, the software uses a special USB cable - so you won't be getting a generic cable for an upgraded price at the very least.
You'll be able to adjust all your meter settings, break your day into 8 chunks to represent meal times, set your target numbers, and view, print and email 6 reports such as log book and trends. There is also a 'backup database' feature, but no details on what format the backup takes, so I have no idea if it will allow you to export the results in a format that would allow you to bring them into other software. The import feature appears to only read backup files made by Zero Click, so I'm not sure how you get your backlog of data into the software either. You also cannot delete bad results (from testing someone else or having something on your hands). There is no way to enter medications, exercise or notes on any of your readings.
I have not actually used the software, so this is all from the user manual. I'd suggest reading the manual yourself, talking to someone who has actually used it or checking with AgaMatrix before making a decision to buy or not to buy.
Meter Charts
Another feature I was really interested in on the iTest / Keynote was the built in charts. In addition to 30,60,90 averages, they have little built in graphs to show you trends over the same time periods. These turned out pretty useless for me. My blood sugars stay in such as small range (5-8 or 90-144) usually that they don't even make a bump in the chart. I just get a straight line on all three. This tight range is not the usual for diabetics - but I'm pre-diabetic so it's something I can maintain. I'm not sure at what point the chart starts showing something other than a straight line, but I would assume that the average PWD would see something different.
Company
I've been impressed with AgaMatrix as a company in the last month and a half. They are the only meter company that I am aware that actually spends time on diabetes sites. They've commented on a discussion about meters at Tudiabetes.com, posted on my blog, and they have an employee who blogs about diabetes, even though he isn't diabetic. That kind of online presence is really important to me. It makes me feel a lot more connected and valued as a consumer than any other company has.
Final Impression
This is a good, solid, accurate meter. Once I'm finished testing various meters, this will definitely be on my short list for a meter to stay with. While there is room for improvement, as with all meters (check out my initial review for my wishlist) they do very well in other places. And for any meter, accuracy is KEY. Actually, precision is even more important, but accuracy is a huge deal. Seeing how it's results compare closely to known-to-be-accurate the Freestyle Flash really elevates my confidence in the meter.
I recommend the iTest / Keynote, especially over the Ascensia Contour or Breeze.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Trying to eat slower
Ran across an article today that pointed me to an insulin resistance study in Japan. Okay, first I found a blog that reprinted the entire article as if they'd written it themselves - I have nothing but disgust for thieves of this sort - and found the original one (I assume) that actually linked sources.
In any case, the study I found was a strange one. Eating Fast Leads to Obesity: Findings Based on Self-administered Questionnaires among Middle-aged Japanese Men and Women. I would think that WHAT you eat would matter far more than how fast, but apparently it's not quite as simple.
The basis of the study was a questionnaire that asked several thousand people how fast they ate, among other things. They had to rate themselves on a scale of 'very slow', 'relatively slow', 'medium','relatively fast', and 'very fast'. It's a very open ended question. In any case, long story short - those who ate faster were found to have gained more weight, and had a higher BMI (Body Mass Index).
There's a lot of other reasons to eat slowly to - like enjoying your food more, and turning a meal into a time to relax.
This is good in theory for me, but not practice. I tend to eat because I'm hungry or having a mood swing - It's amazing how fast a granola bar can snap me out of an ill mood. I tend to be multitasking during meals - either I'm reading a book or thinking about work or watching TV. It's often something to get done quickly so I can get back to something more important. I know I eat fast - I tend to be done before everyone else around me.
It's hard to slow down. I'm so used to not paying attention once I've put the food on my plate. It's only on very special meals - or when I'm eating something that's an absolute favorite - that I stop and enjoy. I'm not sure how to change the habit day to day.
If I'm in "the groove" at work, I don't want to interrupt that thought flow at all. If I'm eating by myself, I'd rather read a book to occupy my thoughts. I guess I'll have to experiment and find something that works.
In any case, the study I found was a strange one. Eating Fast Leads to Obesity: Findings Based on Self-administered Questionnaires among Middle-aged Japanese Men and Women. I would think that WHAT you eat would matter far more than how fast, but apparently it's not quite as simple.
The basis of the study was a questionnaire that asked several thousand people how fast they ate, among other things. They had to rate themselves on a scale of 'very slow', 'relatively slow', 'medium','relatively fast', and 'very fast'. It's a very open ended question. In any case, long story short - those who ate faster were found to have gained more weight, and had a higher BMI (Body Mass Index).
There's a lot of other reasons to eat slowly to - like enjoying your food more, and turning a meal into a time to relax.
This is good in theory for me, but not practice. I tend to eat because I'm hungry or having a mood swing - It's amazing how fast a granola bar can snap me out of an ill mood. I tend to be multitasking during meals - either I'm reading a book or thinking about work or watching TV. It's often something to get done quickly so I can get back to something more important. I know I eat fast - I tend to be done before everyone else around me.
It's hard to slow down. I'm so used to not paying attention once I've put the food on my plate. It's only on very special meals - or when I'm eating something that's an absolute favorite - that I stop and enjoy. I'm not sure how to change the habit day to day.
If I'm in "the groove" at work, I don't want to interrupt that thought flow at all. If I'm eating by myself, I'd rather read a book to occupy my thoughts. I guess I'll have to experiment and find something that works.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Type 2 Diabetes in Remission?
Reading through some diabetes news updates this morning, I ran across a few articles talking about a new study. Some newly diagnosed diabetics in China had been given insulin, and a year later they were still 'in remission'. I've never heard that term applied to diabetes, and I was a bit confused. How much insulin were they taking? How often? And what did they mean by 'Remission'? Diabetes doesn't just go away for a while, as far as I know.
The entire article isn't available online - unless I shell out $30 bucks - but I gleaned what I could from the abstract on The Lancet's Website. Here's what they did:
They found 382 newly diagnosed diabetics who were not yet on medication. They had fasting levels between 7.0-16.7 mmol/L (126-301). They split them into three groups and gave one group oral meds (they don't specify which in the abstract), another group multiple daily injections, and a third "continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion" which I assume means some kind of pump.
They tracked how long it took patient to achieve "normoglycemia" - non diabetic responses to some tests, possibly the glucose tolerance tests, insulin, and proinsulin levels. Not surprisingly, insulin - especially the continuous infusion - brought glucose levels back to normal the fastest.
Once someone had maintained this for two weeks, they took them off the treatment they were on. All patients were switch to a diet-and-exercise management routine. There are no details on what diet they were on, but I would assume it as similar for all patients.
A year later, they went back and retested the patients. If a patient still showed normal responses on their tests, they said they were 'in remission'. 50% of those on the insulin treatments were 'in remission' as well as 27% of those on oral meds.
The tests they run showed that the beta cell function was "improved significantly after intensive interventions". However, the improvement declined in the patients who were treated with oral meds.
The bottom line here seems to be that for half of the patients, receiving insulin treatments restored some of their beta cell function for at least a year. That's pretty amazing to me, and it opens a lot of questions. Why did it work for some but not others? Was their any affect on their A1C? This is definitely a finding that needs more research.
I've linked the abstract above, but there's an article by someone who's read the whole article and not just the abstract available at Medical News Today.
The entire article isn't available online - unless I shell out $30 bucks - but I gleaned what I could from the abstract on The Lancet's Website. Here's what they did:
They found 382 newly diagnosed diabetics who were not yet on medication. They had fasting levels between 7.0-16.7 mmol/L (126-301). They split them into three groups and gave one group oral meds (they don't specify which in the abstract), another group multiple daily injections, and a third "continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion" which I assume means some kind of pump.
They tracked how long it took patient to achieve "normoglycemia" - non diabetic responses to some tests, possibly the glucose tolerance tests, insulin, and proinsulin levels. Not surprisingly, insulin - especially the continuous infusion - brought glucose levels back to normal the fastest.
Once someone had maintained this for two weeks, they took them off the treatment they were on. All patients were switch to a diet-and-exercise management routine. There are no details on what diet they were on, but I would assume it as similar for all patients.
A year later, they went back and retested the patients. If a patient still showed normal responses on their tests, they said they were 'in remission'. 50% of those on the insulin treatments were 'in remission' as well as 27% of those on oral meds.
The tests they run showed that the beta cell function was "improved significantly after intensive interventions". However, the improvement declined in the patients who were treated with oral meds.
The bottom line here seems to be that for half of the patients, receiving insulin treatments restored some of their beta cell function for at least a year. That's pretty amazing to me, and it opens a lot of questions. Why did it work for some but not others? Was their any affect on their A1C? This is definitely a finding that needs more research.
I've linked the abstract above, but there's an article by someone who's read the whole article and not just the abstract available at Medical News Today.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Thank You Jeff
Every day when I log into my blog, I check for comments. I'm always happy to see that there is a new one - and more often than not, it's from Jeff over at Go Do A Test. Not only does he write an interesting and amusing blog, he takes the time to say a few words from time to time.
It means a lot. I know someone's reading. If I wanted to journal just for myself, I wouldn't do it online.
Thank you very much Jeff, and every one else who's taken the time to post.
I'm trying to return the favor and post on other peoples blogs too.
It means a lot. I know someone's reading. If I wanted to journal just for myself, I wouldn't do it online.
Thank you very much Jeff, and every one else who's taken the time to post.
I'm trying to return the favor and post on other peoples blogs too.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Spontaneous Great Number
I hit 4.7 (84.6) today for the first time in months. I was really surprised to see the number - I haven't been able to get past 5.5 (99) since March. I love seeing this number because it's in the non-diabetic range. It's a really, really, normal number.
I'd love to be able to see this number pre-meals all the time. If this was sustainable, repeatable, then I'd feel like I was actually reducing my insulin resistance.
Of course, I've spent some time trying to see if I can figure out what the magic combination was today. No caffeine? Different breakfasts this week? Lack of sleep? I really have no idea.
I'm going to enjoy it for today.
I'd love to be able to see this number pre-meals all the time. If this was sustainable, repeatable, then I'd feel like I was actually reducing my insulin resistance.
Of course, I've spent some time trying to see if I can figure out what the magic combination was today. No caffeine? Different breakfasts this week? Lack of sleep? I really have no idea.
I'm going to enjoy it for today.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Japanese UG-201 Meter - No Blood Required
Well I've been saying how much I want a non-invasive blood sugar meter. And I've finally found one coming on the market. The UG-201 doesn't require any finger pricking. It uses innovative pee on a stick technology.
Ick!
On the one hand, this meter has a lot of really good ideas. The sensors can be reused 200 times (ick!) and will cost about ¥6,000 or $56 Canadian Dollars. That's about a quarter a test - I pay seventy five cents now. Yay for cheapness. Huzzah for the environmentally friendliness of a re-usable sensor. They've got to be able to come up with this for blood.
They're working on a separate USB memory system that the results are transmitted to via infrared. This idea I love. Meter testing should be separated from meter results. Work together closely, yes. But I want whatever is holding my results to plug in to any computer and give me instant access to the data. No downloading software, no installing. I want something that I can take with me on vacation, use at work, or kill time with when I'm on a plane. There's no mention of any software like this in the article, but it seems like a good first step to me.
So two really good things. Then there is the downside.
Personally, I'd rather live with a tiny pinprick than have to run off to the bathroom every time I need to test. There's a three minute wait between tests as well. That's a long, uncomfortable time hanging around a bathroom if you need to re-check the numbers. Plus the fact that you don't always have to go to the bathroom, and that bathrooms are not always immediately available.
A huge issue is also accuracy. If testing on your arm is 10-15 minutes delayed from your finger pricks, how out of date is your blood sugar number going to be when it has time to affect your urine? The system also needs to be re-calibrated weekly which adds to the inconvenience.
And did I mention the whole Ick factor? The idea of carrying around a sensor, using it, rinsing it off, and tucking it into my purse seems so unhygienic. Somehow a tiny drop of dried blood on a test strip doesn't bother me at all.
Still, this will probably be a popular product. They've been selling a non-portable version since 2004, and this announcement is for the release of a portable model. I wonder what other diabetes technology is being developed in Japan?
Ick!
On the one hand, this meter has a lot of really good ideas. The sensors can be reused 200 times (ick!) and will cost about ¥6,000 or $56 Canadian Dollars. That's about a quarter a test - I pay seventy five cents now. Yay for cheapness. Huzzah for the environmentally friendliness of a re-usable sensor. They've got to be able to come up with this for blood.
They're working on a separate USB memory system that the results are transmitted to via infrared. This idea I love. Meter testing should be separated from meter results. Work together closely, yes. But I want whatever is holding my results to plug in to any computer and give me instant access to the data. No downloading software, no installing. I want something that I can take with me on vacation, use at work, or kill time with when I'm on a plane. There's no mention of any software like this in the article, but it seems like a good first step to me.
So two really good things. Then there is the downside.
Personally, I'd rather live with a tiny pinprick than have to run off to the bathroom every time I need to test. There's a three minute wait between tests as well. That's a long, uncomfortable time hanging around a bathroom if you need to re-check the numbers. Plus the fact that you don't always have to go to the bathroom, and that bathrooms are not always immediately available.
A huge issue is also accuracy. If testing on your arm is 10-15 minutes delayed from your finger pricks, how out of date is your blood sugar number going to be when it has time to affect your urine? The system also needs to be re-calibrated weekly which adds to the inconvenience.
And did I mention the whole Ick factor? The idea of carrying around a sensor, using it, rinsing it off, and tucking it into my purse seems so unhygienic. Somehow a tiny drop of dried blood on a test strip doesn't bother me at all.
Still, this will probably be a popular product. They've been selling a non-portable version since 2004, and this announcement is for the release of a portable model. I wonder what other diabetes technology is being developed in Japan?
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Words to live by
A post today over at Diabetes Mine inspired my topic today. She wrote about mantras and best advice. It made me think about the phrases that bring inspiration to me.
A big one has always been This too shall pass. No matter what situation I'm in, no matter how scary or sad or painful, I can hold to that one. Sooner or later, whatever it is is going to get easier. It'll resolve itself, I'll learn to deal with it, I'll heal, or a new opportunity will appear. I've yet to be proven wrong with this one.
For diabetes, this means I remember on the days that I am frustrated and tired that there will be days where it breezes by. I hold hope for new treatments and devices to make life easier, and an eventual cure.
The second thing is less a phrase than a concept - that of a 'big picture' or 'fate'. It's hard to see the silver lining when you're in a bad patch. I try and remember that. I know it's going through a bad first marriage that makes me aware and committed to my second one. Getting diagnosed with and treated for pre diabetes helped me drop the weight I couldn't lose. Early detection is going to save me from a lot of potential complications.
I don't believe that life is meant to be free of challenges and low spots. It's what you learn and grow from. Of course, I'm not turning down any sunny days that come my way either.
A big one has always been This too shall pass. No matter what situation I'm in, no matter how scary or sad or painful, I can hold to that one. Sooner or later, whatever it is is going to get easier. It'll resolve itself, I'll learn to deal with it, I'll heal, or a new opportunity will appear. I've yet to be proven wrong with this one.
For diabetes, this means I remember on the days that I am frustrated and tired that there will be days where it breezes by. I hold hope for new treatments and devices to make life easier, and an eventual cure.
The second thing is less a phrase than a concept - that of a 'big picture' or 'fate'. It's hard to see the silver lining when you're in a bad patch. I try and remember that. I know it's going through a bad first marriage that makes me aware and committed to my second one. Getting diagnosed with and treated for pre diabetes helped me drop the weight I couldn't lose. Early detection is going to save me from a lot of potential complications.
I don't believe that life is meant to be free of challenges and low spots. It's what you learn and grow from. Of course, I'm not turning down any sunny days that come my way either.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Lunch is a Bowl of Cherries
You have to love cherry season. Today was the first time I've noticed them in the stores. Over winter I forget how many is a serving, but 15 seems about right. These were a great lunch. Not too sweet, a little tart, just ripe.
I don't eat cherry jam, cherry pie, or cherry anything else. But the fresh ones always remind me of summers visiting my aunt's fruit farm in BC. We'd bring home tons of fruit - most of which I wouldn't touch, but cherries are always fabulous.
I worked there two or three summers, and having that fresh produce was great! I didn't realize how good I had it, until I came back home, took a look at the grocery store offerings and was agast at how old all the stuff looked. I still have trouble buying apples - they seem so waxed and bruised.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Diabetes Meme
With all the meme's going around, I wondered why Diabetics don't have our own. So I thought I'd create one. Of course, I have to fill in my own answers.
1.) What type of diabetes do you have?
Pre Diabetic / Type 2.
2.) When were you diagnosed?
Dec 2005
3.) Do you have a favorite finger / area to test with?
I poke my pinky's most often because they bleed the best and don't bruise a lot.
4.) What is your favorite meter?
I like the iTest / Keynote best so far of all the ones I've tested.
5.) What medications/supplements do you take for diabetes?
Metformin & Vitamin D - both on Doctor's instructions.
6.) What surprises you most about Diabetes?
How different it is among people. Different messages, Different treatments, Different Results.
7.) What is the hardest/worst part of having Diabetes?
Forgetting how it was to not have it, or at least to stop missing that old lifestyle.
8.) What is the easiest/best part of having Diabetes?
Losing 40 pounds and gaining a lot of self esteem and improved self image.
9.) Do you have any diabetes Heros?
I find the entire diabetes OC amazing, but I am always particularly astounded by what insulin dependant diabetics go through, often with great cheer.
10.) What's the first thing you'll do when there's a cure?
Give thanks, then binge on carbs. :D
I feel like it should be longer, but can't think of any other really good questions. I suppose ten questions about diabetes isn't bad, but the ten things meme I did yesterday was more fun!
1.) What type of diabetes do you have?
Pre Diabetic / Type 2.
2.) When were you diagnosed?
Dec 2005
3.) Do you have a favorite finger / area to test with?
I poke my pinky's most often because they bleed the best and don't bruise a lot.
4.) What is your favorite meter?
I like the iTest / Keynote best so far of all the ones I've tested.
5.) What medications/supplements do you take for diabetes?
Metformin & Vitamin D - both on Doctor's instructions.
6.) What surprises you most about Diabetes?
How different it is among people. Different messages, Different treatments, Different Results.
7.) What is the hardest/worst part of having Diabetes?
Forgetting how it was to not have it, or at least to stop missing that old lifestyle.
8.) What is the easiest/best part of having Diabetes?
Losing 40 pounds and gaining a lot of self esteem and improved self image.
9.) Do you have any diabetes Heros?
I find the entire diabetes OC amazing, but I am always particularly astounded by what insulin dependant diabetics go through, often with great cheer.
10.) What's the first thing you'll do when there's a cure?
Give thanks, then binge on carbs. :D
I feel like it should be longer, but can't think of any other really good questions. I suppose ten questions about diabetes isn't bad, but the ten things meme I did yesterday was more fun!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Meme Tagged!
There's a meme going around the blogosphere, and Jeff over at Go Do A Test! has tagged me.
Once you've been tagged, you write a post with 10 weird, random facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 6 new victims to be tagged, list their names, and why you tagged them. Don't forget to leave them a comment saying ('You're It!') and to go read your blog. You cannot tag the person that tagged you, so, let me know when you are done so that I can go read your blog answers. Here are my ten:
1.) I hate both onions and oranges. It's rare to find anyone who hates onions, and I have yet to find anyone who doesn't like oranges, so I'm pretty sure this is weird. I do like those sweet little Christmas mandarins. There are a lot of other foods I don't like, but none of them are as alliterative.
2.) I am a completest book collector. If there is an author I like, I have to own EVERY book they have ever written. I may not even like all their books but I will still try to collect them all just to have them. I also sometimes buy entire series before reading them to see if I actually like it. This is an expensive habit, so I've been trying to break it.
3.) I like Anime and Manga. This is normal to me, but watching subtitled Japanese cartoons and reading translated Japanese comics is seen as weird by many people I know. I also have several series of manga (comics) in the original Japanese, which I cannot read but this is an offshoot of weirdness #2.
4.) I eat my food in order. Almost always I will clear my plate of one item before moving on to the next. First the meat, then the starch, then the veggies. I've apparently done this since I was very young and never grown out of it.
5.) I walk with a cane. I have had a bad knee since I was eight and as I've grown older I find it more difficult to walk or stand for long periods. The weird thing about it is that unlike diabetes, I have no resentment for the knee or the cane or the pain. It's so deeply ingrained into my self image, I can't imagine being without it, or clearly remember being able to run and jump.
6.) I'm short. 5 feet even. Tall shelves are my bane.
7.) I have a very poor sense of spatial perception. For this reason I do not drive. I cannot estimate distances, volumes or acceleration.
8.) I spent most of high school calculus in the back of the room doing cross stitching while the teacher lectured. I somehow still got an A in the course - an a surprise mention of the cross stiching it in the yearbook.
9.) I am a geek. Girl geeks are rare but definitely present. I am a self taught, female programmer. I have yet to meet, in the flesh, another. Weird but good. I also LOVE programming which most non programmers seem to find weird, and I played World of Warcraft (an online game) on my honeymoon.
10.) I want to have a Cornish Rex Cat at some point. My mother used to breed them - I grew up in Cat Show Circles - and I absolutely adore them. They are utterly strange looking at first glance, but have amazing personalities, able to switch from lap cat to maniac kitten in the blink of an eye. My parents have one right now that likes to hang out on shoulders.
Most of the people I would have tagged have already been hit with this meme, so I'll stick to just tagging one - Lora at The Diabetes & Stuff.
Once you've been tagged, you write a post with 10 weird, random facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 6 new victims to be tagged, list their names, and why you tagged them. Don't forget to leave them a comment saying ('You're It!') and to go read your blog. You cannot tag the person that tagged you, so, let me know when you are done so that I can go read your blog answers. Here are my ten:
1.) I hate both onions and oranges. It's rare to find anyone who hates onions, and I have yet to find anyone who doesn't like oranges, so I'm pretty sure this is weird. I do like those sweet little Christmas mandarins. There are a lot of other foods I don't like, but none of them are as alliterative.
2.) I am a completest book collector. If there is an author I like, I have to own EVERY book they have ever written. I may not even like all their books but I will still try to collect them all just to have them. I also sometimes buy entire series before reading them to see if I actually like it. This is an expensive habit, so I've been trying to break it.
3.) I like Anime and Manga. This is normal to me, but watching subtitled Japanese cartoons and reading translated Japanese comics is seen as weird by many people I know. I also have several series of manga (comics) in the original Japanese, which I cannot read but this is an offshoot of weirdness #2.
4.) I eat my food in order. Almost always I will clear my plate of one item before moving on to the next. First the meat, then the starch, then the veggies. I've apparently done this since I was very young and never grown out of it.
5.) I walk with a cane. I have had a bad knee since I was eight and as I've grown older I find it more difficult to walk or stand for long periods. The weird thing about it is that unlike diabetes, I have no resentment for the knee or the cane or the pain. It's so deeply ingrained into my self image, I can't imagine being without it, or clearly remember being able to run and jump.
6.) I'm short. 5 feet even. Tall shelves are my bane.
7.) I have a very poor sense of spatial perception. For this reason I do not drive. I cannot estimate distances, volumes or acceleration.
8.) I spent most of high school calculus in the back of the room doing cross stitching while the teacher lectured. I somehow still got an A in the course - an a surprise mention of the cross stiching it in the yearbook.
9.) I am a geek. Girl geeks are rare but definitely present. I am a self taught, female programmer. I have yet to meet, in the flesh, another. Weird but good. I also LOVE programming which most non programmers seem to find weird, and I played World of Warcraft (an online game) on my honeymoon.
10.) I want to have a Cornish Rex Cat at some point. My mother used to breed them - I grew up in Cat Show Circles - and I absolutely adore them. They are utterly strange looking at first glance, but have amazing personalities, able to switch from lap cat to maniac kitten in the blink of an eye. My parents have one right now that likes to hang out on shoulders.
Most of the people I would have tagged have already been hit with this meme, so I'll stick to just tagging one - Lora at The Diabetes & Stuff.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Fruit Bouquet
This incredibly luscious fruit bouquet was delivered to our offices today! We've be having a lot of upheaval this week and it was a pick-me up from a company we work with. The strawberries were absolutely huge and very delicious. I had one chocolate covered one - very sweet chocolate so one was more than enough. The rest of the team was happy to go for chocolate covered ones while I nibbled the plain ones. I also had some of the grapes and melon balls.And to top it all off, we kicked off early today to enjoy the long weekend - it's Victoria Day on Monday here in Canada. I can sure use a break and this was a fabulous way to close out 12 straight days of work.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Testing At Work
I decided to start being a little less discrete about testing at work. I'm not making a big statement about it, but I'm not leaving the room to do it. If I'm in the middle of a test and someone comes up, I don't stop. We've got a new part-time staff member sitting right beside me, and he's watched me test a couple times now. I usually do it in my lap but it's pretty obvious to the people on either side of me.
I've gotten a few surprised looks, but no one has said anything. I'll admit that one complaint and I might have gone back to trying to be incredibly discreet about it, but it doesn' t look like it's going to be a problem.
I'm more surprised that I haven't gotten any questions. I think most people in the office know I have diabetes or prediabetes. Some of them hear more about it from me than others, but I'm always willing to talk about it. I think in the long run, being more open will make it easier to manage, because I can just pull out my meter and test when I need to without disrupting my work flow a lot.
I've gotten a few surprised looks, but no one has said anything. I'll admit that one complaint and I might have gone back to trying to be incredibly discreet about it, but it doesn' t look like it's going to be a problem.
I'm more surprised that I haven't gotten any questions. I think most people in the office know I have diabetes or prediabetes. Some of them hear more about it from me than others, but I'm always willing to talk about it. I think in the long run, being more open will make it easier to manage, because I can just pull out my meter and test when I need to without disrupting my work flow a lot.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Living with a Carbavore
My husband is adopted so we don't know his medical history. We're pretty sure there isn't any diabetes in though - he eats a ton of carb and never has elevated sugars. He's from the south - Georgia, and was raised always having a couple of starches with his meals. Supper is usually not complete without some kind of bread - in addition to potatoes and rice.
It means we have a lot of carbs around the house. Potato chips, bread and buns, ice cream and crackers. Sometimes it is a lot of temptation, but we work it out. We share a lot, so that I can have a little bit of something, and he'll finish it off. That works great for cinnamon buns. Or he'll buy things in flavors I just won't go near, like smoky bbq chips. It's pretty automatic to him now to not give me carbs or to give me a small portion when he's putting together our plates. He knows how many mini potatoes (4), how much rice (1/4 cup) and how much bread (1 slice) to give me on the nights I'm having some.
I'm still in charge of what and how much I eat of course, and we've got a good rhythmn of checking in with each other on that. There are days I wish I could just pass it all on to him of course, but I need to be responsible for my own health.
All in all it works pretty well.
It means we have a lot of carbs around the house. Potato chips, bread and buns, ice cream and crackers. Sometimes it is a lot of temptation, but we work it out. We share a lot, so that I can have a little bit of something, and he'll finish it off. That works great for cinnamon buns. Or he'll buy things in flavors I just won't go near, like smoky bbq chips. It's pretty automatic to him now to not give me carbs or to give me a small portion when he's putting together our plates. He knows how many mini potatoes (4), how much rice (1/4 cup) and how much bread (1 slice) to give me on the nights I'm having some.
I'm still in charge of what and how much I eat of course, and we've got a good rhythmn of checking in with each other on that. There are days I wish I could just pass it all on to him of course, but I need to be responsible for my own health.
All in all it works pretty well.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
I've got it pretty good
There's an excellent review of Bloodless testing and other treatment advances over at Diabetes Mine. I've got to hope that with all the advances in planning and design, at least one will make it to the market. It'll help with a lot of the little annoyances of life.
I'll admit though, as a pre-diabetic I have it pretty easy. I can -and do- coast along with minor testing. As long as I keep a pretty close eye on my carb intake and remember to take my metformin, I do okay. I don't test enough to get permanent scars and marks on my finger tips. I don't have serious highs or lows.
Somehow these past few days it's been -wonderfully- easy for me. I've not been stressing on choices, being more aware of what I'm eating, and in the mood to do a little exercise.
Don't know how long this mood will last, but I'm enjoying it.
I'll admit though, as a pre-diabetic I have it pretty easy. I can -and do- coast along with minor testing. As long as I keep a pretty close eye on my carb intake and remember to take my metformin, I do okay. I don't test enough to get permanent scars and marks on my finger tips. I don't have serious highs or lows.
Somehow these past few days it's been -wonderfully- easy for me. I've not been stressing on choices, being more aware of what I'm eating, and in the mood to do a little exercise.
Don't know how long this mood will last, but I'm enjoying it.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Back on Track
Was much better with food today - didn't do post meal checks, but I was always in the 5's on my pre-meal so I couldn't have been doing bad. Nixed a ton of snacks as well.
Also went walking for the first time in over a week, so I'm back on the exercise wagon. I unfortunately overdid though, so I'm exhaustedly headed for an early bed.
Now I just need to figure out how to get more veggies and I'm really rocking.
I feel good. A few days of not the best control isn't the end of the world. Getting back in saddle is waht matters.
Also went walking for the first time in over a week, so I'm back on the exercise wagon. I unfortunately overdid though, so I'm exhaustedly headed for an early bed.
Now I just need to figure out how to get more veggies and I'm really rocking.
I feel good. A few days of not the best control isn't the end of the world. Getting back in saddle is waht matters.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Busy Days and Bad Numbers
We've an imminent deadline at work, and it's been 12 hour days trying to make it. As the week has gone on, I've been eating more and more meals at work. It's great that work orders in lunch and buys groceries for us, but the convenience food that's often at hand is not good for my sugars.
Pizza, granola bars, toast, waffles - all right there and easy to eat one handed without stopping work. Plus I've been tending to reward myself when we hit a big milestone - a cookie here, a cupcake there, dark chocolate now and then.
I didn't realize how mindlessly I've been eating the last couple of days until I hit a blood sugar of 8.5 today - 153. For me, that's really high - I'm usually never over 7 (126) at the most - and I've been seeing that number more than I've wanted to in the last week too. I have a feeling I've been higher than that too - I haven't exactly been testing at an hour and a half after a meal. Sometimes I've been hard pressed to even remember when I last ate.
It's so easy to get into bad habits and ignore what you're eating when you're distracted and busy. Tomorrow I'm going to be trying to pay more attention and get back into a normal eating cycle. Those high numbers are not going to be sticking around.
Pizza, granola bars, toast, waffles - all right there and easy to eat one handed without stopping work. Plus I've been tending to reward myself when we hit a big milestone - a cookie here, a cupcake there, dark chocolate now and then.
I didn't realize how mindlessly I've been eating the last couple of days until I hit a blood sugar of 8.5 today - 153. For me, that's really high - I'm usually never over 7 (126) at the most - and I've been seeing that number more than I've wanted to in the last week too. I have a feeling I've been higher than that too - I haven't exactly been testing at an hour and a half after a meal. Sometimes I've been hard pressed to even remember when I last ate.
It's so easy to get into bad habits and ignore what you're eating when you're distracted and busy. Tomorrow I'm going to be trying to pay more attention and get back into a normal eating cycle. Those high numbers are not going to be sticking around.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
New Prediabetes Reseach
Found a new study on Prediabetes today. It compared insulin sensitivity and insulin response in people with different types of Pre-diabetes. You can get diagnosed with Pre-diabetes if you have Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG) - high blood sugar in the mornings before you eat, if you have Impared Glucose Tolerance (IGT) - high blood sugars after you eat, or both. I have impaired glucose tolerance but my fasting levels are still good.
The study looked at obese adolescents, comparing 40 who had normal glucose response with 41 with impaired glucose responses.
They found that insulin sensitivity and first phase insulin was reduced for all groups - it was more severe for those with impaired glucose tolerance than with impaired fasting levels. For those with both impaired glucose tolerance and impaired fasting, the second phase insulin response was also impaired.
This follows the model of how blood sugar control deteriorates that is laid out over at BloodSugar101.com.
You start out producing enough insulin to handle the food you eat. As your insulin resistance goes up, you start losing the ability to produce insulin - high blood sugar kills beta cells.
So you have less stored insulin to release when you eat (first phase response), and eventually, you stop being able to produce enough backup insulin (second phase response) to cover what the first phase didn't get rid of.
As this goes on, you start showing elevated levels all the time because your system can't ever catch up without diet changes or medication or both.
Once you start showing both impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance, you can be pretty sure you've lost a fair amount of beta cells. Getting diagnosed with only one or the other is a good sign, because it's being caught in the earlier stages.
The study looked at obese adolescents, comparing 40 who had normal glucose response with 41 with impaired glucose responses.
They found that insulin sensitivity and first phase insulin was reduced for all groups - it was more severe for those with impaired glucose tolerance than with impaired fasting levels. For those with both impaired glucose tolerance and impaired fasting, the second phase insulin response was also impaired.
This follows the model of how blood sugar control deteriorates that is laid out over at BloodSugar101.com.
You start out producing enough insulin to handle the food you eat. As your insulin resistance goes up, you start losing the ability to produce insulin - high blood sugar kills beta cells.
So you have less stored insulin to release when you eat (first phase response), and eventually, you stop being able to produce enough backup insulin (second phase response) to cover what the first phase didn't get rid of.
As this goes on, you start showing elevated levels all the time because your system can't ever catch up without diet changes or medication or both.
Once you start showing both impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance, you can be pretty sure you've lost a fair amount of beta cells. Getting diagnosed with only one or the other is a good sign, because it's being caught in the earlier stages.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Caffeine Weirdness
I love my coffee in the mornings. I drink it black for a few weeks, then switch to cream and splenda, then drift back to black. We've got a pod coffee machine at work, so fresh and tasty coffee is always available. I love pod coffee machines - I have one at home as well - because even I cannot screw up coffee when using them.
Since I've been fighting this cold - almost gone, thank goodness - I've had to swear off caffeine. For some reason one cup of coffee makes me jittery for hours right now! I'm used to being the kind of person who can drink a cup of coffee and go to bed an hour later, so this sudden overreaction to caffeine is really annoying.
Hopefully as the cold departs, the caffeine reaction will too. I'll stick to decaf until then.
This has to be the weirdest side affect for a cold I have ever had.
Since I've been fighting this cold - almost gone, thank goodness - I've had to swear off caffeine. For some reason one cup of coffee makes me jittery for hours right now! I'm used to being the kind of person who can drink a cup of coffee and go to bed an hour later, so this sudden overreaction to caffeine is really annoying.
Hopefully as the cold departs, the caffeine reaction will too. I'll stick to decaf until then.
This has to be the weirdest side affect for a cold I have ever had.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Zeer - Food Reviews
I ran across Zeer.com recently. It's a food review site currently in Beta. It looks like a combination of food review site / social network. You can add friends, post reviews, rate products and join communities.
It caught my eye because one of the communities they have is 'diabetes'. The idea of reading reviews of products by diabetics appeals to me - it's one reason I like blogs like Glucoholic. Anyone in the diabetes group can classify their review as belonging to the group, so they aren't forcing any constraints on what products are 'diabetic', which I like.
It's a beta site, so obviously it's in early stages. I think it needs to grow a bit to become really useful - there are only three reviews in the diabetes section as of today, including one on a persimmon has no nutritional information and reads, in it's entirety 'no sugar'. If the community grows and more useful reviews are posted, I can see it being a strong resource.
The biggest problem I have on the site right now is finding products. They have a huge database of items, and a number of ways to search them. It's really easy to find a product if you know the brand and product name. I found a few specific products really easily, as well as finding they don't have my local brand of Omega 3 milk.
However for non specific searches you can get thousands of results. For example, a search for all products that have less than 5% of the daily recommended allowance for carbs returns over 4000 pages of results! I could add additional search terms, but I'd rather browse through the list.
I'd love to see 'drill down' links on search results that allow you to refine your searches quickly without having to remember the name and brand of various products. I'd also love to be able to limit by location - there are a ton of brands available in the States that aren't in Canada, and vice versa.
I think they'll need to provide a little more information for consumers as well. From a programmers standpoint I can see why searches for carbohydrates and other nutrients are done in Recommended Daily Amounts, but I have no idea what the rda for carbohydrate is, so the carb search isn't that useful for me. A link to a table of data would really improve this feature. I did try searching for items with 100% of my daily rda for carbs - but this gave me Kibbles 'n Bits with an carb count of 0. I'm not ready to go no-carb!
I'd also love to search on an ingredient level - so I could load up all products sweetened with splenda, or avoid all the ones using asparatame. They have an ingredients search box in their advanced search, but I couldn't make it work.
For a beta, I think it's a pretty good site with a lot of potential. I'll keep checking back to see if the diabetic section is growing, or if they add more tools for finding products. It's still early days so there is a ton of room for them to expand and improve.
It caught my eye because one of the communities they have is 'diabetes'. The idea of reading reviews of products by diabetics appeals to me - it's one reason I like blogs like Glucoholic. Anyone in the diabetes group can classify their review as belonging to the group, so they aren't forcing any constraints on what products are 'diabetic', which I like.
It's a beta site, so obviously it's in early stages. I think it needs to grow a bit to become really useful - there are only three reviews in the diabetes section as of today, including one on a persimmon has no nutritional information and reads, in it's entirety 'no sugar'. If the community grows and more useful reviews are posted, I can see it being a strong resource.
The biggest problem I have on the site right now is finding products. They have a huge database of items, and a number of ways to search them. It's really easy to find a product if you know the brand and product name. I found a few specific products really easily, as well as finding they don't have my local brand of Omega 3 milk.
However for non specific searches you can get thousands of results. For example, a search for all products that have less than 5% of the daily recommended allowance for carbs returns over 4000 pages of results! I could add additional search terms, but I'd rather browse through the list.
I'd love to see 'drill down' links on search results that allow you to refine your searches quickly without having to remember the name and brand of various products. I'd also love to be able to limit by location - there are a ton of brands available in the States that aren't in Canada, and vice versa.
I think they'll need to provide a little more information for consumers as well. From a programmers standpoint I can see why searches for carbohydrates and other nutrients are done in Recommended Daily Amounts, but I have no idea what the rda for carbohydrate is, so the carb search isn't that useful for me. A link to a table of data would really improve this feature. I did try searching for items with 100% of my daily rda for carbs - but this gave me Kibbles 'n Bits with an carb count of 0. I'm not ready to go no-carb!
I'd also love to search on an ingredient level - so I could load up all products sweetened with splenda, or avoid all the ones using asparatame. They have an ingredients search box in their advanced search, but I couldn't make it work.
For a beta, I think it's a pretty good site with a lot of potential. I'll keep checking back to see if the diabetic section is growing, or if they add more tools for finding products. It's still early days so there is a ton of room for them to expand and improve.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Diabetes & Aspirin
I saw a few reports on Aspirin and Diabetes and Obesity recently. Asprin's pretty well known for decreasing the risk of heart disease, and I know it's recommended for some diabetics to take a baby aspirin daily. There's some heart disease in my family so I suppose I should be taking it. Something to discuss with my doctor, though asking if I should be on [yet another] pill always makes me feel like a hypochondriac.
In any case I thought I'd do some reasearch on it. The most annoying headline I ran across was 'Are you Obese and Fear Diabetes? Take Aspirin!', which misrepresented some of the information I've come across. Of course, inflammatory and inaccurate health headlines are not rare.
I did find a couple of stories that were a bit more clear on what's been found.
In non diabetic obsese people, an asprin-like compound called triflusal caused the pancreas to release higher levels of insulin. It didn't affect insulin sensitivity. The full study won't be out until July, in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. I'm not sure if I have a lot of faith in this study leading to useful treatments. Without knowing what the subject's A1Cs were, it's hard to know if they were predisposed to diabetes. If they weren't, then who's to say that it would be preventative?
I'm also skeptical of any medication that increases insulin production - does it do it safely and sustainably, or will it lead to beta cell burnout from over work? As far as I know there hasn't been a study of insulin-stimulating drugs that confirms or denies burnout as a side affect.
The next study I found looked at another aspirin relative, Salsalate. It found that the drug reduced both fasting and glucose tolerance numbers. It was a tiny study, and looks like it lead to a bunch of other studies being funding, including a three-year trial for diabetics. They perscribed it in huge dosages - 4gms! The pills are sold in 750gm pills, so that's more than four pills a day. Salsalate has been in use for 40 years, so it's a known safe drug. In the article, they postulate that it's the anti-inflammatory action that is giving the effect. Reading the abstract for the study, it states that insulin levels did not rise, so insulin sensitivity improved. A long tested drug that increases insulin sensitivity? I hope this research goes somewhere, FAST!
Finally I found a mouse study using actual aspirin. Apparently asprin-like compounds have been noted for improving blood glucose levels since 1900. They found that high doses of aspirin block an enzyme, leading to more insulin sensitivity. And I mean dangerously high levels - the human equivalent would be more than 10 regular aspirin, which leads to a lot of nasty complications. There are some interesting quotes in this article - "We strongly recommend against anybody considering treating their diabetes with aspirin" - which I would assume means high, dangerous doses and not the baby aspirin recommendation I mentioned above.
Second is one that is painfully true:
In any case I thought I'd do some reasearch on it. The most annoying headline I ran across was 'Are you Obese and Fear Diabetes? Take Aspirin!', which misrepresented some of the information I've come across. Of course, inflammatory and inaccurate health headlines are not rare.
I did find a couple of stories that were a bit more clear on what's been found.
In non diabetic obsese people, an asprin-like compound called triflusal caused the pancreas to release higher levels of insulin. It didn't affect insulin sensitivity. The full study won't be out until July, in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. I'm not sure if I have a lot of faith in this study leading to useful treatments. Without knowing what the subject's A1Cs were, it's hard to know if they were predisposed to diabetes. If they weren't, then who's to say that it would be preventative?
I'm also skeptical of any medication that increases insulin production - does it do it safely and sustainably, or will it lead to beta cell burnout from over work? As far as I know there hasn't been a study of insulin-stimulating drugs that confirms or denies burnout as a side affect.
The next study I found looked at another aspirin relative, Salsalate. It found that the drug reduced both fasting and glucose tolerance numbers. It was a tiny study, and looks like it lead to a bunch of other studies being funding, including a three-year trial for diabetics. They perscribed it in huge dosages - 4gms! The pills are sold in 750gm pills, so that's more than four pills a day. Salsalate has been in use for 40 years, so it's a known safe drug. In the article, they postulate that it's the anti-inflammatory action that is giving the effect. Reading the abstract for the study, it states that insulin levels did not rise, so insulin sensitivity improved. A long tested drug that increases insulin sensitivity? I hope this research goes somewhere, FAST!
Finally I found a mouse study using actual aspirin. Apparently asprin-like compounds have been noted for improving blood glucose levels since 1900. They found that high doses of aspirin block an enzyme, leading to more insulin sensitivity. And I mean dangerously high levels - the human equivalent would be more than 10 regular aspirin, which leads to a lot of nasty complications. There are some interesting quotes in this article - "We strongly recommend against anybody considering treating their diabetes with aspirin" - which I would assume means high, dangerous doses and not the baby aspirin recommendation I mentioned above.
Second is one that is painfully true:
"There is a lot of stuff that looks promising in mice that just doesn't pan out over time. It is a long way to the clinic and mice are not humans."Ain't it the truth.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Swedish Nutrional Labels
I'm pretty used to reading Canadian/American nutritional labels. Reading ones from other countries throws me now and then. I ran across these 'My Smoothie' juice boxes from Sweden and did a quick skim of the label - 12.7 carbs! Huzzah! Juice I could enjoy!
I really should have considered how they managed to put in all that fruit with so few carbs, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. When I went to drink it, I did a second check of the label. And noticed a tiny little detail I'd missed on the first round. The label reads "Nutrition per" in three languages, then adds "100 ml". The box was 250 ml, so a serving was less than half a box.
I'm extra careful with liquids because they cause such dramatic spikes. So I dutifully measured out 100 ml, as shown below. The juice isn't bad - it'd be better mixed with some yogurt for a proper (in my eyes) smoothie taste. But I really need to remember to check foreign labels a little more carefully in future. It's small packages that cause me the most trouble - I can't help assuming that entire container is a serving.
I really should have considered how they managed to put in all that fruit with so few carbs, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. When I went to drink it, I did a second check of the label. And noticed a tiny little detail I'd missed on the first round. The label reads "Nutrition per" in three languages, then adds "100 ml". The box was 250 ml, so a serving was less than half a box.
I'm extra careful with liquids because they cause such dramatic spikes. So I dutifully measured out 100 ml, as shown below. The juice isn't bad - it'd be better mixed with some yogurt for a proper (in my eyes) smoothie taste. But I really need to remember to check foreign labels a little more carefully in future. It's small packages that cause me the most trouble - I can't help assuming that entire container is a serving.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Belmont Diner French Toast
We went out to lunch at the Belmont Diner today. Neither of us wanted to cook, and the place had an excellent review in our local restaurant critic, John Gilchrist's new book My Favorite Cheap Eats. We've tried a few places from the book so far, and they've all be good.There was a line out the front door so we had to wait for 20-30 minutes for a table. We'd been warned about the line from the book, so it wasn't a surprize. When we left the line had grown to a dozen people. I think the restaurant only seats a couple dozen, it was a tiny place.
I'm a sucker for diner breakfasts, especially hash browns, pancakes, french toast and waffles. They have a tiny little notice on the menu that smaller portions were available, so I downgraded my order to a single slice of french toast. It arrived perfectly cooked with a mess of crispy bacon and a serving of their bottomless hash browns.
I was very pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't made with white bread. In fact, I didn't see a single slice of white bread in the place - even the toast was made with some kind of brown bread. The waitress thought it was whole wheat, but I couldn't tell for sure. It was very flavorful bread - I'm sure they're either making it themselves or buying it from a good bakery. In any case, it was really nice - not soggy, plenty of egg, and I topped it with butter and the real maple syrup they stock at each table. I don't mind fake syrup, but the real stuff was very tasty, and I didn't need much with the cinnamon sprinkled on the toast.
I'd been smelling the bacon while we waited and it did not disappoint. I think I had five or six rashers on my plate - too much for me so I passed a couple on to my husband.
I finished off with soft fluffy hash browns. Next time we go back I think I'll order eggs just so I can nibble more than a couple of bites of the hashbrowns. I love hashbrowns in all their incarnations, but these were really excellent, with a great flavor. I have no idea what they spiced them with, but it was great to enjoy hashbrowns that don't rely on salt for taste.
In any case, it's great to know there's a place to go and get a whole wheat grilled cheese or really tasty hashbrowns the next time we're having a treat for brunch.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Bret Michaels wins $100K for JDRF
Did anyone else watch Bret Michaels (Poison/Rock of Love) last night on Don't Forget the Lyrics? They're doing a series of charity episodes where celebrities compete to win money for their favorite charities.
Michaels got to the $200K level in the game, and split his winnings between the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund and St. Jude's Children's hospital.
Of course, the bulk of the show was about the music, but he did give a quick explanation that he has Juvenile Diabetes (I don't remember him saying Type 1) and was on insulin shots. There's some more information about him and diabetes over at DiabetesHealth.com
Michaels got to the $200K level in the game, and split his winnings between the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund and St. Jude's Children's hospital.
Of course, the bulk of the show was about the music, but he did give a quick explanation that he has Juvenile Diabetes (I don't remember him saying Type 1) and was on insulin shots. There's some more information about him and diabetes over at DiabetesHealth.com
Thursday, May 1, 2008
True Lemon Hot Lemonade
I'm fighting a nasty cold right now. I hate being sick - don't we all? The fatigue, the sneezing, the runny nose and watery eyes. But the worst has been the sore throat. It's been waking me up at night. Every few hours I'm awake and trying not to swallow.
I broke down on my aspartame avoidance and bought some sugar free lozenges. I've been gargling salt water - not nearly as bad as I thought, though it only helps for a little while. I've been spraying my throat with Chloraseptic when it gets really bad.
And I've been drinking lots, and lots, and lots of Hot Lemonade. It what we were always given as kids when we were sick. My mom would mix up mugs of powered lemonade with hot water instead of cold. Lemon scented steam always makes me feel better. I avoid all those powdered lemonade mixes now - way too much sugar. I've been using True Lemon to get through this cold.
I heard about True Lemon last year as a drink flavoring substitute. Each packet is the equivalent of 2 squeezes of lemon or lime. It's made with crystallized juice - no calories, no carbs. I usually carry a few packets in my purse so I can flavor water when I go out - tap water can be pretty unappetizing at times. I'll also dump it in Perrier or Club Soda if I want some 'pop'.
And when I'm sick, it dump it in hot water and drink it down. It dissolves far more easily in hot water than cold, and I enjoy it without needing to add any sweetner - the lemon flavor is enough on it's own. Plus it's so soothing for my throat.
I'll be so glad when this cold is over with. But the Hot Lemonade is making it easier to get through.
I broke down on my aspartame avoidance and bought some sugar free lozenges. I've been gargling salt water - not nearly as bad as I thought, though it only helps for a little while. I've been spraying my throat with Chloraseptic when it gets really bad.
And I've been drinking lots, and lots, and lots of Hot Lemonade. It what we were always given as kids when we were sick. My mom would mix up mugs of powered lemonade with hot water instead of cold. Lemon scented steam always makes me feel better. I avoid all those powdered lemonade mixes now - way too much sugar. I've been using True Lemon to get through this cold.
I heard about True Lemon last year as a drink flavoring substitute. Each packet is the equivalent of 2 squeezes of lemon or lime. It's made with crystallized juice - no calories, no carbs. I usually carry a few packets in my purse so I can flavor water when I go out - tap water can be pretty unappetizing at times. I'll also dump it in Perrier or Club Soda if I want some 'pop'.And when I'm sick, it dump it in hot water and drink it down. It dissolves far more easily in hot water than cold, and I enjoy it without needing to add any sweetner - the lemon flavor is enough on it's own. Plus it's so soothing for my throat.
I'll be so glad when this cold is over with. But the Hot Lemonade is making it easier to get through.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)