Eating to Take Control

This week feels good.  Food-wise I am doing better. Exercise-wise I am doing better, and blood sugar-wise I am doing better.  It is amazing what a difference food makes in the body.  Eating well can help us feel good, energetic and healthy.  Eating poorly, can make us cranky and sluggish.  I believe in balance. I think you can have a cookie here and there as long as most of the time you are eating healthfully.  I'm getting closer to that balance.  And you? How is your journey?

Through out the day, when ever I wanted a snack, I just grabbed 2-3 peanut butter balls.  It's nice to have something quick that doesn't kill my sugar levels.

Breakfast was cereal and almond milk.  Nothing too exciting, but tasty.

Some of my home made, diabetic friendly coleslaw for lunch. The recipe is here.

I found this diet juice.  It is so good.  It has 5 calories and 2 grams of sugar. What a nice treat.

Chicken tacos for dinner. Mexican food is easily transformed into diabetic friendly fare, if you leave out extra fats and sauces.  I boiled my chicken breasts and then flavored them.  No sauces, just salsa and a little sour cream. I added avocados for some good healthy fat, and because I love them.  They add all the creaminess that I need, but since I eat them fresh, instead of in guacamole, they are a really healthy addition.

I was only at a 74 blood sugar level last night, so I made some french toast.  I used home made, whole wheat bread, (which I bought from my neighbor's daughter.  She is quite a little baker, and making this as a fund raiser to fund her trip to a national clogging competition. I love entrepreneurship!) Any way, it is a fabulous all whole wheat bread, and she grinds the wheat fresh, so it is really yummy and nutritious.  I used boysenberry syrup.  

You CAN Exercise!

A lot of the people who follow this blog have told me that they do so while they try to change their habits and get healthier.  Some of the people who have written, have commented that they are trying to lose weight, while others are also trying to cure or control diabetes.  Hopefully, the food log and some of the recipes are helping with that.  For me, taking a picture of everything I eat, and reporting it, keeps me more honest than I would be with myself. 

However, when controlling diabetes, or when losing weight, or even when trying to live a healthy lifestyle, diet is not enough.  Exercise is critical.  What you eat controls your size, what you do controls your ability.  Your muscles look better, your lungs function better, your brain is clearer, your mood is happier when you exercise. I am not a personal trainer or fitness expert- at all!  However, I have learned a few things, and I hope this will help.  If this is a popular part of my blog, I will keep it up.  :)

So these are the common reasons for not exercising and what I think are some ways to overcome those hurdles.

1) I don't have enough time to exercise.  --  Did you watch the season finale of Castle?  Did you see the kiss?  Then you have time.  Get off the couch, stand in front of your TV and march in place.  Seriously, you are going to watch Castle, Psych, and The Bachelor anyway.  Stand up and do something while you watch.  It will keep you from eating ice cream, and you can feel good about multitasking.

2) I'm in too much pain. -- Some of you are in immense pain, and you shouldn't do anything without asking your doctor, but have you asked your doctor? Have you asked the chiropractor what exercises you can do? It hurts, but the more muscle you have, the less it will hurt.  If, however, you hurt because you are overweight- that pain isn't going away until you do something about it. So start by walking up and down your driveway 2 or 3 times.  Take it slow, it's not a race, it's life; but it is life, and you are missing it.

3) I can't afford a gym membership. -- Do you have a pair of tennis shoes? Then you have a gym membership.  Put them on and take a walk.  If you want weights, pick up 2 cans of soup or 2 water bottles. Ta-DA!!!  Grab a towel and you have everything you need.

4) It's uncomfortable. -- Good!  Then you are doing it correctly!  Trust me, I hate exercising- or at least I used to.  I didn't ever sweat or breath hard if I could help it.  I have a friend who, and I am not kidding, has a recording of me that she kept after I called her the first time I worked hard enough to be out of breath. She was so proud.

5) I don't want anyone to see me exercise. -- I have been there.  I didn't want to go to a gym with lots of skinny little blonds with perky ponytails.  I didn't want the guys in the gym to look at me.  This is the excuse that people won't say out loud and won't admit to others, you feel too fat for the gym.  It doesn't matter that the gym was made to get rid of fat- you just can't walk through that door. 

The cure? There are 2- you can either suck it up, bite the bullet, and walk through those gym doors- which is a really good option, or you can start at home.  The first option will allow you access to personal trainers, friends and support.  Contrary to what you have worked up in your mind, most people will applaud you- if they even notice you.  They are, after all busy with their own work-outs. It makes it more likely that you will use equipment correctly, and thus avoid injury.  It requires bravery, but you can be brave.

The second option, it is what I did.  Yup, I ran in my house.  I ran up and down my stairs until I worked up to 100 stairs. I lifted cans of beans. I did pathetic, floppy sit-ups. But I did do it.  After 2 years I worked up the courage to go to a boot camp.  Best thing I ever did!!  All women, (except for the instructor, but luckily, he looked exactly like my younger brother, so I wasn't intimidated),  I did it with a friend, and I tried to do everything full out.  By the end, I could hold plank, lift one arm and then the other, run dirty 30s and do a REAL sit up.  I could even pump out 28 boy push ups.  But I wouldn't have had the courage to do it if I hadn't started at home.  :)

Lastly, I have got to tell you- women who are 8 months pregnant still exercise.  They do push-ups off the wall instead of on the floor.  They waddle, they are slow, but they do it.  Everyone can do it.  The hardest part?  It isn't starting.  The first week is always easy.  The second, harder but you are focused.  It is the 3rd and 4th weeks, when real life creeps in and you have to adjust schedules and it is easy to skip days.  Don't do it- don't skip.  Find a time and do it for at least 25 min.  The hardest part is continuing when you are tired and bored and out of ideas.  But since you are going to watch Castle anyway- you really have no excuse.

Back on Track

So the past two weeks, I have not been as diligent with my diet as I should be.  Yesterday, I decided to fix that.  I am back on a plan that controls the sugars and allows me to feel healthier.  I also resumed my workouts.  Exercising is never easy, but if you back off for a time it is so hard to start again.  It's better to not stop, but sometimes life forces you to stop.  Hopefully, I will be more diligent at making time from now on.

Shakes Alive! I eat a lot of these. lol

This is one of my favorite treats.  Frozen blueberries.  I am not a fresh blueberry fan, but frozen, these little babies are sooo addictive.  The process of freezing enhances their sweetness, and their texture is exactly like a little Popsicle. It's like eating little baby popsicles.  A serving is 1/4 c.  I think I always eat about twice that much.  (Also, if I make oatmeal for breakfast, I put a few of these in the bowl and pour the hot cereal over them and then I cover the bowl for a few minutes.  The blueberries swell up and sweeten the entire bowl. So good!)  Do yourself a favor and freeze some of these babies.  Yum!!

Tillamook Yogurt does not have growth hormones, or any strange preservatives.  It is sweet and yummy and I love it.  I love Yoplait too, but I really like knowing that there are no growth hormones in my yogurt, so I chose this.  It is a nice snack, but can raise sugars.  My sugars were only at 74, so I was pretty safe with this choice.

Lunch was lettuce wraps and cottage cheese with light peaches.  Not gourmet, but very satisfying.  Look how many wraps I can have.  That is more than a sandwich.

Dinner was hotdogs and sausages for the family.  Mine was a Louisianan style hot sausage.  I made my diabetic-friendly cole slaw, and cherry-pineapple salad.  That salad, is not salad, by the way- it is dessert.  Very good, but really sweet, even with my modifications.  I froze the left-overs, so I won't be tempted to eat them this week. 

I made peanut butter protien balls for a late snack.  Because these have honey, they still have sugar and raise sugar levels, but they are better than a cookie with refined flour and sugar.  Plus they have lots of protein and healthy oats, so yum.  :)

The Human Pincushion

I figured out, yesterday, that if I test my sugars, the minimum required amount, which is 4 times per day, I test a minimum of 28 times per week.  That means I poke myself with a needle 28 times a week.  This explains why my fingers are starting to look and feel like pincushions.  I most often test on my left index finger, and I can see the little scars forming.  I am also starting to lose some of the sensitivity in my fingers.  It's temporary, for me, but I am starting to understand why so many diabetics test irregularly.  I can test on my palm or my forearm but I haven't quite mastered the palm, and the forearm scares me.  That looks like it hurts.

 This is the one thing that really makes me focus on controlling my sugar levels.  I do not want to do this the rest of my life.  It's a pain.  Literally and figuratively. Still, it is such a blessing to live in a time when testing is this easy.

 More and more people are being diagnosed with pre-diabetes and type II diabetes.  I want to shout from the rooftops, "EAT HEALTHY AND EXERCISE! DIABETES IS NOT FUN AND NOT WORTH THAT EXTRA PIECE OF CAKE." I suppose that is a little melodramatic, but really, if I could save you the hassle of this every day, 4 times a day,- I would.

 

I ate doughnuts for Breakfast

Okay, I did eat doughnuts for breakfast, but only 2- and they were small.  Later I went back for a 3rd.  But I watched my sugars.  And they were baked, and they weren't really doughnuts. They were biscuits filled with jam and folded over.  I brushed them with butter, sprinkled on cinnamon sugar and baked them.  Tasted like doughnuts to my family, and they weren't fried.  Now they aren't exactly health food, but they are better than a deep-fried fat bubble filled with sugar.  (Did I mention that I don't actually like doughnuts?) Any way, that was the way the morning started. 

Later in the day, when I realized that once again I hadn't eaten enough, it was too late.  Actually I had eaten, but I had worked hard, and I hadn't compensated for the extra exertion on my body.  I started to pass out.  Luckily, my hubby was home and put my feet up and finished making dinner.  Hubbies are not happy when wives do not take care of themselves.  I got that accusing look.  Controlling diabetes through diet alone isn't easy, and I got complacent.  He went to the store and bought 4 of my favorite candy bars.  He said they are to treat myself when my levels are in range.  It was sweet of him.  I know that it is also so that when my sugars sink too low, he has access to some fast sugars that I will eat. :)  That's my guy- always the problem solver. :)

Here is a picture of the doughnut, half eaten, because I remembered to photograph it half way through.

I also had my favorite smoothie.  However, I added peanut butter to it.  I wanted to make sure everyone got full and got some protien.  One of my kids said it tasted like a peanut butter cup. I thought it was really good too.

I remembered my morning snack.

and even had a little rice pudding. The craisins were delicious in it, by the way.

Lunch! Whole wheat toast, peanut butter and banana.  mmmmnnn.

No this wasn't dinner.  Because my sugars were so low, I didn't stop to take time to photograph my dinner.  I just ate.  We had baked chicken, salad, and some rice pudding.  After dinner, my hubby went to the store.  He bought all sorts of little goodies that I haven't been buying. Sabotage!!!  Just kidding.  He put most everything away, out of my sight before I even realized he was unloading groceries. These however, were left out. And yes, after checking my sugar levels, I had a late night snack of Oreos.  Yes I had 6.  Please, do you actually only eat 2? My sugar levels were still within range this morning.  On the high end, but in range. 

Enchilada Casserole

We're making this.  Enchilada Casserole.  Yes, it's yummy.  It did not spike my sugars either. Double win.

This is some of what you will need.

You will also need some tortillas.  I use corn.

and some ground beef, about 1 lb. and some taco mix.  Cook it up exactly like you are making tacos.

Add some cream cheese with the water that you use for the taco mix.

add your beans and some olives

put 1/2 over tortillas that have been laid flat on the bottom of your pan

cover with 1/2 the can of diced tomatoes.  My tomatoes had the green chilis already added.  Otherwise, I would have also added some green chilis to the layer.

Layer on some cheese and some of the green enchilada sauce. Then add another layer of tortillas and do it again. 

crush some of these up.  I had crumbs in the bottom of the bag, so this was a perfect way to use them. you only need 1/2 - 3/4 cup of crushed chips.  Not very many at all.

sprinkle on top

add a tiny bit more cheese if you want.  I didn't because I was keeping the fat and calories down.  In fact I added 1/2 the cheese I normally would, and no one even noticed.  Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 30 min.  Remove foil and bake for another 10 min. until the cheese and Doritos look fused and crunchy.  

looks yummy huh?  Serve on a bed of lettuce with sour cream.  The lettuce gives it crunch and texture, so I do recommend it. Plus it's healthier and rounds out the meal.

I'm Good at any Diet for the First 2 Weeks

How many of you are like me?  You are excellent at staying on an eating plan for about 2 weeks, and then you start to slip back into bad habits.  It can be so discouraging.  If I can get past this phase, I will probably be successful, but it is difficult.  Still, I am working on it. I find that I keep forgetting to test my sugar levels.  It is critical that I test at this point, so I need to do a better job.  But when you are diabetic your entire life revolves around food, and testing.  If other things, like needing to watch your brother's kids, or needing to run kids to the dentist and doctor, or having unexpected visitors drop by; if those things crop up, and they will, it tends to throw off your entire day.  It's hard for me to test, if I have a visitor. It's hard for me to eat right if I am watching kids. It takes practice, and I'm sure I will get better at it.  But at this point, life's little interruptions, interrupt my ability to care for myself correctly.

That is not to say that I don't want visitors, or that I can't or shouldn't do the things for others that I need to do.  It is simply that I need to figure out how to balance diabetes with real life, because for me, diabetes is real life. It is the same set of problems that usually throws a dieter off track- real life. At some point you find a balance and things start to click.  But you might also have to say "no" to some things, while you concentrate on your health.  And that, is easier said than done.

I went back to my normal smoothie for breakfast.  What can I say- I love them.  I am now making enough for my entire family.  Everyone loves them.

So yes, this is a quick and lame lunch.  2 cheese sticks and a small package of lunch meat. 

I found these mini ice cream sandwiches.  They are sweetened with Agave Nectar and made with coconut milk.  They actually taste really good.  They are 100 calories.  I gave one to my kid, who didn't notice that it wasn't actually ice cream.  Now the trick will be keeping the family out of my stuff. :)

This is an enchilada casserole.  I served it over a bed of lettuce with cantaloupe on the side.  My blood sugar levels were really good after this, and I had a decent sized portion, so I will post the recipe too. 

I made rice pudding with almond milk and splenda.  It turned out really yummy.  I had 2 bowls last night.  I also added cranberries to it.  Yum.

Okay, sometimes I just need some chocolate.  Only I don't have any.  So I rummaged through the chocolate chip bags and grazed for a while.  Not diabetic friendly, especially before bed.  But this is an accurate log- so this is an accurate reporting. ;)

You Can't Forget to Eat When You Are Diabetic

So yesterday, I forgot to eat lunch.  I had snacked some, but lunch just slipped past me.  Turns out, that is really not smart.  Snacks do not take the place of a good meal.  Lesson learned.  My sugar levels are finally evening out this morning, but the headache and the nasty feeling of nauseousness, it stinks. So there you go.  Don't skip meals.

I made a smoothie using frozen strawberries and slimfast and almond milk.  It was good, but it didn't keep me as full as the Attain shake does.  Since the attain also comes in strawberry, I am going to order some of that.  Don't get me wrong, the slimfast works. But the Attain does a better job at keeping my sugar levels even and keeping me full.  Additionally, they have added a GC control line which is designed for keeping sugar levels even and they have a Caramel Creme Brulee that looks fabulous, so I think I am going to invest in a few more shake flavors.

Just a few in the car to keep me from having a sugar crash, *wink*

This is a no-sugar added fruit bar.  It's only 25 calories, but it is tasty and cool. Yeah for tangerine.

 

Probably the best snack I had this day.  1 cheese stick.

Okay, I am weak- yes, I had some animal cookies. 

About the time that I realized that I had missed lunch, it was already 3:00.  I thought some whole wheat toast would be enough.  It really wasn't, but it helped.

Dinner was stir-fry over rice with some chow mien noodles.  I should have ditched the noodles.  I couldn't stop eating them.  Sugar levels were at 136 after dinner.  Too high, and it could have been avoided.  Oh well.  As you can see, one of the easiest ways to know if a meal is diabetic friendly- is the color test.  I strive to add as many colors as I can to my meals. Greens, reds, yellows, purples; lots of colors generally means lots of fruits and vegetables.  It's not the only indicator, but it is a helpful tip.

Pickles are yummy.

It took me 4 days, but I finally finished my cheesecake.

Salsa is a "free" food for a diabetic or a dieter.  I eat it with veggies, on cottage cheese and over eggs. 

But that night, I had corn chips. :)

I like this stuff now.  Who knew?