Monday:
Today I was 80.8 kg, exactly the same as last week.
This is my fourth day of carb loading. I'm supposed to do three, but I started early and will get five before my blood test on Wednesday morning. The first two days I loved the feeling of being "allowed" to eat all the carbs I wanted. Bread and potatoes and even biscuits. Crackers with my cheese. Pasta, rice, all the stuff I've been trying to avoid all year. By last night, the end of day three, I no longer had any interest. I did eat the dessert I made (lemon tart) for our family dinner, but then put out lots of snacks in the evening for guests and only had a couple of chips. So it looks like three days would have been ideal. Today I pretty much had to force myself to have toast for breakfast and a bread roll with lunch. I feel heavy and tired and headachy. I had a nap this afternoon for the first time in ages. I thought I was tired all the time because of my poor sleep at night, but now I think carbs must contribute a bit.
But I'm still not having sugar in my tea. I feel like I've got to the point where I almost enjoy it that way (almost), and I don't want to waste all that work.
I poked around on the internet about carb-loading before a glucose tolerance test after getting some feedback that they don't do it in the UK. Apparently the received wisdom here is (or used to be) that if you don't usually eat a lot of carbs then have that sugary drink for the test, your body will overreact and you may get a "false positive" - i.e. the results will show you have diabetes when you don't. They make sure you eat carbs for a few days so you don't have that overreaction on the day. But many now say that carb-loading has little or no effect on the results. I'll just continue to do whatever the doctor/pathology clinic tell me to do each time. I've definitely been trying to do quite a low carb diet so I don't want that to mess with the results if there is a possibility of that.
Aiden's school had a student free day, or teacher development day, or whatever they call it here. I forgot that when planning my week, and had to rearranged my appointments a bit. No problem. We had a nice day together.
Showing posts with label carbs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label carbs. Show all posts
Monday, May 16, 2016
Friday, May 13, 2016
Lots of carbs
Friday:
As I mentioned yesterday, I'll need to eat lots of carbs for three days, starting Sunday. Well I started a bit early. Oh how I love bread rolls with lashings of butter! And maybe some other stuff. I just felt like, why bother trying when it's just for two more days? I know the other way of looking at it is to eat clean while I can to make up for the upcoming three days.
I've really been struggling with sticking to my plan so it's not just the carb loading, but that gave me an extra excuse to quiet the guilt demon. I think I won't be getting back on my strict plan until mid next week, after the test.
What I have been working on is drinking more, to get my body used to it before Monday when I have to hold a full bladder.
Here's a fun fact. You may have heard that non-African humans have around 3% Neanderthal DNA, well apparently red hair and freckles are linked to that! So Gingers are not straight from the devil, as some say, they are just cavemen.
As I mentioned yesterday, I'll need to eat lots of carbs for three days, starting Sunday. Well I started a bit early. Oh how I love bread rolls with lashings of butter! And maybe some other stuff. I just felt like, why bother trying when it's just for two more days? I know the other way of looking at it is to eat clean while I can to make up for the upcoming three days.
I've really been struggling with sticking to my plan so it's not just the carb loading, but that gave me an extra excuse to quiet the guilt demon. I think I won't be getting back on my strict plan until mid next week, after the test.
What I have been working on is drinking more, to get my body used to it before Monday when I have to hold a full bladder.
Here's a fun fact. You may have heard that non-African humans have around 3% Neanderthal DNA, well apparently red hair and freckles are linked to that! So Gingers are not straight from the devil, as some say, they are just cavemen.
Friday, May 6, 2016
Thirty nine: sick
Friday:
I woke early with abdominal pains, my day was made unpleasant by my digestive system. I won't go into details.
As usual when I have an upset tummy, I was uninterested in meat or vegetables, and I only ate salty carbs like vegemite on cruskits. I didn't count calories or carbs or even record what I ate. Mostly better by bedtime.
I woke early with abdominal pains, my day was made unpleasant by my digestive system. I won't go into details.
As usual when I have an upset tummy, I was uninterested in meat or vegetables, and I only ate salty carbs like vegemite on cruskits. I didn't count calories or carbs or even record what I ate. Mostly better by bedtime.
Friday, April 29, 2016
Thirty two: carb binge
Friday:
Total carb binge today. Toast, cheezles, cheesecake, more bread, whatever I could get my hands on. I've had terrible sleep for several nights plus hormones and I guess I just couldn't cope. My mouth feels like I've been eating sandpaper all day and my weight (this taken following morning, writing this on Sat) has gone up a whole kg in two days. I told you I could never lose more than 5 kg without blowing it.
Eating events on this weekend, not sure how I'm going to negotiate them.
Total carb binge today. Toast, cheezles, cheesecake, more bread, whatever I could get my hands on. I've had terrible sleep for several nights plus hormones and I guess I just couldn't cope. My mouth feels like I've been eating sandpaper all day and my weight (this taken following morning, writing this on Sat) has gone up a whole kg in two days. I told you I could never lose more than 5 kg without blowing it.
Eating events on this weekend, not sure how I'm going to negotiate them.
Monday, October 12, 2015
Term time again
Monday:
Yesterday we went to brunch at a friend's house and that was a lovely end to the school holidays. Today the kids are back at school for the last four weeks before we move. I was busy with various stuff, but I found half an hour for a nap on my bed. Lovely.
I continue to work on increasing my CPAP hours and reducing my carbs. I've found it matters a great deal which carbs - obviously sugary junk food is bad but also any rice products (rice, rice crackers, rice noodles) are terrible for my blood glucose levels, yet a couple of slices of low-GI bread is fine, a moderate quantity of potato is fine. Even ice cream is fine (probably because all the fat slows down the absorption of the sugar). So I don't have to give up carbs entirely! I'm still testing things as I go.
I continue to watch The Biggest Loser and I found last night's episode really sad. After four weeks there is still one family of three sisters (their father was voted out in week one) who fight constantly and haven't settled into any kind of healthy mindset. They are horrible to each other. The twins will yell at each other then suddenly turn on their big sister and gang up on her. And fight with the trainer, and everyone else in the house. And wonder why no one likes them. Their relationships with each other are so dysfunctional. But the extra sad bit was that Jodie - who argues with her trainer all the time and seems to sit out of half of each session because she hates the treadmill, she hates getting dirty, she hates boxing, he doesn't understand her, no one listens - didn't lose much weight and she immediately started blaming everyone else. It was her trainer's fault (???) that she hadn't exercised as much as she should have. She stood up there on the giant scale and said that it was her sister's fault she was fat because the sister moved in with her and "made her" get fat. She is an adult, and just doesn't get it. She is so sad and lonely and angry and unhealthy and she'll never change until she realises that it's her responsibility to change. Did she think going on the show and being physically present in the Biggest Loser house would be enough? No one can magically make her be thin and happy.
It's one thing to find dieting hard, or to realise that there are some external influences on your health, it's quite another to completely deny all personal responsibility. No wonder she feels powerless.
Yesterday we went to brunch at a friend's house and that was a lovely end to the school holidays. Today the kids are back at school for the last four weeks before we move. I was busy with various stuff, but I found half an hour for a nap on my bed. Lovely.
I continue to work on increasing my CPAP hours and reducing my carbs. I've found it matters a great deal which carbs - obviously sugary junk food is bad but also any rice products (rice, rice crackers, rice noodles) are terrible for my blood glucose levels, yet a couple of slices of low-GI bread is fine, a moderate quantity of potato is fine. Even ice cream is fine (probably because all the fat slows down the absorption of the sugar). So I don't have to give up carbs entirely! I'm still testing things as I go.
I continue to watch The Biggest Loser and I found last night's episode really sad. After four weeks there is still one family of three sisters (their father was voted out in week one) who fight constantly and haven't settled into any kind of healthy mindset. They are horrible to each other. The twins will yell at each other then suddenly turn on their big sister and gang up on her. And fight with the trainer, and everyone else in the house. And wonder why no one likes them. Their relationships with each other are so dysfunctional. But the extra sad bit was that Jodie - who argues with her trainer all the time and seems to sit out of half of each session because she hates the treadmill, she hates getting dirty, she hates boxing, he doesn't understand her, no one listens - didn't lose much weight and she immediately started blaming everyone else. It was her trainer's fault (???) that she hadn't exercised as much as she should have. She stood up there on the giant scale and said that it was her sister's fault she was fat because the sister moved in with her and "made her" get fat. She is an adult, and just doesn't get it. She is so sad and lonely and angry and unhealthy and she'll never change until she realises that it's her responsibility to change. Did she think going on the show and being physically present in the Biggest Loser house would be enough? No one can magically make her be thin and happy.
It's one thing to find dieting hard, or to realise that there are some external influences on your health, it's quite another to completely deny all personal responsibility. No wonder she feels powerless.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
House hunting and fire alarm
Wednesday:
I was a bit foolish yesterday. I went browsing for houses online even though we're not ready to buy. And of course I found the most perfect house ever in a lovely location and in our budget. Of course it might not be exactly like the photos, I've been fooled before (looking at you, castle house!). And it's not even in Sydney. Lol. I was looking where we often go for holidays in a smallish seaside town. We were there just after mum died, so there are some photos on my blog from January. So, lets see, we could stay in Canberra where Tim's job is, or we could move to Sydney where family is, or we could just ditch both and live near the sea! With no job. Living off savings indefinitely. And we'd have to sell this house first or organise a tricky loan - tricky because the bank expects Tim to have an income before they'll give us money. So the dream house would be gone by then anyway. Who wouldn't want to buy it? Oh well, I can look at the pictures and torture myself if I want to, can't I?
I did some exercise first thing this morning, before even breakfast, to make sure it got done. About 25 minutes dance. Very hot and sweaty, which is good, but it did make my shoulder ache, probably being completely un-warmed didn't help. (I warmed up as part of the dance routine, but that wasn't really enough straight out of bed.)
My left shoulder has been troubling me for some time. I hurt it somehow 3 or 4 years ago, I tore the tendon completely off the shoulder attachment. Very painful. I rested it and wore a sling for a while to let it heal. It is a lot better than it was then, but it still hurts a bit, a lot of the time. It aches if I lift my arm over my head for any length of time, it wakes me up if I sleep in the wrong position, I can't reach behind my back to do up my bra. Too much exercise or too much computer use hurts it. I struggle to put on a jacket or backpack because that involves rotating the shoulder - I have to do that sleeve/strap first or I can't put it on at all. It impacts on my life quite a lot. I've just put up with it assuming it would get better eventually, putting off investigating further. But shouldn't it be all healed up after several years? I've booked in to see my doctor and maybe get another ultrasound on it to see what is going on. I'm suddenly dumbfounded I've let it go on so long.
Edit: I looked back through my posts and I found the first mention of pain in my left shoulder on 5 September 2010, saying it had been hurting for a couple of months. Four and a half years.
I spent the morning booking appointments. The doctor for me, dentist for the kids, carpet clean, eye test. I have a list of 12 things ticked off! The calendar is pretty full for the next two weeks, something nearly every day. But still plenty of time to go to the gym in between, once the kids are back at school. I successfully put my gym membership on hold for one of the two weeks of the holidays (need a medical cert for more than one week any 3 month period). It is their fault for not having crèche in the holidays.
In the afternoon we went back to the indoor playground at the airport because the kids loved it last week. Invited along another family but they didn't end up coming. We paid our money and the kids took off their shoes and I literally hadn't sat down yet and the fire alarm went off. We were ushered outside (that was pretty funny, actually, the staff member got on the PA and rambled on for ages about she hoped we were enjoying our play before mentioning that we had to evacuate the building). Everyone in the whole shopping complex was out in the car park. Two fire engines came, and burly men in uniform. But they couldn't find any fire so after about 20 minutes we were let back in. Luckily the weather wasn't too bad today. There was no way I was leaving unless there was a real fire after paying $30 and getting nothing for it!
I got Chris Powell's carb cycling book from the library today and I'm refreshing myself with the rules. The website doesn't have very detailed information. But I'm happy with my first three days. High carb day today - which meant about 100 grams of carbs instead of about 50! Still not very much, but enough for me. One serve with each meal and snack (like one slice of bread, or an apple). About 100 more calories today than yesterday, which is fine.
Report card:
Diet: Great. (I'll get a fantastic when I eat more vegetables!)
Exercise: Good.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Good.
Mental health: Good.
Not a fantastic day, but nicely consistent across the board.
I was a bit foolish yesterday. I went browsing for houses online even though we're not ready to buy. And of course I found the most perfect house ever in a lovely location and in our budget. Of course it might not be exactly like the photos, I've been fooled before (looking at you, castle house!). And it's not even in Sydney. Lol. I was looking where we often go for holidays in a smallish seaside town. We were there just after mum died, so there are some photos on my blog from January. So, lets see, we could stay in Canberra where Tim's job is, or we could move to Sydney where family is, or we could just ditch both and live near the sea! With no job. Living off savings indefinitely. And we'd have to sell this house first or organise a tricky loan - tricky because the bank expects Tim to have an income before they'll give us money. So the dream house would be gone by then anyway. Who wouldn't want to buy it? Oh well, I can look at the pictures and torture myself if I want to, can't I?
I did some exercise first thing this morning, before even breakfast, to make sure it got done. About 25 minutes dance. Very hot and sweaty, which is good, but it did make my shoulder ache, probably being completely un-warmed didn't help. (I warmed up as part of the dance routine, but that wasn't really enough straight out of bed.)
My left shoulder has been troubling me for some time. I hurt it somehow 3 or 4 years ago, I tore the tendon completely off the shoulder attachment. Very painful. I rested it and wore a sling for a while to let it heal. It is a lot better than it was then, but it still hurts a bit, a lot of the time. It aches if I lift my arm over my head for any length of time, it wakes me up if I sleep in the wrong position, I can't reach behind my back to do up my bra. Too much exercise or too much computer use hurts it. I struggle to put on a jacket or backpack because that involves rotating the shoulder - I have to do that sleeve/strap first or I can't put it on at all. It impacts on my life quite a lot. I've just put up with it assuming it would get better eventually, putting off investigating further. But shouldn't it be all healed up after several years? I've booked in to see my doctor and maybe get another ultrasound on it to see what is going on. I'm suddenly dumbfounded I've let it go on so long.
Edit: I looked back through my posts and I found the first mention of pain in my left shoulder on 5 September 2010, saying it had been hurting for a couple of months. Four and a half years.
I spent the morning booking appointments. The doctor for me, dentist for the kids, carpet clean, eye test. I have a list of 12 things ticked off! The calendar is pretty full for the next two weeks, something nearly every day. But still plenty of time to go to the gym in between, once the kids are back at school. I successfully put my gym membership on hold for one of the two weeks of the holidays (need a medical cert for more than one week any 3 month period). It is their fault for not having crèche in the holidays.
In the afternoon we went back to the indoor playground at the airport because the kids loved it last week. Invited along another family but they didn't end up coming. We paid our money and the kids took off their shoes and I literally hadn't sat down yet and the fire alarm went off. We were ushered outside (that was pretty funny, actually, the staff member got on the PA and rambled on for ages about she hoped we were enjoying our play before mentioning that we had to evacuate the building). Everyone in the whole shopping complex was out in the car park. Two fire engines came, and burly men in uniform. But they couldn't find any fire so after about 20 minutes we were let back in. Luckily the weather wasn't too bad today. There was no way I was leaving unless there was a real fire after paying $30 and getting nothing for it!
I got Chris Powell's carb cycling book from the library today and I'm refreshing myself with the rules. The website doesn't have very detailed information. But I'm happy with my first three days. High carb day today - which meant about 100 grams of carbs instead of about 50! Still not very much, but enough for me. One serve with each meal and snack (like one slice of bread, or an apple). About 100 more calories today than yesterday, which is fine.
Report card:
Diet: Great. (I'll get a fantastic when I eat more vegetables!)
Exercise: Good.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Good.
Mental health: Good.
Not a fantastic day, but nicely consistent across the board.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
I won dietbet!
Wednesday:
I won my first dietbet! My weigh loss had stalled, still 600 grams to go, even though I was eating clean and counting calories. So for two days I cut right down on carbs, which also meant a natural reduction in calories, and concentrated on drinking lots of water. Without carbs I had little energy to exercise, but I did some walking and languid dancing. This morning I got up early, too much suspense to sleep, and got on the scale. And my weight had finally dropped to the required level! 80.7 kgs. A total loss of 3.5 kgs (7.7 pounds) over the four weeks of the dietbet.
Submitted and verified, I'm a winner. I won't know how much money I've won until everyone has weighed in, because the pot is shared between the winners. I will use it to buy myself another charm for my reward bracelet - it's been a long time since I've earned a new charm!
Then I had an early breakfast. Carbs! Oh beautiful carbs. Yummy toast.
A combination of success and carbs have made me a happy girl this morning.
My plan now is to relax my diet a bit until after Christmas (I said relax, not binge). And I'll definitely do another dietbet next year. I loved the supportive chat on the forums and the whole competition thing. I loved having a finishing line to aim for, not "this is my life now". They have 6 month challenges, but that is too long for me. One month is good.
I won my first dietbet! My weigh loss had stalled, still 600 grams to go, even though I was eating clean and counting calories. So for two days I cut right down on carbs, which also meant a natural reduction in calories, and concentrated on drinking lots of water. Without carbs I had little energy to exercise, but I did some walking and languid dancing. This morning I got up early, too much suspense to sleep, and got on the scale. And my weight had finally dropped to the required level! 80.7 kgs. A total loss of 3.5 kgs (7.7 pounds) over the four weeks of the dietbet.
Submitted and verified, I'm a winner. I won't know how much money I've won until everyone has weighed in, because the pot is shared between the winners. I will use it to buy myself another charm for my reward bracelet - it's been a long time since I've earned a new charm!
Then I had an early breakfast. Carbs! Oh beautiful carbs. Yummy toast.
A combination of success and carbs have made me a happy girl this morning.
My plan now is to relax my diet a bit until after Christmas (I said relax, not binge). And I'll definitely do another dietbet next year. I loved the supportive chat on the forums and the whole competition thing. I loved having a finishing line to aim for, not "this is my life now". They have 6 month challenges, but that is too long for me. One month is good.
Difficult days
Tuesday:
It's been a hard couple of days. Mum isn't any better. The new medication is helping her appetite go up from zero to low, which is good, and is also slowing down the fluid production (she thinks). But she is feeling worse and worse. Today I called several times and she didn't pick up the phone beside her bed. I finally got through to my brother when he got home and he said she's not up to answering the phone, and even talking is an effort. So that is scary. Does she need to be in hospital? Who makes that decision? I feel very helpless so far away.
Much less important, but still a burden, is that in a last-ditch attempt to win this dietbet I've cut out carbs (except fruit and non-starchy vegetables). 64 grams of carbs today, 68 yesterday. I'd been very good all week anyway with sticking to my calorie limit and avoiding junk, but my weight loss has stalled and for the past five days I've had the same 600 grams to lose, so I cut the carbs which usually does work for me. (But maybe I've already lost all the water weight I was holding on to, it doesn't seem to have helped this time so far.) I don't do well without carbs and two days without them has left me tired and weak and struggling to cope a bit. Or maybe that's just natural worry. Either way, it's been hard. My weigh out is tomorrow morning, or the next if I want. So I am looking forward to a whole additional day of low carb. Not.
Of course I could question if it is worth it. This current diet is not sustainable for me, I am only doing it to lose weight temporarily for this weigh out. Why do it to myself? I guess I just want to win this dietbet. And every day I eat healthily is another day I'm not stuffing myself with junk. Even if I binge a bit after it's over. Aside from these past couple of days, I've been eating a healthy sustainable diet. The dietbet has really helped me to stay on track. I've found it very motivational, and the chat on the website is great. Everyone is very supportive.
But right now I just want it over with.
It's been a hard couple of days. Mum isn't any better. The new medication is helping her appetite go up from zero to low, which is good, and is also slowing down the fluid production (she thinks). But she is feeling worse and worse. Today I called several times and she didn't pick up the phone beside her bed. I finally got through to my brother when he got home and he said she's not up to answering the phone, and even talking is an effort. So that is scary. Does she need to be in hospital? Who makes that decision? I feel very helpless so far away.
Much less important, but still a burden, is that in a last-ditch attempt to win this dietbet I've cut out carbs (except fruit and non-starchy vegetables). 64 grams of carbs today, 68 yesterday. I'd been very good all week anyway with sticking to my calorie limit and avoiding junk, but my weight loss has stalled and for the past five days I've had the same 600 grams to lose, so I cut the carbs which usually does work for me. (But maybe I've already lost all the water weight I was holding on to, it doesn't seem to have helped this time so far.) I don't do well without carbs and two days without them has left me tired and weak and struggling to cope a bit. Or maybe that's just natural worry. Either way, it's been hard. My weigh out is tomorrow morning, or the next if I want. So I am looking forward to a whole additional day of low carb. Not.
Of course I could question if it is worth it. This current diet is not sustainable for me, I am only doing it to lose weight temporarily for this weigh out. Why do it to myself? I guess I just want to win this dietbet. And every day I eat healthily is another day I'm not stuffing myself with junk. Even if I binge a bit after it's over. Aside from these past couple of days, I've been eating a healthy sustainable diet. The dietbet has really helped me to stay on track. I've found it very motivational, and the chat on the website is great. Everyone is very supportive.
But right now I just want it over with.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Diet bet and the perfect diet
Thursday:
I am planning to try a diet bet, starting on Monday. I've read of a few other people doing them and it all seems legit. No idea if it will help me or not but I'll give it a go. What happens is you join a group (or start your own) that is starting on a day that suits you and you pay the ante - generally around $25. If you lose the requisite amount of weight (4% of bodyweight in 4 weeks or 10% in 6 months depending on the group) you get to share the pot. It seems that on average around 40% of people succeed so after the facilitators take their cut you get between 1.5x and 2x your money back. If you don't lose the weight you lose your ante. At my current weight I would have to lose 3.3 kg (7.3 pounds) in the 4 weeks, which I would love to do before Christmas and it seems like it should be do-able. Any extra motivation would be awesome.
I felt quite unwell again yesterday, maybe too much running around the day before, but I rested up and I'm mostly better again today. I did some more clothes shopping today and bought a couple of pretty tops for Christmas. As it is always very hot here on the day, middle of summer, dress is casual. I found something I was very happy with today. I am so glad that I am not hating my body at the moment. Of course I want to lose weight, I wish I was 25 kg lighter right this second, but that is no reason to hate myself as I am. I am still me and can still look quite nice. I picked up my tailored pants (with the legs shortened for me) and I also lightened my hair again, all ready for the wedding. Ready to face the extended family and pretend I don't feel like a hen amongst flamingos.
With worries about my pre-diabetes possibly getting worse - my blood glucose levels have been consistently high for days after even moderate amounts of carbohydrate - I revisited my recommendations for the diabetic diet. It is all so confusing. My diabetes nutritionist told me to eat regular doses of carbohydrate at every meal and snack, in amounts that seemed bewilderingly large to me although some other people in my class still didn't think it was enough, to keep my blood glucose steady. The official guidelines seem to be the same for Australia, US, UK etc. But there is a huge community of diabetics out there on the forums who say it is much better to eat almost no carbohydrate at all. They eat less in a whole day than the dieticians say to eat in a single snack. There is a lot of support for LC/HF (low carb/high fat) diets. These people say that low carb is much better than moderate carbs for keeping blood sugars low. On the nutritionist recommended diet they seem to expect you to gradually get worse and need various medication, that is the normal progression. And the LC/HF people say that of course that is the progression if you keep eating lots of carbs!
I personally don't like eating high fat, it makes me feel sick and greasy. And I am unwilling to approve any diet that greatly restricts fruit and even many vegetables. But I don't think lots of carbs is good either (and I'd never lose any weight, which is very important for diabetic health). Is there a compromise?
I think I have a pretty clear idea now of what I think the "perfect" diet is (for me, at least), and it is summed up by Michael Pollan's "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."
I am planning to try a diet bet, starting on Monday. I've read of a few other people doing them and it all seems legit. No idea if it will help me or not but I'll give it a go. What happens is you join a group (or start your own) that is starting on a day that suits you and you pay the ante - generally around $25. If you lose the requisite amount of weight (4% of bodyweight in 4 weeks or 10% in 6 months depending on the group) you get to share the pot. It seems that on average around 40% of people succeed so after the facilitators take their cut you get between 1.5x and 2x your money back. If you don't lose the weight you lose your ante. At my current weight I would have to lose 3.3 kg (7.3 pounds) in the 4 weeks, which I would love to do before Christmas and it seems like it should be do-able. Any extra motivation would be awesome.
I felt quite unwell again yesterday, maybe too much running around the day before, but I rested up and I'm mostly better again today. I did some more clothes shopping today and bought a couple of pretty tops for Christmas. As it is always very hot here on the day, middle of summer, dress is casual. I found something I was very happy with today. I am so glad that I am not hating my body at the moment. Of course I want to lose weight, I wish I was 25 kg lighter right this second, but that is no reason to hate myself as I am. I am still me and can still look quite nice. I picked up my tailored pants (with the legs shortened for me) and I also lightened my hair again, all ready for the wedding. Ready to face the extended family and pretend I don't feel like a hen amongst flamingos.
With worries about my pre-diabetes possibly getting worse - my blood glucose levels have been consistently high for days after even moderate amounts of carbohydrate - I revisited my recommendations for the diabetic diet. It is all so confusing. My diabetes nutritionist told me to eat regular doses of carbohydrate at every meal and snack, in amounts that seemed bewilderingly large to me although some other people in my class still didn't think it was enough, to keep my blood glucose steady. The official guidelines seem to be the same for Australia, US, UK etc. But there is a huge community of diabetics out there on the forums who say it is much better to eat almost no carbohydrate at all. They eat less in a whole day than the dieticians say to eat in a single snack. There is a lot of support for LC/HF (low carb/high fat) diets. These people say that low carb is much better than moderate carbs for keeping blood sugars low. On the nutritionist recommended diet they seem to expect you to gradually get worse and need various medication, that is the normal progression. And the LC/HF people say that of course that is the progression if you keep eating lots of carbs!
I personally don't like eating high fat, it makes me feel sick and greasy. And I am unwilling to approve any diet that greatly restricts fruit and even many vegetables. But I don't think lots of carbs is good either (and I'd never lose any weight, which is very important for diabetic health). Is there a compromise?
I think I have a pretty clear idea now of what I think the "perfect" diet is (for me, at least), and it is summed up by Michael Pollan's "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."
"Eat food" means to eat real food - vegetables, fruits, whole grains, dairy and meat. Nothing that has a shelf life of several years - if it won't rot, it isn't real food. And mostly plant food is healthiest, lots of fruit and vegetables of as many varieties as you can get.
I don't ban fruit from my "perfect" diet even though it has natural sugars. I don't ban grain even though it has gluten. I don't ban dairy even though it has lots of fat. I don't have sensitivities to any particular foods so that would be an issue for some but not me. But there is very little room in my perfect diet for anything heavily processed. Basically anything that comes in a packet. If it needs a label with nutritional information on it, I probably shouldn't be eating it. And there needs to be portion control even with the best of foods.
So why don't I follow this perfect diet? Because the other junk is so tempting! Still working on it, every day.
I saw a bit of a documentary the other day about meat consumption and they were saying that for environmental sustainability (with the world's population continuing to expand but the land available remaining the same) we should be consuming around 100 grams of meat per person per day. I eat a lot more meat than that. But we are running out of forests to cut down to make more farm land for our cows and sheep so rich people can keep stuffing themselves with meat. It's another thing to take into consideration.
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