ytd = April 1 2011 - March 31, 2012
Coupon total ytd = 637.89
RX total = 184.64
Discounted Gift Cards = 207.19
Total = 1,029.72
I've had diabetes and high blood pressure for over 10 years. During that time most of the things I read about how to control diabetes from the ADA were eat more whole grains, eat less meat, eat less fat. Even just this month the new ADA guidelines are to eat 45 - 65% daily carbohydrates. I followed the rules and I kept getting worse. Every year I had to increase my medications. I lost some wieght, but even with that I couldn't bring my diabetes/high blood pressure under control.
For the past 3 months I've been reading about a lot of alternative ways to control diabetes/high blood pressure and the middle of April I started trying them. The main one was to drastically reduce carbs (under 50/day), no sugar. Eat more protein (4 - 6 oz/meal) and eat more fat (just not trans fat). I am amazed. I haven't lost tons of weight, but I have lost 15 pounds in 3 months, eating around 1800 cal/day. I went from taking 4 high blood pressure meds to keep my blood pressure in the high/normal range to 1 med with my blood pressure absolutely normal. I got my fasting blood sugar results today for the 3 month A1c test. It is 6.1% down from 7.3%. This is fantastic! Under 6% is considered normal, if I can bring it down just a little bit more, I will be normal! In only 3 months. Next month I plan to get my cholesterol and triglycerides checked.
I feel like I've been duped, like the government has been lying to me. They want me to be on drugs to control the problem. They want the agricultural businesses to grow, by me eating more of their products. This is their advice for the last 20 years and in that time there has been an explosion of obesity and diabetes and I blame it on that advice to americans to eat more grains and less fat. The drug companies and agricultural companies donate hugh amounts of money to the ADA.
I watched the documentary FatHead on netflix, which gave a lot of good information. I've read several books including the Diabetes Solution, Eat Fat, Lose Fat, Protein Power and several others that explain how many, many, many studies show when people reduce carbs, all the markers doctors look at for health improve - blood sugar, blood pressure and lipids. I've found several websites devoted to diabetics who have improved their numbers this way and are now medication free.
Eating this way has taken away all my cravings for food. I've bought several candy bars in the last couple weeks that were free, but I haven't even been tempted to eat them. I've given them all away. It used to be I could eat a big bowl of pasta, or oatmeal or something like that and in 2 hours I was looking for something else to eat. I was never satisfied. I feel so calm now.
There are some drawbacks. It's a lot more expensive to eat this way. My grocery bill doubled last month and tripled this month. This month the reason is buying $100 worth of vitamin supplements to see if I can get my blood sugar down a little more. Partly the cost was because I wasn't stocked up for this way of eating and had to buy a lot of things when they weren't on sale. Once I get stocked and start finding the sales the monthly price should come down some. Another offset to that though is not eating out as much that saves around $50 a month since I went from 10 times a month to 4.
It's harder to eat out or go to friends to celebrate. I have to really plan ahead and bring my own food if needed.
It's really hard to find products without some kind of sugar or msg or transfat. It seems like everything has some form of sugar - it's amazing. Even tuna is packed in broth, which has msg in it. And just about every salad dressing or cheese or lunchmeat has either sugar or something hydrologized in it. Hydrologized anything means transfats.
I spend more time prepping and cooking food. I didn't used to eat meat at home much unless it was in a frozen dinner or tuna or something like that, so I actually cook meat.
It's a little boring after awhile since I mostly eat protein and veggies at every meal. There are some really good low-carb bars and ice cream and stuff out there and I can eat nuts, which helps. Again all that stuff is more expensive than grains. But bottom line I decided spending the money now to be healthy and get my numbers under control will save money in the future when I don't have to have amputations or heart disease etc.
I've lost one clothing size, both up and down and I have more energy. My heartburn after meals went away. I can't remember the last time I had a headache. I fall asleep within a half hour of laying down - it used to take me an hour or more. I sleep almost the whole night thru - I usually have one bathroom break, but the sleep seems to be a deep, good sleep, not restless.
All in all I feel so much better and the results speak for themselves. I did Atkins years ago, but couldn't stay on it for longer than a few days. For some reason this time it is not that hard. Eventually I should be able to increase my carbs some and eat around 100 grams/day.
I don't know why I finally decided to take control of this area in my life. I think I was kind of fatalistic before. You have diabetes, you'll have it for life. You'll always need medications. Eventually you'll die of it and probably a lot sooner than you would otherwise. I frequently read the advice from the ADA and tried to follow it, but obviously that was a load of @#$@#. And maybe that's why I was so fatalistic, because I did follow their advice and it wasn't working. I just kept getting worse.
Now the more I read the alternative view points and websites, the more excited I am about having normal numbers. You can't be cured from diabetes, but I can be normal. For the next 2 months I plan to continue this way of eating and add in the supplements that are supposed to help. I'll test again in September to see if I've made any more improvements.
Anyways having a stupendous day today with getting those results in the mail. I also got 3 more $5 credit cards from the cereal deal last month.
I finished reading my book Free Fall in Crimson by John D. Macdonald. Mystery - pretty good.
I feel like I've been duped
July 12th, 2011 at 09:00 pm
July 12th, 2011 at 09:13 pm 1310505201
What are the supplements you are taking or going to be taking? I'm really interested.
July 12th, 2011 at 09:19 pm 1310505591
Part of this started when a nurse at urgent care told me I had to drink fruit juice when I was sick and dehydrated. I told her I was diabetic and she still stressed this.
Your article is just another nail in the coffin of trusting health officials on things.
I am very happy you feel better too. That's everything.
July 12th, 2011 at 10:08 pm 1310508491
July 12th, 2011 at 11:02 pm 1310511722
I am so happy you are feeling better. So happy, but as I said, I am shocked that that is the advice you were given.
July 13th, 2011 at 12:25 am 1310516724
July 13th, 2011 at 02:11 am 1310523111
July 13th, 2011 at 10:20 am 1310552434
I agree that the health advice we get is often conflicting or ineffective. That's why I think it's our responsibility to educate ourselves (as you have done) and make an informed decision about our own healthcare and not simply do as the doctor says. But it's very often the case that advice we're given at one time evolves or changes down the road with new research or new findings.
July 13th, 2011 at 01:27 pm 1310563657
July 13th, 2011 at 01:56 pm 1310565392
July 13th, 2011 at 04:54 pm 1310576046
July 13th, 2011 at 07:46 pm 1310586411
magnesium 250 mg - 2 x/day
chromium piccolinate 200 mcg - 2 x/day
vitamin E 400 IU/day
alpha-lipoic acid 300 mg - 2 x/day
Co Q-10 100 mg in morning, 200 mg at night
July 13th, 2011 at 07:57 pm 1310587077
I don't believe the government is trying to make people fat or have diabetes. I do believe they are swayed to promote a certain way of eating by pharmeceutical and agricultural businesses. I believe the obesity and diabetes are an unexpected consequence of those actions.
When you look at how often the government gives out bad advice that in a few years changes, I don't know how you can believe anything they tell you. I prefer to use my common sense and see that if something isn't working for me, see what works for others and try it to see if it works for me too. For whatever reason it took me a long time to do that in this case, even though I'm pretty much a take-charge kind of person in all other areas and rarely follow 'common knowledge' advice.
July 14th, 2011 at 10:05 pm 1310681108
Why else would cigarettes be legal and marijuana not? Why else would drugs that are known to be harmful to you be allowed to be sold?
I try to keep things all natural. But when something so life threatening as diabetes comes along, grabs you by the hair, and steers you around like a puppet, it makes it quite hard to go au naturale.
Congrats and keep it up!
July 15th, 2011 at 10:12 pm 1310767978
Jerry
July 17th, 2011 at 02:58 am 1310871492
Oh yes, I have my own story about the medical establishment. I told the nurse that I had lost 40 pounds, she asked me how I did it ... I told that I did it in the most boring way possible by controlling my eating and exercising. The nurse was 200 lbs (the same I was when I started)...and promptly told me "she could never do that". Huh?
There are times when we all have to be scientists and experiment a bit with ourselves. (that came out funny). I'd see how much more you can improve with the supplements, but be willing to measure it and drop them should they pan out.
July 18th, 2011 at 02:52 am 1310957560
July 29th, 2011 at 08:23 pm 1311971035
I don't have diabetis but it is general knowledge that carbs convert straight to sugar. Especially simple carbs! And eating whole grain (true whole grain, not gimmycky whole grain) is better when you do it instead of refined stuff, not in addition.
I think government and doctors try very hard to promote healthy life style but "eat healthy and exersize" usually goes into one ear of most patients and out the other. Health costs are astronomical. Government does not "make" money of people being obese or diabetic. They spend money. And many doctors just give up. Since the patients don't eat healthy and exercise, medication is the only resort left. When it should be the last resort.
Yes, food industry is deplorable in health standards and it is a battle to find truly healthy and fresh things. Because they seek profit - and the longer the shelf life of the product, the less profit loss is involved. So they refine, preserve, add a tonn of fat, sugar and salt to make it taste passable...
Really, simple rule of thumb -- foods that are best for you don't have a long shelf life. That is the reality of it. Generally, longer you can keep it, the more processed it is.