Okay I REALLY suck at keeping an updated blog when I'm writing. Yeah all the words are going to a story! Boo, anybody knowing what's going on right now. :p Hopefully the summary helped catch everyone up. This post is pretty much dealing with my diabetes, because I'm on a new regimen and I need to make notes of what's happening. Curses ahoy, don't read this one out loud.
My 2014 goal of more exercise and overhauling my food choices slacked off in February when I stopped measuring myself to see what my body was telling me about my health. So I got less strict about what I was eating and never developed a good exercise routine to follow. The time period wasn't just me completely ignoring my health. I ponied up the money for monthly massages—namely because there was no way exercise was happening as tight as my muscles were—and they have helped immensely.
So I trucked along in this subpar fashion and then signed up for the Reversing Diabetes World Summit 2014 on May 5. Initially I just followed Mark Sisson there, but I ended up listen to everybody and taking notes. Suzy Cohen, RPh. talked about how a lot of the side effects of medicine were caused because the medicine steals vital nutrients from you and the over-the-counter supplements are not pharmaceutical or medical grade so you wouldn't be replacing what your body is missing with those. Well crap, how long have I been on metformin? Dr. Josh Axe gave me goal numbers to be aware of.
Diabetic
- A1C level = 6.5 or above
- Fasting morning glucose is greater than 125 – 130
- A1C level = 5.5 or lower
- Fasting morning glucose = 100
Looking back, I think I picked up my mother's defeatist attitude when it comes to living with diabetes. She watched aunts follow the strict doctor's orders, kept themselves skinny, and still lose legs and eyesight. Her mother lived a lot longer (albeit in horrible shape by eating whatever she wanted. I thought I was doing better by at least being aware that I function best on a Primal diet, taking the medicine prescribed to me, exercising until I fell off the wagon, but I never sought out any additional research until the Summit dropped itself in my lap.
I checked out Drug Muggers by Suzy Cohen and Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis, since so many presenters at the Summit said his work was their starting point. I got my bloodwork done at the end of May for my June appointment with my doctor.
May 28, 2014 – June 4, 2014
- Fasting morning glucose = 183
- A1C = 7.8
I took my list of supplements modified with the information found in Drug Muggers (but not by much) to my chiropractor, who I had bought multi-vitamins from before. The office manager confirmed they sourced pharmaceutical grade and she'd price my list for me, but she recommended that I go see Dr. Jessica, a Traditional Naturopathic Doctor, for a check over. "Honey, you probably don't need all of these."
That sounded reasonable, and was even more reasonable when I saw the price tag on my list of supplements. I got an appointment to see Dr. Jessica on August 21st and filled out her health assessment before I went. My weight on August 13th had ballooned up to 194 lbs. and I had my worse week of sleep ever that week. So I answered the "list you current health concerns you would like changed" with "put my body in balance to fight the diabetes, better quality sleep, knowledge of what foods I should eat. Losing weight and getting off my medication are long-term goals." And by long-term I meant I never see it happening but I'm okay with it as long as I don't have to take insulin shots ever.
The two issues that alarmed Dr. Jessica the most about my assessment was how much aspartame I was consuming and how little water I was really drinking. Yes, I had heard many times how aspartame is evil but I didn't want to deal with caffeine withdrawal headaches and I ALWAYS figured sugar was my real enemy. "If my blood sugar ever gets to normal then I can switch back to normal drinks" was my thinking on the issues. Dr. Jessica said it was better to switch to a sugared drink for caffeine and deal with the sugar than use aspartame. And guess what, Nature just published an article on "Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota." Thanks a whole FUCKING lot food industry!
The not enough water thing, I counted all the fluids I drank but never considered the diuretic properties of caffeine. So right away my 24 oz. of Diet Dr. Pepper put me in a deficit. Add to that Farxiga's side effect of making you pee more and how we all need to drink half our body weight in ounces of water, my body was retaining fluid like it was a dam just to function. At 194 lbs. I should be drinking a little over three quarts of water.
Dr. Jessica recommend I change my diet to gluten and dairy free, switch to sea salt, and eat more salads for lunch. Dairy-free surprised me, but she suspected it was the reason behind my always annoyed sinuses. She only prescribed three supplements to help support digestion and pancreatic function and recommended a cinnamon-based drink mix that uses mâte for caffeine called CinnaMâte. I took a sample of that to see if I liked the taste, but expected to switch the regular Coca-cola, since regular Dr. Pepper tasted off to me after so many years drinking Diet Dr. Pepper.
When I went grocery shopping that weekend, it was another thanks a whole FUCKING lot food industry! moment. I cut out high fructose corn syrup as much as I can because human bodies do not process it like sugar (you lying TV bastards!) it is addictive and they have put it into everything they can put it in. The lying TV commercials just cemented my hate of this product. Guess what 90% of all commercial, readily available not-diet sodas are sweetened with in America? Double fuck you food industry! I did find Virgil's Sodas and OMG! Not advertising hype the cream soda and Dr. Better flavors I had gave my taste buds a Great Gatsby party. Unfortunately, they are caffeine free. :p
Turns out I did like the taste of CinnaMâte and it kept the caffeine-withdrawal headache away. But I had to wait until I got paid again before I could buy a month's supply. So I foolishly decided to just have one Diet Dr. Pepper to get me to work without a headache.
The pain that hit my spine with that drink was worse than any whiplash I have gotten. So Tuesday, August 26th was when I drank my last Diet Dr. Pepper. I brewed iced tea when I got home for the commute until I got the CinnaMâte on Sept. 8th or found bottled tea made with real sugar.
I started the new supplements on August 26th too and tried to start a new Yoga routine of fifteen minutes daily. So far the exercise has been a miss. I can squeeze it in during the evenings, but not if I wake up late and leave all my chores for the end of the day. This week has been me rediscovering how I've ignored my personal checklists and getting back on them.
So this my third week into the changes and I already have some improved numbers.
Sept. 8, 2014
- A1C = 6.4
- Fasting morning glucose = 117
- Fasting morning glucose = 111
- Weight = 186.5 lbs.
But overall I think everything is looking better than it has for most of the year.
Read Free!The BookWorm
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