I can BREATHE!

I've dabbled in going gluten-free for quite some time. I know I needed to get serious about it - gluten has obviously slowed me down for years. Nothing major though, otherwise I would have done this properly a long time ago!

It's been obvious to me for a while now that eating foods that contain gluten leaves me with stuffed up sinuses. However, I knew I could get away with a little bit, so my diet was adjusted slightly - limited gluten. Just one piece of bread a day, and maybe some baking or whatever if I felt like it. I also didn't care about the little things - like malt added to stuff, or anything that had wheat as an afterthought.

4 days now I've gone without any obvious gluten at all. NO bread, no baking, nothing that contains anything other than a trace of the stuff. I've even bought a gluten-free bread to have with my new gluten-free marmite and baked a great (if I do say so myself) GF chocolate cake (my own recipe, and I'm very proud *puffs out chest*) and finally found GF cereal that I can crunch up for making my chocolate afghan biscuits. *drool*I so should have done this a long time ago! I can breathe! My sinuses are so clear it's fantastic. And I feel more awake, which is a real surprise seeing as I've had hardly any sleep all week (and urr, it's 3:29am, guess I'm not getting much sleep tonight either). I'm full of energy, I can think better, I just feel... light. Light and free.

Who'd have thunk it?

Well, me, actually, coz I've known I've needed this for years. Funny how we come up with all sorts of excuses to avoid things ("I can start this properly next week", "Gluten doesn't *really* effect me, it's all in my head", "I'm ok so long as I limit it", "this gluten-free thing is just a silly fad", etc)

Sure it's a bummer being gluten intolerant - but as usual, that's nothing compared to going on for years never knowing what the problem is.

And all this in only 4 gluten-free days. Fan-bloomin-tastic :)

A packet of barbecue flavoured rice crackers.

Me. A cold night. A game of Spira-Defense. A packet of barbecue flavoured rice crackers.
A high carb snack - yes, but since I'm only having a few, and it adds up to less than 20g carb, I'm not bothered.
Lets see... 21g carb per serving, 4 servings in a pack, so if I have less than a quarter of a pack I'm having less than 21g carb, right?
In which case, the 3u I take to cover it should be just a little bit too much, especially as I started at 5.3 (nice!), right?

Sooooo why is it that I end up over 10mmol a couple of hours after eating these, having already taken a 1u correction dose?

You'd think - well ok, I'd think - that eating so little carb, and overdoing the insulin (even if it is only by about half a unit) and starting at a great place, AND jabbing early to give the insulin a head start - that's about perfect, isn't it? Should end up on the low side and then - yay - I could enjoy 1 or 2 squares of yummy caramello chocolate before bed.

But alas... no choccy for me tonight. (Everybody say awww)

So, does the packet lie?
Are rice cracker carbs different to other carbs (!)
Did I get my dose wrong, run out of insulin in the pen, inject an air bubble, or maybe miss my leg and inject my chair?!?! Nope.

When something so simple goes wrong once I can understand it - there's always a reason, even if I don't know what it is - no worries, move along, fuhgeddaboutit. But when the same thing happens with the same snack two nights in a row there's something weird going on. I have learnt already that rice crackers are pretty evil to my blood sugars, but surely they can't be THAT evil? The only other explanation I can think of is that the packet is lying about how much carb is involved. But then, it admits to being 84% carb and you really can't get much higher than that without eating pure sugar. Even if it was a little bit higher, the difference would be small when it came to my dosing, especially when eating such a small amount.

So this leaves me confused... here I am trying to be a good girl and have *ahem* healthier snacks (as in gluten free, not low carb, obviously) and it just aint working. I think I'll go back to nuts & apples... and chocolate ;)

Does anyone else have trouble with rice crackers? Or is there some other food that gets you confuzzled?

I've gone belly-up and had a belly-full.

I'm writing this from inside Adobe Contribute. Just a trial run :) Not sure why people create programs to write blogs when it's so easy to do them online, but I'm about to find out!

I'm such a geek.

Anyways, this all started because I was filling in my (scary) BG numbers for last week and found a 'contribute to blog' button in excel. It was easier to play around in my blog than to actually look at my BG results for the week, so denial won the battle today and here I am playing :D

*sigh* It's been a bouncy few weeks (shocking for me, anyway, as I normally have very tight control).

Lets hope things look much better in the next couple of weeks as I finally get the correct Lantus dose, which has eluded me ever since I gave up the Metformin aaaaaages ago.

And, at the same time, I really must concentrate on eating a bit better... uhh, except perhaps for Christmas day :D Bad diet and uncontrollable numbers do SO go hand in hand, no matter how clever you are with Diabetes.

Oh, and while I'm at it, I better start getting in some exercise. Sheesh, when did my control go belly-up? It all snuck up on me.

SO, onward & upward. I wont stress too much about my shocking range, speedily rising highs and shameful waking numbers... I'll just move on and get rid of them :D (She says, with as much positive thinking as she can muster, and an energetic smile)

2007 12 10

###

Scary, I'm actually willing to leave this file here and let the world see it. Until I chicken out and delete it later, of course ;)

It doesn't look THAT different to my normal results... but I know a lot of effort went in to keeping those results from being MUCH worse. And look at all those numbers in the teens! ARGH!

Edited to add: HAH! The file doesn't seem to be there, just some place marker. Well, just imagine some wiggly lines that go way out of the normal range at crazy times ;)

Fat, frumpy, and unforgiving.

I have an issue with my weight. You're not surprised are you? I wonder if anyone is just perfectly happy with their size and shape?

I never have been - though the closest I got to it was a while after I was diagnosed with Diabetes. I was actually skinny! I didn't know it at the time, but I was losing all that weight because my body was starved and sick. As soon as I started insulin I piled a lot of it back again. I have healthier habits these days, thanks to Diabetes, but I still can't seem to get skinny again, and not for lack of trying.

I drink shit-loads of water. I make sure I get exercise - heck, even on the days I'm not doing 'specific' exercise, I still get exercise vacuuming my huge house, or doing work in the garden. I have a morning routine that includes some stretches, jogging on the spot, and a bunch of other exercises. I ride my bike or go for walks whenever I can... but it's not enough. I'd love to be a fitness fanatic, going to the gym a few times a week and cycling for miles every day! My life keeps holding me back, but I'm quite aware that it's just an excuse. I could find a way around the intricate planning bits if I had to. (And it is tricky - I have a 10 year old son at home 24/7 and we both have health considerations... buggerit...)

What gets me the most is how healthy I can be during the day, but not the evenings. I have low-carb days (most days I'm careful with the carbs anyway, barely ever going 80 - 100g carb in my meals & daytime snacks). I have fitness frenzy days, I'm always trying to be well behaved for brekkie lunch & dinner. Why do I struggle to avoid the junk in the evenings when it's so easy during the day?

Why do I have cravings for food? I know logically that food is just to keep us alive. We need it for energy, and sometimes we need certain foods for their vitamins or whatever that our body needs for certain jobs. I don't need that crap food. I don't need a second helping even if it's good healthy stuff. I don't need pudding, I don't need a snack, I don't need anything other than 3 small meals a day and some occasional snacks for blood sugar balance. Surely if I know how to lose weight, the next step is to just DO IT? I don't see why I'm battling myself!

It's like giving up smoking - HARD work! Eating can be an addiction, especially the carb laden foods most of us like so much (omg the chocolate...). but when you give up smoking, you GIVE UP smoking. I can't give up eating... the temptation is in my face all day every day.

The other day I went shopping. I need some new winter clothes - but having tried a couple of things on I knew it was not my day. I was grumpy about my weight. I didn't want to buy THAT size. I didn't like how that top showed off my swelling belly or how those trousers clung to my thighs. Nothing looked good, nothing felt good.

Depressing. I know I shouldn't care. I am still me, no matter what. But this has been a LONG struggle - a real fight to lose some kilos. It shouldn't be this hard, it shouldn't be so depressing.

I saw this you tube video a while back. It's a little release, a nice thing to watch... but the feeling doesn't last long for me. I NEED to be skinny. I've done it before and I sooo want it again! I want to wear those sexy jeans again. I want to feel light & energetic & happy.

Dammit. The battle goes on.

Going without gluten

How do the Gluten-free do it? I've been vaguely gluten free for a long time, but only vaguely. I avoid it where possible, but If I'm out or can't be bothered I don't mind eating what's offered, or reaching for a bit of toast. It still has to be thin sliced high grain stuff coz I'm picky about carbs & my general health (unless I'm eating chocolate, which is allowed to break all the rules!) but I don't worry about gluten if it's too awkward to get a decent meal without it. I don't mind buying things that have a little bit of gluten hanging around, so long as I'm not eating it often.

But every now & then I try to go totally gluten-free. It's great! I feel lighter & brighter & less hungry & more happy! Partly because gluten-free often means low-carb too, and both of those things are excellent for me.

Trouble is, it's hard to keep up. Today is day 3 of going totally gluten-free. I stuffed up on day one because I got low and all I could think of was a chocolate chip biscuit. I had plenty of other options - fizzy drinks for starters, but a hypo-ing brain is a DUH brain, unfortunately. I ignored my 'failure' with the biscuit and carried on with my GF plans.

Day two was easy, though I almost caved in and had toast for breakfast because we had a mad morning - getting up early and rushing around to get a friend to a hospital appointment. Last night's roast dinner saved me and I had a few slices of cold meat for breakfast. Lunch was more leftovers. Dinner was home made pumpkin soup with grated cheese & bacon on top, with a hash brown on the side. No problem, until the cravings for munchies hit me in the evening...

Even that was sorted quick-smart. I adjusted my caramel slice recipe to make it gluten free, and it was heavenly! A little naughty for the blood sugar but that turned out to be a good thing as my dinner insulin must've been a bit too heavy.

Breakfast this morning was harder still. I didn't have any leftovers, I don't like omelettes and I don't like any other egg breakfasts unless they have toast (egg on it's own is just horrible! Poached eggs with HP sauce, pepper and toast... YUM!!) So I caved in and had Caramel slice for breakfast.

Caramel slice! For Breakfast! EW! At least I managed one more gluten-free meal... but I'm not sure how long my stomach will appreciate this kind of food!

Now it's lunch time. I've been out working in the garden and I feel like a real lunch - normally lunch is a small event for me: an apple, maybe, if I have it at all. I'd like a good fat sandwich! Ah, bread is a no-no. I'll reheat something from the freezer (I often make extra dinner so I can freeze some for those lazy days). What do we have.. hmm... Vegetarian Lasagne, yum! Ah. Pasta. No. OK! Lets see... an apple? Nah that's what I have most days. BORING and not filling enough to satisfy me today. SO urr... GF Caramel slice?

Where's my self control? Here I am having caramel slice for lunch! Still, at least I've avoided the gluten again. *sigh*

The thing that bothers me here is that I KNOW what to do. I have salad stuff in the fridge which is great for low-carb and non-gluten meals. I just didn't feel like it. I normally try to keep some sort of cold meat in the fridge (hard to believe I was a vegetarian for years) to whip up quick meals & snacks. I sometimes have specialty gluten-free foods in the house but they tend to be dry & horrible and high carb, so I don't bother with them often. I am happy to eat apples for lunch and have weird meals - I think half the trick to getting used to low carb or gluten free eating is accepting that a meal doesn't have to be the way you always thought of it. Food is food, no matter what time of day you're eating.

So perhaps later today I'll go on a little shopping trip and see if I can't fill the house with more M-friendly foods. That might keep me away from the evil caramel slice!

I have learnt:

When I was a wee kidlet I always kept a diary. On boring days, or maybe days when I had nothing to complain about, I'd write lists. 'What I got for Christmas' or 'reasons why life sucks' or 'reasons why life is cool' or 'things I like about Daniel' *cough* etc.

No diary anymore (I suppose this blog counts now though) but I still write endless lists! And here's the beginning of my first blog list:

I HAVE LEARNT: That coffee really IS bad for me.
I discovered green tea a while back, and loved it so much I just completely forgot about coffee. Suddenly I was hooked on green tea and hadn't had a coffee for days.

Enter friend, 'J', who loves his coffee and makes a bloody good cuppa. Visiting him means having at least one coffee - and loving it. Uhmm not so much this time. I actually got the coffee buzz. I was hyperactive. My mind was all over the place. I couldn't get my head around things and I felt so weird - I kept checking my blood sugar, it felt like a really strange low. Yikes, no more coffee for me! (I've since had at least one a fortnight - seems I'm not that good at keeping promises to myself - yes yes, I'll give up smoking and lose 10kg too, promise! )

So now that I actually go through most days with clearer thoughts, a calmed heart and a good old cup (or 5) of green tea... Coffee has made it to my bad books.

Evil coffee, go to your room!

AH, some news to share!

Something I'm heavily interested in is the low carb debate, particularly for diabetics.
This one isn't specific to diabetes, just weight loss. Still, positive news...
Low carb vs low fat diet study

My Endocrinologist is doing a similar study - one I'd love to take part in but he's concentrating on type 2 diabetes - fair enough, they're more likely to be the ones that need to lose weight, and the ones that would benefit from it the most. Also easier to use people who aren't on insulin - we'll stuff up results if we get low and have to eat extra. I await the results with impatient interest - tho I suspect he'll find the same as the study posted above. It really does seem like low carb is the way to go - both for weight control AND blood sugar control.