Health history, leading up to my excuse as to why I'm a full blown diabetic & what I'm doing to cope by what I've learned to date. I was born with club feet and in casts until I was 2, didn't help much. At age 9 I contracted a relatively mild case of polio. As a result my left leg is shorter than my right. I have curvature of the spine and dealt with sciatic nerve problems. I was still able to play HS football, baseball and join the service, served 4 years during the Vietnam era in a rear clerical position. At age 40 I was diagnosed with early stage spinal stenosis. At age 66 I was diagnosed with stage IIIB colon cancer. Surgery, chemo and follow up has enabled me to reach 3 years cancer free with great CBC results. At age 70 (July '15) after a crazy month I was floored by an emergency visit to our local hospital with a blood sugar count of 887.
After 4 days of intense IV's and monitoring, I was released with a massive amount of information and instructions dealing with my new malady, full blown type II diabetic. Insulin injections and also diabetic drugs along with blood pressure medication. I knew I was headed in the wrong direction because of my sedentary career and developing inactivity because of my ability to get enough motivation to do what I could physically to delay the problems.
Things I learned by charting, noting everything I ate and monitoring my progress 4-5 times daily. As for exercise I am building up to a 1 hour walk (currently at 25 minutes). I have to walk with a walker but at least I'm getting the circulation into my lower legs. I was also over weight and met all the criteria of a candidate for diabetes. I resolved to drop weight and put myself on a very strict <1500 calorie/<130 carb day it's been 5 weeks to date my clothing is getting beyond a joke now but I still wear them to inspire me. I include vegetables, limit myself to 1 <4 oz meat serving daily. I found that potatoes, peas, carrots and any bread/pastry will spike my count. I start the day with a bowl of whole grain oatmeal, flaxseed, cinnamon and 2 Tbsps of almond butter. Total calories/carb is 540/39. I inject 5 u of quick acting insulin prior and include 1 500 mg Metformin. I also take the same dose during my evening meal.
I also found that certain fruits are ok (berries, plums) I have to limit my servings of my other favorite fruits to 1/2 C and it's just not worth the effort to include them. One of my staples is eggs, fully cooked yokes, cottage cheese, quinoa, sliced vegetables with a hummus dip and green vegetables as my mainstay side dish. I also have 2 servings (1/2 C) of beans (pinto, black, lima,,,etc). According to the book 'The Sugar Solution' beans help regulate your absorption of glucose. I have just started to embrace cinnamon since I found that my noon session starts with the lowest count, usually around 95-105 and increases slowly to 115 by 10 PM. I read everything about the benefits and talked with my older diabetic sister about her use of cinnamon. Today is my 2nd full day of including it as part of my meals. My sister claims plain yogurt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and a half tsp vanilla makes a great bedtime snack with less than 100 calories and no more than 9 carbs just after injecting my long acting insulin.
It's a delicate balancing act and fodder for my non-diabetic wife's arguments about what & how much I should be eating. She doesn't tolerate meats very well and she has always shunned eggs. When I had cancer one of the guidelines both the nutritionist and oncologist insisted upon was the I get natural sources of B-12 because of my associated anemia. I've always eat meats and would opt for eggs whenever I had the choice. She insists that I'm eating too many, I also drink at least 3-12 oz cups of coffee every morning and always have for over 50 years. I had to include 1 325 mg aspirin in my routine based upon the advise of my oncologist. I had a blood count issue with taking non-aspirin pain relievers.
I will take my first A1C in October and plan to discuss the one issue I'm having with my first early morning reading, it's been below 140 and what I read was adjust my long term injection or carb intake. I should add that I take one 5000 ui vitamin D and one multi-vitamin every morning.
UPDATE: Just tried the plain yogurt/cinnamon/vanilla, sorry reminded me of a very nasty Pepto Bismo. Mixing it with my eggs this evening, hopefully will taste like French toast.
After 4 days of intense IV's and monitoring, I was released with a massive amount of information and instructions dealing with my new malady, full blown type II diabetic. Insulin injections and also diabetic drugs along with blood pressure medication. I knew I was headed in the wrong direction because of my sedentary career and developing inactivity because of my ability to get enough motivation to do what I could physically to delay the problems.
Things I learned by charting, noting everything I ate and monitoring my progress 4-5 times daily. As for exercise I am building up to a 1 hour walk (currently at 25 minutes). I have to walk with a walker but at least I'm getting the circulation into my lower legs. I was also over weight and met all the criteria of a candidate for diabetes. I resolved to drop weight and put myself on a very strict <1500 calorie/<130 carb day it's been 5 weeks to date my clothing is getting beyond a joke now but I still wear them to inspire me. I include vegetables, limit myself to 1 <4 oz meat serving daily. I found that potatoes, peas, carrots and any bread/pastry will spike my count. I start the day with a bowl of whole grain oatmeal, flaxseed, cinnamon and 2 Tbsps of almond butter. Total calories/carb is 540/39. I inject 5 u of quick acting insulin prior and include 1 500 mg Metformin. I also take the same dose during my evening meal.
I also found that certain fruits are ok (berries, plums) I have to limit my servings of my other favorite fruits to 1/2 C and it's just not worth the effort to include them. One of my staples is eggs, fully cooked yokes, cottage cheese, quinoa, sliced vegetables with a hummus dip and green vegetables as my mainstay side dish. I also have 2 servings (1/2 C) of beans (pinto, black, lima,,,etc). According to the book 'The Sugar Solution' beans help regulate your absorption of glucose. I have just started to embrace cinnamon since I found that my noon session starts with the lowest count, usually around 95-105 and increases slowly to 115 by 10 PM. I read everything about the benefits and talked with my older diabetic sister about her use of cinnamon. Today is my 2nd full day of including it as part of my meals. My sister claims plain yogurt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and a half tsp vanilla makes a great bedtime snack with less than 100 calories and no more than 9 carbs just after injecting my long acting insulin.
It's a delicate balancing act and fodder for my non-diabetic wife's arguments about what & how much I should be eating. She doesn't tolerate meats very well and she has always shunned eggs. When I had cancer one of the guidelines both the nutritionist and oncologist insisted upon was the I get natural sources of B-12 because of my associated anemia. I've always eat meats and would opt for eggs whenever I had the choice. She insists that I'm eating too many, I also drink at least 3-12 oz cups of coffee every morning and always have for over 50 years. I had to include 1 325 mg aspirin in my routine based upon the advise of my oncologist. I had a blood count issue with taking non-aspirin pain relievers.
I will take my first A1C in October and plan to discuss the one issue I'm having with my first early morning reading, it's been below 140 and what I read was adjust my long term injection or carb intake. I should add that I take one 5000 ui vitamin D and one multi-vitamin every morning.
UPDATE: Just tried the plain yogurt/cinnamon/vanilla, sorry reminded me of a very nasty Pepto Bismo. Mixing it with my eggs this evening, hopefully will taste like French toast.
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