Saturday, March 8, 2008

Diabetic And Having A Hard Time Picking That Meal Menu

Hello weight losing fans...

Today I stepped up onto the Magical-Mystical-Digial-Scale weighing in at 178.6-pounds.
Not Bad...

Yesterday (Friday) I couldn't get to post, and I stepped up onto the Magical-Digital-Scale weighing in at 180.4-pounds. This is not bad either.

The other day I was having a Bacon Sandwich over at one of my family member's home. He was diagnosed with type-two diabetes.

We were discussing the kind of diet that he should be consuming. I told him watch his calories. His wife interjected that he has to have at least 60 grams of carbohydrates per meal or his blood sugar would crash land. Hmmm... This goes against the philosophy of the Doctor Atkins's Diet.

Doctor Atkins's taught that the blood sugar goes crash because we have too much sugar, and the insulin can't do anything with it anymore. His contention was that fats, and protein consumed instead of carbohydrates would force the body to normalize it's insulin because the body would go for fat in the cells of the body for it's sugar.

Remember fat is only made up of chains of sugar. Chains of sugar are linked together by the body which forms up fat which gets stored on different locations of the body.
Fat isn't easy for the body to break either. The body has to expend energy to blast apart the links of sugar in the fat.

I don't want to get into all the particulars because it's complicated. Let's just say my brother has to have his 60 grams of carbohydrates per meal. Where would he get these carb's from?
If he was eating breakfast he could eat two packets of cinnamon oatmeal. This would be around 380 calories, and around 66 grams of carbohydrates. This would fix breakfast.

For a snack to keep up his sugar he could eat an orange. This would give him around 13-18 grams of sugar and about 80-100 calories.

For lunch, he could have a sandwich and some meat. Again he would have to have something with more carbohydrates so he could eat more fruit, or even a small chunk of candy. Oh, God forbid... He's a diabetic, don't you know?

For dinner, he could have a can of chunky noodle soup. This would be around 420 calories, and just about 50 grams of carbohydrates.

So, if he is creative, he could keep down his total calories, and still keep up those carb's. The easiest thing for him to do would be to go to the book store and purchase one of the many books published giving menu's for diabetics.

I am not an expert or nutritionist, so you can take my writing with a grain of salt. Pay no attention to that blithering idiot behind the keyboard....

My brother, is regaining weight. Here is why. He cheats. He keeps eating this, and that. He has no will to fight his hunger. If I were him I would have oranges and apples handy to grab.

He won't keep a food diary. I know it's not convenient to keep a record of everything eaten. I know it's a pain in the South Side of the human anatomy.

For my brother this whole diabetic thing is getting old. Here is the problem with this thinking. Can you say Kidney decease? Can you say neuropathy in the legs? Can you say blind? Can you say anemia? Can you say amputation?

These are many of the complications that are the result of unchecked diabetes.

If you are overweight, then it's very likely you will eventually become an adult diabetic. If you are a big consumer of processed sugars, the odds are real high you will become an adult diabetic.

This devastating decease if preventable with a careful diet. How do I know? I was on track to be an adult diabetic. My blood pressure was high. My cholesterol was high. My body fat was anywhere from 34-40 percent. This wasn't a real good scenario for me.

Now, my blood sugar comes in under 100. My cholesterol is back down. My blood pressure is back down. My body fat has dropped about 15 percent. My heart rate is down 40 beats per minute.

So, I could very well have been right there with the adult diabetes. Now, I have had my blood sugar checked. It hasn't blown past normal, but it was there on the precipice.

I don't have a crystal ball. I don't know what my body will do over the next ten years. I could still go over the edge. I think I have beaten off the dragon for a while. I think I have delayed a formidable foe.

If you need to get off those pounds, even if it's just ten pounds, then don't delay. Why, because bad habits compound themselves. This day you could be ten pounds over weight, and then one year from now 20 pounds overweight.

I don't know who looks at this blog. I do know that there have been around 700 onlookers since around mid February. Maybe, maybe, I help inspire one person to take seriously their health.

Losing weight is a real undertaking. It's a day in and day out battle to keep up. I know, I am fighting "The Battle Of The Buldge."

"Eat Less Food,' is my mantra. That's right, you can't eat everything you see. You can't eat everything at the family picnic. You can't eat everything at the company banquet. You can't eat everthing that's put before you.

That's that. Have fun with that.

Bye for now...

And that's the way it is...I'm David Dane

4 comments:

Dinahsoar said...

Some doctors are revising their advice for diabetics and telling them to limit carb consumption.

My mom who is diabetic---diagnosed in her 70's, mainly due to her inactivity, put on oral meds...she was eating all the advised carbs but her sugar was always high. She cut back her carbs to one serving per meal...guess what...her sugar is down in the normal range.

I imagine mom could have managed her diabetes by diet alone since she was barely in the range...but nowadays "they" want to put everyone on meds---that's where the money is.

A said...

You've given a lot of advice. If I take your advice with a grain of salt, won't this cause high sodium levels?

Lyn said...

I enjoy your blog. Inspiring :)

David Dane said...

dinah thanks. Maybe there is something to less carbohydrates. I know that my family doesn't listen to me because I don't have a PHD. I am careful with my carbohydrate intake. I don't want to be. But, I try to keep a balance, or I'll push to eat more proteins. Sorry about your MOM.
Thanks resilent hawk. Ummm... for you you can avoid the salt.
Thanks Lyn...I am glad I have inspired someone.

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