"Siobhan Perricone" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 26 Oct 2003 11:23:31 -0000, "CapStick"
wrote:
Since reading these Diabetic NG's,
i am having a problem getting my head around the confliction,
between, Dieticians telling me to eat Brown Bread and Potatoes
(for carbs) and these N'Gs advocating a low Carb Diet.
Following The Medication Of Glyclacide and Metformin
Coupled with Potatoes and Bread etc seems like a surefire weightgainer.
Diabetus seems easy to Diagnose.
Not easy to Control.
Barrowloads of Confusion,
The primary problem here is that there are many different types of
diabetics. People are at different stages of the condition. And not
everyone's BG levels react the same way to the same foods. So the health
care professionals are faced with trying to come up with a standard that
is
easy enough to live with so that the majority of their patients will
actually *do* the things they must do to keep their BG under control.
Standards are hard to come up with, though, because it's such an
individual
disease.
There are a few things that everyone seems to agree on, though:
Exercise is vital for increasing muscle mass and consuming glucose. The
increase in muscle mass decreases insulin resistence.
Carbohydrates are what increase your blood sugar levels, no matter what
the
source of those carbohydrates are, they will increase your blood sugar
levels (exclusing fiber, which is a carbohydrate but an indigestible one).
The risk of complications and systemic failures (nerve damage, blood
vessel
damage, organ damage) is high and therefore it is vital to keep the BG
under control. The closer to normal you keep your BG, the better for your
overall health, and the lower your risks of long term complications. Also,
you'll feel better physically for a longer time.
So...
The primary disconnect here is *how* to go about controlling one's BG
levels. The health care providers can only go so far in helping you with
this, *because* it's so individual. This is where you have to do your
work. And yes, it's "have to". You can't just tell your body "Well the
doctor says I should be able to eat brown bread" and have it listen. You
have to listen to your body first.
Fortunately medical research has provided us with tools we can use at home
to accomplish this listening to our bodies. If you don't have a
glucometer
for your own testing purposes, get one immediately. The glucometer is
your
best friend and advocate in managing your own particular instance of this
disease.
Blood glucose is an ever changing thing. It can change dramatically in a
relatively short time, so it's important that you start on a serious quest
for information. You should be testing first thing in the morning when
you
wake up. This is your "fasting" test. It is a good number that indicates
how well you're doing in the area of overall control (though not as
accurate as an A1c test). It's not unusual for diabetics to have
perfectly
fine numbers when they're doing their before and after meals testing, but
to have high morning numbers. That's an indication that you still have
work
to do to get more control.
You should at a minimum, start testing immediately before and two hours
after meals, and you should be noting down how many carbs are in your
meals, and keeping track of how foods impact your BG levels. This is a
key
thing: Different foods with the same grams of carbs will cause different
BG
levels.
As an example: When I eat sushi (which I love), I know I have to walk
energetically and for a longer time than I normally do after meals,
because
it shoots my BG up enormously, even though I'm eating the same number of
total carbs as I'd have eaten when I eat some beans with my steak for
dinner. The beans just don't cause the same spike. The only way I learned
this was to spend several months testing and collating data. I didn't
really pay attention to what the dietician was saying at all. I listened
to
*my body*. When I eat things that the dietician recommends, and I eat the
amount of carbs in a day she recommends, I can't maintain control at all.
Does this mean she's a bad dietician? I don't know. Maybe her food plans
work for someone, but they don't work for me and my husband (who is also
diabetic).
The other point I need to make is, while you're doing all this data
collection, try experimenting with exercise. My husband and I have found
(and neither of us are on meds now because of this) that if we walk after
ever meal, it reduces our BG levels significantly.
Try it yourself. Just start out walking for five minutes within one hour
of eating a meal. Compare that to your BG levels when you don't walk. I'd
be surprised if you don't notice a difference.
In any case, the most important point is to learn what your body needs.
You
will probably find that if you reduced the amount of carbs you're eating,
and started moving around after meals, you'll be able to reduce some of
your meds (which can have long term negative impacts on your organs, and
so
is a desirable thing).
dished out to people who's blood sugar levels can surely get em confused
in
the first place ?????
If you're inclined to listen only to the doctors, rather than working
through your own experience, this sentence makes sense. However, it does
seem to imply that we are so befuddled by BG that our accounts can't be
trusted. I'm just going to assume that this isn't what you meant. 
--
Siobhan Perricone
"Who would have thought that a bad Austrian artist who's obsessed with the
human physical ideal could assemble such a rabid political following?"
- www.theonion.com
I have the greatest respect for the sort of advice you have given here.
I did not mean in any way to imply that the posters here were in any
Befuddled.
Its just that i get confliction between Doctor,Nurse and Dieticians.
But these NG's and replies of your quality have made me see where i have
been going wrong.
e.g
Mainly using the high carb clinical advice
So i will now put in more exercise more often.
Go for lower carb diet and see if i cant get down low enough so that my
medication is not increased.
All above whilst testing regularly and at the times shown to me on this NG.
Big thanks.
Capstick Type 2
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