[lenjan]

I live in farm country. The farmers markets are exploding this time of year. I'm all for "buy local, eat local" and supporting them and stuff, since I know several personally. But (insert expletive here), right now, if I see one more (expletive) vegetable I am going to explode myself. And I'm tired of most forms (OK, all forms) of meat as well, but since it has no carbs, it's an easy choice.

I want a dozen Boston cream donuts and a regular Coke. Failing that, I want, nay, NEED, ideas for tasty, smallish meals that don't involve leafy greens (can't have them in any kind of filling quantity, due to clotting problems -- they interfere with my anticoagulant). I'm finally getting my cholesterol down, so I don't want to go crazy with eggs, either, though I like them all right.

Somebody tell me this will be worth it in the end. I've lost 25 lbs since the end of May, my total cholesterol is down 50 points since March, my blood pressure is normal for a change, which is all great -- but dangit, I WANT A DOZEN DONUTS AND A REGULAR COKE!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! I am so freakin tired of "healthy" I can't stand it!!

--- a very, very growly bear. (and a hungry one!)

[skeeweeaka]

Wow you've done well Candy....I've been on a diet since March and only lost 15 pounds. I'm doing low carb too...and ate cake two days in a row lol... It's tough...congrats... I eat eggs every day too...for breakfast... Find some other low carb treat to eat...you're doing terrific!!!!

TJ

[bebop]

candy I was on a no carb diet for a while a few years ago. it stinks! I got tired of paying full price at truck stops when I could only eat a salad and meat. potatoes are my weakness. hmmmm I will try to watch this commercial again that if you are on medicare you can get 3 free cookbooks for diabetics and order them since I am on medicare and then I can share recipes with you.

[jbug]

Candy.....See my recipe in the recipe section for magical peanutbutter cookies. They are really good and low carb as there is no flour in them.

Jbug

[lenjan]

oooooooooh, peanut butter cookies. Now you're talkin'.

Diets in general suck, but so far this low-carb stuff sucks worse than most. I live in America's Dairyland and I can't even indulge. Who the heck can stop at one ounce of cheese?! Ooooh, but the one that REALLY frosts me is 17 grapes is one carb serving!! You gotta be kidding me. I can sit and eat an entire multi-pound bag in one sitting and you're going to give me SEVENTEEN?!?!?!? Don't I get credit for eating a bag of grapes instead of a bag of Hershey's Kisses or something??

[jbug]

Candy.....I posted some more low carb dessert recipes in the recipe section.

Jbug

[Cthomas]

Hi Candybear ...

I feel your pain! LOL! I was diagnosed with an A1C of 10.9 in November 2006. I was SO sure I didn't have Diabetes (I'm the first on both sides of my family, but we all know it has to start somewhere) that I made the doctor do 2 more fastings ... one was 350 and the other was around 450. FASTING! The very first time I tested on myself was an hour after eating half a bag of powdered sugar mini-donuts ... the staple of my daily food regime at the time. I was so ignorant, I didn't even know 535 was close to a speedy trip to the ER!

Food is ALWAYS the hardest thing to conquer, Candy. I'm not going to tell you how much to eat, you know that. I'm not going to tell you what WILL happen if you eat those Boston Creme donuts and drink that Coke, that's such a given even other people without Diabetes can figure that one out. I'm not going to tell you the long-range effects, you know those, too. (BTW, the one that scared me the most was going blind! I type with 2 fingers and have to see the keyboard, and OMG, what would I do without my computer?)

I would, however, like to share a couple of things that helped ME. One is a mantra I find myself saying often ...

<font color="red"> THIS IS A MARATHON, NOT A SPRINT! </font>

We "run" this marathon one small step at a time. Sometimes we fall down ... and that's OK! Really it is! Nobody with Diabetes can ever tell me they're freakin' PERFECT and never CHEAT. It's impossible and you're doomed to FAILURE if you feel DEPRIVED ... so just remember two things.

1. <font color="red"> Cheating every once in awhile is ALLOWED or we will go NUTS! </font>

2. <font color="blue"> After you fall ... get back up, brush yourself off, and take another step forward! </font>

As for FOOD ... I found an "easy" way to do it! Get 4 pieces of paper. At the top of one, write THINGS I WILL NEVER GIVE UP, EVEN IF I DIE. On the second, write THINGS I LOVE TO EAT. And on the next, write THINGS I'M NOT CRAZY ABOUT BUT CAN EAT WITHOUT GAGGING. And on the last, MY "GOOD FOOD PLAN" FOODS.

Keep looking at list #1 ... adding and subtracting things over a period of a few weeks. I'll BET this list will have about 5 things on it. I got it down to 3 ... Suisse Mocha Coffee, Key Lime Pie, and fresh hot bread.

Take list #2 to the Internet and check the values of each thing on the Glycemic Index. Write the best on List 4. Do the same with List #3. Here's what I think you'll discover ... there are GOOD FOR YOU foods you've forgotten you even LIKED (seeing them on the GI will jog your memory) and a whole lot of the foods you thought were bad, really AREN'T! For instance, I'd forgotten that I liked Lime Jell-O with pineapple and cottage cheese and pecans ... and Sugar FREE Lime Jell-O doesn't taste sugar free with all the other goodies in it!

List #4 is now the BASIS for the FOOD PLAN you can LIVE WITH! (Just be sure to test each of them, so you know YOUR body can tolerate them! I'm CYA here.) It's going to be a LONG LIST, too ... and you can combine them in different ways so they don't get BORING!

Ahhh ... List #1! Simple! There isn't ONE THING on that list you can't make in a healthier way or fit into your FOOD PLAN! Not one!

Suisse Mocha Coffee ... I now MIX one regular can with 4 sugar free and LOTS of extra cocoa. Unsweetened cocoa is a FREE FOOD! One BIG cup of my favorite coffee is now about 15 carb grams!

Key Lime Pie ... about 45 carbs. Steak, green veggie, salad and Key Lime pie for dessert = 60 carbs. And you should already know that 60 carb grams is an allowable number for dinner!

Fresh HOT bread ... Pillsbury French Bread loaf. 1/6th of the ROLL is about 45 carb grams! It fits perfectly into the dinner above, as a substitute for the pie, of course!

I'm a very lucky person and I can eat fruit ... all sorts of fruit ... without a spike. I practically live on fruit swimming in Cool Whip! (BTW, the entire TUB is only 50 carb grams!) I have a peanut butter and banana sandwich just about every lunch. I "snack" on 100 calorie packs, a small handful of dark chocolate M&Ms, the Lime Jell-O thing ... anything within the 15 to 20 carb grams allowed for a SNACK.

My last A1C was 5.5 and my cholesterol is down to 142. I am completely OFF all my BP meds. I take two 500mg. Metformin a day. I still "cheat" sometimes, but I try to keep it to a minimum. And did you know this little known FACT? If you drink a light beer with your meal, it helps prevent a spike? Makes that cheeseburger and fries taste better, too! LOL!

I know I've run on and on, but I hope this helps you, Candy? You can always get more help and more support and more food ideas at www.diabetes.org. I couldn't have gotten where I am (healthy and 80 pounds lighter) in such a short time (18 months) without the wonderful people there! Tell them The Exercise Goddess sent you!

BTW, I've logged in as my daughter, Colleen, because my memory is the size of a flea ... living with chronic pain and the meds involved, plus being 61 and ditzy as hell ... and I couldn't remember my OWN log in info! People here know me as ...

GoodMama

PS ... Colleen also has Diabetes and we're BOTH here to help you any way we can! Feel free to PM or email if there's anything else we can do for you. We'd like everyone with Diabetes to feel as good as we do ... and everyone NEEDS the extra support!

[Cthomas]

Candy ...

WHY would you stop at ONE OUNCE of cheese? Cheese is good and very LOW CARB! There's a 100 calorie pack of Wheat Thin chips and quite a lot in the pack. Try putting your cheese slices on THEM or using them to dip into your favorite cheese spread (I love Swiss and almonds). I also put them down on a piece of aluminum foil, grate or finely chop some onion on them, sprinkle with cheese, and bake until the cheese melts. They're a yummy AND filling SNACK with just a little over 20 carbs!

[Cthomas]

Every state offers helpful booklets for people with Diabetes and they're free for everyone, not just Medicare/Medicaid people!

Please visit www.diabetes.org, too. There's a marvelous section with PROVEN recipes provided BY people with Diabetes! It's amazing how creative you can get.

READ LABELS. OK, so it took me 4 hours to grocery shop on my first visit after being diagnosed, but it's worth it. Things you THINK are bad, bad turn out to be good, good if you just look hard enough!

How about a whole SLICE of chocolate pie for 30 carb grams? (Mrs. Edward individual slices in the 2 pack ... one's always in my freezer!) Or a PIZZA for under 50 carb grams? (Lean Cuissine Garlic Chicken)

<font color="blue"> YOU CAN NOT DEPRIVE YOURSELF AND BE SUCCESSFUL!</font>

What you CAN do is exercise off a whole lot of those calories ... that's why they call me The Exercise Goddess on the ADA boards. There are NO EXCUSES when it comes to exercise ... unless your DOCTOR has told you not to! Bet that's NOT true!

No time? Exercise is CUMULATIVE! Ten minutes, 3 times a day is equal to 30 minutes. Don't tell me you can't find TEN MINUTES to save your LIFE!!!

Medical condition? Yeah, me, too. I'm 61 and totally disabled, have arthritis in EVERY disk in my back, constant sciatica, a leg full of metal, peripheral neuropathy, and both my feet are paralysed. The Nurse Practitioner at the pain cinic I attend was very succinct ... my body is CRAP. So don't tell ME you can't exercise! IF I CAN, then %#@&#! it, SO CAN YOU!

Kids have you scurring around and there's no time to eat healthy or cook so you take them to the drive-thru? OK ... IMHO that's CHILD ABUSE! YOU are teaching your children ... who have OVER a 50% chance of getting Diabetes BECAUSE YOU DO ... that it's OK to eat CRAP? When you're DEAD and your children get diagnosed, what have YOU taught them?

In this country, SOMEONE IS DIAGNOSED WITH DIABETES EVERY 21 SECONDS . And complications from Diabetes is the NUMBER ONE KILLER!

Find a way to exercise or not. Find a way to make a FOOD PLAN you can live with, or not. Teach your children how to eat NOW, or wait until they get diagnosed after you're dead.

YOUR CHOICE! It's always YOUR CHOICE. And the right choice just isn't as difficult as you're making it.

[ECHOES]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
Somebody tell me this will be worth it in the end. I've lost 25 lbs since the end of May, my total cholesterol is down 50 points since March, my blood pressure is normal for a change, which is all great -- but dangit, I WANT A DOZEN DONUTS AND A REGULAR COKE!

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">
WOW! This is great!!! To lose weight and get your numbers down is fantastic.
Are you sure you can have an occaisional coke or donut, monitoring your BS afterwards?

Keep up the good work!

A protein replacement I like is a boiled egg with the yolk discarded (I have cholesterol and triglyceride issues) and filled like a devilled egg with hummus (roasted red pepper is my favorite but there are many varieties and it is low carb).

[ErinBear]

Hi,

I feel for you. I am on a diet with a lot of restrictions also, and while it can be good for one's health, there can be moments of frustration - especially early on, while one is getting used to all the changes.

There is a website, "The World's Healthiest Foods" at

http://whfoods.org/

It has a great variety of recipes. You can search by ingredient(s) you wish to use, or it can choose recipes for you based on your health concerns. They feature special recipes on the home page each week based on what is in season. It's a site that's been helpful for me and others I know who have special dietary concerns. I hope it helps!

Congratulations on your weight loss so far, and all the changes you made so far....hang in there!

Take care,
ErinBear

[skeeweeaka]

Hey Candy, I was wondering how our diet was going.... I'm stalled and haven't lost anything this month....

TJ

[lenjan]

I see the diabetic educator and the dietitian later this morning -- one or the other will put me on the scale, so I'll let you know this afternoon! I purposely don't own one of my own.

[lenjan]

Well, I am down a total of 30 since the end of May and 13 in the last 6 weeks.

Better yet, I got permission to have a donut once a week. That's going to be my treat tomorrow when I get paid.

[thelostone]

VERY VERY good, keep up the good work, and yes, you need the occasional treat, that way you don't start feeling so deprived that you "go off the deep end" so to speak.

excellent job

lost

[SeptemberMorn]

{{{{{{{{Candy}}}}}}}}} how about Egg Beaters and turkey bacon either for breakfast, if you eat it, or for lunch? Let me see what else I can come up with. Diets on a whole, STINK.

[sarahlilianne]

Congratulations on your weight loss Candy. This will certainly help keep your blood sugar low. I wish I could do as well
Lily