Today's Plan

I get an A+ for keeping to yesterday's plan. This is what today's plan looks like:

1/4 cup oatmeal & 1 oz. Greek yogurt
1/4 cup walnuts
1 red delicious apple
1 black bean burger w/ hot sauce and avocado
1 Light string cheese
2 cups Jalapeno popcorn
Kidney bean salad w/ avocado
1/4 cup pistachios
Lemon tilapia w/ steamed veggies
2 servings of olives

I need a little bit of treat foods. I consider the popcorn and olives to be treat foods that help me through a calorie cut. Today my calories will run between 1300-1400.

Tomorrow I will plan on adding a piece of Lindor chocolate for a treat. I read about a study in which diabetics who allowed themselves an occasional planned treat did better at maintaining long term blood sugar levels. I think the key is to plan it so that the treat is given alongside low carb foods, but the treat itself should be small and not have above 5 grams of sugar. That is my personal opinion. I don't remember if there were actually recommendations in the study. I will need to locate the research article so that I can see how the planning worked. Meanwhile, there is what I do and this small treat allotment has worked pretty well for me so far.

Food Diary Week

For the next week I'm going to be posting what I'm eating here because I'm really working on losing a couple of more lbs (don't hate me that I don't really need to lose anymore weight, just want to lose about 5-10 more lbs before I start next semester bc I know when I'm in school I tend to gain a little stress weight).

So here is what I ate today:
Steel cut oats with 1/4 cup milk and sprinkled cinnamon
1 oz. Greek yogurt (just to get a little probiotics)
1/4 cup pistachios
1 Black bean burger w/ hot sauce
2 cups jalapeno cheddar popcorn
1 light string cheese
1/2 cup white kidney beans w/ hot sauce
Spinach salad: Spinach, tomato, cilantro, red onion, balsamic vinegarette
6 hummus deviled eggs

Now here's to resisting food (accept plain non-starchy veggies) for the rest of the day.

One Goal Accomplished and A1C

Today I finally ran for a mile straight. I was able to do 1 mile in 9 min. 33 seconds.

This has taken me a very long time to accomplish. I think a major factor is my asthma related allergies and the fact that I have cats (which I'm allergic to) in my home. About a week to a week and a half ago I super cleaned my room. I put filters in my heaters, steam cleaned the carpet, cleaned my fan (can't sleep without a fan), cleaned all my linens, and disinfected/dusted to help with my asthma. I have since banned my cats from my bedroom. I think it has helped a lot.

So, if you have asthma and are allergic to your animals, super clean your bedroom and ban your animals from going inside.

In further news, yesterday I received my A1C results: 6.2. Not bad, but not the best. My goal is to get it between 5.3 and 5.7.

I've been using this calculator to know if I am on track.

My BMI is normal, no blood pressure problems. Just need to go get that cholesterol checked. I have to fast for the cholesterol test, otherwise I would have done it at my last doctor visit. In the meantime, the doctor has put in an order so I can go to the lab at my convenience.

Goals and Always Experimenting

So this month I have two goals:

1. Run a whole mile straight under ten minutes (edited for typo)
2. Do ten push-ups under a minute and a half

Also, right now I am experimenting with a tea and I also want to experiment with stevia under a certain brand name.

The tea is Three Leaf Tea: Sugar Balance and the stevia is SweetLeaf.

I also saw some teas I want to try from the SweetLeaf website, as well as the SweetLeaf drops. They are somewhat costly through.  

So far the Sugar Balance tea seems to be helpful, but I have only used it for two days. The tea has ginseng and mulberry, which are supposed to be helpful with blood sugars. Of course the tea box can't specifically make certain claims, so I am trying it to see if it works for me.

Anything I mention (exercise, foods, herbs, supplements, etc.) is based on my experience. Not everything that works for me will work for everyone. I can't make claims and each person needs to evaluate what is right for them. I'm not responsible for the consequences of anything anybody tries.

A Little Bit About Me

My name is Amanda and I am a mother of two. When I was in my early days of college I was active and in pretty good shape.  Then when I got married I kind of let myself go and gained 40 lbs. In the last couple of years I've lost 40 of those lbs. During that time of losing weight I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I feel I am still too young to be diagnosed with this disease, but with my family history I am not surprised. I just expected the diagnosis to be 20 years down the rode. Plus, I had lost about 30 lbs when I was diagnosed. (I had even started this blog before I was diagnosed--lame!)

Anyway, this blog started out being about my fitness journey, but it is also about eating right for a type 2 diabetic. That means that I eat low carb (not no carb--I still eat some fruit).  My goal is to maintain normal blood sugars without medication. I also want to lose about 10-15 more lbs and lower my body fat percentage and cholesterol.

Upon reaching my goals I hope to maintain my goal

• Weight
• Body fat percentage
• Cholesterol
• A1C.

 

Workout Videos

Sometimes I feel like the moment I post workout videos here, they stop working. But I found some pretty awesome workout videos on YouTube:

BeFit Channel on YouTube

These include some pretty good videos by Jillian Michaels.

Blood Sugar and Experiments

Gymnema - This supplement appears to bring my after meal blood sugar down, like a fast acting insulin. It is supposed to be taken 15 minutes before a meal.

Nopal Cactus - This needs further testing to know whether it acts fast or slow. The bottle says to take 2-4 tablets a day.

Cinnamon/Chromium - This mixture seems to act like a slow acting insulin. It doesn't make a huge difference, but it does make a difference.

Exercise - There is no denying that exercise not only helps with lowering blood sugar levels quickly, it also helps to lower every day sugars.

Some things I want to experiment with (I'm a skeptic):

Water - Drink two cups straight away. Then drink one more cup five minutes later. This is supposed to help lower blood sugar quickly by flushing sugar out of the blood.

Apple Cider Vinegar - Two tablespoons before eating or as a part of a meal. (It is supposed to dramatically reduce the blood sugar spike after a meal.) This may not be the safest option. It is supposed to be diluted in a cup of water or sprinkled on salads to help not burn your esophagus.

Green Tea -  May lower blood sugar as much as 30 points.

As part of a diet:
Eating peanut butter, almonds, and pecans. I already eat nuts. They seem to keep my blood sugar low.

Beans, generally help me get a lot of protein and give me the energy I need. I will go ahead and increase my intake of beans (particularly white beans.)

Spinach and broccoli are great to include in a diabetic diet.

Oatmeal is a diabetic super food and doesn't cost much money. It can be eaten more than once a day.

Egg whites are also pretty awesome in a diabetic diet.


Some other supplements to consider:
Propolmannan, Phseolus Vulgaris, Irvingia Gabonensis, Brown Seaweed Extract. Some of these are supposed to block sugar absorption.

I'm also looking into L-arabinose.

Managing Diabetes

So I have been trying to keep my diabetes problems to a minimum. I am planning on visiting my diabetes doctor and an eye doctor to help me determine my health and figure out what I can do to maintain optimum health and to live a long life.

I am trying to avoid prescription medications at all costs. The Metformin did not do me many favors and insulin stores sodium in the kidneys, possibly raising blood pressure. I am currently experimenting with some herbal supplements and a low carb diet.

I have this list to help me experiment with what will work for my regimen. Today I am experimenting with Gymnema.

The Blood Sugar supplements alone weren't working well. However, I should probably make sure that I am following supplement directions. So far, none of the supplements have given me big problems. 

I really should start documenting what I'm eating and what I'm taking as well as how much exercise I do. Recording all of that information could be frustrating though, but I think it will be worth it when I do. I'll just try not to be too rigid about it.

I really do need to allow treats in here and there too, because studies show that diabetics who have treats now and then are better able to maintain good blood sugar levels.

How to get rid of cravings

The Scientific Workout

This workout requires about 21 minutes. It is to be repeated 3 times. 30 seconds for each interval with 10 seconds between each interval.

Pinterest Credit