My life as a caveman...
Dinner this evening: Leek sauted with bacon, with a side of shrimp and a glass of pinot grigio.
Blood glucose before dinner: 101mg/dL
1 hour after dinner: 119mg/dL
Now, I'd be happier if the numbers were a little lower, but I like the lack of a post-prandial spike. I like that a lot.
There are two things to consider: overall level(s) and the range. Right now I'm running between 100 and 135mg/dL Normal would be between 70 and 125mg/dL.
Many experts say that diabetics should eat every 3 - 4 hours (3 meals and 3 snacks alternating) because that helps keep their glucose level. It's true, it does stay level, but it also stays high. It takes me longer (usually) to process any glucose I get from a meal than it does someone with a normal metabolism. So if I eat every 3 hours, I'm pretty much starting my next meal/snack before I'm done with the previous one.
Intermittent fasting, on the other hand, gives my pancreas and liver a bit of a break. Giving the system a rest, gives it a chance to repair, as does eating LCHF -- reducing the need for insulin (by not eating the stuff that requires insulin for use by the body) also helps preserve whatever pancreatic function I have left. It's the constant strain on the pancreas from attempting to deal with the carbs of the SAD (or the SADD -- Standard American Diabetic Diet) that eventually leads to type 2 diabetics becoming insulin-dependent. The other thing that drives the pancreas to exhaustion is the various medications that are given to diabetics that force the pancreas to produce more insulin.
Insulin isn't my problem -- at the moment. I'm making plenty. I'm just no using it well. So forcing more insulin out of my poor overworked pancreas isn't really helpful.And too much insulin in the system is as bad as too much glucose. Many of the complications of diabetes -- including obesity and cardiac problems -- are caused by too much insulin.
Diet is the easiest, cheapest, and least harmful way for a diabetic to control and manage their illness. You can't cure it completely, but you can get it into complete remission, just as long as you continue to manage your diet. Exactly what you can and can't eat is a fairly individual matter -- some of us are more sensitive to the carbs in different fruits and veggies than others. Some people manage nicely on 40g carb/day, others need to more, or less. It takes a fair bit of experimentation and vigilance to find out what works for you to begin with and you need to continue to pay attention because sensitivities change over time. And there's always the potential for "carb creep".
And this is why "experts" say that people can't do paleo or any other strict dietary regimen -- because it is hard to keep up. However, there are an increasing number of tools that make keeping up with this sort of regimen much easier -- online journals and tracking tools for one thing. But more importantly: community. None of us need to do this in isolation any more. We can create supportive, informative, helpful communities online. The combination of the huge amount of information available and the supportive communities is changing the way we do things.
Though of course, you have to want to do it. Without the motivation, nothing is going to help.
This entry was originally posted at http://hugh-mannity.dreamwidth.org/1045732.html. That post currently has
comments.
You may comment here or there via OpenID even if you do not have a Dreamwidth account.
Blood glucose before dinner: 101mg/dL
1 hour after dinner: 119mg/dL
Now, I'd be happier if the numbers were a little lower, but I like the lack of a post-prandial spike. I like that a lot.
There are two things to consider: overall level(s) and the range. Right now I'm running between 100 and 135mg/dL Normal would be between 70 and 125mg/dL.
Many experts say that diabetics should eat every 3 - 4 hours (3 meals and 3 snacks alternating) because that helps keep their glucose level. It's true, it does stay level, but it also stays high. It takes me longer (usually) to process any glucose I get from a meal than it does someone with a normal metabolism. So if I eat every 3 hours, I'm pretty much starting my next meal/snack before I'm done with the previous one.
Intermittent fasting, on the other hand, gives my pancreas and liver a bit of a break. Giving the system a rest, gives it a chance to repair, as does eating LCHF -- reducing the need for insulin (by not eating the stuff that requires insulin for use by the body) also helps preserve whatever pancreatic function I have left. It's the constant strain on the pancreas from attempting to deal with the carbs of the SAD (or the SADD -- Standard American Diabetic Diet) that eventually leads to type 2 diabetics becoming insulin-dependent. The other thing that drives the pancreas to exhaustion is the various medications that are given to diabetics that force the pancreas to produce more insulin.
Insulin isn't my problem -- at the moment. I'm making plenty. I'm just no using it well. So forcing more insulin out of my poor overworked pancreas isn't really helpful.And too much insulin in the system is as bad as too much glucose. Many of the complications of diabetes -- including obesity and cardiac problems -- are caused by too much insulin.
Diet is the easiest, cheapest, and least harmful way for a diabetic to control and manage their illness. You can't cure it completely, but you can get it into complete remission, just as long as you continue to manage your diet. Exactly what you can and can't eat is a fairly individual matter -- some of us are more sensitive to the carbs in different fruits and veggies than others. Some people manage nicely on 40g carb/day, others need to more, or less. It takes a fair bit of experimentation and vigilance to find out what works for you to begin with and you need to continue to pay attention because sensitivities change over time. And there's always the potential for "carb creep".
And this is why "experts" say that people can't do paleo or any other strict dietary regimen -- because it is hard to keep up. However, there are an increasing number of tools that make keeping up with this sort of regimen much easier -- online journals and tracking tools for one thing. But more importantly: community. None of us need to do this in isolation any more. We can create supportive, informative, helpful communities online. The combination of the huge amount of information available and the supportive communities is changing the way we do things.
Though of course, you have to want to do it. Without the motivation, nothing is going to help.
This entry was originally posted at http://hugh-mannity.dreamwidth.org/1045732.html. That post currently has
comments.
You may comment here or there via OpenID even if you do not have a Dreamwidth account.