Evaluation weeks 9 & 10

Hi again



Welcome to another post. It's been a week since I returned from Devon/Cornwall. I think this post should be entitled holiday hangover, not from alcohol I hasten to add but from the holiday I took from my usual eating plan. I hadn't intended to stray into the realms of chip shops and cream tea parlours but stray I did and it's turned out to be a rather interesting excursion.

I'll explain a bit about the type of holiday so get you get the picture first. We have a touring caravan and this time it was just my husband and I (the first holiday on our own without our daughter who will be 18 in a few weeks). We took our walking gear (boots, waterproofs etc) along with cycles and and all our body boarding stuff for the beach.

The way we've always eaten on these holidays has been to have breakfast in the caravan (cereal or cooked) then bugger off out for the day. We never bothered with packed lunches preferring the convenience of eating out. Anyway this time I insisted on going supermarket shopping and for the first 2 days I dutifully made myself a salad dressed with hemp oil for lunch. Evening meals in pubs were a bit tricky but I did my best by ordering things like baked potatoes with cheese and salad.

By day 3 I was fed up making salads and even more fed up with carrying them in my rucksack everyday along with bottles of water and several pieces of fruit. The start of my demise was a vegetable pasty (made with wholemeal flour of course). I then progressed to fish and chips from the chip shop which I have to say were absolutely gorgeous - so much so I went back for another lot later in the week. During the rest of the week I also managed to fit in 3 scones with jam & cream (no butter) and 2 ice creams.

On the plus side I continued to take my hemp oil everyday (I didn't take any flax as I ran out).

Now then here's the thing...............................

you'd think that all those carbs and sugar which I normally avoid like the plague would've sent my BG rocketing. Wrong!! Amazingly I saw spectacular improvements particularly in my fasting levels first thing in the morning. Yes I did increase my insulin before eating fish & chips or scones (overall I was injecting on average between 2 and 4 units more at each injection than usual). But that's not a lot of insulin to bring down fasting blood BG as low as 6.8 the next morning (for me anyway) ! I can't remember ever testing that low in the morning before.

My explanation for this is simply the amount of activity. One day my husband joked we had done a mini triathlon - cycling in the morning, body boarding in the afternoon and walking in the evening. Despite some bad weather we were out of the caravan everyday for several hours. I think that, had I managed to stick to my normal eating plan whilst I was on holiday I would've been hypoing every day (I didn't have a single hypo). But then I believe I also need extra carbs to fuel all that activity.

I consider it an important lesson learned. My problem is now that I'm home how am I going to maintain that level of activity? Actually I can't, all I can do is make a commitment to take exercise as often as I can possibly manage it.

This last week after returning from holiday it took me a few days to adjust back to my normal eating plan but my fasting blood sugars have been ranging between 10 and 12. Very disappointing and that's why I likened it to a hangover. If I could just get the diet and the exercise right and maintain it......

Just a couple of things to mention about food products:

I've noticed that KerryGold are now advertising a spreadable butter without added vegetable oils.

Also low carb chocolate bars by Dr Atkins (available in Boots) state they are trans fat free (but they are expensive).

That's it for this week. If you have any comments please feel free to post it would be nice to hear from people.

Carol

Evaluation weeks 6,7,8

Hi thanks for staying with me and coming back to read more



I had a great bank holiday weekend socially but it wasn't so successful on the diet front. I went camping for the weekend with some of my work colleagues (there were 18 of us in all). The weather in Shropshire was more like the middle of January than the end of May, it rained and the temperature dropped like a stone overnight. Still it was a great weekend and I got to spend some quality time with some great people.


I took my flax oil and didn't miss taking it but we took refuge in several pubs and cafes where I could not resist the temptation to eat food I wouldn't normally touch. I even ate a cooked breakfast on the last morning only realising later that the egg would've been fried in vegetable oil. Needless to say my insulin had to be increased to cope with all the gluttony.

I previous weeks I was getting annoyed with myself whenever I discovered I had either inadvertently or carelessly (through not reading labels properly) consumed any vegetable oils, but I have decided not to let it worry any more. The constant vigilance and label reading is quite streesful not to mention reporting all my results so I am going easy on myself. Someone else who has already done this cure did so without avoiding trans fats although it was a very slow process. In future I will do my best to avoid trans fats but I'm not going to fret if I slip up any more.


Although I've been eating some meat to raise my iron levels I haven't felt happy about it so I'm glad to say I've found a 100% natural iron supplement called spatone. It's actually a mineral water and comes in boxes of 28 sachets. It tastes very metallic but to me it's preferable to a permanament return to my previously carniverous habits. I like being a vegetarian and notice a difference in the way I feel. I'm sure it's all psychological but somehow I feel lighter and more healthy by not eating meat. I had my cholesterol and blood pressure checked a few days ago - cholesterol was 4.08 and blood pressure 115 over 76. These numbers have never been a cause of concern for me and I attribute this to not being a meat eater.


Looking at my data for May it looks like there's not been any improvment, but I'm not discouraged as I think it's still far too early to tell if this intervention is going to work. I should mention that at the time I started taking insulin (June 06) I was injecting between 12 and 14 units per meal. Due to changes in diet and possibly this cure I am now injecting as little as 4 units. That's some going and I can't wait to see what the diabetologist makes of it (I am due my annual appointment this month).

The other thing to remember about this cure is that it is a cure for 'insulin resistance' not for beta cell failure. This being the case it is unlikely that it will effect a complete cure in my case. As I was advised by the diabetologist that I do have some beta cell failure, it is likely that I am always going to need some sort of treatment. The hope for me in taking this cure is that I will be able to get the medication down to a minimum.

There is one area I feel I could do much better in and that's excercise. All I do at the moment is walk the dog and the obligatory housework. My job is neither sedentary nor active, I would describe it as moderately active with some sitting and driving. I want to start doing some yoga as I've read it has a profound effect on the endocrine system. Some aerobics and weights would also be beneficial but the problem is fitting it all in. I also beleive rebounders or mini trampolines are very good. I am sure that if I get myself motivated on a daily basis I could get off the insulin altogether and lose some weight.

So I'm sowing the seed here to get myself started.

On the flax oil front I've noticed a big difference between brands. Some taste worse than others so if you are having trouble getting the flax oil down try a different brand and try to buy it as fresh as possible. Hemp oil is much more palatable if you really can't stand the flax. You can also obtain omega 3 from nuts and seeds. In particular sprouted seeds and grains are powerhouses of nutrional goodness and life energy (Leslie Kenton Raw Energy 1985). I have bought myself a sprouter (from health food shops) and have started adding sprouts to all my salads. As always read up on it yourself to find out all the benefits.

Thanks for looking in, I'm away for a week in gorgeous Cornwall next weekend so it'll be a few weeks before I post again.

Take care

Carol