One last thing. Carbs are extremely addicting and it's very difficult to say goodbye to those favorite foods of the past. Many struggle in the beginning with all of this. Some describe that carb craving as being worse than trying to go clean after using street drugs. If you fall one meal, pick yourself up and keep trying. The important thing is to try and avoid them as much as possible, because every time you give in then your body will crave them even more and more. I am to the point in my journey that some of their smells now make me physically ill. Yes I do have my treats that are sweet, but don't use them in the beginning as you start this journey. Your mind and body aren't ready for that yet. At some point you can have those, I promise. But in the beginning you need to get yoru body into a healthier place than it is now.
RX for health
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Friday, June 17, 2016
P Mason Explanation of an A1C (clinical laboratory scientist)
I am a retired Clinical Laboratory Scientist so this is my area of expertise. The a1c is a bit complicated to explain in lay terms but I'll try to simplify it. You've all been told it is a 3 month average of your blood glucose. That's a very general description. The reason is that in most people, red blood cells have an average life span of 3 months. Like hair growth varies from person to person, not everyone's red blood cells live exactly 3 months....that life is influenced by many things, but 3 months is a "ballpark" average. We are constantly producing new red cells, while some have peaked, some are deteriorating, some near death. They're in different stages of life at any given time. So....whereas a normal glucose test measures glucose circulating in the blood in plasma or serum...the liquid part of blood, the a1c uses a completely different methodology to measure just the glucose that attaches & sticks to only the red cells. Bear in mind, that as red cells mature & get near death, they begin to shrink, fragment & break down. They have less surface area for glucose molecules to adhere to. Younger cells, are larger, rounder, & have more surface area for glucose to adhere to so they obviously will have the highest concentrations of glucose. So, since red cells have a life cycle of approximately 3 months, the a1c is measuring the amount of glucose attached to red cells of varying age, size & shape....some have more, others have less. The thing most doctors don't tell you because they may not know, or simply don't take the time to explain, is that since the newest red cells are the biggest, they have the largest concentration of glucose. What's this all mean? Yes, it's about a 3 month average, but the cells that are 4-6 weeks old account for the majority of that average, because they carry the largest amount of glucose due to their size. Basically, since it's an average of all the cells, the newer ones carry more weight. 3 month average yes, but the largest factor of the a1c result is focused on the previous 4-6 weeks. Hope that makes sense. As a side note, people with certain irregularities of their red blood cells such as anemia, & other conditions, may have false low or highs on their a1c results, due to irregularities in number, size or shape of their red cells.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Nancy K
Are your doctors and dieticians going to support this way of eating-probably not. Doctors get no nutritional training in pre-med, residency or post medical degree. The majority of their knowledge comes from nurses, dieticians and their mother. The dieticians are trained by the ADA to eat more carbs, usually between 180 to 200 grams daily. The ADA views diabetes as a progressive disease and if your bs are high eating those carbs its' because they haven't found the right combination of medications for you yet. No I'm not going to tell you to lie to them, in fact what many tell them is that you are watching what you eat, and portion control and that makes them very happy. In time as you get control, your A1C is dropping and your labs are normal you can begin to bring up the subject of how you are doing it. There are some doctors that totally support this way of eating, as they have been reading the literature that they get monthly about diabetes and it's treatments.
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Nancy K. on cholesterol
Now for fats. I know that many may be worried about heart disease and weight gain eating a lot of fats. Here's the good news the old thoughts of a low fat diet are false, it doesn't prevent heart disease-as long as it's good fats. Good fats include: coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, real butter, full fat cream cheese and sour cream, avocados, block cheese.
On warning: If you don't lower your carbohydrate intake to less than 50 grams daily for at least 1 week prior to increasing your good fats you are putting your long term health at risk. The combination of the two will drastically increase your triglyceride and cholesterol levels, and you can experience strokes and heart attacks.
Fats will become your body fuel. Fats in a meal will keep you feeling full as the foods we now choose to eat will not keep us satisfied for long periods of time. Fats do not increase your bs like proteins and carbohydrates do.
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