EATING TO YOUR METER

•  Rhonda L Richardson Strange (certified diabetes educator) Eating to your meter lets you check out a new food to see if it spikes you high. Any time your blood sugar is not back to pre-meal status about 2 hours after a meal then you have eaten too many carbs in that meal. If you have a fasting morning blood sugar over 100, it also means you have eaten too many carbs the day before. A fasting AM sugar is called your Basal Insulin level and will be the closest average to your A1c. It is also the number your doctor will look at the most to adjust your medication. Barbie Briley almost every type 2 Diabetic over produces insulin, this is the result of having insulin resistance which is the hallmark of being a type 2. The pancreas will produce insulin when we have eaten any carbohydrate. The insulin can not do it's job (to transport the glucose from blood stream to cells to be used as energy), due to insulin resistance. Our cells will not let the glucose in. When the glucose can't get in, it builds up in blood stream causing high nlood sugar. The pancreas gets signaled that the blood stream still contains sugar, so it cranks out more insulin trying to do the job. This happens over and over and is hard on the pancreas. Insulin is also our fat storage hormone. It takes the excess sugar from our blood stream and stores it in the form of fat in our fat cells thinking it can be used later when energy is needed. To stop the cycle and rest pancreas we have to go very low carb. Without carbs our pancreas is not stimulated to make insulin. No one will go low unless you are taking a medication that forces your pancreas to make insulin when it is not needed. If this is the case with anyone, they need to have medication lowered. Never eat carbs such as breads , cereals, grains, fruit or other carbs to just feed your medication. You are hurting yourself and even developing more insulin resistance if you do. If you are on no medication, you will never get too low, as the liver will dump it's stores into blood stream. If liver stores get depleted such as in starvation, the body will start burning fat and muscle tissue until it gets food. All blood sugars over 140 are doing damage to the body and needs to be avoided at all times. High numbers for a long time can burn out the pancreatic Beta cells that produce Insulin. These cells are limited and can not not be replaced.

GEO ZAUN: IS DIABETES REVERSIBLE?

You can not reverse diabetes, once you got it you got it for life however you can lead a healthy life with the disease by living withing the carbohydrate limits that your body can still deal with without medication. So your intake of carbohydrates needs to be severely curbed and your meds need adjusted downwards with the help of you doc when that time arises. There is one big trade off in all of this, eat withing your carb limits or pay for the consequences of not doing so. Y...ou do all of this by eating to your meter...test test test, and reduce your carbs. None of us should be eating obvious carbs, if you are unsure, don't eat it. Eat those carbs that keep you healthy only, such as green leafy veggies. Count the carbs (total carbs) every day, you meter and your meds will tell you when you ate to many. This whole process is quite simple, the only thing it takes is your willpower and patience.

MARTIN SHANNON, DIABETES COACH AND HIMSELF A DIABETIC

• I read across a lot of diabetic forums and face book pages and the thing I hear the most is everyone is different you got to find what works for you. To a certain extent this is true; we are all a little different biologically. What needs to be said is that we are all human beings with basically the same biology, if this wasn’t true, vaccines, immunizations, pharmaceutical drugs all would have to be individually tailored to fits everyone’s needs and we all know that isn’t the case. Yes there are outliers to this rule; some will have a greater degree of side effects than others.
  
  A few basic facts when it comes to diabetes and a glucose metabolism that is malfunctioning. Carbohydrates are carbohydrates it doesn’t matter the source, carbohydrates will affect your glucose levels, some quicker than others but all will have an effect. The biggest source of glucose you are seeing in your blood is coming from the carbohydrates you are eating; the second source is proteins that are being eaten in excess of your metabolic needs for tissue repair. When you hear someone say you have to find out what works for you, I interpret that as find out what is acceptable to you, which still may not be what is necessary for long term health. People with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus all have a varying degree of insulin available to modulate their glucose levels, what this leads to is a varying degree in the amount of carbohydrates you can consume. This is where the statement you have to find out what works for you. Knowingly or unknowingly what they are referring to is your carbohydrate budget, in reality they are referring to your available insulin. If you are taking medications that affect your insulin directly your carbohydrate budget will increase, is that a good thing or bad thing. Having to increase insulin to cover a food source that is easily removed from your diet and not necessary for human health or longevity doesn’t make sense to me. Don’t misunderstand, there are plenty of people with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus that require medication even under strict carbohydrate reduction and there is nothing wrong or defeating about that. The end game here is to be healthy regardless of the path you need to take.
  
  The question now becomes for a newly diagnosed person with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, how far am I willing to push the envelope in regards to my insulin supply. Most people with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus have a finite amount of insulin available and the majority of that insulin is phase II insulin or newly manufactured insulin. If you consume carbohydrates below your budget your body will once again start to store insulin as Phase I insulin. Phase I insulin is stored insulin and is used in response to consuming carbohydrates. In my opinion now that you have been diagnosed with Prediabetes or Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus the wise thing to do is always consume carbohydrates below your available insulin supply. The less demand you put on your pancreas to supply insulin the quicker your path to health will be. Now that you have been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus your pancreas (Beta Mass), the insulin producing cells have been working overtime to keep up with the demand of your insulin resistance. It could use a break.

  
  

POST BY CAROLYN STATMAN IN OUR RECIPE GROUP

Wanna give a big THANK YOU to this group and a special SHOUT OUT to Martin Shannon. Just got my results. A1C went from 6.9 to 5.3!!! I feel great and have learned so much from yall. Still need to lose about 25 lbs. but well on my way!!! Doc said keep up the good work, and he's not big on praise😄

INSPIRATIONAL COMMENTS FROM GEO ZAUN

Diabetes is something every one of us has to learn to live with. How we treat this disease and our self along with it is what directly affects our mental health and all relationships we encounter. It really doesn't matter if those around us don't understand what we are going through, as long as we can understand and come to grips with that. I've given this subject some hard thought, and realize that this disease has actually had more of a positive impact on me than a negativ...e one. Diabetes has improved my life style, I'm fit both physically and mentally. I take less drugs now than I have in many many years and look forwards to tomorrow and totally enjoy family and my surrounds. Yes I'm still a diabetic, however that's something I don't dwell on. I have an established routine, and that routine goes with me where ever I am during the day. I travel a lot, my job as an I.T. personality demands this in a country where populations a spread out far and wide, however my routine travels along with me. It is knowing, understanding and coming to grips with this disease that makes all the difference. Knowing that you have the disease is the easy part, our doctors told us that, and our blood tests verified that. Understanding how and why this disease affects us in certain ways is more difficult but this understanding is eased a bit by learning how to come to grips with it, and what you have to do to get a grip on it. We are here (at least I am) to help you understand, come to grips, and get a grip on this disease. All it takes from you is the discipline to follow through, do some research and enlist the help of your medical staff to help you and not just automatically give you more drugs hoping that will satisfy you.

STATEMENT FROM DEB BONSER

Sometimes what we say sounds harsh to others. I hope I haven't offended anyone by my comments. One of the things I try to do is write it and then sit back and re-read my comment as if I were someone else and make sure it conveys what I meant. We also have to understand that some people are more diplomatic and others are more blunt. They may not mean to offend. All we can do is state what works for us and each person has to be responsible for their own life. Unfortunately this disease does not respond in the same way to all people. I hope you all have a wonderful day and find a bright spot in your day to focus on and eliminate some of the stress. Have a Blessed Day everyone!

STORY FROM FREDA

I am a success story. In 2003 I fell and broke my left humorous. (The big bone in your upper arm.)    NOT FUN!!!
I LOST:'(   The bone was" displaced. At first I had full use of the arm. I was taken to thr x-ray . Dpt.
  The bone was displaced . With the median nerve tented over the terrible jaged edge of the bone. They took two pictures of the arm and ten to fifteen of my head and neck. When the ortho dr got there. Off I went to  surgery.
I had 71/2 months  to get full use of the hand .
In  that time I went on a low carb high protein diet. I lost down  to 225 and I got stuck. I couldn't loose any more. I learned about carb indexes. I increased my low carb index foods. For one month I used the lowest carb index vegetables.  The weight just started to fall off. I got down to 177. Ive kept the weight off. Even with the steroids I've taken for my back and neck have not  caused a weight gain. I'm still loosing!