So my New Year’s resolution was probably like every other diabetic, to take control of your D & life and get my A1C under 7. It’s been a seriously long time since I’ve seen my A1C down in the 7 range & have yet to witness one in any of those 5 or 6 ranges (I’ve found out that many of you have reached that goal on TuD, it’s godly in a way I believe). You can read the ups & downs I’ve had on my 789 Roller Coaster, that is if you’re feeling bored or want some sleeping material as I know I write too much for any normal person to handle. Anyways, this lifestyle change has been long overdue & what can I say, I feel a little better each day (& I think I weigh less… yes I might stick with it a little longer!)
The Dreaded Scale
Nope, not the bathroom scale, more so the kitchen food scale (that bathroom scale goes into a whole different expletive category in my opinion). Anyways, this past month has been a wake-up call for me & how careless I’ve been lately putting my D on the back-burner. I’ve been compulsively logging my sugars, food & exercise every day for the last 4 weeks & I weigh, measure & count (thank God for CalorieKing) just about everything that enters my stomach. I realized right away how “off” my carb counting has been & the masses of food I was consuming without regard to the true carb & fat content. I’ve been so used to eyeballing my food & guesstimating my carb amounts I didn’t realize how skewed those guesstimates really were! I already have a few favorite foods memorized in regards to to carbohydrate/ounce ratios and feel quite lost at restaurants since I don’t have my beloved scale. I can’t believe I’ve gone to saying, eh that’s about 30 carbs right? To weighing half a yam and staring at amazement that little guy is 64 carbs~ I gotta cut this thing in half! Yes, my beloved “healthy” yams are 8 carbs/ounce… I’m not giving them up yet. At least now a yam lasts me several days instead of 2 sides. I’m timid to try the Bernstein Diet as it seems extreme to me & as such an active person I couldn’t imagine eating such a low calorie count per day. My sugars (& weight) have already improved with simply eating more vegetables, whole grains & low fat meals.
Conquering my Fears
I’ve let my sugars ride in the 120-180’s range for so long because of my erratic schedules. Believe me, no patient wants to question why their RN is shaking uncontrollably while placing an IV due to a quickly dropping blood sugar. Nor, do I enjoy chugging hospital juices~ especially if the only ones left are prune! So I let it ride… Oh my sugar’s 160, that’s fine I’ll probably be busy later, not worrying whether that 160 was going up or going down because I’d take the high over the low.
I also had to get rid of the fear of going low in the middle of the night, which was the reason I didn’t go to bed with a sugar < 140. I’m finally getting rid of those fears with basal testing and scientifically treating my lows (1 gram carb raises my sugar about 4 points). If my sugar is 75 before I go to bed, I’ll just eat 2 glucose tabs, recheck & then go to bed, rather than devouring milk & a huge PB sandwich to rid my fears.
Starting from Scratch
I’ve always felt that I’ve been well-read on Diabetes & whenever I went to a CDE, I never really received any helpful information that I didn’t already know. I felt it was pretty much a waste of time since I could tell them more about my D than they could. So I’ve pick up “Pumping Insulin” by Walsh to see if this guy could tell me something I didn’t already know. It’s helped some in the exercise department & understanding my body’s responses to exercise as well. I just wish he had more examples of diabetics responses to exercise & their regimens. I find parts of it a little out-dated since he recommends an extremely high carbohydrate diet & I could care less about regular insulin or MDI. I welcome suggestions for good reads, especially Nook style, I’m all ears.
Social Times
I’m a social girl, what can I say? I love going out with friends to happy hours or late nights at our favorite pubs, which tends to have a so-so effect on my sugars in the morning (sometimes I wake up normal, others low, others high, but my sugar definitely had huge swings in between). I’ve cut that out in my life opting for diet soda in replace of a tall frosty one (sigh… I’m holding off until I can at least get my sugars under control). Opting for the hummus platter with veggies instead of the super-stacked chicken nachos (another sigh here because I love me some chicken nachos with salsa verde). My sugars do love me for it though, there’s nothing like going to bed with a sugar of 101 and waking up at 89 (flatline on the CGM… yes, please!)
Life So Far
My sugars are definitely becoming more controlled & I finally got my night basal down for now, although that darned but wonderful exercise~ still figuring out my temp rate at night after weight lifting. I’m actually full after meals now! It could be the large amounts of veggies I eat or that fact that my previous post-prandial spikes were so high it caused polyphagia (excessive hunger). I’m not sure, but I finally feel like I’m getting a handle on my D for once in a long time.
Great job taking control of your sugars! FWIW red wine works great for my sugars and is delicious. good luck and can’t wait for updates