Hello my name is Daniela and basically I'm trying to get in the best shape of my life because my partner and I have decided to try having a baby soon. Unfortunately I'm not the best diabetic. My last a1c was very high I think it was 9. So now that that's out in the open I would appreciate any help on motivating myself to exercise daily, eat right, and control my bg. If it helps I am 23 years old, 5 foot 3, and weight between 135-140. I say between because some days my scale says 137 and the next day it will say 134. Maybe its just water retention but yes those r my usual stats. I will admit that my current diet consists of many fast food option and carbs. I know I know its horrible but being a full time student and working full time doesn't make managing my diabetes any easier. I REALLY want to jump start my new eating habits by doing a safe cleanse that DOES NOT only include juices or smoothies. I can do it if it at least includes one meal a day. I am speaking from experience btw. So please any type one mommies out there or anyone who has successfully completed a detox regimen PLZ respond!! Any info is highly appreciated. Thank you.
Hi there,
First off most detox diets are bunk and a myth, typically built around the starvation approach, you might loose a few pounds and some water put you'll gain it all back as soon as you start eating again properly, you'll also loose muscle. I absolutely would not recommend a detox diet, they are used by people to sell stuff and that's about all they are good for.
Arguably foods aren't toxic or poisonous so you don't need to detoxify from them :)
I would recommend you join a site like this and perhaps adopt some of the following or amend where suitable. I am just talking from personal experience and knowledge I've gained from reading up on the subject of metabolism, diet and diabetes etc, so don't take as gospel might not be right for you :)
Start eating a nutritionally balanced diet, high in protein and veggies and low in carbohydrate less than 150g a day ideally.
Cut out all junk processed food, reduce sugar intake and stay away from simple carbs. 4-6 small fist sized meals every 3 hours during the day also does wonders for the metabolism in my experience.
Work out your metabolic rate and calorie requirements using the tools on the site and aim to run a calorie deficit daily,
1lb of fat rougly equates to 3,000 calories. Aim to lose 1lb-2lb a week through reducing calorie intake. -500 a day might be a good start.
Exercise 3-5 time week, high intensity cardio and along with some moderate weights and you will see benefits quicker.
Drinking lots of water helps 3 litres a day does wonders for the skin, digestion and aids fat burning.
Green tea is also good.
Read up around the subject, I found the work of Gary Taubes really useful, you can find his books on amazon.
Diabetes wise.
Not sure where you are at with that. Are you on basal bolus, do you count carbs, are you on MDI or a pump? Do you know correction factors and carb to insulin ratio?
If not, there is lots of help on here. Two great books are thinking like a pancreas by Gary Schneider and Using Insulin by John Walsh. These two books alone would help you make serious inroads in to better managing your diabetes.
Sure others will chime in shortly to offer more tips, good luck with it.
Just don't starve yourself and take weight loss slow and steady, you'll be much better for it in the long term. Diets and detox don't work, life style changes do :)
I have never done a detox but I have been a diabetic mother three times. I would recommend a couple of sessions with a nutritionist to learn about low carb eating and eating right for the early stages of pregnancy. The first few weeks in the life of an embryo are the most critical. It may take a while for you to get to a place where your health is optimal for beginning a pregnancy. Give yourself a year of healthy life style before you conceive. Bring your OB/gyn and regular doctor on board with your plans and get their input as well. An a1c of 9 is no place for a baby to be.
I second the recommendation to check out myfitnesspal and take a gradual approach. I would reduce nutritionally unnecessary carbs and eat more greens. If you log your carbs and tighten up your carb counting, you should see that A1C drop nicely.
If you feel like taking a break from grains, I think a specialized detox could work for you. I'm Type 1 and have gone on a "nourishing" detox which is not the same as the popular detox. It's more about giving yourself a lot of nutrition through juices and smoothies but also making sure you get plenty of fiber (through psyllium husk). I wouldn't bother with those plans that ask for money to get started...You'd be better off starting with adding one green smoothie a day to your regular meals. Then increase the amount of smoothies as you go. I always feel less likely to want "naughty" foods when I start adding really healthy meals to my diet.
Here in Vancouver we have a special clinic for diabetic women who are trying to and who are pregnant. They have advice on how to keep your GC down under 10. I didn't know about that until my specialist mentioned it. Do you have something like that near you?
No unfortunately I have not heard of any program or clinic like that. It would be awesome to have something like that available. I will look into it more. Maybe I can find something similar. What kind of green smoothies do you make? I just started replacing breakfast with a green smoothie consisting of kale, coconut milk, flax, apple, and banana. But it seems to still have somewhat a lot of carbs. (probably the banana) I would love to hear more about your nourishing detox. Thank you all for your replies. I really appreciate the information :)
I do this yearly around this time. I try to eat higher protein, less carbs. I will have a bowl of oatmeal w/grapefruit in the morning and I also take long power walks. The rest of the day I try to lay off the carbs to a very little amount. Power walking is great and will help reset your body in certain ways. I don't like to do machines anymore so I go to the track at a high school bring my ipod and walk very fast for 30-40 minutes. I prefer to do this in the early morning when it isn't hot and I get my exercise out of the way for the day. It targets my belly fat and I find I am much more flexible. Once you start eating right your body wont crave all of the junk and high carb stuff. I also did one smoothy daily with blueberries, protein powder and a few other things which made me feel great and really made my skin glow afterwards but it might not be so great for you bu maybe you can find a cocktail that wont make your BS spike too much.Maybe cut down on the banana to 1/2. I have made a smoothie with vanilla or chocolate protein powder, 1/2 banana, 1-2 tbsp. of peanut butter, ice cubes, & 1/2 cup water or soy/almond milk. It tastes pretty good
Several people have mentioned lowering carbs but your schedule is what it is. If you are in a fast food joint, order sandwiches just throw away the bread. Try to avoid Taco Bell which tastes great, is cheap, but hard to dodge the carbs.
Another thing that might help you focus, is testing more often. I use my forearms as an alternate site and after I started testing halfway between meals - I was much more aware of my post-meal spikes which mess up your body's fat metabolism. I lost 28 lbs with no heroics. If you are the kind of person who like tracking, get yourself a Withings scale.