Hi,
Been recently diagnosed as type 2 and would very much like to hear how other type 2’s are managing their blood glucose.
Please take the following quick 10 question survey to help out a fellow diabetic:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=bntsHIdY1HFObwDxqDea9Q_3d_3d
Once I have collected enough responses I will share the results back here.
Thanks a lot.
Mike,
Did you join to just to post this survey? These are the kind of questions a marketing survey would use.
Mike’s profile states , that he does not have diabetes .
Ive been a Diabetic for 4 yrs and I learned it’s not really what you eat but how much you eat. that really 1 of the main keys of being a diabetic. But you have to rember that everyone is different and thing you eat & do will effect everyone differently so it’s really tryll and errior .
Hello Mike. We would be happy to help you. But, would you mind enlightening us more with regards to your purpose regarding your survey? Thank you.
Hi All,
I had joined this forum sometime back and have been lurking in the shadows off and on and reading up on some of the posts over here. My mother has had type-2 diabetes for like 30 years now and for the past 10 yrs or so is injecting herself with insulin 2 times a day after the oral medication was insufficient to treat her glucose levels.
When I joined the site, I did not think I was diabetic (i.e. did not have any of the classic symptoms - little did I know then that by the time the symptoms show up, one has had diabetes for quite a while). Some time back, I had food with a diabetic friend (she has had it for ~ 14 yrs, oral medication and still had fasting sugars of like 140) at a restaurant. On the way back home she was checking her blood sugar on her meter and being the curious person I am, I asked her if I could check mine too, just for kicks fully expecting to see a normal reading, since I was not diabetic. She changed the lance and I pricked my right index finger right there on the freeway at 70 miles an hour (not at all advisable). The reading on the meter showed 170! I panicked and almost jammed the brakes, I could not believe it. It just couldn’t be. I was not diabetic so the meter must be wrong I thought. So while driving down the freeway, I jabbed my finger again and again and everytime the reading was the same or a couple of points over /under. I think I did this six or seven times till she ran out of strips.
When I finally reached home I think I had tears in my eyes and confusion, anger and shock in my heart. Nature had betrayed me and despite the fact that I thought of myself as a healthy guy (regular gym goer, no smoking, no late nights/excessive partying, social wine drinker), it had found a way to screw me just as it did my mom when she was in her thirties. I’ve seen what diabetes has done to my mom and I couldn’t help feel like my whole future was suddenly uncertain.
Doctor said that I was borderline diabetic and given family history of my mom, I would likely have full blown type 2 but could manage it through medication and diet. That set me off on a path to learning all about type-2 diabetes ( I already knew some via mom but this time I was obviously highly motivated to learn!). I’ve always experimented with food (for example in 2001 or so I went for ~ 5 months eating just raw fruit only, fully expected to lose weight but did not, only benificial effects I recall was that when I sweated in the gym it smelt fruity and I did not need as much sleep it seemed!).
So I am experimenting and gathering info. My current hypothesis is that we are being asked to eat too many carbs, grains (even whole grains) and that most of the food advice given to diabetics is not fully in their best interests. The generally accepted wisdom/advice seems to be focused on “managing” diabetes. I am interested in eliminating/reversing it. I’ve had some success in that area in the past few months and am trying to come up with a holistic lifestlye solution. What I don’t know is whether my so called ‘solution’/approach is just working for me and my friend only or if it could benefit more people. So I need to gather info to see what people are eating etc. to determine if my hypothesis has any legs - if it does, it could be something huge and if not I will be happy that I found something that works at least for me.
If any of you were at the talk at the Livermore library (in California) on Wednesday evening, I was the guy in back seat with questions about the glycemic index. You might also run into me and my friend at the upcoming June 14th Tour de Cure ride in Palo Alto.
So I hope you will respond to my survey or mention any suggestions etc you have. I am planning to sell you folks anything, since I actually have nothing to sell right now - would be nice if I did, could probably retire tomorrow!
BTW - I read Gary Taubes’ book Good Carbs, Bad Carbs and I feel it validates what I have experienced myself. It almost felt like he wrote my book!
Anyways, thanks for hearing me out.
Michael
Hi Mike,
Have answered your survey. Hope it helps. I’m also trying to find a way of life which allows me to manage my diabetes. If I could get into a lifestyle that allowed me to control without meds, and that lifestyle was not too difficult to assimilate with my personality and likes and dislikes I think I would be happy. I can’t see me reversing it, but hold out hope of gaining even better control without turning my life into one with no quality.
Ziggy
Hi Mike, thanks for explaining your situation. I’ll be happy to take your survey. I also read Good Calories, Bad Calories - it was quite a slog. I think you’re on the right track. I don’t believe that T2 diabetes can be cured, at least not yet, but it can controlled with diet and exercise.
Michael, I have been trying to get off the oral meds. for 4 years haven’t yet, still trying. Have you read Richard K. Bernstein’s book? The Diabetes Solution or The Diabetes Diet. It has helped me keep my numbers down. My problem is I get lazy and eat things I shouldn’t. I"m doing good now but in a few months I’ll backslide for a few days. Oh well its easer to know what you should do then to do it. Good Luck Sherry
Hey Mike…the survey should touch on stress a well…THAT too plays a significant role. Also perhaps the time of said snacks and its portion size. Looking foward to results of survey…linda.
Linda,
Thanks. You bring up a good point. Stress would probably be quite a relevant factor in BG control (as it would be in probably most modern diseases). For now I was just trying to keep the questions down to 10 so that it is easy for most folks to answer as well as work with one variable (diet) at a time.
So far I have a grand total of just 13 responses of which 12 are usable. Hopefully I can get to a sample size of 30 or so and then will do an analysis and post results on this thread.
Thanks for the feedback Mike…When you DO post the results, it would also be of interest to include the criteria which governed your analysis.
I am glad that you are not a marketer. I have conducted my own experiment and have discovered that starches are my enemy. I try to check my BG at 1 hour after last bite and occasionally 2 hours (this was suggested by Alan S from Australia). If I have even a slice of bread my BG zooms to around 200, but if I only have protein and veg & fruit I am under 140 at 1 hr and below 120 at 2 hr. I really couldn’t believe it ( nor did I want to believe it), but for me that is it. Usually I am around 160 first thing in the morning but lately I have been pretty much within target. So now I eat beans & no rice, no-bread sandwiches and steak & salad. With the lack of carbs I also do not sleep well and sometimes feel spacey.
Sorry about your Dx but as you can see, we can all deal with it. Hope the data shows something interesting.
Cheers, Todd.
When I went to my dietician she had me eating close to 200 carbs a day. Needless to say I didn’t follow her advise. Over the 2 years I have gradually reduced my carbs to closer 50-60 a day. The advice they give diabebetics is terrible. My dietician told me every diabetic eventually ends up on insulin. It’s like they don’t even want you to try to control what you eat. I found out through lots of testing that anything made from processed flour will spike me terribly. Eliminating most processed foods has helped me control bg. I’m still struggling with high morning numbers because of dawn phenomenom.