Where I am right now with my Diabetes

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Hi, my name is Sunny, I am a person with Type 2 Diabetes.

I just recently joined tuDiabetes after seeing one of the founders talk about it in a video.. which was on some diabetes blog roll. I had been looking for other people with T2D to commiserate with .. i was hoping to find something face to face. I don't know what all I would do here on this site, i've gone through some of the forums and blogs, but i realize.. i'm probably fairly at peace with my disease. It would just be nice to have people to share E.S.H. (experience, strength, hope) with.

Recently, a teenager asked me in passing (after he saw me taking a blood sugar reading) - what's it like to be diabetic? I said to him: It forces me to be very honest with what I eat. I think that's a good way of putting it.

As of now.. being the last 3 months or so - my body can safely handle about 20g of carbs in a meal. My A1C is at 5.6, and has been as low as 5.3. I'm down to 160lbs (i was 195 when I was diagnosed). I am male, 5' 10". I recently ran a half marathon.

I am coming off a christmas-binge. "Binge" would be too strong a word, perhaps. Description: I did not say no to taste cookies.. I ate stuffing and bread and macNcheese at Grandma's. Ie, I didn't go crazy, but I "allowed" myself EVERY day. As a result, in one month, my A1c went up 0.1.. (not statistically significant).. and my fasting blood sugar went up to 120 (used to be at 85 or so).

Now I get to go back to "balance", or "healthy", or whatever label needs to be applied. What shall I do?

At my most fanatical - I went vegetarian.. monitoring my sugar after every meal, trying to make sure it did not go over 140. (Note, this is 30-40 minutes after the meal.. not "2 hours post pandrial"). I could only maintain that for a few weeks (it takes a LOT of energy and willpower and focus), but it did bring my A1C from 6.0 down to 5.5 in 3 weeks. But, that's not "balanced".

I think i'm going to aim for: regularly taking fasting blood sugar levels; taking two hour post-pandrials and aiming for less than 140. I think this equates to about 30g of carbs in a meal (for me, everybody is different). Specific foods (that I love), which I need to avoid: General Tso's chicken, Mashed potatoes, French Fries, Hunks of Bread... Pastries, Bagels. Rice.

What I CAN eat (note, this is very US-oriented, I apologize to internationals): Yogurt (Greek) + Nuts (Cashews etc); QDoba (naked burrito 1 scoop of rice 2 scoops of pinto beans), Veggie burgers (throw away one half of the bun, eat with knife and fork), OCharley's Twisted Chips, I am going to stay away from large quantities of meat.. perhaps once a week, get a steak or something like that. I *can* handle a 6" sandwich from Subway.

For breakfast - at my best, I make a juice drink (See the movie "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead") from celery, spinach, cucumber, etc. However, that takes half an hour (prep + cleanup), so I need a backup plan OTHER than Bagels or Starbucks or Oatmeal. I suspect an investment in Spicy V8 is in my very near future, and/or yogurt with granola.

I also need to get back to running more often. Its hard, I hate the cold, and work has been chewing up a lot of hours; i've been going to physical therapy for my knee (IT Band stretchability issues).. its so easy to say "meh, i'll skip for now". But yeah, part of my focus nees to be to get running again.

Yep, so that's where I'm at.
Thanks for listening and letting me share.

Sunny

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HI Sunny, I am a T-2 also. Sounds like you have a got a pretty good handle on things and getting your carbs and exercise into line.

My only advice is understand that this can be a progressive condition and you may need medication help someday. Don't set yourself up for a letdown if that day comes. Its about keeping your spikes and basal readings as near as normal as possible. If your not reaching target goals reach out for medication that can help keep your numbers in line.

Each time you cheat you stress your pancreas that much more and you already have damage as you have been diagnosed as diabetic.

Good Luck

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I am struggling with the running thing, too! I never was a very good runner, but with colder weather, it's even harder for me to be motivated. Hell, I live in Seattle, and it doesn't get that cold here, but I look out at the rain, and my brain says, "No, stay inside. Have a glass of wine."

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I don't think that fanatacism is a bad thing. I trained for a race last summer and found that when I ate more veggies, I felt better so I've kept at it. Of course, doctors/ teachers/ my mom had said "eat vegetables" for 43 years before I "discovered" that but c'est la vie? I see a lot of people who don't seem to have diabetes struggle with varying degrees of challenges and I think that it's good to just look at it as a challenge and not let it get in the way of working out.

Our local running store has a good heap of information about running injuries: Link. I had trained w/ their group for a race and they had an informative presentation by a couple of physical therapists who's handouts are on the site. Occasionally I get some IT tightness and those roller things are pretty handy. I bought a fancy one that's excruciating but it works. The foam ones aren't quite as tough I think?