Diabetics Progress Reports

[mermaid]

I just checked out Razberry's thread on cinnamon, and wow is it jam-packed with information! I think it contains anything and everything you'd need to know about cinnamon. It did remind me that it's a blood-thinner, so everyone on meds should be checking with their doctor about it before taking it. Like I said, it's potent stuff!

I have not figured out how to put a link to it. I hope someone else does.

[Doulton]

I had a shock this morning; yesterday I finally received the GG Bran Crips crackers that Br. Berstein recommends so highly in his book. Each cracker has 4 carbs and 4 gms fiber for a net carb of 0. Each cracker is only 16 calories.

I woke up this morning. BS was 92. Fine. Broke up 4 of the crisps and added a small touch of milk. Added just a sliver of butter. I estimate that this is no more than 100 calories.

I ate them with high hopes. I know that I need more fiber.

One hour later my blood sugar was 202!!!!

Can anyone tell me why that might be? 3 hours later it was down to 156. The reading over 200 was a shock and a surprise.

Thank you.

Natalie

[mermaid]

Whoa Natalie! I can understand why that shocked you. Well, it's hard to say for sure what caused it, but I'm suspicious that you might be sensitive to certain grains or gluten. It could be that something upset your body and triggered the release from your liver, which stores glucose for emergencies. I had that reaction to Dreamfield's pasta. 1/4 cup put me up to 300 in a quick hurry. I have not found any literature describing the exact mechanism of those spurts, but they are well known to happen. I remember Bernstein did lightly address that in his book, too. He said to follow his guidelines only as far as you are not sensitive to those foods, same for Atkins.

Another problem with the bran crackers is that they may actually contain carbs. In Europe they count carbs and fiber differently than we do, not adding fiber into the total count of carbs. So the crackers may have as much as 3 grams digestible fiber each, and if so, then four of them would put you up about 70 points or so. I have seen threads on this forum where people call the company and the company states the crackers have no carbs. I don't believe them though. I always count them as 3 carbs each and the monitor seems to reflect that for me.

My advice: I would eat just one cracker or a half-cracker next time and see what that does. If just one cracker sets you off, then you know it's a sensitivity and you need to not eat them. Otherwise, it just might be that four is too many. I know it would be too many for me. I can only have one at a time, and not very often.

[Doulton]

Thank you, Mermaid. It may be quite possible that I am allergic. And I will take your advice. I will proceed with great caution. A friend asked me to meet her for brunch today at a local First Watch--it's a chain but I don't know how extensive. I told the waitress that I was low-carbing it and asked her to hold the bread and the potatoes. She brought me a little cup of strawberries instead (her idea). I ate a lot: 2 eggs, 4 bacon strips, mushroom caps with melted cheddar cheese.

After two hours my blood glucose was 110. After four hours it was 82! The whole experience was very gratifying for some reason.

I have also been trying to take cinnamon three times a day. So far it looks good, but I don't have enough evidence to conclude anything but that it does not hurt.

I hope that everyone here is in the midst of a good, happy, healthy weekend.
Natalie

[mermaid]

Natalie, I am so happy with your success! To be able to eat satisfying food at a restaurant and still have perfect blood sugar is definitely reason for celebration.

That really is the awesome thing about cinnamon--even if you don't know if it's helping, you at least know it's not hurting. Haven't ever heard of anyone being harmed by cinnamon!

I'm having a perplexing rise in fasting glucose the past few days, trying to figure it out. My diet is fine, except for maybe too much protein. I am feeling good but fasting BS is around 120--not astoudingly high, but more than I'm used to. Hormones maybe? Yesterday excercise brought it UP 30 points, which also annoyed me. Two days ago I went hypo taking too many herbs and that kinda wrecked my day. Diabetes is a tricky thing to deal with sometimes. Today I'm just taking the cinnamon without the other herbs to see what happens. Hope that can get me back on track.

[JONAH'S GRANNY]

Trying to post Raz thread on Cinnamon. I'll keep trying.

[JONAH'S GRANNY]

I need ideas for adding cinnamon to my day...

[Doulton]

Lorena, I am sorry that you have some troubles with your fasting glucose. Diabetes can sometimes be quite a mystery. You establish patterns that you think you can trust and then suddenly the unexpected happens. I am feeling a little bit more secure in knowing that one bad reading is not the end of the world. I think that the cinnamon won't raise you and can help to lower you.

I am sorry that you had a post-exercise high. I hope that you can figure out the logic of it all. Hormones are likely suspects indeed.

Jonah's Granny--you are doing an inspirational job!

I am doing well and have managed to incorporate the fibrous crackers into my diet by using small portions three times a day as an adjunct to my main meals and then I don't get a spike at all.

Take care, everyone.

Natalie

[mermaid]

Hi Natalie,
Thanks for your concern and understanding. I thought it was important to share some of my struggles and not just the rosy good stuff. It's so true that with diabetes you can go along just fine with everything under control, and then that dern meter can give you a slap upside the head. Right now my blood sugars are slowly dropping with the help of a little cinnamon and maybe will be back to being excellent soon. My goal is to control bs without herbs, only diet. It is important to not get discouraged, and just keep on workin' the program.

I did figure out that I was probably getting too much protein. When I was on Atkins before, I ate a lot of protein and seemed to have no problems from it. Now that my biochemistry is radically different, I have to cut down my protein to probably about 60 grams per day--just enough for my protein needs without giving my body an excess to break down into glucose. I got that information from this website: [url="http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/diabetes.html"] I downloaded and read the whole Eat Fat Get Thin ebook from that web site today and found it fascinating. I think it had the answers I was looking for, but of course I have yet to test it all out. Wish me luck!

[Doulton]

Lorena, I do wish you a lot of luck. It seems as if you are very patient, very methodical, and very determined to stay on top of things. You've already lost an awesome amount of weight and you are knowledgeable and intelligent. Those are all great weapons against diabetes, which has its unpredictable and irrational moments. You can probably typically figure out what's gone wrong. Sometimes it's just stress. I myself tend to devalue stress as an explanation, but my doctors and others have often mentioned the diabetes/stress connection.

I believe that cinnamon has helped a lot but I also admit that I started the cinnamon right at the same time that I managed to get very prudent about my diet.

Did I mention that I am suffering from Shingles right now? I am in a lot of pain and it's really interfered with my work-out routine. I want to get back asap, but the pain is bad. My doctor asked me to wait 8 days before I went out in a place with a lot of people -- not that I can give shingles to anyone, but I can give chicken pox to anyone who has never had it.

Take good care Lorena and everyone else.

Natalie

[mermaid]

Hey Natalie, thanks for your kind words. For now I have things under control again, mostly in the 90's today, and without herbs. I think upping the fat and lowering the protein helped so I'll continue with that for awhile.

I think stress is an important factor. One time when I got furious with my husband I checked my blood sugar after things calmed down and it had gone up 100 points in about a half-hour without eating anything. And I noticed this morning that my sinuses were draining so I wondered if I actually had a bug but the symptoms were unnoticeable except for slightly elevated blood sugar.

About shingles, I had it when I was pregnant five years ago. It was really miserable. I was into Willard Water back then, so I sprayed some directly on the blisters. It was immediately soothing, and then the blisters popped, drained, and cleared up completely in I think about two days of spraying with WW. I didn't get any scars, either. Dunno if it works for everyone that way, but for me it was a godsend.

Anyway, good luck.

[Little Lamb]

Originally Posted by Doulton

Lamb, while I know that we are all different I, too, have had a simple cracker do me in. I have had to part ways with Stoned Wheat Thins. I thought that they were good and I'd been using them in place of bread for a couple of years.

My own experience is that I can and do drink coffee and that it does not affect my blood sugars. I know that caffeine is controversial. I don't drink too much, but a couple of mugs in the morning are really enjoyable for me. Fortunately, I have always believed that sweetener interferes with coffee taste, so that's not an issue.

Natalie, sorry I never responded; I have been ill for over a week. I wish I could eat crackers, but I don't dare! I used to LOVE those stoned wheat thins!

Funny you should mention coffee; I am sick because I decided to go cold turkey off caffeine last week, after reading it could cause blood sugar swings in susceptible people. I bought a BG monitor last week and my blood sugars are from 53 to 198? I am wondering about reactive hypoglecia? I read about it online and noticed I have some really low blood sugars shortly after eating certain things. I discovered avocado makes me crash! Thank goodness for food journaling; I would never have figured that out without going back and rereading my food journal!

I am feeling so, so, so much better today, but have been going through sheer hell detoxing from coffee. Just the awful response my body has had convinces me this substance (my last true addiction) is just really, really bad for me! I was hoping to at least get to hang on to my strong French Roast with heavy cream, but alas, it was not to be....

Anyway, love and luck to all! Lamb

[Little Lamb]

Originally Posted by mermaid

Now that my biochemistry is radically different, I have to cut down my protein to probably about 60 grams per day--just enough for my protein needs without giving my body an excess to break down into glucose. I got that information from this website: [url="http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/diabetes.html"] I downloaded and read the whole Eat Fat Get Thin ebook from that web site today and found it fascinating. I think it had the answers I was looking for, but of course I have yet to test it all out. Wish me luck!

Lorena, thank you so much for posting this information and the link!

I also wanted to ask you about the thyroid you take; is that something that requires a Rx? I wondered how you found out you needed it.... Thanks, Lamb

[Little Lamb]

Originally Posted by Doulton

Did I mention that I am suffering from Shingles right now? I am in a lot of pain and it's really interfered with my work-out routine. I want to get back asap, but the pain is bad.

Oh, dear, Natalie! I had a friend who had shingles and she was in so much pain. I am so very sorry for you! Take care, Lamb

[razberry]

Hi ladies! Is there a new thread? I'm go glad everyone is on the cinnamon bandwagon. I don't test my BS regularly, but I think it has really brought down my husband's sugars. He told his twin about it (who has diabetes), but he huffed at it. I give it to him with his cereal in the morning (he's addicted to Oats and More and Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast) and with supper. I know the cereal isn't good, but before we were married he was eating those kids sugary cereals! At least he's moving in the right direction. On weekends we have eggs, and he does good with that. This weekend I made some lowcarb breakfast cheesecake "muffins" that were absolutely horrid. I followed the recipe exactly, they looked beautiful, but they tasted very eggy and had an aftertaste. I ate 2, daughter ate 1, DH spit out one, and we threw the rest away. I sure hated it, all that money down the drain. If anyone knows of a better recipe, please share. Well, I'm at work so better run.

[razberry]

Hi ladies! Is there a new thread? I'm go glad everyone is on the cinnamon bandwagon. I don't test my BS regularly, but I think it has really brought down my husband's sugars. He told his twin about it (who has diabetes), but he huffed at it. I give it to him with his cereal in the morning (he's addicted to Oats and More and Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast) and with supper. I know the cereal isn't good, but before we were married he was eating those kids sugary cereals! At least he's moving in the right direction. On weekends we have eggs, and he does good with that. This weekend I made some lowcarb breakfast cheesecake "muffins" that were absolutely horrid. I followed the recipe exactly, they looked beautiful, but they tasted very eggy and had an aftertaste. I ate 2, daughter ate 1, DH spit out one, and we threw the rest away. I sure hated it, all that money down the drain. If anyone knows of a better recipe, please share. Well, I'm at work so better run.

[mermaid]

Hey Lamb,
I still haven't figured out how to do quotes in a message, but you asked about what I take for thyroid. Again, I'm self-diagnosed from reading books about it over the years and having most of the symptoms I always see listed. I've done very little about it in the past, but now I'm taking coconut oil, kelp, and guggul in addition to the plethora of other supplements I take. The guggul I only added a few days ago, and now I'm suddenly down 2.5 pounds and have a burny feeling in my throat, so I think it is stimulating my thyroid. Hopin' it's all good!

My fasting BS was 87 two mornings in a row now. I tried not taking blood sugar herbs and just cutting protein and overall calories, but found I do still need the herbs too right now. Before bed I'm taking two Geromatrix glucose balance tabs plus one Insulife (which contains cinnamon, chromium, and other herbs). During the day I just take the cinnamon, because sometimes the other ones can make me feel a little weird. This morning I had Yogi rooibos chai tea with cream and coconut oil as a way to take cinnamon and coconut oil in a pleasant way, and it was really good.

Hope you all will keep posting your progress reports. We may have our ups and downs, but overall it looks like low-carbing and herbs are really helping.

[Jewelthief]

Originally Posted by JONAH'S GRANNY

Last time I was to my Endocrinologist and she told me I may be pre-diabetic I knew then I had to clean up my WOE. For the last few weeks I have cut out all the junk and high carb foods and my blood sugar readings are actually normal again. Although they never got real high, my fasting blood sugar readings have dropped 10-15 points.

Where does most people self monitor their blood sugar? My poor finger tips are all getting so sore and bruised. I'm really trying to check out how certain foods affect me.

Hello, you guys! Did the thread peter out again?

Jonah's Granny, I can sure relate to your sore fingers. I imagine sore fingers are typical for a lot of diabetics, but I try to vary my fingers and never stick one twice in a day, however, depending on which monitor you use, you might be able to use alternate testing sites.

The Lifescan brands (Ultra, Ultra II, etc.) are good for different places--you can use your forearm and also the pad of your hand (that meaty place under your thumb). From what I have read these places are not as reliable as your fingertips, but I have gotten almost identical readings (sticks taken within a few seconds of each other) testing my forearm and a finger.

Other brands probably also now offer alternate site testing, and yours may work that way too. Is there an 800# on the back that you could call for support and ask?

Also, can you dial back the depth of your lancet device so it isn't going as deeply into your skin? The last monitor I bought was the small one on that page I gave you and it came with a new, smaller lancet device, and that thing was WHAM! as compared to my old one. Ouch. I didn't use it, I use my old one.

Karyn

[Jewelthief]

Originally Posted by Doulton

I had a shock this morning; yesterday I finally received the GG Bran Crips crackers that Br. Berstein recommends so highly in his book. Each cracker has 4 carbs and 4 gms fiber for a net carb of 0. Each cracker is only 16 calories.

I woke up this morning. BS was 92. Fine. Broke up 4 of the crisps and added a small touch of milk. Added just a sliver of butter. I estimate that this is no more than 100 calories.

I ate them with high hopes. I know that I need more fiber.

One hour later my blood sugar was 202!!!!

Can anyone tell me why that might be? 3 hours later it was down to 156. The reading over 200 was a shock and a surprise.

Thank you.

Natalie

Hi, Doulton

Just me, I never check my sugar at one hour because I imagine almost anything I'd eat would still be in high gear digestively... I never test earlier than 2 hours after the first bite of something. Were you just trying to see if the crackers were affecting you badly?

Also, I have found that as much as the carb count has to factor into a meal, so does a portion size, and what might be the recommended serving size for some is still too much for me. Meaning, if I want a little of that food, okay, but a "typical" serving size is going to be costly to my next--and even subsequent--testings. Some foods don't seem to affect me much at a regular testing interval either, but yet, they'll seem to spill over into readings the next time or two.

I even find that eating something at different times of the day, and in conjunction with when I've had my medication/vitamins, can alter my test results. One day I might have some sweet potato and test at an awesome number, another day I have that same portion and blam! through the roof.

Karyn

P.S. I've ordered some of those crackers for arrival this week and I'm looking forward to trying them... hope your numbers won't be my own! Guess we'll see.

[Jewelthief]

Originally Posted by JONAH'S GRANNY

Mermaid - I'm taking one pure Cinnamon Extract Pill each day. You think that will help?

Hi, again!

What is the mg of the pill you're taking? I take the NOW brand cinnamon bark capsules that are 600mg, and I take one in the morning, one at night.

I've run out this past week and my sugar levels are up noticeably... not hugely, just a few points here and there, but still, it's the only change I've made this week. Good thing I'll have more by Thursday! I guess I could be adding a little here and there on food though. Didn't think of that.

Give it a try, couldn't hurt as long as you follow the recommended dosage, and it may be a big help to you. If you did notice any adverse affects, stop taking it and see if they stop.

Karyn

[Cathie in UT]

HI
Just wanted to report in that my A1c was 5.1 this week!
Good news for me but the DR is still trying to get me on cholesterol meds...I just refuse them cause I think that it mostly comes from your own body making it and since she is only worried about the LDL I will live with it for now LOL

[Jewelthief]

Originally Posted by Cathie in UT

HI
Just wanted to report in that my A1c was 5.1 this week!
Good news for me but the DR is still trying to get me on cholesterol meds...I just refuse them cause I think that it mostly comes from your own body making it and since she is only worried about the LDL I will live with it for now LOL

WTG, Cathie, that's a great result! Do you get tested on a regular basis?

I was only diagnosed a year ago in December 2005 and my doc has tested me every 3 months since, even though I've brought my results down (from an initial 7.8) each time. I've read some people get tested about every 6 months, so I'm just curious.

Congrats! Keep up the good work...

Karyn

[dreamerdee]

Woohoo Cathie on the awesome A1c results.