#Diabetes - Food Conversion to Blood Glucose

Saw a similar chart on a facebook page and went  looking for this since I find it interesting  (and good to know).

Food conversion to blood glucose

Chart showing different food groups, the percentage converted to blood glucose

 and the time taken.

Carbohydrate sources: starches, (bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, crackers, cereal), fruits and juices, milk, sugar

Protein sources: meats (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish), cheese, eggs

Fat sources: butter, margarine, oil, salad dressing, mayonnaise, nuts, sour cream, cream cheese

Chart source: Diabetes Support Information Exchange UK

#Diabetes Day 160

7:20 p.m.
Fasting was 91 but Fiber One for breakfast promptly changed that to 169. I started to test again post-lunch, but decided I didn't have enough carbs to be very concerned. Supper is left-over pizza - I may test that and just be sure. I've tested post-pizza a few times and it never seemed to hit my glucose too hard so I'm thinking it will be okay. 


And for some reason I woke this morning thinking it was Saturday. Don't know how my mind gets mixed up like that,b it it's not the first time I've had my days mixed up - and I'm sure it won't be the last.

#Diabetes Day 149

5:50 p.m.
Number we good after lunch - 121 - I had Salami and American Cheese with Honey Mustard on Italian bread. I almost skipped lunch altogether but good sense did prevail. My stomach got upset after supper last night and was is still not real happy today. Nothing coming out either end but just a feeling of something like indigestion or something. And before lunch it was more like pinching pains in my stomach. I still cast a suspicious eye at supper even though neither of the other two people who ate the same thing have had any issues. And then again, I have had stomach problems for many years, but those seemed to have been better since I started taking Omeprezol daily. And here it is almost supper time again and my stomach is still being moody with me. :( ugh.

Day 137

10:15 p.m.
Good day, once I got past breakfast. I had Fiber One Honey Nut Clusters and it sent my glucose to 253. I could keep the glucose below 180 by eating the Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls, but that hits my cholesterol hard whereas cereal hits my glucose hard. Can't win for losing sometimes :/


On the bright side - I had a Skinny Cow Ice Cream and it was pretty darn good! :D

Day 136

10;00 p.m.
Good day overall. I ate cereal, but I have not tested a cereal breakfast in a while. I know what it will be - high - cereal does that. But it sure was good, even though it is not what I ate for most of my adult life - Lucky Charms - the cereal of magically amused people like me. No, this time I got Fiber One Honey Nut Clusters - and it  was good even though it has no marshmallows. And I use Almond milk, so that helps with the carbs - and calories..

Day 135

8:30 a.m.
Going to test my breakfast number today. I have also decided that since most of my breakfasts (other than an apple and some cheese slices) send my sugar to above 150 I am going to give cereal another try. I think I'm going to look at Fiber-One. Hopefully it actually has enough fiber to negate some of the carbs. We'll see.


I have really got to get back to my normal routine. With doctors, dentist, outpatient procedures and a host of other things going on these past 10 days or so I have neglected my exercise - not good! Maybe I can get todays in to get me started again. But tomorrow I have an appointment to get my highlights retouched - so then it will be back to Thursday. I scheduled my hair appointment for a Wednesday intentionally so it would not interfere with exercise day. If I had only known life in general was going to interfere I could have already had my retouch done.

Day 124

4:30 p.m.
Had someone ask how I got my BG in control so well and what I found to eat being that I am such a picky eater so I thought I would share my response:



Because I am a slow starter I had to keep breakfast quick & easy so I eat Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls - one has eggs, sausage, potatoes and cheese the other has eggs, bacon, potatoes and cheese. I have also worked on adding oatmeal, so it is the instant variety (but that has been put on hold because it started making me gag just trying to eat it.) I tried Special K cereal but I have found that pasta and cereals are two of my greatest enemies. This may not be the case for everyone since Diabetes is almost as individual as our fingerprints. What hits my BG hard may not hit the next diabteics as hard.


Salads are either: 
(1) Spinach Strawberry Salad
2-3 c. Baby Spinach leaves -I remove the stems as much as possible so that I get more leaf in my dish. Depending on how hungry I feel I go with either 2 cups or 3 cups
1 c. fresh strawberries
.25 cup pecan halves
.5 cup Manchego Cheese (shredded) 
(about) 3 Tbls. Light Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing
*and . . . when I have real bacon left-over from BLT sandwiches I will crumble it up and save it to add to this salad - usually about the equivalent of 1.5 strips of bacon per salad)


(2) Basic Iceberg Salad
2 c. shredded iceberg lettuce
3 slices of sandwich ham (chopped up small)
.5 c. shredded cheese (four cheese blend)
1 Tbls. sliced olives (black or green - whaichever is open in my fridge)
(about) 2 Tbls Light Sweet & Spicy French dressing
*and . . . if I have pineapple tidbits already open in the fridge I will throw in .33 c for more flavor.


The other meal (because some days salad is my lunch and some days salad is my supper so whichever meal my salad falls to the other meals is referred to here) will vary. Sometimes BLT sandwiches (I found Arnolds Premium Italian Bread to be good and it is a denser texture so it is more filling), sometimes grilled steak or grilled chicken with a couple of side items. Maybe: 
- Sweet Niblet Corn 
- Carrots (I cook my carrots in a skillet - I slice them in rounds and add half an onion (chopped large so I can get carrots without the onion on my plate) sprinkle with 1 tsp. Truvia and about 1 cup water - bring to a boil and reduce to med-low and cook about 30 minutes. Makes really great tasting carrots)
- Broccoli with Cheese Sauce (frozen stuff)
- Green Beans (I cook these with a Beef Bouillon cube and some Garlic flakes for better flavor) 
- sometimes I will treat myself to half a baked potato with a little Smart Choice butter and some Manchego Cheese (shredded)
- Baked Beans


The best thing to do is to track what you eat and keep tabs on which foods spike your sugar and which are BG friendly. I started tracking everything I eat for two reasons (1) easier to identify what spiked my sugar (2) to keep track of calorie and carb intake (it's too easy to forget you ate a handful of cashews if you don't note it. You can log it in a notebook or log it online - but it is a great check-double check habit to develop. 

Day 109

4:00 p.m.
Fasting BG was 108, Took yesterdays post-breakfast so I took post lunch today. I did some damage with lunch today, but I won't beat myself up over it. And I knew I was going to have a high number when I decided what I wanted for lunch. I have not had a Milo's burger and fries since before I was diagnosed back in January and I love Milo's, I love that there burger patties are thin and always done through and through. I love that they lightly toast the top of the bun. I love that they always make the burger with a patty and a chunk of another patty. I love the orange salty powder they coat the fries in. But most of all I LOVE their sauce! So today I had a cheeseburger, a small order of fries (the most fries I have eaten at one time since my dx) and an extra Milo sauce for dipping my fries in. It was YUMMY!! My treat for all my hard work yesterday & today working on my entertainment unit clean-up project.


And, hubby finally (after several prompts from me) called the doctor to find out about his A1c test from last week. They said he is pre-diabetic and that they will be keeping an eye on it. They said he needs to watch his carb intake and that he can reverse it at this point. He has decided he will switch from regular beer to light beer. Oooo-Kaaay! That may well be the bulk of his problem, but then again, he does like potatoes an awful lot. I can't impose rules and diet on him, he is a big boy & needs to take responsibility for his choices and actions. He can choose to eat what I choose to eat and be okay or he can wing it and see how it progresses. But at least he knows his A1c was slightly elevated and that he needs to be more conscious of his carb intake. We'll just wait and see how this goes.

Day 41

10:45 a.m.

BG was higher after breakfast than I want it to be. And the carb amount was 54.70 - just about at the top of the limit I had set for my carbs per meal. That may have to be adjusted too - just depends on how other meals go without the insulin.

My new short term goal is to identify and replace foods that impact my numbers too much with the absence of insulin. First on that agenda is breakfast. I had my usual Special K with Almond Milk and coffee this morning & it sent my sugar higher than I want so the next test on breakfast will be tomorrow when I have a Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowl. Depending on how that works out I will go from there. And, while my doctor said I only needed to test twice a day, I will be testing more often these next two weeks to be sure I eliminate or replace any foods that hit my sugar too hard!

Gotta keep my focus on staying OFF the needle!

I needed a new goal with this new journey I am on since I had become somewhat comfortable with the process and the diet modifications and all. Always helps to have a new goal! :)

2:10 p.m.
So lunch was a salad - Baby Spinach Leaves with fresh strawberries, fresh pineapple, shredded Manchego Cheese, a bacon strip (crumbled) and Light Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing - carbs = 49.40g / BG = 98. 

I compare that to my breakfast of Special K Cinnamon Pecan with Almond Milk and a cup of coffee - carbs 54.70g / BG - 238. 

A difference of only 5.3g, but gosh at the difference in the BG numbers. I don't think it was the difference of 5.3g of carbs as much as I think it is the difference in the type of carbs. The different foods have different “glycemic indexes” (that is, how quickly they tend to raise blood glucose levels) and apparently the glycemic index of the cereal is one that hits my BG hard. 


So, cereal is on it's way out but my yummy salad gets to stay (yay).

Day 37

2:15 p.m.

BG still looking good and fourth 10-minute Step session still kicking my backside! 

I was naughty for lunch today! I ate two, I shall repeat, TWO BLT sandwiches for lunch! I felt as if I were starving! I know I'm not starving, heck I could probably live a couple of months on just body fats, but I sure felt as if I were starving. And my sugar was dropping on me and that always adds anxiety and a sensation of an urgency to get food in me. I really gotta watch those lows because they really have a serious control over me when I go hypoglycemic! 

And  that's another thing that is still so confusing about having Diabetes - going hypoglycemic like I do. The doctor said it was not uncommon for some Diabetics to have those sugar swings - guess I drew that lucky straw! I did buy some glucose tablets at the drugstore, but I really bought those to keep in my purse in case I am out and my kitchen is not readily available. But today I was in the process of frying the bacon when it started. I kept hoping the bacon would all get done sooner so I could eat and finally had to break down and chomp a piece of the bacon that was already out of the skillet. I probably could have shot that sugar back up quicker with a piece of candy that's in the cupboard for the grand-kids, but I really don't want to start using the sugar lows as an excuse to eat sugar like that - so I ate that bacon and hung in there until it was done and then I scarfed down two BLT's faster than my hubby could finish off half of his second one. 

Well, I will make up for my extra bread carbs with supper. I'm going to have a salad of Baby Spinach, fresh strawberries, pecan halves, some bacon bits I made from the extra bacon at lunch and some grated Manchego Cheese topped with a Raspberry Vinaigrette! That is one wonderful salad! Yumm!

Day 34

6:15 p.m.

BG still doing well. Gonna test out a pantry stand-by that my grandson likes for supper tonight. Hormel Tamales with Chili (the canned variety) and cheddar cheese. Hoping it is not too harsh on the BG since it is a quick & easy meal prep - and I'm all over quick & easy! :D

8:00 p.m.

Tamales with Chili & Cheddar was not too bad. BG was 118 at 1.5 hours after eating. Well within the acceptable range. :)

Day 33

8:30

BG is still good and I must be feeling better - I actually worked on crafts and in my craft room a few days this week (if you wanna see what I've worked on just click to see my complete profile and there you will find a link to Perpetual Playtime - my crafty blog) and I have been waking up before my 8:00 alarm this week. I like that. I want to wake before the alarm - I only set the alarm for 8: 00 so that if I do sleep in, I still don't sleep my day away. But being up before the alarm means I get an earlier start on things and I feel as if I have more hours in my day. :D

5:15 p.m.
It is interesting what affects my BG and what doesn't. I haven't tested the things that my "really" good sense says to avoid such as regular soda or regular hot chocolate, but I have tested out a few other things that didn't impact my BG as much as I expected it to. For example, for lunch today Terry brought home corn dogs from a short order grill at a truck stop not too far away. I figured they would make a significant impact and that I would pay for it with having to eat a totally carb-free supper. But when I checked my BG 1.5 hours after I ate my BG was only 101. I have also eaten half a potato at two different meals and they didn't hit my BG like pasta does. So far that is the one food that I know for certain will shoot my numbers up - pasta.


And, I could probably say regular hot chocolate, regular soda or true-to-the South Sweet Tea, but those are the things I am not willing to test. Those I will just go forward as if I had tested them and that they had failed. If for no other reason than because those are the first things I eliminated completely and my BG has been getting better & better. So those items are guilty by circumstantial evidence! 


Beef Stew for supper - I threw in extra carrots so that I can dish up mostly carrots in my dish. No cornbread with our stew tonight. For one, I have no dairy milk in the house at the moment. And for another, I've had my allotment of bread for the day when I ate the batter on the corn dogs for lunch. :/

Day 32

7:00

BG still good.

today I went to lunch with some old friends (we try to do this once a month) and I was a good girl. And my post meal BG check was only 130, which is good for a post meal check! We went to Cracker Barrel and I was pleased to see an entire section dedicated to Low-Carb options! I saw several things on there that I will try, one-by-one when we meet there on other months.

Exercise today was better than Mon. & Tues. was. I think partly because I bought a cheap pair of earphones at the bookstore yesterday and they have a soft ear-bud, unlike the hard plastic ones that came with my iPod, so I was able to listen to a good selection of music today. I did receive the iPod speaker/docking station I had ordered, but it turned out that it was not compatible with my generation of iPod, so I ordered a different one today and shipped the first one back. I will be even happier once I get a speaker/docking station that works because I really don't like having external sounds blocked by the earphones. One of my many quirks. :P

Day 31

11:45 a.m.

BG is good, but really? I mean, I have only had one check since yesterday's post (since I was so late posting yesterday!). 

This morning went a little better with hubby's new laptop. I think I have everything moved over, but to be on the safe side I am not deleting all his stuff from the old laptop for a couple of months. That still took most of my morning so it's a good thing this was my off day for exercise. Now my afternoon will be taken up with taking my Mother-in-Law to the second-hand bookstore. She is an avid reader. And by avid I mean voracious, ravenous, prodigious. She will go through a stack of books so fast it just floors me. I once thought she would never go through the seemingly endless supply of free books available for an Amazon Kindle, but I don't know. I now suspect she would!

So, anyway, off to go pick her up, then we will have lunch at Pizza Hut & off to the bookstore!

800 p.m.
Well, all I can say about Nutrisystems food, after eating about half of the foods I ordered from them is - I sure am glad I ordered from the A' la Carte option and didn't sign up for any program. It just does not taste so good and the portions are rather small. I hate to use up my carb allowances on small nasty portions. So this much is certain - I won't be ordering any more! :/

Day 30

9:30 p.m.

BG is still looking good. I checked after lunch today to see if a grilled Reuben would have a very bad impact and was delighted to see it did not. Of course it is bad on the fats, but the carbs were good,.

And my legs complained again about me adding that fourth 10 minute free-step. They should be nicer to me tomorrow since they will get an off day.

My head might just chew me out though. My Dear Hubby has been using the same laptop since 2003 and it had gotten to the point that it was slow as molasses - not as slow as cold molasses, that would be the speed of my daughters old desktop that is in my craft-room, but Terry's is as slow as room temp molasses. Well, he ordered a new one and got it this evening and I spent my entire evening getting him set up and installing the Microsoft Office apps. I also pulled his outlook files, desktop images and screen-saver images from his old one to his new one. But, as is always the case, none of that worked quickly or smoothly. Tomorrow I have to transfer his bookmarked/favorites. I just hope that task goes better than any I have done so far. (I plan to swap my daughter's old one out & use my hubby's old one after I get finished moving his stuff)

I was so stressed when I finally  stopped for the night that my neck was in intense pain. Geez, it sucks getting old and having things become dilapidated with the body!!

Day 26

12:00

Still doing well. BG still looks good. Vision is about the same as last week. Energy is about the same too, but I do use a bit of whatever energy my body allocates with my exercises, so I guess I'm doing pretty well, all in all.

Still looking for really good, low-carb recipes to supplement my limited list. Had Tomato Soup & Grill Cheese for lunch. It is slightly higher on carbs for a single meal, but I will make up for it with a salad supper, so it's all good.

Anxiously awaiting my iPod and docking station. So tired of being limited to my Discman and having to select one single CD to entertain me through the entire exercise time, which exceeds 30 minutes right now and will be pushing closer to 1 hour next week. According to tracking information the iPod is out for delivery for today, but the docking station is still in Kentucky and the ETA is Wednesday. USPS tracking site said not to look for updates to that delivery information for the next 3 days. Well, that kinda sucks! They work on Saturdays, so why no update tomorrow? And seriously? I could drive to KY and back before next Wed., so why can't they get it here in one direction quicker than that! Geez! Oh well, waiting is the price you pay for ordering online rather than running around the different retailers locally trying to find what you want.

Okay, off to shower & shampoo and get ready to go see if my doctor is pleased with my progress so far. I think I am doing really well. I just hope he doesn't say I am doing mediocre or not so well - that would break my little heart! O.O

And yes, my appointment is NOT until 3:30, but I hate to have to get ready in one non-stop action. I prefer to shower, piddle, blow dry hair, piddle, flat-iron hair, piddle, put on make-up, piddle, get half-dressed, piddle, piddle some more and then finish dressing just before I need to walk out the door. I have truly refined my procrastination streak since retirement - lol!

Day 25

12:00

BG is still in check. It took a small climb last night, but still under 130. And what would be the culprit? A frozen dinner - Blackened Chicken Alfredo. Apparently pasta is going to be one of my big enemies. Either that or the Alfredo sauce, which pretty much accompanies any pasta I eat. Oh well, not the biggest loss on this trip.

Still keeping up with my exercise. I am up to three 10-minute walking sessions. I shoot for 1000 steps per session, which should be about 1/2 mile each 10-minute session. Next week I add another 10 minute session and a fifth 10-minute session the week after that. Once I have that going well I will start migrating toward a 10-minute session followed by two 20-minute sessions.

Doctor's appointment tomorrow. Hopefully he will be pleased with my progress. I also need to have all my prescriptions re-written since they are suppose to be on a 90-day plan in order to be covered by my insurance. I was in too much shock that first day to even think about that when he handed me a bundle of prescriptions.

Day 22

2:00

BG still good. Doing my best to stick to the No Sugar - Low carb lifestyle. It has been a little easier than I expected since I found a few things I like, I have been trying to eat more fresh fruits and salads, both iceberg and baby spinach. I also tried a recipe for Diabetic Eggnog that is pretty darn good! 

Here is the recipe I found for the Diabetic Eggnog (found this on the Diabetic Connect website in the recipes section:

Ingredients

5 1/2 cups skim milk ( I used 2% milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (1 1/2 ounce) boxes sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix
3 1/4 tablespoons Splenda sugar substitute
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Cooking Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine vanilla and milk
2. In another bowl, combine the dry pudding mix, sweetener, and nutmeg.
3. Whisk the dry mix into the milk mixture until smooth. Refrigerate until serving.




I will also post a recipe I made Friday night that turned out to be pretty darn good. I found this one on Food.com


Crust:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 eggs (I used 2 eggbeaters cups)
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon taco seasoning
8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded (you will need 8 more in the topping)


Topping:
1 lb ground beef (I used 1.5 lbs)
3 teaspoons taco seasoning (I used the rest of what was left from making the crust and 1 additional packet)
1/4 cup tomato sauce
4 ounces chopped green chilies (I didn't have any green chilies so I left this out)
8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded (you will need 8 more in the crust)


Directions (Prep Time: 25 mins - Total Time: 1 1/4 hr)
1. For the crust, beat the cream cheese and eggs until smooth.
2. Add the cream and seasoning.
3. Grease a 9"x13" baking dish; spread the cheese over the bottom.
4. Pour in the egg mixture as evenly as possible.
5. Bake at 375ºF, 25-30 minutes.
6. Let stand 5 minutes before adding the topping.
7. For the topping, brown the hamburger; drain fat.
8. Stir in the seasoning, tomato sauce and chilies.
9. Spread over the crust.
10. Top with cheese.
11. Reduce oven to 350ºF and bake another 20 minutes or so until hot and bubbly.
12. Serve with the toppings of your choice (add additional carbs accordingly)


It says it serves 8, but it was rather thin so Terry, Brett & I knocked out half the first night. I divided the leftovers in half and stacked it 2 deep in a small corning square bowl and the next night Brett & I knocked that out between us. So take the "Serves 8" as you may.

Next time I make this one I am going to bake the crust and then split it in half and stack it 2 deep in a 9X9 casserole dish. A bottom layer of crust followed by half the meat mixture and 4 oz. of shredded cheese. Then the other half of the crust topped by the remaining meat mixture & the rest of the cheese.  It will make the same amount, but it will be a smaller footprint, just a deeper dish. And since everything will be "cooked" when it is stacked it will just be a question of will the cheese in the middle get hot enough to melt. We will see. 

Day 21

3:00

Well, I am learning that this disease is not easy to learn. I expected my BG to go up after lunch today, but it didn't. In fact, it was still below 90 when I checked 2 hours after lunch. And, if you are wondering why I think it should go up, well, because I ate rice & gravy at lunch today. Not a lot mind you, but since rice is one of the foods (I thought) to be high in starch, which will convert to sugar, I really expected my BG to be high, or at the very least to be higher than it is. 

I was also confused by my cereal this past week. I had a BG over 200 for the first time in 13 days and I saw no cause for it. The differences between that day and the day before were 1) I slept late that day and therefore ate breakfast late; 2) a difference in the cereal I ate. Both were Special K. The day before the spike I ate Special K Blueberry - 11:00 BG was 154. The day of the spike I ate Special K Cinnamon Pecan - BG 221. 

I verified the serving sizes are the same. And the differences with the 2 cereals are:
Calories - Blueberry 110/Cinnamon Pecan 120
Calories from Fat - Blueberry 0/Cinnamon Pecan 15
Total Fat - Blueberry 0/Cinnamon Pecan 2
Sodium - Blueberry 140/Cinnamon Pecan 180
Carbohydrates - Blueberry 28g/Cinnamon Pecan 24g
Sugars - Blueberry 8g/Cinnamon Pecan 7g
Other carbohydrates - Blueberry 15g/Cinnamon Pecan 14g

Looking at the nutrition labels and would have thought the Cinnamon Pecan was a better option since it was slightly lower in carbs and sugar. But, I had to suspect the cereal and was annoyed since I really did like the Cinnamon Pecan better. But not at the cost of having to inject a supplemental Humalog shot.

Being curious by nature, and ... needing to better understand my foods and how they will affect my BG I tested the cereal a bit.

Well, I ate the same cereal again yesterday morning and this morning. I woke at my normal time both mornings and ate at my normal time both morning.

Yesterday I tested my BG at the regular intervals - 8:00 BG = 90 & 11:00 BG = 102.
So, assuming the issue the day before was related to the shorter time between getting up and eating and then taking the 11:00 BG check I decided to do an extra BG check this morning. This morning I tested my BG at 8:00 and it was 86. I checked at 10:00 and it was 111. So since it was not back up into the 200 range with the abbreviated test interval I have no explanation.

This journey is really going to be a roller coaster ride - never really knowing what caused spikes and what caused lows.

On the bright side - I don't look at the cereal with a suspicious eye anymore, which is a good thing since it really does taste good!

Day 20

11:00

BG had a small spike yesterday, but so far it is back into an acceptable range. The only difference between yesterdays morning and today is that yesterday I slept late so I was an hour late eating breakfast and the BG spike was with the 11:00 reading. Today I woke at my regularly scheduled time and ate at my regularly scheduled time. And, I ate the very same thing today as yesterday. Next step in testing out what happened yesterday is to wake at my regularly scheduled time and eat at my regularly scheduled time, but check my BG an hour early (10 rather than 11) to see if the spike was simply because of the abbreviated morning. At least I know that on a 3 hour span between breakfast & test the BG was good today. And that is good because I like the cereal I ate yesterday & today. Yesterday was the first day trying it, so I had to be suspicious of it. I feel better about it today - yay!

My doctor was having me email him my BG tracking each week, but last night he replied and told me every 2 weeks would be acceptable for reporting to him. I see that as an improvement! :) Heck, at this point I will take anything as an improvement!

So, almost 3 weeks in and I feel I am adapting to the Diabetic Lifestyle more & more. I guess it will always be a lifetime journey but it hasn't been as bad as I was dreading when I was first diagnosed. I didn't have as much issue sticking the needle in myself as I expected I would, but then, my BG was so high the day I was diagnosed that I was afraid not to stick myself!

For me the hardest part so far has been the things I have have to give up - potatoes, rice, gravy and reducing my bread consumption. I am a very picky eater & for me my staples were meat & potatoes with bread & gravy. In fact I have been known to pass on dessert just to have more bread & gravy! And, before I retired I was going out to lunch with friends everyday and my trusted fallback option was always chicken fingers - yep, those nice, crusted batter, deep fried kind. Thank goodness I was forced into retirement 2 years ago by a force reduction because then I started eating most meals at home. And, while my diet was still very bad, it was certainly better than greasy chicken fingers 3 or 4 times a week.

But I am working real hard at learning to eat the better foods and I am truly hopeful that with a better diet & the exercise I am now working on incorporating into my life will both help me lose weight and hopefully one day be off the injections and as an added bonus, maybe be able to come of my Blood Pressure meds too.

My doctor started trying to get me to modify my diet when he put me on BP meds, but I was stubborn and figured if the meds controlled it life was still good. But the diagnosis of Diabetes? That scared me. Really scared me. All I could think was Diabetic coma. That thought is what makes me try harder to change my ways!