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 24

5:30 p.m.

BG still looking good! :)

Let the whole day get away from me without updating my blog. But, trust me, I have been busy. Not physically busy, but busy. Had a hair appointment at 9:30 and didn't get back home until after 11. Lunch. Then started downloading & setting up an iTunes application. For the last three weeks as I exercised I either listened to the Wii voice count to four over & over or I played a CD in my old Sony Discman. I had to resort to the Discman because the mini-shelf system in my den stopped playing CD's a couple of years ago and I just never really worried about it too much until I started doing the Wii Fit and wishing I had something more entertaining to listen to. And the Discman is okay, for what it is and for what I bought it for years ago - a portable means of playing CD's. I actually used it a lot back when I would spend weeks at a time in Atlanta in training classes. But for listening to music from it in my den at home . . . it leaves a lot to be desired! 

I tried putting the TV on a different channel, since the Wii said I could do that while using the "Free Walk" exercise. But the screen had diagonal lines scrolling across it the whole time and I gave that up pretty quick.

Well, I looked for me a new mini-shelf system this week, but the only ones I found that would let me load more than 1 CD at a time were way overpriced, especially knowing that they don't seem to have a long shelf life. What I did find in my hunt was that docking stations for iPods are all over the place and really rather inexpensive. So I ordered one of those from Amazon and an iPod Nano from Apple. 

And that led to me downloading the iTunes application and setting that up . . . immediately followed by downloading some of my favorite CD's to the computer and pulling out favorite songs to an exercise play list. Yep, pretty much killed an afternoon. 

But at least when my iPod and docking station get here I will be ready. :)

Day 23

4:00

BG still looking good. 

I am up to three10 minute walking sessions on my Wii Fit.  I don't play the games much anymore (I'll bet my penguin is hungry). It just seems that my days get gone before I even realize they are over and as I add more walking to my exercise routine I just have less time to play the games. Maybe I will play games on my exercise off days. I take Wednesdays and weekends off from the exercises. My doctor said he wanted me to work in 45 minutes of exercise 4 days a week so I chose Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday. And yes, I know I can get healthier and lose more weight if I added exercise to every day, but heck, I already have so much added to my everyday life, what with clockwork finger sticks and injections, that I just can't have exercise as another "every" day something. Not right now anyway. maybe some day in the future, but then again, maybe not. We'll see.

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!

Day 19

1:00

Lost another morning to sleep and the internet. I was so tired this morning that I went back to sleep for an extra hour after my alarm went off. I'm not sure why I was so tired since I got more than 8 hours last night. But then again, one of the issues with Diabetes is being tired. 

Once I was up I got online to update my Food Tracker and got sidetracked by a new Diabetes website with more discussion boards. Lost the rest of my morning to that. Didn't update mt food tracker, didn't post my morning blog. Didn't even do my morning exercises.And having skipped my exercises means I skipped my morning shower. Now I have to do my exercises as soon as I get this post published and then hop in the shower.

Egads! Time does get away from me!

2:00
And still haven't started my exercises. I think it's a good thing I told my daughter that I would rather she brought my grandson over this evening rather than me going to pick him up from school. At this rate I may not have my exercise & shower out of the way by suppertime!!

7:00 p.m.
Got my exercise and shower around 3-4 this afternoon. Way late, but gosh it is so easy to procrastinate. Especially if you find interesting reading on the internet.


Made a high-protein/low carb casserole for supper. It was good. Good enough that I will make it again. My hubby and grandson said it was good and that they would eat it again, but neither helped themselves to seconds so I don't know if they were just trying to make me happy by saying it was good or not.


Ah well, still on the prowl for more & better high-protein/low carb recipes. :D

Day 18

9:00

BG looking good! I am trying new recipes (simple ones of course) and some so simple as to grate hard Parmesan cheese and bake it into crackers. They taste salty. They also smell funky when they are baking, but they don't smell funky when they have cooled and I eat them. This will be a "go to" when I need that salty snack. And, since I learned with baking chicken coated in Panko bread crumbs that even cooking spray does not prevent stuff from sticking to the pan, aluminum foil or wax paper, I ordered a silpat silicon baking mat and waited for it to arrive before I even attempted these cheese snacks. Wow! I love that silpat mat! Love it so much that I sat down last night and ordered me a larger version so I can bake Panko chicken in bigger batches.

I found a recipe on Diabetic Connect that I am going to try. It is called Taco bake. The crust is made using cream cheese, eggs and shredded cheddar. Other stuff too, but I don't have the recipe in front of me so I forget what else. But not flour or cornmeal - which reduces the carbs tremendously! It is definitely worth a try, even if I never make it but once.

Okay, exercise time. Hopefully I will do better today than yesterday and I will actually come back later to post more.

3:00
So, let me tell you what I learned today. I learned that Almond milk does not want to be chocolate milk. I had Terry pick me up some sugar-free chocolate syrup when he went to Wal-Mart earlier today and as soon as he got home I mixed me up a glass. I guess when it didn't want to dissolve easily into the almond milk I should have known. I just figured it had to do with the difference it the consistency of almond milk as opposed to dairy milk. I stirred long enough to get it to actually mix up. I certainly wasn't going to give up too quick. But when I had it mixed well and drank it I was really rather disappointed. Oh, it didn't taste bad. It just didn't taste good. It actually just tasted like the almond milk tastes straight from the carton. 

Well, nothing ventured - nothing gained. At least I have a bottle of sugar-free chocolate syrup and I can get some sugar-free ice cream one day and have a sugar-free sundae.

Day 17

11:00

BG has been low for the last 2 checks. It has been a bit up and down these last few days, but I'm wondering if the low readings this morning are caused by my "bad" injection last night. And by bad, I mean I apparently hit a small blood vein in my stomach and maybe some of the Lantus got into the blood faster than it would/should. I know I hit a small blood vein because not only did the injection hurt more than normal but I bled at the injection site a good bit. And, of course, I could be completely off about the Lantus getting in the blood because of that and it may just be a normal sign that my BG is still not stabilized. Ah well, I will add that to my note paper to ask my doctor next week.

Time for food.

Day 16

1:00

Another morning slipped by soo quickly. My how time flies.

BG is still looking good. And I increased my walking with the Wii Fit yesterday. Last week I was doing two sets of the Basic Step, one Free walk, which is a 10 minute walk - no less than 800 steps) and then playing some of the games. Yesterday I switched to two sets of the Basic Step, one Free walk, [repeat] two sets of the Basic Step, one Free walk. That gives me 20 minutes of walking plus the little bonus of the basic Step as my warm ups. I also started bumping the pace of the Free Walk - after 30 seconds I increase by one click and after 30 more seconds I increase to the second click. Then I reverse that when I get down to 1 minute left of the 10 minutes - I click one step back down and when it gets to 30 seconds I drop it back to the pace the systems set by default. That gives me more than the 800 steps and also gives me a little faster pace, which, oddly enough, keeps me from stumbling over my own feet stepping on and off the Wii board. Next week I will add a third set of both.

Had a most delicious sandwich for lunch today. I make these Ham Balls with ground ham and ground pork, bead crumbs, egg & milk. There were some leftovers  from the other day so we sliced them in halves, warmed them in the toaster oven and put them on toasted bread. Terry used mayo (actually, it is Miracle Whip Dressing, but it is what we use for mayo since I do not like real mayo) & honey mustard on his, but I used mayo, lettuce & fresh pineapple! YumYum!! :D Of course we used the Arnolds Italian bread that I found has a bit less carbs than any other bread at Wal-Mart. Even less carbs than the multi-grain or whole wheat options, and I like Italian bread where I don't like multi-grain or whole wheat bread.