Diabetes and diet.
Avg BG: 156 DL/mg
Weight: 257.4
As I said I would do I started eating healthier. Smaller meals spaced out over the course of my day. My breakfast consisted of a slice of toast topped with a slice of deli ham and on egg scrambled (nuked). Had a can of V-8 juice couple hours later. My lunch consisted of a small container of cottage cheese and a peach. Dinner will be two small Andouille Sausage links and vegetable medley.
Yes I know the sausage has higher than “normal” fat count, but as my day goes I am still below the recommended levels.
Speaking of diets. What is good and bad? Well that would depend on whether your are healthy or not. Healthy is a subjective term. I consider myself healthy even though I am a Type II Diabetic; however, for the sake of discussion I am not “healthy”. So I am going to discuss diet in terms of being a Diabetic. To understand what is appropriate for a Diabetic to eat you must first understand Diabetes. The form of Diabetes we are discussing here is what is commonly referred to as “Sugar Diabetes” or Diabetes Mellitus. There are other rare forms of Diabetes, but thankfully I don’t have them.
There are two types of Diabetes Mellitus (which I will refer to as Diabetes) and they are simply called Type I and Type II. The old names of Juvenile and Adult Onset have proven time and time again to be inaccurate.
Type I Diabetes differ from Type II in the level of insulin production. Type I Diabetic produce little or no insulin whereas Type II Diabetics produce normal levels of insulin.. WAIT that can’t be right. Well yes it is and I will discuss that in a minute.
Ever wonder what the heck your Pancreas is for? Well it is an organ that aides in digestion. It produces the chemicals necessary to break down carbohydrates, fat and proteins into the sugar needed for cell nourishment. However, sitting on the surface of the Pancreas as the little spots known as the Islets of Langerhans. These Islets are little factories all producing Insulin. Well in normal people they do. In Type I Diabetics they are on permanent strike. In Type II diabetes the insulin they produce just doesn’t work.
What does insulin actually do? Insulin is a transport through the Blood Cell Barrier allowing Glucose to pass through. HUH!! Well Insulin is a key that unlocks the doorway into the cell that the sugar molecules pass through to be consumed by that cell. In Type II diabetes the key doesn’t work. In affect causing the same symptoms as a Type I Diabetic.
That pretty much covers the basics of Insulin, but how and where does the body get it’s Glucose. Well that is the partly the livers job amongst other things. The main source of “sugar” is the intestines, but the liver converts sugars into fats for storage and stored fats into sugar. WAIT Sugar becomes fat? Yup it does. Have you ever noticed that “Low Fat” foods are higher in sugar content? So while you have less fat to consume you have more sugar to consume. More sugar to the liver means more fat to store. Well that really helps doesn’t it? Nope not at all. IMHO opinion is actually is worse.
Atkins was actually on the right track, but missed by this much.. South Park and Nutra-systems are almost there. For the record I do not endorse either system, but they in theory are in the ball park. The trick to a healthy diet is the right combination of Proteins, Carbohydrates and fats. What is the right combination? Well that will depend on the food glycemic rating. The what?? glycemic rating is the measure of the foods over all sugar affect on the body. Food with High glycemic ratings have a high affect and inversely low glycemic rating have little or now affect on the serum glucose levels. Proteins (Meats, Fish, nuts) have low glycemic ratings, but can contain more fats. Some of these fats are good (i.e nuts), some are bad (i.e. Beef, Shrimp, or Lobster) and some straddle the fence (fish, chicken, turkey). Grains, fruits and vegetables are all over the glycemic scale. Refined sugars are off the wall high glycemic.
Glycemic ratings of foods affect all humans, but they are especially important to Diabetics. Food low in Glycemic ratings will cause the liver to store less fat. Storing less fat means the liver will convert more of the stored fat into sugar for the cells to consume. Cells consume sugar based on work load. They more they work the more they consume. Hmmmm sounding familiar isn’t it. Yep the trick to losing weight DIET AND EXERCISE. To be exact a Low Glycemic Diet and Exercise that makes the body work. Neither has to un-enjoyable. Ride a bike, walk a forest trail, swim around a pool or in a lake. The trick is to make the muscles work. But diets are so bland!! Who says? Did you know most spices are extremely low-glycemic? Stop nodding, because you didn’t. You, like 90% of the free world, have always assumed that diabetes meant never eating tasty food ever again. It does mean eating the super sweet foods are a thing of the past. No more Krispie Kreme’s. That Chocolate Sundae is out. However, you don’t need to be dessert free. You just need to be more picky about it’s preparation.
OK I have given you enough to think about for now and I thank you for allowing me to remind myself what I need to do and why. As I continue down this path I will continue look at Foods that are low on the Glycemic scale and how to incorporate more of them into our diets. Remember you do not need to be a diabetic to benefit from this.
See you on the path to a healthy life.