Lemon Pepper Beef

It's been a week since my last post and a busy week at that!

I have been really busy attending courses and seminars at the moment, as well as the rest, and this has meant a lot of meals on the run or provided as part of events.

I'll try and explain something that has changed for me since starting this journey.

The crux is: I am entitled to be slim and healthy and I am responsible for making choices that make me slim and healthy.

This sounds really simple, but I think that for a really long time I have made excuses for why things are the way they are. And at the heart of those excuses was an underlying belief that I did not deserve better.

If I am headed in the right direction, every step will get me closer to my goal.

I have been spending a lot of time lately educating myself around this personal development stuff and some of it is definitely sinking in. In fact, I am attending a ten-week seminar on Living Life More Powerfully: Being at the Cause of Life, not the Effect.

In the olden days, I was literally thinking about lunch as soon as I finished breakfast and continuously during the day I was justifying why I should just eat anything I chose.

Since making a decision to use food to manage my diabetes with a strict food plan, I have experienced the most incredible freedom from that thinking!

Going to get some fruit from a platter at an event on Friday, I discovered that a Creamed Pavlova had been added to the table as well. The first thing I did was turn my back on it. Literally. Then I had a conversation with my inner voice about whether or not I should have some. Once my inner voice was finished justifying why a little bit wouldn't hurt, it really was as simple as I'm not allowed it.

So I turned back to the table, selected a small portion of fruit and went away to enjoy it. AMAZING!

I haven't been as obsessed with following the food plan posted about earlier, but I have been making choices that support my body better. No sugar or flour. No potatoes, pasta or rice. Limited fruits and fat. Limiting the portions.


And it is working. My weight this week is 86.0kg.

Dinner in the picture is beef coated in lemon pepper served with mushrooms, bok choy and tomato pasta sauce. And it was delicious.

Coming full circle with the Carbs

I am choosing to change the day I 'un-officially' weigh myself to a Saturday since I know that weekends are not good for me. I am looking at this as a forever thing and don't need to beat myself up if I had a slice of Divine Dessert Chocolate Mudcake last night after eating really well all week.

I feel like I have come full circle with the whole 'carbs' thing ... I spent a bit of time online this week looking for information about some of the popular low carbs diets out there at the moment - Cohens, Dukkan etc.

Many people on forums has discussed their anecdotal stories of using these popular diets. Everyone agrees that they have (or they know people who) followed these diets to the letter and lost huge amounts of weight - 40kg here, 25kg there.

But, equally, there are stories of people ending the diet with a sluggish metabolism, the same previous habits and putting all of the lost weight - and some - back on.

People talk about this being their own fault for not doing 're-feeding' training - learning how to eat enough to maintain the new weight.

Trying to find a balance where I am eating healthy food that is best for my Diabetes, while trying to make sure my choices don't inadvertently screw with my already-sluggish metabolism ... and somewhere along that line, I am hoping to safely lose weight to help minimise my Diabetes in the long-term.

The speed of that weight loss is becoming unimportant as long as I continue to trend downwards.

I am going to allow a small amount of quality carbs back in ... Divine Dessert Chocolate Mudcake is not quality at all in terms of my health - it did meet an emotional need after a rather stressful week but I had the sugar hangover to prove it.

I have bought a loaf of low GI Cape Seed bread and will allow myself the occasional slice.

See how human and imperfect I am? Emotional eating and indecisiveness, but I just need to keep getting on that horse and making this thinking a habit. By the way, my weigh-in yesterday morning - 87.5kg. Good.

Image: divine.co.nz
Image: diaryofaladybird.blogspot.com

Compliance through Difficult times

My city has been living in the most extraordinary of times. We have experienced over 8000 aftershocks and several very large and devastating earthquakes over the last year. Of those, I'd estimate that I have stopped and noticed over five hundred.

Image: Quake Drum, McQueens Valley - 4 September 2010

With the first earthquake, we considered ourselves very lucky on the whole. Even badly-affected friends whose houses were severely damaged, were able to carry on with the support of family and friends. We all got on with our lives and became familiar with the aftershocks.

For me, the February quake was worse. No power or toilet at home for weeks, school and daycare closed for weeks. Water supply compromised. And the tragic loss of a dear friend.

I was very fortunate that family took care of my two oldest boys in a town two hours away, where they were able to attend school as well. My youngest boy stayed with me where I was hosted by my business partner and his wife.

Eventually my husband and I were re-united at home as a family and begin living life as 'new normal'.

During the upheaval, one of the first things to go was routine. People still talk about the how they simply forgot to cut hair, cut toe nails or go to the dentist.

For me, any semblance of routine around food and medication was immediately ruined. I think it may have been a month later I was visiting the doctor, tearful that I had forgotten to take my prescribed medication, and the doctor assured me that my circumstances were the same as dozens of other people he'd seen from Christchurch. And he was in Temuka, that little town two hours away!

Two things stand out for me about this:

“It's never too late to be who you might have been.”

George Eliot (English novelist 1819 - 1880)

And if I google long enough, I'll find the perfect quote to justify my insane timing. So I did:

“You win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect.”

Miyamoto Musashi
(Japanese Martial Arts master, one of the world's greatest swordsmen, 1584-1645)

At the time of the doctor's appointment, I resumed some medications, but not my injected insulin. More recently I went through the rigmarole of testing and adjusting my insulin, getting back into a routine, but whatever ongoing and other stress has happened, soon knock that out.

So this is all part of my story that has lead me to this place, this plan. What I can't do with medicine, I am doing with food.

My final motivational quote for today:

“Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. Make all your friends feel there is something in them. Look at the sunny side of everything. Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best. Be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Give everyone a smile. Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others. Be too big for worry and too noble for anger.”

Christian D. Larsen
(American author of Applied Metaphysics for Beginners, 1874 – 1962) 

Image: quake.crowe.co.nz 

Omega-3 Oils and Walnuts

I have been wanting to add some supplements into my food plan since I am aware how restrictive my diet is at the moment.

And since I believe everything anyone posts online, when I was looking for advice on appropriate supplements for Diabetes, I was happy to believe the following:

You can increase insulin sensitivity by taking omega-3 oils. Essential fatty acids help to increase the level of nutrients getting into cells by increasing the fluidity of the cell membrane. When our cells are insulin resistant the cell membranes do not allow nutrients into the cells since the cell receptors are not able to function. The omega-3 fatty acids improve the circulation of nutrients into and energy out of the cells. Your primary energy source should be from fat. But do not eat a lot of saturated fat since most of the excess fat we store is saturated fat. When insulin levels go down the triglycerides will start releasing some of the stored saturated fat. Your cell membranes require a balance of saturated and poly-unsaturated fat, and keeping that balance is what helps improve the fluidity of the cell membrane. Good sources of fats are nuts like almonds and walnuts. Nuts are a great source of protein mixed with mostly mono-unsaturated fatty acids. Supplementing with EPA-DHA fish oils is very beneficial in improving insulin sensitivity. EPA helps reduce inflammation in tissues, especially the arteries, and DHA is extremely helpful for circulation and brain function.

I visited the local health food shop looking for 'EPA please' and mentioned the Diabetes as well.

The lovely lady there sent me on my way with high-dose EPA and Gymnema, also called Gymnema sylvestre, is in the Glucose Manager product. Apparently this plant is from India and has been used for centuries as a natural medicine to treat Diabetes. Also helps with treating constipation, liver disease, water retention, blood pressure problems, arrhythmia and tachycardia. But the coolest bit is that it can be an weight loss supplement because it interferes with tasting sweet stuff and therefore reduces cravings.

And yet again, there are good reasons to add nuts into my food plan. Must get on to that.

Quote: naturalchoicesforyou.com

Abdominal fat is Bad

It's amazing how excess weight goes on different people. We even have names for the basic shapes: hour glass, apple, pear, straight etc.

No wonder we need such large wardrobes, extensive (and expensive!) shopping expeditions and still can't find anything to wear!

Unfortunately for me, I put most of my weight around my waist as a tyre. This kind of fat is the worst and it's the stuff that shows on the outside the state of my organs on the inside.

Estrogen first affects females during puberty when it is part of the process for developing breasts and a wider pelvis, but it also plays a part in where fat distributes on your body. When estrogen is reduced after menopause, the absence causes fat to shift from buttock, hips and thigh to the abdomen. Excessive amounts of the masculizing hormones has the same effect, hence Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome causes weight to redistribute to the bad areas as well. Bummer.

And as Diabetes is a known co-morbidity for Polycystic Ovaries, I am even more gutted to learn that it's a double whammy.

While researching, I found the following explanation:

Your fat cells take longer to get insulin resistant. That is why we gain weight in the abdominal area when we have partial insulin resistance. Insulin takes sugar and stores it as fat in your cells. So until your fat cells become totally insulin resistant you continue to gain weight. Then your weight will plateau as the fat cells protect themselves. Your linings of your arteries do not become insulin resistant, and as insulin increases, more plague will build-up in the lining. This is why coronary artery disease is much higher in people with insulin resistance.

So basically my fat cells want to hang out on my abdomen and when they get there, they park up like good-for-nothings.

I've been having a bad weekend, food-wise, and picked at party food yesterday as well as Twisties last night, Fruit popcorn and too many grapes today and a couple of chocolate chippie cookies this afternoon.

All those carbs and sugar are poison to me! I even have the headache to prove it.

Fortunately I find the week easier to manage food-wise than the weekend, so I will be glad to get back into it tomorrow, and I know that I can always start again right now. So dinner will be stir fry kale and other veggies and lean steak. And I will make a particular effort to drink plenty of water.

So my weekly weigh in is 88.3kg. I am happy with that, but aware that it's just as easy to put back on and I have a long way to go.

Image: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Quote: naturalchoicesforyou.com

What did I eat today?

This isn't necessarily an average day, but is typical of what I am trying to achieve. Plenty of protein and low GI veggies, low fat dairy, limited fruit and gluten and minimal fat. This is deliberately restrictive as my goal is recover from Diabetes, which requires weightloss. And to have a food plan that stabilises my blood sugars at the same time.

Breakfast

Instant Apple Cinnamon porridge sachet made up with 1/2 cup trim milk and then mixed with a couple of spoonfuls of low fat unsweetened yoghurt.

Lunch
Half a serve of chilli beef and veggies, no noddles or rice from the Chinese at the food court.  I paid an extra 20c to have it served on a plate and have a takeaways container as well and I split the meal before I ate it. The remainder is still sitting in the fridge at work for the weekend. Whoops!

Afternoon Tea

A good few Peckish crackers - Salt and Vinegar. I love these ones though probably the Chilli are better and I love that they are gluten free.

Dinner
Veggies (sliced mushrooms, capsicum and onion) laid over the base of a square baking tin and topped with an egg then baked in the oven and served with a little oyster sauce and sprouts.

1/4 tin of drained Fruit Salad in Natural Juice.

Fluids

One glass of diet lift in the morning.

One small bottle of coke zero with lunch.

A couple of glasses of water and a couple of cups of instant coffee with trim milk no sugar - I never had sugar in coffee so this is just a personal choice

Snacks/Other

Two Shrewsbury biscuits before dinner - hey they did have magic in the middle!

A fish oil capsule and a glucose stabilising tablet from the health shop.

As I posted another time, this time is working for me because I am seeing food as helpful or not helpful now. So even though someone else may be eating something "delicious", I don't feel deprived.

This is a new feeling as I have always wanted to eat everything and probably been thinking about lunch the moment I finished breakfast. Now I don't even really think about food until I am ready for it.

Choosing to severely restrict my options is helping I think. It means that when I get home, I am thinking which of 100g steak, 100g chicken or an egg I will have tonight, and not the thousands of other choices I could be having.

I do find evenings difficult still though. I prowl for food while reminding myself why I am doing this. When this works, I go to bed happy.

Detoxing from Sugar ... what a headache ...

Sugar, sugar everywhere!

It's in chocolate and lollies obviously. And cakes, ice cream and fizzy. But it's also in flour, fruits and veggies.

Did you know that two halves of tinned Peaches and one tablespoon of the syrup has three and a half teaspoons of sugar? And a hamburger bun has the same amount.

As for fizzy, fruit juice and other energy drinks, one glass can easily have as much as eight to ten teaspoons of sugar. Considering that these drinks are never limited to one glass just makes it worse.

And this stuff is addictive! Some people literally crave sugar. And mostly, sugar is sugar. A diet high in sucrose (white sugar crystals) or a diet high in fructose (fruit sugar) are equally to blame for all those bad things: diabetes, hypertension etc.

So put down that spoon! A bowl of fruit salad created from four pieces of fruit is still too much fructose.

I think there is only one way to detox from sugar: stop.

Whether you are going cold turkey, or doing a careful reduction to manage other medications, that means excluding anything made with white flour or white sugar. That means excluding fruit and veggies high in natural sugars. And that means headaches.

I don't really know what to say here except obviously if you are injecting insulin, you need to discuss something like this with your doctor and monitor and adjust closely. Fortunately since I was currently not compliant with my meds, I got to ignore this bit. Naughty, naughty.

Detoxing causes headaches and tiredness, so be prepared for this. Drink plenty of water to keep your brain hydrated and wash the toxins away and take paracetamol if you need it. Someone mentioned to me to avoid codeine phos, since it'll bung you up. And I read online that detoxing can also cause itching or rashes, just so you know.

My headache lasted a couple of days and I took paracetamol a couple of times. I read online that if the headache lasts longer than three, you need to see your doctor.

Stick with it and the headaches go away and you will feel new energy. And for me, this is part of my long-term health plan and I am on my way!

Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Food as Medicine

Since I have Diabetes, I am going to try starting with a food plan that addresses the main concerns of my Diabetes: sugar and anything that my body converts to sugar.

As you probably have too, I have seen many diets. Enough that I could probably create one myself. But I will start with something simple based on minimal carbohydrates with protein for every meal.

My plan is to mix low GI foods with proteins. Since vegies are carbohyrates too, that means staying away from root vegies etc. If I can eat low GI vegies, then it should cause a more gradual rise in my blood glucose levels.

So a serve of lean protein (including low fat cheese or yoghurt) with each meal and a combination of at least five vegies a day, plus two serves of low GI fruit a day.

Additionally I intend to have a few low fat crackers during the day as well.

So that's going to be my meal plan.

Image: Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Diabetes

So sometime when I was about 28, my very thorough doctor sent me for a Glucose Tolerance Test since I have Polycystic Ovaries. Impaired Glucose Tolerance (or Insulin Resistance) and Polycystic Ovaries are often linked as something called Metabolic Syndrome.

I remember lying in bed once and understanding the links between the chemical imbalances caused by my ovaries and pancreas and the resulting excess weight, but it glimmered and disappeared.

Suffice it to say that there is a sliding scale between "Normal" (under 7) and "Diabetic" (over 14) and at 28, I was impaired (it may have been about 9 at the time or as high as 11, I just don't remember ...)

My doctor told me that this would mean that I may have problems conceiving and if I did, I would need to be monitored for Gestational Diabetes and ultimately, I was a candidate for Type II.

Hard to say what went through my head, but I do remember crying about my failure to be risk free and not really doing anything else about it. Except stopping birth control. And starting Metformin with a warning not to get pregnant on it. Not a great start.

I knew the odds of 1 in 10 the old-fashioned way, so I "couldn't really get pregnant" and actually stopped birth control so that when I did want to start a family at the planned age of 30, and we needed assistance, we could say we had already been trying for two years.

It really was a fine plan.