LowGIblog

I was really hoping not to let this blog slip by the wayside but it's been 4 days since my last....confession (oh no that's somewhere else! Lol)...last entry and I thought I better update it!

Saturday was a real eye opener for me diet wise, in view of having stopped my medication. I ate very little all day, I had peanut butter and oat toast for breakfast with a banana but just picked at stuff throughout the day, and my BSL remained steady around the middle sixes all day. It sort of proved to me that the rosiglitazone was bad for me and that my body seems to be coping with diet and exercise as a control.

We got back just after 7 and then went out for dinner. I had gammon with pineapple but forgot to ask them to swap the chips and veg for jacket potato and salad but as I'd not had a lot all day felt that was ok. I had ice cream too but only ate half of it. I felt I'd done well.

On Sunday I had a good and bad day. Good in terms of diet as I had very little to eat again, but I had several vodkas with diet coke so not sure that was ideal. BSL was 7.7 at it's highest, even with the vodka.

Yesterday I thought I'd get back on the straight and narrow, whatever that is! I had the usual breakfast, salad and sandwich for lunch and a mid afternoon snack of yoghurt and cereal bar as I was cleaning madly late afternoon and my BSL dropped. I then had some meatloaf, boiled potatoes and a huge amount steamed carrots and cauliflower. Again the BSL was great and I feel so empowered and capable. I was curious to know how long the rosiglitazone would take to fuly get out of my system so went trawling the net to try and find out but couldn't find anything, only stuff that scared me about the side effects, so I was hugely happy that I'm off it and will demand not to go back on to it if the BSL does rise again after a while.

Today I was good again, and my stomach must be shrinking too as I get fuller quicker. I've also started to eat the veg or salad before I eat the rest of my meal as this fills my stomach and I then eat less of everything else! Still peeing for England though so hoping that that part of this will stop soon, but I guess I must be losing excess fluid and even some weight for me to be peeing that way! Lol

Just had dinner of barbecued pork and pepper kebab and beef and pepper kebab with chicken breast, new potatoes and salad. I was very good and ate the salad first. I think I had a touch too much protein but feel comfortable and not over full.

I think my attitude to this diet and myself is changing. I feel more confident already, whether this is because I am starting to feel in control of myself again, or because I just feel generally better than I have since my diagnosis I don't know, but watch this space. I'm determined to keep the diet going AND this blog up to date!

BSL first thing was 6.3, pretty ok so I was relieved after last night. I had my 2 slices of oat toast with peanut butter and a w/w cherry yoghurt for breakfast. At 1.30 my BSL was 5.0 so pleased the oat bread is keeping me stable. Hubby, having forgotten the low GI prinicples, had bought crusty rolls for lunch which I had with ham. No salad So BSL 2 hours later was 10.1 !!!! Here we go again! Not good at all.

At 5.30 my BSL was still 8.6. We had beef stir-fry for dinner. I thought I might have to have it without rice or noodles to try and make up for lunchtime but before dinner (7pm) it was 5.1 so I had a little rice.

Am disgusted with myself after the last 2 days, especially after getting off to a good start earlier this week. Hubby seems to be slipping back into his old ways again too and forgetting that I am diabetic, diabetic on NO medication and that I can't eat the same diet as him and my son

Well fingers crossed that tomorrow will be a better day. I CAN do this and I WILL do this......I want to look like Kylie!

BSL first thing 5.8. I still feel I can DO THIS! I'm weeing for England though! Had same breakfast as yesterday as felt BSL stayed steady. Lunch was smoked turkey and salad sarnie, grapes and plums.

BSL at 5.45 was 6.0 as I had had a muller light yoghurt before leaving work. I had the next appointment with the dietician come through for Friday 11th May at 1.30pm. I hope I've lost some weight by then! :-]

Dinner was lean pork in a "light" sweet and sour sauce. I had basmati rice and steamed veg. Where is that halo?! I made the mistake of mixing the pork and veg in with the rice and sauce. The sauce was soooo sweet I knew my BSL would be high, and it bloody was 10.6 at 8.30pm - oh shit! To make matters worse hubby was just doing ice cream in marshmallow-filled, chocolate covered wafers, so I had one - silly girl! My thinking was "It's already high so what the hell?!" Wrong attitiude going on! I then felt bad, and as I hadn't gone swimming as I had planned I thought I'd exercise the sugar off! So I thought I'd "do the stairs"! "Do the stairs was a fitness idea of my dad's when he was alive. He suggested improving fitness and losing weight by walking up and down the stairs for, initially, 5 minutes each day. I managed 4 minutes before I had to stop! But it worked as my BSL at 10.10pm was 7.7. I can cope with that! So the conclusion is high sugar sauce + naughty ice cream + exercise works!

Self score 6/10 (should be lower but feel justified in a 6 because I worked it off!)

BSL first thing was 6.4. I didn't want to repeat the awful breakfast I had yesterday so I had 2 slices of oatbread toast with peanut butter. This kept me going right through until lunchtime. For lunch I had tikka flavour meat paste sandwich (best of both bread - 2 slices), a w/w yoghurt and 3 plums. By 4.45 BSL was 5.1 and I felt ok.

We went to a friend's burthday BBQ but I was fairly good. I had a strip of chicken breast, a frankfurter, 1/2 a burger and a thin pork chop. I had a desert spoon of tuna and pasta salad, the same of seasoned rice, 4 new potatoes, 1 thin slice of baguette and salad. I didn't fancy desert but picked at 3 strawberries while my mate prepared them for everyone else! I also had 3 vodkas with diet coke. 2 hours later BSl was 9.4. Was pleased to have kept it below 1o but that could have been the alcohol!

Self score 8/10

BSL first thing was 6.6. A bit of a worry as slightly higher than normal - I don't want to go back on medication if I can help it - maybe it's the milk drink before bed again - although I had unsweetened last night. I was running late for work so took oatcakes and banana for breakfast. Oatcakes were gross so I only ate 2 with the banana but felt ok all morning. Lunch was a ham sarnie, made on oatbread. I also had a large salad and a satsuma. I felt like my BSl was low 3/4 of an hour later but when I tested my BSL was 9.5! Felt low all afternoon so I had a muller yoghurt at 3.30. I felt low again and at 4.45 BSL was 5.9 so I had obviously needed the yoghurt but was confused as to why I felt pre-hypo. Felt that I may have been coming down with something as I've had a sore ear since last night. Will have to wait and see.

At just after 5 I had an elevenses bar in the hope that I'd be ok until we eat at 6.45. I think I'm going to have to try and eat a proper breakfast first thing to see if it'll help although I really can't eat first thing - it's like my body really can't swallow anything other than a cuppa. I'll have to try I think!

Dinner was a sausage sarnie and salad. I've decided to have something with veg tomorrow! Fed up with salad - my own fault but there you go.

It's 9.15pm, I'm tired, peckish and have a headache so am off to bed early. BSL is 8.9. I've had 2 very good days. Self score 9/10 - should be 10/10 apart from the sausage!

Determined I was going to be good today and really DO THIS!

BSl was 6.3 first thing. A little bit high but hubby had made the hot drink last night with the sweetened mix and not the un-sweetened as he was worried my BSL might drop overnight (bless!)Well it did - by 0.1

I felt starving when I first got up but I didn't have any time to eat breakfast before going to work so took the last 2 healthy eating croissants from the pack and a banana with me. Once at work I wasn't hungry so just had 1 croissant and the banana. I ate lunch at 12.30 because I was hungry. I had tortilla wrap with smoked ham and turkey with a ton of salad in it. I also had a weight watchers strawberry yoghurt, 10 strawberries and some grapes. (This is a diet?!) Fekt really good but keep having to go to the loo! Water retention - excess always the first weight to go!

Had pasta with chicken breast in a little bit of carbonara sauce for dinner with a HUGE salad. I'd had to have a muller light yoghurt at 4.40 as BSL was 4.6, I was hungry and we don't usually eat until 6.30-7pm.

Am pleased I've stuck to the diet today. I think it will be easier weekdays than weekends 'cause I pack up what I plan to eat and then have to eat it on work days whereas on weekends there's the fridge or I'm out and about, so I might need to think more and plan ahead to take healthy snacks, etc with me so I don't end up eating bad stuff from a garage!

Oh - I found out one of the local community colleges let the public use their pool so I printed off a timetable and price list. I'd like to aim for 2 - 3 swims a week if I can fit them in! Don't know if it will be possible but any swim is better than the nothing I am doing now!

Self score 9/10 - I did well today!

Breakfast was very late as I slept in. I didn't get to sleep until nearly 3am. BSL was 5.8 at 11.25am, prior to breakfast, so it was high considering I had eaten 16 hours before, but not bad as a morning reading. I had checked my BSL at 2.20am before going to bed and it was 8.6 - I'd tested out oif curiosity. Again I think I still have the rosi in my system so will be having to eat a bit more until that gets out of my system fully.

I had 2 low fat, healthy living croissants with no spread, with a banana for breakfast. I went out and about and just after 2.30 felt hungry and a little low and because I was driving I felt I should eat something. The garage only had crap so I opted for 2 sausage rolls, rather than crisps and chocolate bars. We decided as the weather is good to have a BBQ for dinner. I got some chicken breasts, quick fry steak and sausages. I had a chicken breast, a sausage and a small piece of steak. I wasn't able to eat all of the meat as I had a HUGE salad and for carbs I had 3 ryvita. BSL before bed was 6.4 - great! Had a hot milk drink before bed.

Self score 6/10 - shouldn't have had crap at garage!

I had bitesize shredded wheat for breakfast with just a little milk on. Lunch was very thin slices of healthy eating cheese in 2 slices of half and half bread (can I say 50/50?! Lol) I had so much salad in it I could only just bite into it! I also had a banana. Dinner was a chinese takeaway. This had been pre-arranged with a friend so I felt a little apprehensive. I went for special fried rice and shared it with her. I then just had plain curry sauce-about 60mls but had 2 chicken balls and 5 min veg spring rolls (OUCH!) Later we had strawberries and I had 1 scoop of neopolitan ice cream. Still naughty for a diet especially with no meds. My BSL was 10.2 2hours later so not too bad - good job I didn't have indian takeaway as my BSL usually rockets! Self score 6/10 - naughty!

Met with dietician. Discussed present diet (note - see previous entry!) Current weight 15 stone (210 pounds - 95kgs.) Waist measurement (which I don't believe) 115cm (45.3") That was a shock! Especially as I am in a size 18 bottoms (although they're geting slightly tight!)

Ok, so my diet from now is to be 1/4 carbs (fist size per meal) 1/4 protein- palm flat sized chicken breast, slightly bigger if fish, and the rest vegetables or salad. The initial plan is to lose 10% of my body weight - which is 21 pounds so not too bad a target initially. My real target is to get down to 10 stone 8 (148 pounds - 67.3kg) This will give me a BMI of 24.6 - it's currently 34.6.

I saw the DR too and she agreed my medication is too high and that's why I've been eating so much. I'm a little worried about controlling my diabetes with diet and exercise but hope to manage it. Failing that the Dr says I will have to go back on medication. I'd be pretty interested in what medication I'll go on as I'm allergic to metformin and Rosiglitazone is too high and has made me FAT

So, I am DETERMINED to do this. Fingers crossed I can do it without having to go back on medication again.

Diet info - Low GI - foods causing a slower and lower rise in blood
glucose levels.
Med GI - foods cause blood glucose levels to go up at a
moderate rate.
High GI - Foods cause a rapid rise in blood glucose
levels.

Aim to eat low GI foods more often, preferably one at each meal. The more low GI you eat the better it is for you as it stabilises blood sugar levels, you lose weight (YAY!), cholesterol levels are lowered and the risk of heart attack is reduced.

High GI foods - White bread, bagels, gluten free bread, french baguettes, Cheerios, cornflakes, rice krispies, sultana bran, bran flakes, brown rice (surprisingly), jasmine rice and long rain rice, Instant potato, ordinary potatoes, parsnip and swede, watermelon, dates, rice cakes, pretzels, water/table biscuits, morning coffee biscuits.

Medium GI foods - Crumpets, wholemeal bread, pitta bread, rye bread, non-toasted muesli, nutrigrain, shredded wheat, basmati rice, wild rice, couscous, cornmeal, tapioca, broad beans, split pea soup, new potatoes, sweetcorn, sultanas, raw and canned apricots, raisins, cantaloupe melon, pineapple, digestive biscuits, ryvita.

Low GI foods - Multigrain bread, granary bread, Burgen loaf, Vogel Honey and Oat bread, All Bran (yeuuch!), Porridge - not the instant types, Special K, rice bran, oat bran (bran flakes, weetabix), barley, pasta (all types), noodles, bulgar wheat, semolina, all beans (you don't even need the low sugar or salt varieties!), lentils, chickpeas, peas, blackbeans, red kidney beans, sweet potato, apples, pears, plums, oranges, cherries, grapefruit, peaches, dried apricots, grapes, kiwi fruit, banana, mango, milk (skimmed or semi-skimmed), low fat yoghurt, low fat custard, low fat ice cream, low fat milkshakes, rich tea biscuits, low fat muffins, popcorn (not microwave brands (do it yourself in olive or rapeseed oil! - YUM)

Dinner was a kebab (good start!) I had a toasted pitta, shredded white cabbage, cucumber and tomato, with grilled marinated chicken breast. I had 4 spicy potatoes though which were naughty but I know the medication will take a few days to start getting out fo my system so I justified my naughtiness but still an OOOPS!

Am using a self scoring system for myself so I can mark myself as to how well I have done each day. This follows next:-

1/10 BAD BAD GIRL
2/10 BAD GIRL
3/10 Needs Improvement
4/10 Could do better
5/10 A little bit bad
6/10 Naughty but tried
7/10 Good day but can still work on it
8/10 Very good day
9/10 Excellent Day
10/10 HALO Deserving!

Day 1 self score 8/10 - did ok considering I didn't start until after lunch!

Ok, Friday 13th.....bad luck for some, if you're superstitious,but I look on it as a day where the new me starts!

I'd got increasingly fed up with my weight gain since December 06 so decided I had to do something about my eating habits. I spoke to an NHS dietician, who discussed my diet and exercise regime with me (what exercise regime?!!!) My diet was fairly good - balanced, plenty of variety, fruit 'n' veg, etc - however my servings of carb were much more than anyone could possibly need, and the dietician confirmed what I had suspected - my medication was too strong! OK, am I pretending to be diabetic? I wish! So we discussed diets and exercise that were available to me and she recommended the low GI diet. I've heard of it before and even bought a small book from tesco once as I had heard it was good for diabetics, and my thinking was "what's good enough for Kylie is good enough for me!" as I had heard that Kylie follows the low GI way of living. I just had never got around to doing anything about it - as I was too busy feeling sorry for myself, stuffing my face and being busy!

But now is the time. I HAVE to slim down, I HAVE to lose weight, I can't carry on putting on weight, no matter how gradually, cause gradually eventually shows too!

So I have decided to keep a blog as a way of helping me stay on the straight and narrow. It will be a good reference for me too when times get hard and I get fed up (which I surprisingly haven't after a week- which I usually do on other diets I've tried) So, I'm hoping for a new me. I might not look like Kylie now or in the future but if I can shift a majority of my excess baggage (or even the minimum recommended 10%) it'll be better for me in the long run.

The next entries are the diary I've been keeping since I started last Friday (13th!) I'll then try and update the blog daily. I'd love to hear from you and get comments on the blog. If you hate it or love it I'd like to know. If you're dieting or exercising, or diabetic or not diabetic I'd like to hear from you so please feel free to say hi anytime. I will reply to all messages!

I lost my dad in November 2005. In the next couple of months I was feeling tired all the time but pretty much put it down to grief etc. I was at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge studying towards a degree and noticed I was getting thirsty to the point of distraction...by this I mean I couldn't function physically or mentally without knowing that I could have a drink. So I took to making sure I had at least 2 500ml bottles of water/drink with me all the time.

I'd also been losing weight gradually over the previous few months - only about 2 pounds a months, but it was showing. I hadn't been dieting so did think this was strange but didn't really think anything of it as I was so pleased! I also had thrush 3 times in 4 months and was getting fed up with spending a fortune on one treatment or another.

I started to get worried as there was more than 1 thing that wasn't right so I decided to go and see my GP. I literally walked in and told her I was diabetic! After a total health check (weight, height, BP, pulse etc) she finally did a finger prick test. My blood sugar level (BSL) was 19.2! I had no idea what "normal" BSL should be so was at this point hoping she would say that it was ok, but she did tell me it was a little raised! I laugh now, especially as I know now that a normal person's BSL sits around the 5.6 to 8.0 mark. How I wish for that!

So, I was started on 2 courses of tablets. Metformin and gliclazide. Both of these would bring my BSL down.......which they did and I started having hypos (Hypoglycaemia - low blood glucose.) With these I got shaky, sweaty, glazed eyes and if I let them go on became confused and very bad tempered (we're talking Jekyll and Hyde!) So I came off the gliclazide and stayed on the metformin. Metformin causes an irritation in your stomach, which usually stops after the first few days of treatment. Unfortunately this continued with me until I felt ill all the time so in August 06 I was eventually taken off it and prescribed Rosiglitazone (Avandia.) Going from 3x500mg tablets a day to 1 x 4mg was a bit worrying to start with and my BSL initially rocketed again, but after a couple of weeks my BSL evened out again.

Ok, so to cut a long story short Rosi takes up to 6 months to get in your system so it is working fully. It was working amazingly well for me until December when I started to have regular hypos again, but then they continued to the point I was eating high amounts of carbohydrates just to stop having the hypos.

Between mid-December and mid-March I put on 22 pounds! And I was GOOD at Christmas! :-(

A low GI diet is a diet that includes foods with a slower acting carbohydrate. By using this diet blood sugar levels are supposed to remain even, making this diet good for diabetics, however, this diet is also being recommended widely by health professionals as a lifetime diet which can actually prevent obesity, diabetes and other health conditions.

The low GI diet allows you to eat plenty, but you have to consider what you are eating by replacing high GI foods like white bread with a low GI food like oatmeal bread (which is actually quite tasty and filling!) Potatoes are also a high GI food, but you can lower their GI by adding a low GI food with them i.e baked beans, or maybe adding vinegar etc.

For a full definition/explanation you're probably better to go to one of the official sites!

Type 2 diabetes used to be known as mature on-set diabetes or diabetes mellitus. Type 2 diabetes usually occurs in people over the age of 40. You can be more prone to type 2 earlier than 40 if you are overweight/obese, suffer from policystic ovaries (PCOS), or are South-Asian or African-Caribbean. Treatment is diet, weight control and physical activity and tablets to reduce the blood glucose level are usually advised. Insulin injections are needed in some cases.

What is Type 2 diabetes? Description by Patient UK (patient.co.uk)

With Type 2 diabetes, the illness and symptoms tend to develop gradually (over weeks or months). This is because in Type 2 diabetes you still make insulin (unlike Type 1 diabetes). However, you develop diabetes because:

* you do not make enough insulin for your body's needs, OR
* the cells in your body do not use insulin properly. This is called 'insulin resistance'. The cells in your body become resistant to normal levels of insulin. So, you need more insulin than you normally make to keep the blood glucose level down, OR
* a combination of the above two reasons.

Symptoms of diabetes - this list is not conclusive - please check with your GP if you suspect you may have diabetes after reading this as I am not a health professional!

* being thirsty a lot of the time
* passing large amounts of urine (and frequently at night)
* tiredness
* weight loss
* increased occurrences of thrush (candida)
* blurred vision

This blog is my on-line diary of my attempt to lose weight using the Low GI diet plan that is the "latest craze".

I am a 36 year old, type 2 diabetic. I was diagnosed as diabetic 14 months ago. It was a shock but I wasn't hugely surprised because I have known for years that my weight is too high and always said I would do something about it. Well, I didn't and for the last 14 months have struggled to get used to being dependant on tablets in order to control my blood sugar level.

This blog is not about diabetes. It's about my diet and whether I am successful or not in losing weight (whilst at the same time managing to control my blood sugar levels.) You can switch off if you're not interested in the blood sugar levels, but they will be included as part of my blog! You can also switch off if you're ONLY interested in the sugar levels but not the weight loss (although I haven't met many diabetics yet that aren't! Lol)

So....to start with I'll give an introduction to this whole blog, explain a bit about type 2 diabetes, explain a bit about the GI diet and give a small history of my life since diagnosis 14 months ago and how I cam to be on a low GI diet.