I just got in from class

and it was a very good one, mainly on problem-solving. I'm enjoying the class very much, and it has good information and suggestions. I have a great deal of empathy for my fellows, many of whom are dealing with crisis situations and have turned to the class to help cope. Because of the Chicago trip, I am unfortunately going to miss the class that is specifically on self-care and coping, which is unfortunate, but I can get the materials the next class, and that should help. We mostly read through the materials in class and then share our viewpoints and experiences, so it's the latter I'll miss.

I tracked my food today, and while I ate more than usual, it came out to be far more than I should have. If I have any hope of flying and buckling my seat belt on the plane, I'd better cut it down in the next month. Besides, my blood sugar, while not horrible now, was much better when I was eating next to nothing. :) I have done a little exercise this week, walking around the inside of the hospital yesterday for fifteen minutes, like someone might walk around the mall. It was too cold to go out. Today would have been better for outside walking, but we're supposed to have snow tonight, and unfortunately I didn't think about taking a break and going out for one today. But when spring comes I definitely wan to do some walking.

I feel like I need to hang from gravity boots in order to stretch my spine out and maybe get it to relax and pop. I'm not really hurting or anything, but I just feel a little stiff. One of my goals on my health tracker (Samsung Health) is to do some yoga this week. I think it is definitely something I should try. I used to be good at it, or at least decent, but that was maybe 50 lbs ago. So we'll see. I have DVDs and then also workouts on the Smart TV that are basic and good for beginners. I think that may be a good start. I love the A.M. Yoga with Rodney Yee DVD (I also have the VHS, but had to replace it when my VCR went out, because I liked it so much.) But that is meant to energise you in the morning and wake you up. So I'm not doing that tonight. P.M. Yoga, which I also have, is good, but there are a lot of lunges if I remember, and it has someone other than Rodney Yee, someone not as soothing in the voice, etc. :) But I think I will break out the yoga mat tonight and try it before I head for bed, and maybe go through some yoga books as well.

Trying to do better, and it was working--at least today

Last night before I went to bed I downloaded a book on diabetes from the Kindle Lending Library, purchased three others for the Kindle (one on exchanges, one on carbohydrate counting, and one general text I'd checked out at the library that's really good), and then today checked out yet another to the Kindle from the Lexington Public Library. I really want to get a handle on my diabetes.

I was looking for a food diary that would let me put in specific foods (I had a more generalised one), and the Spark People one is now a paid-for application without good reviews, and besides, doing anything on SparkPeople.com means ads, ads, and more ads. Fit Day works well online, but I didn't see a mobile application. Then I found (from the comments comparing and reviewing it with Spark People) an application called My Fitness Pal, which has both an online and mobile presence, allows for social stuff, but doesn't inundate you like Spark People does. It has a large database of foods and you can scan pre-packaged foods with UPCs easily. The only thing I ate today that was like that was some Oikos Greek yoghurt, but it worked like a charm. I wound up under my goal caloric intake but not terribly so, got most of my nutrients (was a little short on Vitamin A, but I do take a multivitamin as well). I did have a fairly high cholesterol because I ate two eggs today. On the other hand, it's not like I'm eating fatty meat, either. The application has a fitness log as well. I have a separate application for my blood sugar, insulin, hA1c, etc., called On Track.

The result, along with taking my insulin faithfully, was that my blood sugars were much better than yesterday. Much better. So, I just have to keep it up, right? I was also able to get the replacement insulin from the pharmacy. Yay!

Every Monday Matters #5

Eat Healthy

This is something I've been striving to do lately. I'm eating smaller portions, about 1600 calories a day, healthy snacks, and not a lot of processed food and a tiny amount of sweets. I was spurred in this by going on insulin earlier this month, and I've lost 7 pounds total in January, 6 of it since I started eating better. I haven't had pizza, which I was sort of living on for awhile. When we've celebrated birthdays, I'll have a piece of cake that's just a bite or two.

I heard an anecdote about the dangers of restaurant eating today. In trying to eat healthy at an Applebee's this weekend, someone I knew got a pecan-crusted chicken salad. When it came out, she was floored by its size--the plate was as big as the platter she uses for meat at home. She didn't eat it all, but her blood sugar skyrocketed anyway. She investigated the nutrition info later and discovered that this one salad had over 1300 calories and with the dressing she chose had over 100 carbohydrates. She could have had a 12 oz. steak and baked potato and would have eaten much fewer carbs and calories. So sometimes what looks to be healthy choices aren't so good for you.

A big thing, of course, is portion control. And I've found as I've eaten better I've actually felt less hungry, probably because I'm not eating so many carbs. I'm still struggling with the fat content in my diet--I get a lot of my protein from cheese, for example, so I need to start subsituting lower fat ones. I got some bagels and cream cheese the other day and got the 1/3 less fat cream cheese, for example. Still, you have to watch out, because some lower fat items have more sugar.

As a pseudo-vegetarian, I've been used to reading ingredients and nutrition labels for years. But sometimes it's hard to judge other foods, such as things I get in the cafeteria that aren't precisely measured. How many ounces of black olives did I put on my salad? Is that a half-cup of cottage cheese, etc. I've been paying more attention to portion size because of using the FitDay food diary tool. I haven't managed to put in everything every day (weekends are especially hard to remember), but I've written almost everything I've eaten for the last two weeks into the system, which calculates nutrition and percentages of carbs, proteins, and fats. And even though I snacked during the game yesterday, my blood sugar stayed around 130 when I checked it because I snacked on things like nuts, cheese, and a little fruit rather than crackers or popcorn. In the old days we always had chocolate. These days we're all trying to eat healthier.

So that's what I'm doing lately. I must confess I did have a small bag of peanut M&Ms as a snack today. Otherwise, I've had a salad with egg and garbanzo beans, a half cup of cheese tortellini, two milk cartons worth of 2% milk, a little cottage cheese, some yoghurt, and two peanut butter and spreadable fruit sandwiches. Total that's less than 1500 calories. I'll probably have an apple between now and bedtime, bringing it to just about there. That's 45% carbs, 38% fat (due to the peanut butter especially), and 18% protein. It should be more like 40-50% Carbs, 25-35% protein, 20-30% fat, so I should up my protein and lower my fat. That's a pretty typical day for me, in terms of ratio and calories. But I usually don't have M&Ms. :)

Okay, maybe this healthy eating is a good thing

I've lost 7 lbs since the beginning of the year, 6 of it since going on insulin (which is even better considering when you go on insulin, your cells use the glucose more efficiently and you tend to gain weight).

Go me! Now to keep it up. I'm not following any diet, just watching my portion sizes and trying to make healthy choices. Today I did have a bit of chocolate cake, but it was about two cubic inches in total size (tiny) and went into the food diary. I'm still eating too much fat and not enough protein, really. But I'm working on it.

Last night I ate a snack at bedtime since I was increasing the insulin, and my blood sugar was a little higher this morning (192), so I'm going to forgo it tonight. I guess I'll just have to see how my blood sugar rises or falls and go with what works.

It's amazing how much better I feel on the insulin. I'm not as sleepy all the time. I'm not foggy. So far, it's well worth the sticking myself with a needle thing, and they're tiny needles and portable pens.

Have a good night.

I was temporarily offline for a day

thanks to a security patch from Microsoft for Windows XP that wasn't compatible with my firewall. Said patch has been removed, and I'm back.

Things I want to share with you quickly as I must get up in three hours...

1) I found a really nice, free food diary/weight tracker/exercise tracker at FitDay. You can view my report at: http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=eilir.

2) A video that YKWIA found...

Bush & Cheney - Plenty Of Time!


It's hilarious. Actually, they're very talented at the Monkey Box. You should check them out.

Okay, gotta get up soon. I've ironed out Internet issues and soaked my foot. Time to go.

YKWIA is always trying to get me to use a food diary

and he's right to do so. Researchers have found that those using food diaries lose twice as much as those who do not.

4 Ways a Food Diary Can Help You Lose Weight