Wow - it's been over two weeks since I posted!! No particular reason, just one of those things. Let's see.... what's new....
Oh yes!! I got the result of my HbA1C back. I don't actually see the nurse till next week, but I was over at the surgery having my annual retinopathy screening, and asked if they had the result back yet. It was 40 - which is in the normal range. Down from 62 - which decidedly isn't.
I was, to put it mildly, dead chuffed. And then I decided to do some comparisons with 2012, when I set out on what was to become my biggest ever weight loss.
At the outset of that, my HbA1C was 56, and in the course of 12 weeks, it dropped to 48. Which is still an impressive achievement, and represents a significant reduction in risk. But it's a drop of 8 points, as against the 22 points I achieved this time. On that occasion, I lost more weight - though if you take my weight loss at the very start of my LCHF eating, and look at percentage rather than pounds (because I started from a higher weight) - there is nothing in it. But nearly 3 times as big a reduction in HbA1C. Just goes to show the power of reducing carbs, as compared to the low-fat, low-sugar, mostly whole foods balanced diet I did last time.
Don't get me wrong - that diet, the sort recommended for people with diabetes and for everyone else as well, is a lot healthier than eating a lot of sweets and highly processed food, snacks and fast food. No doubt - if you eat fresh fruit and veg, whole grains, lean meat etc you will be healthier than someone who survives on donuts and pizza. But just because it's a better diet (than a pile of junk) doesn't make it the best diet. Not by a long way.
As for missing things.... the truth is, I don't. I've lost the need for cakes and biscuits - I'm actually quite content without them. OK, there's the odd occasion when I think, wouldn't that be nice - but I think it's just my old habits talking. Because when I think about what it would be like to actually have that in my mouth.... no, thanks. And as for white bread and pastry.... no, I don't think so.
Which gives me something of a dilemma - because Christmas is coming. So I have it in mind to find myself a bunch of festive treats which are broadly compatible with this way of eating. Yes, I'll slacken up a bit, I'll increase my carbs a bit to allow some indulgences. But I'm talking maybe going to 50-60g carb, rather than several hundred. There might be a single roast potato with my turkey, I won't ask too many questions about what's gone in the pigs in blankets, and I'll find myself some low-carb cakes or sweet treats that I wouldn't normally have, but since it's Christmas, I'll indulge a little. I may come out of ketosis - but not by much, and not for long. The benefits are just too great to want to throw them away.
And besides - if I had a traditional Christmas dinner, with a pile of roasties, parsnips and stuffing, followed by Christmas pudding and brandy sauce, and then tubs and tubs of chocolate..... I actually don't think I would enjoy it that much....
Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Monday, 14 November 2016
Highs and Lows
It's been a day of alternating fortunes.
First off, yesterday morning's blood glucose test. 5.1. My highest last week was 5.8, and my average for the week as a whole, 5.3 - the first time I haven't had a single reading over 6, AND, my average was in the normal range. Really, really pleased.
Then, for lunch I had planned to make fathead pizza - recipe here. The toppings were slightly different - I made my own tomato sauce with finely chopped onion and red pepper and tomato puree, and the topping was an assortment of ham, salami and chorizo slices with some herbs and more mozarella. I was a bit nervous, but... it looked like pizza, it SMELLED like pizza, it held together like pizza and it TASTED like pizza. That is definitely on the menu again! I forgot to test before and at one hour after eating it, but two hours after my BG was 5.8, which is pretty good.
Then this morning - after last week's blood glucose triumph - I was looking forward to good things on my meter... only to be greeted with a 6.0. Why, oh why, oh why? Possibly because, it being Sunday, we ate later than usual in the evening. And possibly because of staying up late/lack of sleep.
Not to worry - I still have diabetes, after all, and these things will happen. Hopefully, though, they will happen less and less.
I think it's safe to say that I have reached the end of the easy, rapid reduction in bg levels that comes from limiting carbohydrate. Unless I want to cut it down even more - which I don't - further improvements are going to have to come from somewhere else. Where is that? Two places: more physical activity, and more weight loss - specifically, loss of visceral fat.
I just need to be patient and keep on doing what I'm doing. I've lost over 3 stone... I've got another 3 stone to go to get back to where I was in July 2013.... and another 3 stone beyond that to get into the normal range, with a few pounds to spare. Plenty of potential there for reduced visceral fat, leading to reduced insulin resistance and therefore lower blood glucose. It's about keeping on with this lifestyle, with the conviction that it is improving my health, and that it IS for life, not a temporary measure.
Today, we are sort of semi-fasting. David has been finding the full day fasts challenging, so we've agreed to fast during the day and have a light evening meal. It's not ideal from my point of view, but it will still be helpful. Looking forward to a better BG result tomorrow!! We may do this twice a week instead of once.
First off, yesterday morning's blood glucose test. 5.1. My highest last week was 5.8, and my average for the week as a whole, 5.3 - the first time I haven't had a single reading over 6, AND, my average was in the normal range. Really, really pleased.
Then, for lunch I had planned to make fathead pizza - recipe here. The toppings were slightly different - I made my own tomato sauce with finely chopped onion and red pepper and tomato puree, and the topping was an assortment of ham, salami and chorizo slices with some herbs and more mozarella. I was a bit nervous, but... it looked like pizza, it SMELLED like pizza, it held together like pizza and it TASTED like pizza. That is definitely on the menu again! I forgot to test before and at one hour after eating it, but two hours after my BG was 5.8, which is pretty good.
Then this morning - after last week's blood glucose triumph - I was looking forward to good things on my meter... only to be greeted with a 6.0. Why, oh why, oh why? Possibly because, it being Sunday, we ate later than usual in the evening. And possibly because of staying up late/lack of sleep.
Not to worry - I still have diabetes, after all, and these things will happen. Hopefully, though, they will happen less and less.
I think it's safe to say that I have reached the end of the easy, rapid reduction in bg levels that comes from limiting carbohydrate. Unless I want to cut it down even more - which I don't - further improvements are going to have to come from somewhere else. Where is that? Two places: more physical activity, and more weight loss - specifically, loss of visceral fat.
I just need to be patient and keep on doing what I'm doing. I've lost over 3 stone... I've got another 3 stone to go to get back to where I was in July 2013.... and another 3 stone beyond that to get into the normal range, with a few pounds to spare. Plenty of potential there for reduced visceral fat, leading to reduced insulin resistance and therefore lower blood glucose. It's about keeping on with this lifestyle, with the conviction that it is improving my health, and that it IS for life, not a temporary measure.
Today, we are sort of semi-fasting. David has been finding the full day fasts challenging, so we've agreed to fast during the day and have a light evening meal. It's not ideal from my point of view, but it will still be helpful. Looking forward to a better BG result tomorrow!! We may do this twice a week instead of once.
Friday, 11 November 2016
Yummy!!
Let's see...
It's been quite a good week overall. Monday's fast wasn't 100% because I did have some macadamia nuts in the evening. This is what some people call a fat fast - taking in a small amount of food with a very high percentage of fat. Some people find this easier than a complete fast, and it's also a strategy to avoid totally breaking the fast. The logic is that since fat has very little impact on insulin levels, you still get most,of the benefit of fasting.
However, most of the week I have been eating normally, with some interesting twists.
On Tuesday it was our first Bread Church. As you will be aware, dear reader, bread is not on the menu. So I went looking for LCHF 'bread' recipes. I found 5 altogether, but chose the one which would be the least complicated to do up at the church - not needing to separate eggs or requiring use of a food processor or mixer were the criteria. I needed to grind the flax and sunflower seeds, so I did that at home before I went up. The recipe called for six eggs - and since the idea of Bread Church is to make one loaf for yourself and one to give away, that was a dozen eggs I needed to crack.
The recipe makes a batter rather than a dough, and only when I got there did I discover that the trays offered are quite small - so I ended up making four loaves! It tasted good. I had two buttered slices with my soup and offered it round to the assembled company, most of whom tried it and said it was good. So that was the end of one and a half loaves! I sliced the left over half and put it in the freezer, and took the two other loaves to two church members who have coeliac disease. You see, when you go grain-free, you also go gluten-free. I'm not allergic to gluten, so I don't need to worry about tiny bits of wheat for myself - I eat the ordinary bread at communion, whereas they can't. But it made sense to give my loaves to people for whom the gluten-free aspect is important.
Last week I treated myself to a keto (shorthand for ketogenic) Recipe book, and today was my first attempt at making something from it. I chose Danish meatballs, which are cooked in a slightly spicy tomato sauce. The book suggests serving them with cauli rice, but I decided to do them cauli mash and green vegetables. They were absolutely delicious - phew! I also tried a new ingredient this week - a low-carb 'spaghetti' made from edamame beans. It came in at 18.6g carb per 100g, but 35g was a perfectly adequate portion, giving me less than 7g carb, which is OK so long as the rest of the meal doesn't have too much. The texture and flavour were OK - I preferred them to spiralised courgettes which I've used a few times instead of spaghetti. I'll use it again.
And blood glucose.... my level on Tuesday, after my fast, was 5.3, which was a little higher than I hoped. But this morning it was 5.0, and my average for this week so far is 5.4, which is my lowest so far.... or will be if the next two days aren't too high. This evening, one hour after my meal of Danish meatballs with cauli mash, asparagus and mangetout followed by mixed berries and cream, I was 6.0. Another week or so and I'll be going for my repeat HbA1C test. Looking forward to it.
It's been quite a good week overall. Monday's fast wasn't 100% because I did have some macadamia nuts in the evening. This is what some people call a fat fast - taking in a small amount of food with a very high percentage of fat. Some people find this easier than a complete fast, and it's also a strategy to avoid totally breaking the fast. The logic is that since fat has very little impact on insulin levels, you still get most,of the benefit of fasting.
However, most of the week I have been eating normally, with some interesting twists.
On Tuesday it was our first Bread Church. As you will be aware, dear reader, bread is not on the menu. So I went looking for LCHF 'bread' recipes. I found 5 altogether, but chose the one which would be the least complicated to do up at the church - not needing to separate eggs or requiring use of a food processor or mixer were the criteria. I needed to grind the flax and sunflower seeds, so I did that at home before I went up. The recipe called for six eggs - and since the idea of Bread Church is to make one loaf for yourself and one to give away, that was a dozen eggs I needed to crack.
The recipe makes a batter rather than a dough, and only when I got there did I discover that the trays offered are quite small - so I ended up making four loaves! It tasted good. I had two buttered slices with my soup and offered it round to the assembled company, most of whom tried it and said it was good. So that was the end of one and a half loaves! I sliced the left over half and put it in the freezer, and took the two other loaves to two church members who have coeliac disease. You see, when you go grain-free, you also go gluten-free. I'm not allergic to gluten, so I don't need to worry about tiny bits of wheat for myself - I eat the ordinary bread at communion, whereas they can't. But it made sense to give my loaves to people for whom the gluten-free aspect is important.
Last week I treated myself to a keto (shorthand for ketogenic) Recipe book, and today was my first attempt at making something from it. I chose Danish meatballs, which are cooked in a slightly spicy tomato sauce. The book suggests serving them with cauli rice, but I decided to do them cauli mash and green vegetables. They were absolutely delicious - phew! I also tried a new ingredient this week - a low-carb 'spaghetti' made from edamame beans. It came in at 18.6g carb per 100g, but 35g was a perfectly adequate portion, giving me less than 7g carb, which is OK so long as the rest of the meal doesn't have too much. The texture and flavour were OK - I preferred them to spiralised courgettes which I've used a few times instead of spaghetti. I'll use it again.
And blood glucose.... my level on Tuesday, after my fast, was 5.3, which was a little higher than I hoped. But this morning it was 5.0, and my average for this week so far is 5.4, which is my lowest so far.... or will be if the next two days aren't too high. This evening, one hour after my meal of Danish meatballs with cauli mash, asparagus and mangetout followed by mixed berries and cream, I was 6.0. Another week or so and I'll be going for my repeat HbA1C test. Looking forward to it.
Sunday, 6 November 2016
What has 4 months of LCHF eating done for me?
Here's what:
On 5th July I weighed 20st 3.6lb. Yesterday I weighed 17st 5.6lb. I have lost 2st 12lb.
On 3rd September my fasting blood glucose was 7.7. Yesterday it was 5.3.
I have come down 2 sizes in trousers (26->22) and am on the verge of coming down into 20's.
I've stopped having acid reflux again.
My blood pressure has come down.
I feel great!!
To be fair, fasting has also been part of that picture, since the middle of August. But I haven't fasted the last two weeks, because of being on holiday. So, tomorrow, I'm going to fast all day. I'm looking forward to it, not least because I'm hoping it will help me break through a barrier in my blood glucose readings.
Generally speaking, my lowest reading of the week is the day after my fast. The lowest I've seen at all is 5.0, the day after fasting 3 weeks ago. But last week I had a 5.0 *without* fasting the previous day. I was quite excited by that! I'm hoping one day soon to see a number under 5. And the other change is to get my average and maximum numbers going down again. At first they were going down significantly each week, but the past few weeks the change has slowed to a crawl. I so want to have a complete week in which I don't have any diabetic readings at all.... or one in which more of my readings are in the normal range than impaired fasting glucose or higher. I'm getting close.
On 5th July I weighed 20st 3.6lb. Yesterday I weighed 17st 5.6lb. I have lost 2st 12lb.
On 3rd September my fasting blood glucose was 7.7. Yesterday it was 5.3.
I have come down 2 sizes in trousers (26->22) and am on the verge of coming down into 20's.
I've stopped having acid reflux again.
My blood pressure has come down.
I feel great!!
To be fair, fasting has also been part of that picture, since the middle of August. But I haven't fasted the last two weeks, because of being on holiday. So, tomorrow, I'm going to fast all day. I'm looking forward to it, not least because I'm hoping it will help me break through a barrier in my blood glucose readings.
Generally speaking, my lowest reading of the week is the day after my fast. The lowest I've seen at all is 5.0, the day after fasting 3 weeks ago. But last week I had a 5.0 *without* fasting the previous day. I was quite excited by that! I'm hoping one day soon to see a number under 5. And the other change is to get my average and maximum numbers going down again. At first they were going down significantly each week, but the past few weeks the change has slowed to a crawl. I so want to have a complete week in which I don't have any diabetic readings at all.... or one in which more of my readings are in the normal range than impaired fasting glucose or higher. I'm getting close.
Tuesday, 1 November 2016
Lessons Learned
The holiday is over. I'm back home - back in the environment where it's easier to control what I eat.
I stuck to my LCHF eating style to a large degree while on holiday. But there was the odd loosening here and there. Those bits of naan with the curry which I mentioned. An actual dessert one evening - well, it was our wedding anniversary. A couple of occasions when I ate the dressing which came with my salad, even though I was pretty sure there was either honey or sugar in it. The store bought curry on the evening we arrived home - 21g of carbs in that meal, which is as much as I often have in a day.
And these relaxations have consequences.
The dessert.... I tested my blood sugar an hour after eating, and it was 8.4. I hadn't seen a number that high for several weeks. Another hour later and it had gone down... all the way to 8.3. This is not good - there is evidence that glucose levels above 6.7 begin to do damage to your small blood vessels. That's how diabetic complications arise. And I don't want them.
The other thing about the dessert is that within about half an hour of eating it my guts were feeling incredibly uncomfortable. I was very glad to get back to the hotel room... if you know what I mean. Now, that could be coincidence. Or it could be something else that was in the meal. But a lot of the people on LCHF facebook groups say that when they do eat refined carbs they get digestive issues.
Other consequences.... I am not as far into ketosis as I was. I didn't take the ketone meter with me, so I don't know what was happening while I was away, but this morning my ketones were only 0.6. Still in nutritional ketosis, but only just. So, I intend on dialling the carbs back down, and hopefully should see my ketones nudge up again.
My fasting glucose levels were pretty good through most of the week - aided, no doubt, by the two 10-mile walks we did on consecutive days, plus the amount of time spent on feet on the other days. Towards the end of the week when we were a bit less active, they crept up a bit, and this morning I measured at 6.2. Again - a few days of strictness should bring them down again. Even so, my average for last week was 5.7, which matches my best so far.
And weight.... I didn't lose any in the week we were away, in fact I went up a fraction of a pound. BUT, I have one of those body fat measuring scales, and that assures me that I've lost 2lb of fat. And with my food intake and level of exercise, that's perfectly plausible. A likely explanation is that, with a slightly higher carb intake, I've retained a bit more water. Easily solved - ditch the carbs, ditch the water weight.
So, we'll see what happens over the next few days. Saturday, 5th November, will be 4 months since I started eating this way. A nice round interval over which to report the effect on my weight.
I stuck to my LCHF eating style to a large degree while on holiday. But there was the odd loosening here and there. Those bits of naan with the curry which I mentioned. An actual dessert one evening - well, it was our wedding anniversary. A couple of occasions when I ate the dressing which came with my salad, even though I was pretty sure there was either honey or sugar in it. The store bought curry on the evening we arrived home - 21g of carbs in that meal, which is as much as I often have in a day.
And these relaxations have consequences.
The dessert.... I tested my blood sugar an hour after eating, and it was 8.4. I hadn't seen a number that high for several weeks. Another hour later and it had gone down... all the way to 8.3. This is not good - there is evidence that glucose levels above 6.7 begin to do damage to your small blood vessels. That's how diabetic complications arise. And I don't want them.
The other thing about the dessert is that within about half an hour of eating it my guts were feeling incredibly uncomfortable. I was very glad to get back to the hotel room... if you know what I mean. Now, that could be coincidence. Or it could be something else that was in the meal. But a lot of the people on LCHF facebook groups say that when they do eat refined carbs they get digestive issues.
Other consequences.... I am not as far into ketosis as I was. I didn't take the ketone meter with me, so I don't know what was happening while I was away, but this morning my ketones were only 0.6. Still in nutritional ketosis, but only just. So, I intend on dialling the carbs back down, and hopefully should see my ketones nudge up again.
My fasting glucose levels were pretty good through most of the week - aided, no doubt, by the two 10-mile walks we did on consecutive days, plus the amount of time spent on feet on the other days. Towards the end of the week when we were a bit less active, they crept up a bit, and this morning I measured at 6.2. Again - a few days of strictness should bring them down again. Even so, my average for last week was 5.7, which matches my best so far.
And weight.... I didn't lose any in the week we were away, in fact I went up a fraction of a pound. BUT, I have one of those body fat measuring scales, and that assures me that I've lost 2lb of fat. And with my food intake and level of exercise, that's perfectly plausible. A likely explanation is that, with a slightly higher carb intake, I've retained a bit more water. Easily solved - ditch the carbs, ditch the water weight.
So, we'll see what happens over the next few days. Saturday, 5th November, will be 4 months since I started eating this way. A nice round interval over which to report the effect on my weight.
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