Re: I'm discouraged

x-no-archive: yes

Barbara Carlson wrote:

My diet is varied. I'm not a big vegetable eater (the ones I like are those higher in sugar) and I have in the past depended on fruit to balance the diet. Can't do that now and I really miss fruit! Am eating salads, trying to stick with the good fats, but do use butter occasionally. I do have half a bagel most mornings--I'm just not into eggs every morning sometimes with reduced-fat cream cheese, sometimes peanut butter.

Bagels are a hyooge problem for me, and most folks with DM. For example, if I cut one in half, scoop out *all* the soft doughy middle and eat only the shell with cream cheese and salmon, I get a big rise.

What is your bg one hour after eating a bagel?


Coffee. I eat
chicken/lean pork, occasionally lean beef for protein, occasionally fish, 1 12 oz. glass of skim milk a day--don't ask me to give up milk completely. I do have soups occasionally.

I'm going to ask you to consider that skim milk has more sugar, very fast acting sugar, than whole milk. Milk can be used by type 1s to raise bg quickly during a hypo, if that tells you anything. I'm not going to ask you to do anything, it's your life and your health.

What does your bg do after you drink skim milk?

I am trying to keep calories below 1200
because that is the only way I can lose weight. I do not have a bed time snack--a low-calorie diet doesn't allow for that!

Yes it does; I eat less than 1200 calories per day, and I have a bedtime snack. OTOH, I don't eat bagels or drink milk. A pure protein snack, like a piece of leftover steak or hamburger (about an ounce or two) gives me fbg of 84 or so.

Also I do not like to eat
late as it sometimes gives me digestive problems--though we do eat dinner fairly late--around 7 or 7:30. Besides my Metformin, I take medication for high blood pressure, and arthritis, and thyroid, plus an 81 mg aspirin. The only change in meds is the recent addition of Lopid to try to get my triglycerides down.

Your triglycerides will go down within days of cutting out bagels, if you decide to experiment.

I was briefly on Aggrenox after a TIA and was blaming
the increased fasting sugars on that, but I could not tolerate the medication and the sugars didn't go back down when I went off it.

My doctor did increase the Metformin from 500 to 1000, but that did not help the increasing fasting blood sugars. Exercise does not seem to help either. If I skip a day of exercise it doesn't seem to affect my blood sugars at all. I swim every day, and go to exercise class at the Y 3 days a week. My job is sitting, but I take frequent breaks, go play with the dog, etc. (I work at home). I'll do whatever I need to do. I'm just puzzled. I'm struggling so hard with the weight and it should have made a difference--on the positive side.

Barbara, the simple fact is that the most controllable part of your problem is your food. If you can't live without bagels, then cut the portion the way I did and see if that helps, and try eating it later in the day, when most of us tolerate carbs better, not for breakfast. Maybe drink half the amount of milk, and buy at least 2% or whole milk for a lower glycemic impact.

It sounds like you're eating a lot of carbs, and very modest fat and protein; fat and protein are the two foods that don't elevate bg in type 2 DM.

Best of luck,

Susan
.

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