Monday Moain'

First, The Numbers:

• Fasting Blood Glucose Level:  100 mg/dl
• Weight:  188lbs.
• Exercise:  45 minutes of very good weather to ride in. 
• Mood:  7.5.  Decent for a Monday. 

The Menu:

• Breakfast:  Tofu/Blackbean salsa on corn meal/whole wheat pancakes and morning fruit medley.
• Lunch:  Leftover split pea  gruel over barley.
• Dinner:  Fish Tacos, cabbage and avocados.
• Snacks:  One slice of bread with a bit of butter and an orange.  Dr. McDougall would almost approve.

Don't Forget Your Vitamins.
Balancing carbohydrates and proteins can be a real juggle and it's easy to forget needed vitamins and sometimes supplements to keep your vitamin intake at a healthy level.  Vitamin D shows up again.  

An Autism, Diabetes Link?
Another good reason to avoid being overweight. Expectant mothers who are either overweight or have diabetic tendencies have a higher chance of having autistic offspring. The are also more likely to children with communication and attention problems, which is sort of autistic-like to me.  One possible cause is that the mother's elevated glucose affects the fetus's brain development. 

Control Your Blood Pressure. 
Diabetes is bad for your heart and vascular system.  Britain, like the US, is in a epidemic rise of new diabetic cases.  High blood pressure is becoming the norm in diabetes patients and this is one of the reasons [patients] are experiencing record rates of stroke and kidney failure and are dying years younger than the rest of the population."  Serious stuff.  You have been warned. 

Read about it here. 

Juvenile Diabetes here in the US
This is depressing.  I can't embed this, but it's a depressing story on the rise of kids getting type two diabetes because they eat too much and exercise too little.  Just like in adults and treating them is even harder.

It's Sensible Splurge Friday.

April 27, 2012

Friday, finally. Long week and I bet the weekend is short.They always are.

The Numbers: 

• Fasting Blood Glucose Level:  94 mg/dl
• Weight:  188ish lbs.
• Exercise:  45 minute ride.  Summer is coming to Houston, TX
• Mood:  8.0.   It's Friday and I am going out with my sweetie.  What could be better?

The Menu:

• Breakfast:  Fresh Fruit medley, one slice of left over pizza from last night.
• Lunch:  Leftovers on a bun.  Amazing how a spicy mustard makes stuff on a bun taste better.
• Dinner:  Tex-Mex.  We who are about to diet, salute you. I am having the fish tacos. 
• Snacks:  A slice of cheese and some dried fruit.  Okay it was four prunes and I don't need them for that. 

Well Known Protein Goes from Slacker to Star.
FGF1 is a protein that was once thought to do nothing, a slacker just hanging around the body.  Now it could be star and natural treatment for diabetes if what applies to mice works for humans as well.  It's thought that this protein regulates metabolism of insulin and thus glucose.  The article is here.

Mice who had their FGH1 emptied from the body were fine when fed a low fat diet.  Add the fat, typical of a Western diet, the mice quickly gained weight and developed an aggressive form of type two diabetes and a system wide breakdown in their metabolic health.  I think that means no fat burning going on and that sounds serious

That is just the beginning of the fun.  A system wide break of metabolic health leads to inflamed visceral belly fat.  Inflamed visceral belly fat leads to heart attacks and strokes. Good times.

There is that inflamed thing again. 

So, if what holds true for mice also holds for humans, this could turn out to be a safe and effective treatment for obese people with diabetes?  Which also makes me wonder if the body is getting fatter does the body not produce enough of FGH1 to handle this on its own?  Or is the body overwhelmed by the calories from too much dietary fat?  Is this a genetic problem or one that develops with age or for some other reason?  Does the body even produce this protein.  I would assume so.

Another question, is a low fat diet better?  Works for mice. 

If and until medical science makes FGF1 ready for treatment, you may want to take the advice of this doctor's 5 easy ways to boost you metabolism. Can't hurt, but there is that whole thyroid issue again.  That was a big excuse back in the 1960's and 70's.  Eating more, smaller meals does work. 

It's Diet Day, So I Am Going to Eat Pizza.

Thursday, April 26, 2012


The Numbers for Today:

• Fasting Blood Glucose Level:  100 mg/dl
• Weight:  188ish lbs.
• Exercise:  45 minute ride in some wonderful, hot, humid morning air.
• Mood:  7.5

The Menu:

• Oatmeal and craisins infused with apple/cinnamon tea, fruit salad.  
• Lunch:  Leftover Split Pea Gruel, as the Charming Mrs. SWMBO calls it, and brown rice from last night.
• Dinner:  It's Thursday, so it's homemade pizza and salad.
• Snack:  Some cole slaw.  I make it and I have to admit, it's tasty. 

What is the Best Diet?
For a diabetic, or anyone else for that matter, the answer is: don't know.  After all of that money, time, data and research, this big answer is there is no answer according to this study released by the American Diabetes Association.  It's long, but reveling for what it does not say, that there is a one size fits all approach. Some maybe better than others, or not.  Low fat, high fat, low carbohydrate, high carbohydrate, high fiber, good fat, bad fat and more, there is no diet that shows itself to be the best or even preferred for a diabetic.  

There was no mention, however, of the Twinkie Diet.  That's a shame.

As has often been said in the past and confirmed in this ADA study, there is no real diabetic diet.  I have settled on a combination of the Mediterranean and DASH diets.  Others have seen their diabetes get worse on these types of diets.  The right answer seems to vary with the person and lately my advice is to find a diet that you like, that works for you, and that you can stick with for the rest of your life.  

And have some fun. Every now and then, a cheeseburger isn't going to hurt anyone, unless you eat here.  Definitely dangerous food. 

Thinning the Herd.
A Swiss woman went on dietetic regimen inspired by an India mystic.  She lost 35 pounds and her life. It was the spiritual diet.  No food, no water, just air and sunshine.  Everything your body needs can be absorbed from the air, she thought. 

Well, these mystics are not called fakirs for nothing.  Seems she was not the only one to try it.




Canned Food is Good Food.
In these times of tight budgets, Dlife says canned foods offer the best nutritional value for those concerned about a healthy diet. All of the needed nutrients at a better price than fresh, frozen or dried.  Read about it here.

I don't care what the this study says, I am not eating canned spinach.