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On a Monday Moanin' A calorie is not just a calorie

For those trying to control their type 2 diabetes, keep in mind that a calorie is not just a calorie.  While there is no official diabetic diet, some calories are better than others to control type 2 diabetes. The key is eat the foods that don't cause a big surge in glucose. Keep the surge low and you keep the weigh down and off and the type 2 diabetes under control. 

But first, as always:

The Numbers:

• Fasting Blood Glucose Level:  93 mg/dl.  
• Weight:  187 lbs.  Maybe a tad lower, but I am playing it safe or honest or whatever you want to call it.
• Exercise:  None.  Got to bed late, had an early meeting and just did not have time and I feel miserable. 
• Mood:  6.5.  The Charming Mrs. SWMBO back issues have not eased at all and this is playing havoc with both our schedules. 

 The Menu:

• Breakfast:  Morning fruit medley of a banana, an orange and blueberries, and a bagel, high on the glycemic index. 
• Lunch:  Red bean and brown rice and some red cherries
• Dinner:  It's Monday and that usually means fish taco and cole slaw, and that is what we are having.
• Snacks:  None, really.  Had a little bit of the cole slaw to tide me over until dinner.

A recent study compared three different types of diets at the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston’s Children’s Hospital.  The three were:

1. Low fat, which is recommended by the U. S. Government and the American Heart Association and it emphasized foods low in protean and fat and high in whole grains
2. A low glycemic index diet of minimally processed grains, vegetables, healthy fats, legumes and fruits.  It had more fat and protein and emphasized food that digest slowly
3. Low carbohydrate similar to the Adkins and Paleo diets.  Only ten percent of calories came from carbohydrates.  

Each diet plan offered the participants the same number of calories per day.

The winner at losing the weight and most importantly keeping the weight down and benefits of good health up was the low glycemic diet.  That is the key bit for people trying to control their diabetes or prevent it from happing.

People on it were the most with the foods offered, mostly because they did not have to really give up anything they like, just modify the selections a bit. 

Other bits from the study I found interesting, on the low fat diet, the participants metabolism went down, meaning they burned fewer calories.  Their lipids also went up, which is a precursor to heart disease.  For the low carbohydrate diet, while the metabolism went up, so did precursors for both heart disease and insulin resistance.

The low glycemic index approach reminds me a lot of  the DASH Diet and the Mediterranean diet, and that is what I try to follow. 


Plus, I can have pizza and if I get a whole wheat crust, so much the better.

Here is a good chart for low glycemic foods I use and there are many such to be found on the web.

Here is a good explanation of how to put low glycemic foods in your diet, courtesy of Isabel De Los Rios.  For the record, I do okay with wheat.

Related articles

• Counting Calories to Count Out Diabetes

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• Sugar substitutes might help you stay healthy if you pay attention to what you ... - CBS News

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• AHA And ADA Cautiously Endorse Non-Nutritive Sweeteners

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• How Diet Foods and Drinks Can Actually Cause, NOT Prevent Diabetes

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• 50 Best Snacks Under 50 Calories

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Sensible Splurge Friday and Is Your Office Chair Likely to Cause Diabetes, Heart Problems?

Who knew metabolic syndrome could be part of one comfy bit of office furniture. How to protect your self, but first:

The Numbers:

• Fasting Blood Glucose Level: 96 mg/dl.  Good. 
• Weight:  187 lbs.  Same.
• Exercise:  None.  Because of some medical issues with Charming Mrs. SWMBO, it's been put off for a bit. Bad.
• Mood:  6.0  Continue to worry about the Charming Mrs. SWMBO.

The Menu:

• Breakfast:  The usual fruit medley and slice of leftover Margherita pizza.
• Lunch:  Leftover bean chilli. 
• Dinner:  Tex-Mex and margaritas
• Snacks:  None.  Too busy. 

Is Your Office Furniture Killing You?

One often cited reason for the world getting fatter is we have sedentary jobs. The whole world does less physical labor now to burn calories. We sit at a desk and move paper to work or sit to watch TV to be entertained.

We eat, we sit and we are more likely to get heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and an early death. A Canadian study found that those who spend most of waking time sitting are 54% more likely to die of a heart attack.

What is worse, eating healthily and exercise supposedly don't help. Sitting is not what we are designed to do for any length of time, apparently. We now have a new disease to explain this, sitting disease.

There are two possible solutions to sitting disease. Number One is simple and inexpensive.  Number two is expensive, maybe a bit radical and popular among great artists, thinkers, businessmen and scientists.

1. Every hour or so stand up and move around.  Take a water cooler break, take a walk to the break room for a snack, a healthy one of course, take a brisk walk to the next cubicle for a bit of chatter and gossip, take whatever you can get away with doing and not get into trouble.  If someone questions what you are are doing, tell them you are are working to keep the company's health insurance costs down and save yourself from incapacitating injury.
2. Radically change your office set-up with a stand up desk.  This is an approach favored by Ernest Hemingway, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, Vladimir Nabokov, Winston Churchill, Henry Clay, Michael Dell and Donald Rumsfeld.  It's also now an expensive trend in office furniture. 

Supporters of the stand up desk like to argue that it prevents our bodies from atrophying in a sit down world.  If preventing atrophying is really your concern, you can also get them with a treadmill.



Yet standing most of the day can lead to heart, atherosclerosis and varicose veins.  The push 100 years ago was to get a job where you could sit down at a desk.  It was easier on the body.  Never happy, are we?

Monday Moanin' Celebrity Diabetes News.

In celebrity diabetic news, Chaka Kahn says she was a type 2 diabetic and what she did to change it. No drug company endorsements involved, from what I can tell, yet I think she put Paula Dean to shame.
 
The Numbers:

• Fasting Blood Glucose Level:  100 mg/dl.  Okay, nothing to jump up and down about.
• Weight:  187 lbs.
• Exercise:  N/A.  Tending to a very under-the-weather Charming Mrs. SWMBO.
• Mood:  6.0.  Worried about the under-the-weather Charming Mrs. SWMBO.

The Menu:

• Breakfast:  Morning Fruit Medley and a bagel
• Lunch:  Southwestern four bean chilli and a big bunch of sweet cherries.  Nearly as good as the blueberries in season now.
• Dinner:  Fish Tacos and coleslaw.  A bit of tradition around here. 
• Snacks:  More cherries. 

Chaka Kahn Admits She is a Type 2 Diabetic, Loses Lots of Weight.

Chaka Kahn announced that she is a type 2 diabetic.  She overcame the problem by going on what some would call an extreme high-protein liquid diet.  She joked her Vitamix because her best friend.

Extreme or not, it did work.  She lost 60 lbs. and I assume she got the best of her diabetes as well. The diagnosis and that she has taken custody of a  granddaughter motivated her to lose weight to be healthier.  Two very good reasons, indeed.

Before the diet, this is how she looked.


Now she looks like this.



Heck of a difference.

What I like is that she did with out going on a diabetic drug.  For most of us, these drugs really don't fix the problem, just the symptoms.  She fixed the problem. 

Update:

Vegsourse claims she is now on a vegan diet and also beaten her high blood pressure.

  

Desert, Eat It for Breakfast, Lose Weight

Behold the power of a doughnut. Or cookie.  Or desert in general.

But first,

The Numbers:

• Fasting Blood Glucose Lever:  103 mg/dl
• Weight:  187 lbs.
• Exercise:  45 very sweaty minutes.  Hot this morning and we had a high of 107 in our little Houston, TX neighborhood.
• Mood:  8.0.  I like the heat. 

The Menu:

• Breakfast:  The usual morning fruit medley, another real, chewy bagel. 
• Lunch:  Last of the North African/Salsa Lentil stuff and grapes. 
• Dinner:  A few tamales, Spanish rice and salad
• Snacks:  A small handful of almonds. 

Desert with Breakfast Beats Craving, Helps Diet.
Eating desert for breakfast while on a diet can help you lose weight and keep it off.  The key is the sweet treat reduces cravings. 

Two groups went on an nearly identical diets.  Both were generally low fat and low carbohydrates. Men were allowed to eat about 1,600 calories a day, the women about 1,400 calories.  The difference was the dessert at breakfast, such as a doughnut or cookie. The participants were non-diabetic I should add. 

After four months of the eight month study, participants of both groups lost about 33 pounds.  However over the rest of the study the participants getting the desert lost another 15 pounds.  The participants in non-desert group  gained about 20 of the 30 pounds they had lost.

The desert people reported feeling less hunger and cravings than people in the other group.  The researchers said the combination of protein and carbohydrates left the desert people feeling fuller and more satiated with what the ate.  It also desert also seemed to trigger a drop in the hunger hormone ghrelin.  That helped them feel at least not hungry.  

So, could an insulin resistant person benefit from eating a desert with breakfast?  Don't know.  Could the sweetness of a piece of fruit work as well?  It has carbohydrates.  A large number of fruits is one of the basics of a the DASH diet.  Seems as if it's basically the same principle. 

Monday Moanin' and Why I Avoid Fast Food Restaurants and Scientific American

If you feel you need a reason to avoid fast food places, here's good reason - they're dangerous.  Another good reason to avoid fast food places, you may be causing global warming.

But first.

The Numbers:

• Fasting Blood Glucose Level:  104 mg/dl
• Weight 187 lbs. 
• Exercise:  45 minute bike ride.
• Mood:  8.0 

The Menu:

• Breakfast:  Usual fruit medley and a real, honest to goodness bagel.  Chewy and everything. 
• Lunch:   Leftover lentil and a big, sweet juicy peach
• Dinner:  Salmon nestled atop greens and a baked potato. 
• Snack:  Slice of cheese and a few almonds. 

Dangerous Fast Food Places. 

I don't generally go to fast food restaurants, not that I have anything against them.  You can really do pretty well eating in such places if you have a bit of common sense.  It's just for best for me to avoid any temptations, upsizing the fries, fries in general, double bacon cheese burgers, massively stuffed burritos and deserts that I really like a lot.

No, my general reason for avoiding them is that fast food places are getting dangerous.  This version has the fast food worker attacking the customer, which is a bit of a change.  The customer was complaining about the his order the clerk took exception to the complaint.  Bad day, probably, and this complaint was one shove that pushed the guy over the edge and into jail.

The usual version is the customer causing the problem.  The first on I remember is over some Chicken McNuggets.  Never have understood what people like about them.  Sad when not getting an order of them is considered an emergency. 

Global Warming Caused by Obesity and Why I Avoid Scientific American

Another good reason to avoid fast food restaurants is global warming.  Okay, that eating fast food results in obesity and obesity is contributing to global warming is nonsense, but it's an  idea  this preposterous article in  Scientific American wants it readers to take seriously.

Remember the good old days when people took this magazine seriously?  Not so much anymore.

The article mentions that Asians should be models for diminishing the world's biomass and the fool of an author cites North Korea as an example.  North Korea is famous for it's staving people and starvation is one way to reduce a countries biomass.

As I said, with articles like this, is anyone taking SA seriously anymore?  As for Asia, what about China's grow problem with obesity and diabetes?  It's the downside of getting rich and more than a few North Koren wished it was their problem. 

Sensible Splurge Friday...and the Upside of Being a Type 2 Diabetic, Guys Only.

There is an upside for a a guy with type 2 diabetes.  It's not much, but always look to the sunny side of life, right?  The proposed ban on large, sugary drinks is getting approval from the some in the medical professional, who may also decide to scorn sugary breakfast foods and never mind there is evidence that it may be good for you.  Also, turning stem cells into a functioning liver.  Does this mean  good news for type 1 diabetics? 

Hey, on Splurge Friday, it's all good, which leads to...

The Numbers:

• Fasting Blood Glucose Level:  106 mg/dl.  Sigh.  I remember when I hit this level I was really happy.  Never satisfied.
• Weight:  187lbs.  
• Exercise:  45 minute bike ride.  Man I was flying at the end.  And perspiring.
• Mood: 8.0  Friday.  Tex Mex tonight.  What is not to like? 

The Menu:

• Breakfast:  Morning fruit medley.  Three to four serving is the bowl. 
• Lunch:  Last of the leftover BBQ.  I hope the Charming Mrs. SWMBO does not mind and if she does, too late now. 
• Dinner:  Tex Mex.  Grilled fish sounds good right now. Maybe the pachuca gringa (grilled chicken and vegetables; not really Tex Mex, is it?)
• Snacks:  Some almonds and craisins 

The Upside for a Guy Who is a Type 2 Diabetic.

If it's uncontrolled, a guy is less likely to get prostrate cancer and can have lower PSA levels according to a finding presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association.  

That's not much, really.  A possible reason is men with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes are often obese and that can lead to lower testosterone levels.  Considering our guy here faces an increased likelihood of heart disease, stroke, dementia, kidney problems, liver problems and neuropathy for starters, better to keep it under control. Add lower testosterone levels and that is no way to go through life. 

PSA is an acronym for prostate specific antigen.  A raised level is an indication to check further for prostate cancer.  It does not mean our guy does have prostate cancer.


For a type 1 diabetic, the news is not so good.  For some reason a guy who is a type one diabetic may be getting an unreliably low PSA reading even if he is in the initial stages of prostate cancer when the reading should be high. The finding did mention [t]his ... could represent a potentially modifiable risk factor that could be addressed. I think that is hopeful. It sounds hopeful.  

A Real Cure for Type 1 Diabetics?

Speaking of hopeful, scientists can now form a functioning liver from stem cells.  The stem cells came from skin cells, so this will make all sides happy.  Can scientists make a functioning pancreas?  I sure hope so.  That would mean a real cure, not just treatment, for type 1 diabetics.

Doctors Think a Ban on Sugar Drinks is Good.

Yes, not drinking large sugary drinks may be good for your health.  I can understand doctors treating diabetes applauding the New Your big soda ban.  I don't like sugar-filled drinks and never order them, large or not.  I choose not to order them. 


I am only going to say remember the success of the war on drugs, how long it has gone on, how much it has costs and how many people have died because of it on both sides.  Sugar and sweet stuff in general are perfectly legal. The government supports growing sugar and sweet stuff.  Trying to regulate it will fail.  It's the stupid way to fix a problem. 

Breakfast is the Most Important Meal of the Day.

A study has indicated that people who regularly eat breakfast are less likely to be obese and diabetic. 
There is no proof that eating breakfast cuts the odds, but people who ate breakfast are more likely to have better eating habits overall.  Also no one type of breakfast stood out the best.


That means Sugar Frosted Flakes is as good as oatmeal.  Will the good doctors with a grudge against sugar someday want to regulate Sugar Frosted Flakes as well as large sodas, regardless of the evidence?  Hey, their great!  Tony says so.