I just got an e-mail from a friend who wanted to know EXACTLY how I have lost all this weight. Well, it is not too hard to explain how and why, but it has been hard to do it.
Basically, it started in December when I was cramming chocolate dipped shortbreads in as fast as I could. I decided that since my sister had recently been diagnosed with diabetes, that I should check my blood sugar. Well, needless to say I made my own diagnosis.
After a trip to the doctor, the drugstore, and a diabetes education class, I came up with a way of eating that has really worked for me. So far I have lost 52 lbs and have gotten my glucose under excellent control.
So, these are the "rules" I came up with. They are not really specific for any of the "diabetic diets" that are out there, but if I had to say it is fairly close to the SouthBeach diet, with some modifications. I don't measure portions so much anymore, but I did at first.
1. Get a book that lists calories, portion size, carbs, fat and fiber
2. Eliminate as much "white food" as possible. Exception is cauliflower - help yourself to that.
3. Establish a short list of "taboo" foods that you can't have at any time and learn to deal with it. On my list are: sweet tea, watermelon, fruit juice. These all make my blood sugar skyrocket , so I just choose to eliminate them from my choices. I drink as much crystal light, tea with splenda, water, and diet coke as I want.
4. Don't buy things that you are not supposed to eat. If you have to have a cookie, buy them in the sugar free form, then freeze them. Take only one serving out of the freezer at a time and eat it. The inconvenience makes overindulgence less likely to happen.
5. Watch portion size until you get a "handle" on how much of what you should have.
6. I aim for 3 meals and 3 snacks daily.
7. At meals, I usually have a protein and about 15 grams of carb from whole grains, then whatever vegetable I want. Obviously at breakfast, I am skipping the veg, and often I don't do the carb then either.
8. Snacks are limited to 15 g of carb, no matter what they are. You HAVE to either consult your book or read the label to figure this out. The before bed snack may be the most important because it will keep your liver from pumping out extra glucose during the overnight "fast".
9. If you are faced with a situation where you HAVE to eat something you really shouldn't, just eat a couple of bites and eat a lot of a "safe" food with it. I was able to eat Mexican at a party by having my fajita without the tortilla and I even had a tablespoon of refried beans and a margarita and my glucose was still less than 100 after the meal. I had a bit of key lime pie too, so I really felt like I participated and was not deprived.
10. Biggest rule: test, test, test. Did I say test? Since everyone is different, the only way to tell what foods you can tolerate is to test about 1 hour after the beginning of a meal. I found that sugar-free, fat free yogurt with fruit makes me have BG of 140 or so. If I am going to have a glucose of 140 once in a while, it is going to be as a result of something I REALLY enjoy, not a stinky dinky diet yogurt! I test three times daily at different times.
While this plan for me was mostly to control glucose, it has dramatically helped me to lose a lot of weight over a short period of time. My loss has slowed WAY down now, but I feel good and am doing well otherwise. Hopefully, I will be able to lose 20-25 more lbs and be off my diabetic medications.
I do exercise moderately too. Of course, you know that I am what I call an "oppositional exerciser", meaning that I will do it, but I complain the whole time. I have been taking belly dancing classes ( on a break right now) and I ride an exercise bike anywhere from 2-6 miles every night. I don't believe I burn up enough calories to account for any weight loss at all, but I feel like it sets my metabolism up higher and it curbs hunger.
Well...there it is. Hope it helps!
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