Diabetes Sucks

My blood sugar is 268. I feel like a wet mop. Diabetes sucks. I'm struggling to get it back together and under control. I've done it before, but can I do it again?

This time I'm older. I'm struggling with weight, asthma, menopause, migraines, and stress. I'm a hot mess. I'm on insulin and fast acting insulin and a pill, and now my doctor tells me my cholesterol is high and my white blood cell counts are elevated. I never learn, do I?

Or I never keep it up and follow through. I go for so long before I peter out. Hit. The. Wall.

That wall hurts!

So here I go again. For the gazillionth time. I want to triumph. I really do, but it's so damn hard.

This time I'm trying some of the low carb My Fit Foods. Doctor recommended. Outrageously expensive. At least they taste good.

Low Carb Breakfast of Champions

I need breakfast.

In fact, if I don't eat early on I start to feel sick. But sometimes bacon or sausage and eggs just isn't enough to get me through until lunch (or at least mid morning). In order to fight the temptation of eating carbs when I don't feel quite full, I've devised a breakfast that gets me through.

THREE eggs (not just two) - Anyway you like them: boiled, scrambled, or fried.
2 pieces of sausage or 4 slices of bacon
1/4 cup Guacamole (or just plain avocado)
3-4 strawberries

The fat from the avocado really makes a difference. The strawberries gives just enough of a sweet taste to balance the rest of your breakfast out.  

Low Carb Crash

The effects of eliminating sugar from your diet...CRASH!

Blood sugar is going down, but I'm experiencing headaches and feeling funky. It's the low carb crash. My body is CRAVING carbs right now. I want to get some ice cream so bad that I can almost taste it. I'm trying hard to push through this awful feeling because I KNOW that I will feel so much better once I remove this toxic waste called SUGAR from my body.

This crashing feeling is normal, but difficult to handle. A nap is in order. And lots of water. 

Starting Over...

Again.

I've had my ups and downs. I've lost weight and gained weight. I've gotten my sugar under control and let it get out of control. I've let life stress me out and effect my decision making in the form of food.

It's a constant battle.

Eating low carb isn't easy, and a lot of times it really, really sucks.

Why can't I just have a piece of chocolate cake without guilt, high blood sugar, brain fog, and extra pounds on the middle portion of my body?

Or a damned potato!

As I sit in a brain fog, no energy, extra pounds, I realize that my lack of productiveness has everything to do with what I put in my mouth.

Self-control or even self-care at times has become an issue. I tell myself that I really want to live, and live a productive life, yet I fail again and again.

I guess I will throw away that candy I bought yesterday. What was I thinking?

My mouth feels sticky and sick from a donut. I just want to crawl into bed and sleep. What was I thinking?

My pants are tight. What was I thinking?

My vision is wonky. What was I thinking?

I'm on insulin now. What the hell was I thinking?

Starting over...NOW.

Low Carb Snacks

Sometimes we need a little something to cut the edge of hunger between meals. What are some great low carb snacks?

1 oz. of walnuts (14 halves), 2 carbs
1 oz. of pecans (20 halves), 1.23 carbs
1 oz. of roasted almonds (22 whole almonds), 2 carbs
1 Babybell cheese, 0 carbs
1 oz. green olives, 0.63 carbs
1 boiled or deviled egg, 0.38 carbs
1 medium dill pickle, 1.88 carbs
1 cup sliced cucumbers, 1.77 carbs

Get Smart with Your Water

  Gatorade was invented for athletes to replenish their electrolytes in order to keep from dehydrating. What are electrolytes? They are minerals in your blood and body fluids such as calcium, chloride, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, and sodium. Your body loses electrolytes when you sweat, so you need to replace them with liquid. Water is the best liquid out there, but now you can get water with electrolytes minus all of the sugar that they put into products like Gatorade. Glaceau Smart Water has added electrolytes, and is available at stores everywhere. I'm not an athlete, and I avoid sweating at all costs, but I've found that Smart Water can help alleviate headaches and is great for flushing out my system when my blood sugar gets too high. You can also get dehydrated when you get sick, so Smart Water is perfect for days when you are not feeling too perky. It's my go to water, and now my dancing daughter drinks it instead of sugary electrolyte drinks. 

Low Carb Dinner Menu for April 21 - April 26

I'm back and I'm ready to kick my own butt! I had a scare this week. I'm talking a "life pass before your eyes" kind of scare. I watched a colleague and friend go into a diabetic seizure. I was shaking over the incident two hours later. My friend is stable and at home, but it's a moment that will forever live in my memory. Talk about a wake up call! I'm planning my week and getting ready to hit the grocery store.

Breakfast: eggs (fried or scrambled), bacon or sausage, and a couple of strawberries
Lunch: left overs from dinner and Sadler's Beef Brisket (precooked from Sam's) w/low carb BBQ sauce

Sunday
Yesterday I bought a large package of ground beef at Sam's, so tonight I plan to make two containers of meatloaf (one for tonight and one to freeze). I also plan to make two cheeseburger pies to freeze as well. I'm going to try a salad I found on Pinterest: cucumbers, cherry tomatoes (cut in half), onion, ACV, olive oil, and salt and pepper.

Monday
I'm planning on making garlic butter chicken dipped in crushed French's Fried Onions and broccoli. I need something fairly quick tonight since my DD has dance at 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday
I'm going to drop a turkey breast into the crockpot (seasoned with Tony Chacheres) with a little water and let goodness happen. Since we are all on different schedules in my house on Tuesday, I will probably just heat up some green beans or make a quick salad.

Wednesday
I bought a Sadler's Beef Brisket from Sam's yesterday. It's already cooked and sliced. All I have to do is heat it up and add some low carb BBQ sauce. I'm going to get a bag of broccoli slaw and mix in some Bacon Ranch Dressing as a side. Yum!

Thursday
This is another busy night for my family. We are on the go and not at home at the same time. I think I'll pick up some pre made chicken salad from Krogers -enough for lunch on Friday as well. DH works late on Thursday, so he'll have to take leftovers from earlier in the week.

Friday
Bunless burgers topped with bacon and cheese tonight! Simple and quick! I'll add a salad on the side.

The One Week Fast Diet

I've done this before, and now, I'm going to do it again. I've lost 7 to 10 pounds more than once eating this way for a week. I don't recommend it as a forever diet (it would get quite boring), but it's a good jump start for losing weight and getting back onto low carb.

This is the PLAN:

1. On Sunday, I'm going to bake enough chicken for lunch and dinner for the week. I plan to line a baking pan with foil, and fill the pan up with chicken breasts. I'm going to fold the foil to make sections in order to keep one recipe from seeping over to another recipe. In order to create variety, I will season the chicken breasts in different ways. I'm making enough for DH and I, so I've decided to use five different recipes for 20 pieces of chicken (4 pieces per day).

• Tex-Mex - Season each breast with low carb taco seasoning. Top with diced onion and bell pepper on top of each piece before baking. When you're ready to warm it up in the microwave, add a little Mexican cheese blend.
• Garden - Season each breast with Greek Seasoning. Top with diced onion, bell pepper, tomato, squash and zucchini. Add a slice of cheese when you warm up your chicken for your meal.
• BBQ - Spoon a little low carb BBQ sauce onto each breast.
• Italian - Season each breast with Italian seasoning. Spoon a little low carb pasta sauce of your choice over each breast. When you warm up your chicken for your meal, add mozzarella cheese.
• Bacon Wrap - Season each breast with salt and pepper. Wrap the chicken breasts in bacon. I'm going to bake the bacon wrapped chicken in a different pan to keep the grease from the other breasts. I might top it with some cheese when I warm it up during the week.

2. For breakfast, I plan to have eggs and bacon or sausage each morning. It's our standard fair anyway.

3. I've bought a bunch of small cans (8 oz.) of low carb vegetables (a lot of green beans) to go with my chicken, but DH wants me to pick up the small packages of frozen microwavable veggies for him. 

4. So...for an entire week, I will live off of chicken, veggies, eggs, bacon, and sausage. No bread, sugar, flour, or processed carbs. 

5. Need a little something extra? I'll allow myself a small helping of nuts, pepperoni slices, ham cubes, cheese, deviled eggs, and protein shakes to cut the edge of hunger (if I get hungry). I'm going to try to avoid snacking, but better these snacks that hitting the snack machine in desperation! Desperation usually means I'm stressed to the max.

This is my chicken and green beans diet! Haha! Every time I've done this, I've lost weight. I'm looking forward to wearing my pants comfortably again.

Sugar is Evil

Just saying...
I realized that when I'm good, I'm very, very good, but when I'm bad, I'm wicked. I've been wicked for months now. This little thing called stress eats my lunch. Being wicked has consequences. I'm suffering from them right now -yeast infection (feeds on sugar), tired, run down, achy, and wacky vision. You would think I'd learn, but for some reason when life throws me curve balls, I tend to cave. Cave in to sugar. Wicked, wicked sugar. Ice cream, Girl Scout cookies, bread, you name it. The thing is -I know what to do and I know how to do it, but my discipline only lasts so long. Sometimes I'll go days or weeks or even months on low carb. I always feel better, lose weight, and gain energy. How many times have I come back to this blog and started over? Please don't count. I'm not sure I want to know. My issues started last week (the female kind). It's miserable wake up call. Unfortunately, I was out of town at a funeral when it first cropped up, so it was another day before I could deal with my little problem. By then, I was on fire. I left an urgent care center in tears, promising myself I'd remember this moment and avoid sugar at all costs. This week I've been very, very good. I've even lost five pounds, but I'm still dealing with my issue. It's better, but not over. I'm getting ready to take my second dose of prescribed meds, and I just opened up my package of stinging nettle to make tea (I've read this tea can help with this, and yesterday I read an article on all of it's health benefits -worth a try). I've been taking my vitamins and probiotics this week too! For those of you who are saying, "TMI", so sorry, but sometimes lessons come hard. Sugar is truly evil with all of it's sweet goodness. Yeah, right! Sugar is a slow murder weapon. It's slowly killing me. I'm not a fan of dying, and especially not dying early, so I guess I'd better kick my own ass, and get off the sugar kick. Are you in?

Staying on a Low Carb Diet

The last three weeks have been unbelievably busy between work and family. I haven't had much time for myself. I feel like I'm in a constant state of rush. Somehow I've managed to stay on my low carb plan despite my hectic schedule and added stress. I worked hard during the summer to plan for the school year, but my weekends have been consumed with non stop "go" to the point that my plans have gone down the drain. I've digressed four times: In my rush out the door I drove through Whataburger and had egg, bacon, and cheese taquitos. And twice I've eaten out for dinner, gave in, and indulged in a roll (okay, three rolls last night -my bad).

I've been lucky that my indulgences didn't add to my weight. I'm still in a 3 pound bouncing stall. Sigh...  My lifesavers over the past few weeks has been: grilled chicken salads (fast food versions w/LC dressing), Hillshire Farms precooked grilled chicken breasts (2-3 carbs, but great in a pinch and very tender and tasty), and tuna/chicken salad.

I have a lot of running to do today (just waiting for the clothes to dry), and lots of work to do tomorrow, but I'm determined to take the time to plan out my week. I'm also trying egg creams today. I just made a chocolate egg cream using egg beaters, club soda, heavy whipping cream, Jay Robb's chocolate protein powder, and chocolate DaVinci's (yum and I can't taste the egg). I'm going to try another one for lunch (pumpkin perhaps), then eat a sensible dinner of fish and steamed veggies for dinner. I will stick to this plan for tomorrow as well. My hope is that the egg creams will shake my body up a bit and earn me a visit from the whoosh fairy. I'll let you know how it goes. Have a great weekend!