Saturday 19 April 2014

Making pancakes and not eating them

This is a first for me, making food I like yet not eating it.

Today I made pancakes for breakfast. Heresy! Wheat alert! Nope. These were banana and egg whizzed together with some ground almonds and fried in dollops in a greased frying pan. They were yummy - sweet and fruity. My mum tried a couple and said she wouldn't mind eating them again. Quite high carbs though - 23g of carbs for 9 small pancakes. An occasional treat for the future.

Later in the day I made a whole heap of buttermilk pancakes for my mum. She's the only person who will be eating them. I had a sniff at the finidhed product, and they are lovely, fat and squishy. She's having some for breakfast tomorrow before going to church.

I thought about eating one, but luckily, I desisted. So this is now me in my third week of eating whole foods, paleo -ish, carb low for my diabetes. I have had some breadcrumbs in aubergine parmigiana and around some tuna fishcakes, but apart from a little rice at the beginning of the month, a potato now and then, roasted sweet potatoes a couple of times, and Indian Dosa (Thosai in Tamil, a lentil & rice crepe), mini pasta in minestrone, and one pasta meal, starchy stuff has not passed my lips.

I'm sleeping better, I feel more energetic in the mornings, and now I am getting used to it, I find I don't miss the carbs really. So all is good chez moi at the moment.

I would like though, to be able to get myself weighed and see if I have lost any lbs. Fingers crossed!

Tuesday 8 April 2014

Carb counting

Yesterday, my carb count was 88g - 16.7% of my total calories for that day. Result! My other macros were 138g/ 53.6%, protein 160g/30%, fiber 12g (a bit low)

This is a vast improvement on some carb counts from the previous 3 months! My body is feeling much better now. I seem to have gotten over my jet lag and the attendant water retention - I can SEE my ankle bones again, and some veins at the top of my feet, yay!

Drinking lots of water too. Yesterday was the first day I drank anything resembling caffeine too - some green tea at a local mall café where I ate 3 chicken satay sticks, some cucumber and a tablespoon or two of satay sauce and watched my mum eat a slice of truly decadent chocolate cake without a qualm! Yes, truly! I found myself admiring the beautiful slice but not wanting to eat it myself. Goodness, WHO IS this woman?

I find now, after 10 days of actively downsizing carbs, I have become very sensitive to the sweetness of food. I relish that found in fruits, but don't like it in other stuff, eg some meatloaf made by another family member which was drenched in tomato sauce and to my mind and palate, quite unacceptably sweet.

I've also managed to keep my mitts of Mum's collection of sweeties and snacks. Amazing! I am so astounded by my current behaviour I am in awe. As an example compare these two stats exactly 3 months apart. I'm currently pursuing a low carb high fat ideal with paleo/primal principles in whole food eating.

9 January 2014
(high carb, low fat MFP recommended macros) The overeating was my own idea... This was a day I ate a lot of bought bread and sweet pastry products and ate a lot of butter with it. Ahem.
9 April 2014
After two weeks of actively consciously choosing NOT to eat sweet stuff, breads and starchy foods, and to eat more protein, veg, good fats like olive oil, butter, nuts.

Awesome!
My blood sugar done on a random test yesterday with my new monitor was 5.9 mmol/l. Again, awesome. I feel better, I hope I have lost a little weight, going to keep this up, and keep that carb count below 114g for this month.


Here's to more awesomeness from me for the rest of April! :)

Wednesday 2 April 2014

new setbacks new approaches

At the end of last month I finally had the results back from my blood test done in mid March. I am definitely diabetic and have been prescribed Metformin and told to carry on eating well and to lose weight.

Not much new there really... I have had really bad headaches, wild mood swings, dizzy spells, fuzzy vision, extreme fatigue and bouts of very bad melancholia. Most of which I had ascribed to the menopause, but given this new revelation, this now explains somewhat my rapid weight gain. Although much of that could be ascribed to my lack of movement and eating the wrong things.

Anyway.

I decided to be proactive this time. I have been reading about different approaches to tackling Type 2 diabetes. And since carbs seem to be the persona non grata at this party, I have started downscaling my carb consumption, and really sticking to the whole foods philosophy. :D A little difficult sometimes as I am staying with my mum for a few weeks and she has lots of sweeties and crunchy processed crispy goodies around!

So far so good - it has been 4 days of this new way of eating and I am still getting to grips with it. As with all new things, initially I am being rather unimaginative! I am sure this will improve later.
As I haven't cut carbs right down, I am still allowing myself fruit and one serving of starchy carbs a day.

My carb:fats:protein ratios are 30%: 40%: 30%
My last weigh in was end of March at 353 lbs.
Just going to re-measure myself so I have a record for the changes in 3 months :)
I have a plan for plenty of swimming and walking too.