Dealing with Diabetes and the copious amounts of food that the holidays bring is a very difficult thing to balance.  I thought I would share a few tips and tricks that helped me maintain control while also indulging in the feast.

First I made sure to go into the day with a good blood sugar level.  I have been generally running a little on the high side (must have an infection brewing again, or maybe it is stress?), so in the morning with my coffee I did a correction to bring myself into the 80-90 range post coffee.  Going into the day with a good level is key to keeping everything else in control.

Second, I planned ahead.  Most thanksgiving dinners include the same sorts of items;  mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing, gravy, cranberry relish, pumpkin pie….. loads and loads of carbs.  What I did ahead of time was looked up the carb counts and made a mental note.  If I indulged in seconds (thirds, fourths, hehe!) I could do so while balancing the amount of insulin I took.  I tried to choose wisely and had a small amount of the sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and other high carb items, and loaded up with turkey, low carb veggies, and heck, is there anything else low carb?? Not much! But that trick seemed to work.  As long as I got a taste of the good stuff my tummy was happy. I did not need to overdo it.  Now for those poor diabetics on the old style of x-amount of insulin at x-time, with x-amount of carbs, I have no idea how you deal with the holidays. That has to be quite frustrating, I feel for you.  ((hugs!))

My family had “dinner” fairly early in the day, so I was not in the mood for eating a lot. (who has dinner at noon!) I think that helped me keep my numbers from going toooo high.  I will admit, it was a “special” day and I forgave myself if I was not the “ideal” diabetic patient (hahaha! like I ever am! details to come in future posts).

Third, I wore my continuous glucose monitor.  I try not to rely on it too much, and I really did not have to because of my careful carb counting plan.  It was a bit of relief to have it though, just in case.  I never ever want to be upwards of 300, which DOES happen, but I just hate the feeling and the repercussions of it.  Plus, in case I get over zealous with the insulin, I don’t want to drop too low either.

Turns out it was a lucky day for me.  Somehow I was able to guess my carbs fairly close to what I ate, and only had to look up the pumpkin pie on CalorieKing.com via my BlackBerry (two things I am very thankful for).  Mom gives me heck for always being on my BB.  Little does she realize I am not screwing around on it, but usually looking up carb counts (insert rollyeyes icon here).  After we finished dinner/dessert I was still famished.  Don’t know what has been going on recently but I just can’t quench my hunger.  I’ve been feeling like a hippo, the pink one, in that hungry hungry hippo game I played as a kid (which mom hated because it made too much noise, lol).  Anyway, I tried my hardest to resist snacking for three hours.  At two hours, I tested and was high (but less than 300) so I waited because I still had a lot of insulin still kicking in my system.  At the three hour mark I was still a bit high so I made a correction (my pump figured out how much insulin I still had “active” in my system, SOOOO thankful for my insulin pump) and had a snack of two roast beef sandwiches (yes, we did not have enough food for fourths).  (thankful for more food!!)

I was quite nervous going into the day knowing it was going to be a tough one diabetes-wise.  But with a little planning and a little luck everything turned out ok.

Now, if I eat something with HFCS in it I can actually taste it.  It tastes nasty, little did I know! Wendy’s burger buns have it.  Most all sodas and lemonades at restaurants have it (I chose iced tea or water now).  Subway’s whole wheat bread has it, but the white does not, go figure!

After I eliminated HFCS in my diet my BG levels became more normal, I was not as tired or exhausted and my lungs even felt a little better.  Now that my diet is not solely in the hands of my own, I am eating more HFCS again, I am exhausted, my lungs feel cruddier and my BG levels are soaring then tanking or just acting like a bizarre rollercoaster.

Here are the ingredients listed in order on the container:
milk
strawberries
sugar
FRUCTOSE SYRUP
FRUCTOSE
HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP
contains less than 1% of the following…..

HOLY!!!! I never thought that yogurt could be soooooo bad! Not just one, but THREE items in the top 6. I bet if you added all the fructose up it would be more than the amount of milk in the thing! OOPS!!!

ICK ICK ICK!!!

Now what am I going to do with those six fresh containers sitting in the fridge…

M&M’s No Bake Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1/3 cup evaporated milk

• 1/4 cup peanut butter

• 1 cup rolled oats

• 1/2 cup chopped salted peanuts

• 1/2 pound M&M’s candies

• 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Stir the sugar, butter and milk in a saucepan over medium-high heat

2. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously; boil for 1 minute

3. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients

4. Drop onto wax paper or tray using tablespoon

5. Set in the refrigerator for 1 hour to cool

As I may have mentioned before, I did a test (accidental as usual) when I was sick several months ago. I found out I felt awesome (a huge difference) the next morning if I ate a vegetarian dinner the night before. Realizing how much of an effect my food intake has on how I physically feel, I think this sparked something in me, wanting to eat healthier.
For those who are interested in eating healthier too, I thought I would share this recipe with you. If I have a chance to make it to the grocery store this weekend (why does the good grocer have to be 45 min away?!!) I am going to try it out.

Here you are!

basic breakfast…

2 cups water
2 or 3 bananas
6 or large dates
2 tblspn raw almond butter (expensive, start with roasted almond butter)
2 tblspn raw tahini (sesame seed butter, good fats and protein content)
salt to taste (I use 1/4 t-spn)
1/4 lb or more leafy organic greens
1 tblspn Vitamineral Green Here is a list of ingredients: http://www.veganessentials.com/catalog/vitamineral-green-organic-whole-food-supplement.htm

Variations, sometimes I’ll and any of these:
mango, strawberries, any berry, nut milk, nut ice cream, carrob, cacao, nuts ( for crunch & protein, I do this often), hemp seeds (high protein), apple, well you get the idea…

*** Here are some suggestions he had regarding my new High Fructose Corn Syrup -Free diet… ***

Replacement for soda:

btw – I would use COLA to unclog the shop sink drain at my old job! That stuff is also great paint peeler!

1. Lemon aide is great year round
Water, lemons, honey, pinch of salt….sometimes I add a little cayenne pepper for a zing

2. Fresh juicy fruit always works!

3. Water is great stuff, add a bit of fruit for flavor.

My doctor said we are finally ready to pursue my final appeal of insurance coverage for an insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor. It took a while to find and compile research studies since simply there are so few (we even had to wait for one to complete!). CF related diabetes is very rare, considering the size of the general population and it is also a fairly newly discovered complication of CF only since us cystics are living so much longer now days. I have figured there are only approximately 4,000 people in the US with CF related Diabetes. Finding info on it, none the less, hard data and research studies is very complicated.

Regardless of this, my insurance companay doesn’t care that I need to take up to 8-9 insulin shots a day, if I were to follow my prescribed nutritional needs. That is on a rough day. At a minimum I take 5 shots a day. Most diabetics with Type 1 diabetes take about 3-4 shots a day, minimum. My nutritional needs are much different than someone with Type 1, which makes things even harder to balance. My insurance company is not allowing coverage for an insulin pump because I do not have Type 1 diabetes…. now does this sound fair to you?!

I sent in my paperwork the other day, and my doc is sending in her stuff soon. Please wish good thoughts and send positive vibes for me and my future pump. Hopefully this time the reviewers will actually listen to my doctor and to common sense!

This challenge begins with the first steps of eliminating High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). Apparently this is in almost EVERYTHING, so it is quite a challenge to begin with. So, as a baby step, I am challenging myself and you to quit drinking soda. Now, I think diet soda is ok, but why bother since the carbonation isn’t good for you anyway. I’d have to have someone read a label and post a comment for me since I don’t drink diet. The “fake” sugar gives me a nasty headache. Can you do that for me?

While researching HFCS I was blown away by the amount of negative impacts this chemical has on the human body. First, it is the number one source of empty calories in the average American diet. Empty calories are just a complete waste, they serve no good for your body since they deliver no nutrition. Plainly, they just make you fat. Also, HFCS is believed to be a contributer of the increase of Type 2 Diabetes. (now, why would you increase your risk of something so horrible, if you can control it?!).

HFCS is composed of fructose and glucose and are monosaccharides. Fructose breaks down very quickly and easily in the body to form glucose, and well, glucose is glucose. Since these chemicals enter the system so quickly they will spike the glucose levels in the blood. It is well known that high blood glucose/sugar causes harm to the body. Researchers believe that continuous spiking of blood glucose levels may be a contributer to Type 2 Diabetes. Even the “normal” human body has trouble keeping up with these unnatural spikes. That’s a double whammy against HFCS with concerns to Type 2 Diabetes.

Doc says that the best substitute is sugar. Plain old sugar. This is closer to the earth, hence your body has an easier time dealing with it.

As if that isn’t enough info to convince you, my doctor has informed me that Fructose is also an inflammatory chemical. Inflammatory chemicals can cause heart disease and other nasty things. Having CF, which causes a lot of inflammation in the lungs, I am super interested in any ways possible of reducing this inflammation.

So, back to the challenge. I have made the decision to test out this theory, see how I feel after a while after eliminating this from my diet. I think I should notice if my lungs are feeling better in a week or so. I noticed all the juice in my refrigerator has HFCS in it, so that isn’t a good replacement. So… I am looking to you for suggestions as to what to replace my sodas with… help me?!!!

To top off my old age shock, my Doc wants me to start eating healthier, for my FUTURE?!!! My word! It was a lot to digest! All very good news, but wow! Something I never expected!

It is very hard for me to adjust to the thought of being on a “diet”. For all of my life my diet was to eat anything and everything humanly possible. Now I need to start thinking about my future health which includes all the real world issues that everyone else has to deal with. My doc suggests a “heart healthy” plan, or an anti-inflammatory diet, but with the reminder that I am on a high calorie, high protein diet.

This new lifestyle change will be difficult since I live off of fast food. But I am going to do it! The anti-inflammatory diet is something I have been interested in for a while and now I guess it is time to put it into action. I noticed while I was sick over the past few months that if I would eat a vegetarian dinner I would feel much better in the morning. Refreshed and ready to go.

Not only is AHA “heart healthy”, “no fad diet” plan good for people with Cystic Fibrosis and/or CF related Diabetes, but it is good for EVERYONE!!!

Good advice my doc gave me about changing my diet was to take “baby steps” so I don’t get overwhelmed, and to “think about all the good things” I get to eat with my new diet plan. Over the next few months or so, I will fill you in on what I am learning, step by step. I may even give YOU a challenge or two to help you improve your life!

I have soooo much news about a lot of various things I want to tell all of you about, I hope I can get a few minutes this weekend to write at least some of it down! In the mean time, take care!

Last week I was on a short burst of Prednisone to help ease some of the inflammation in my lungs. What a number that did to my blood sugar levels (pun intended )! Can you say SKY high?!! I was on twice the regular amount of long-lasting insulin, and my insulin to carb ratio was 1gram:5units, which is also twice the amount of my usual. It took a while to figure that out so on average I was taking 6 shots a day, to cover everything. Apparently steroids, natural and medication-wise, have a huge affect on the body’s glucose levels. I am going to look more into it because my geeky mind is really curious. I’ll let you know more about it when I do.

I am not sure if it was the Prednisone, or if I was just feeling better, but my appetite was HUUUGE! I gained 11 pounds over the course of those 3 weeks, from 104lbs to 115lbs. Unfortunately stress really affects my appetite and when I went through that heartache, I dropped most of the weight. But I am doing better now and hoping that I can regain most of it back. I felt soooo healthy. I am one of those rare women who love to hear “you are looking fat!” Because to me, it means I am looking healthy! I REALLY do not want to look at my food bill from the past month… I bet it is as large as my appetite was!

They really topped that today! I have a severe allergy to melons, all kinds, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe… this is written allll over my charts and even printed on my menus in plain bold language. So, guess what they brought me for my morning snack?! Watermelon! How nice. Thank goodness I have the brains not to eat it. I told the resident doc and my nurse because I believe this is a huge mistake, they agree. But guess what dietary brought me for my afternoon snack? Honeydew! As much as I remember I love the stuff I was about to throw it at somebody. Oh well. Again I thank my lucky stars I am smart enough not to eat it.

They really chapped my hide this evening when my dinner tray arrived…..

soup, salad,spaghetti, apple pie, water for hot tea and…

At least I am finding humor in it! They have screwed up every meal so far. Usually not giving me as much as I have ordered regardless of the “High Calorie” notes all over the place from my doctors. I don’t have an ounce to loose, so I am pissed. Oh well… I should be out of here tomorrow! I’ll be stuck on IVs for a while after that, but at least I will have a little (okay, a LOT) more freedom.