Let’s Get Radical!
This is my first post! We’ll talk about why your blood sugars are out of control even with a moderate diet. Let’s get started!
You’re lying on the couch because your blood sugar is running high and it feels like someone hit you in the face with a hammer. Worst of all, you did everything right. You had one serving of whole grain pasta with spaghetti sauce and even substituted lean ground turkey for the beef. You drank skim milk and skipped dessert! You even used whole wheat bread instead of French bread for the garlic toast.
But it gets worse! When you started to feel badly, you got your blood lancet and fired that trigger. It hurt, but no blood showed up. You pressed harder, fired again, and still no blood. You shook your hand so blood would go to your fingers and fired once more. Then the blasted meter said 220. Why?
You’re not alone. That scenario commonly plays out for people with Type 2 Diabetes. After the diagnosis, you committed to changing your diet, eating in moderation, and working our regularly, even if it meant taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
There are several obstacles standing between you and success. They are as follows.
- Moderate diets don’t work.
- You need more than a little exercise.
- You’re eating the wrong foods.
Let’s start with your diet. The Institute of Medicine sets the Daily Recommended Allowance (RDA) of Carbohydrates at 130 per day. The spaghetti dinner mentioned above probably included the following.
Whole Wheat Spaghetti – 37 Carbs
Spaghetti Sauce – 9 Carbs
Whole Wheat Toast – 14 Carbs
Skim Milk – 11 Carbs
Ground Turkey – 0 Carbs
Butter – 0 Carbs
Total Carbs = 71
If you watched breakfast, lunch, and snacks carefully, you might keep your carb totals down around 150, but that’s still more than the RDA of 130. Most people, however, eat around the same number of carbs at each meal and half that number at each snack. Here are those totals!
• Breakfast – 70 carbs
• 10 am Snack – 35 carbs
• Lunch – 70 carbs
• 3 pm Snack – 35 carbs
• Dinner 70 carbs
• Evening Snack – 35 carbs
Total Carbs = 315 carbs!
That’s almost 3 times the RDA! No wonder you have a high blood sugar! Moderation doesn’t work! But, it doesn’t have to be that way!
There are steps you can take, no matter where you are right now in terms of weight, fitness, or lifestyle. You can turn this around without spending money on gyms, diet programs, or embarrassing support groups.
Follow these three guidelines with consultation with your primary care physician!
1. Build a diet around healthy foods!
2. Limit your carbohydrate intake to 130 carbs per day.
3. Exercise for at least 40 minutes a day at least four days a week.
You might call that radical. I call it doable. It may also raise some interesting questions.
1. How will I find time to exercise like that?
2. What kinds of exercise should I do?
3. How will I convince my family to eat like that?
4. How will I overcome being hungry all the time?
5. Where can I find a list of healthy foods?
This site will help answer all those questions! And, remember this. I’m not a physician. I’m a man with Type 2 Diabetes. I started out with an A1C of 7.9 and weighed in at 250 lbs. I’m less than six feet tall and I’m over 50. After one year of fighting diabetes instead of living with it, I have an A1C of 5.7 and I weigh 215 lbs. I’m still losing weight and I don’t take any Diabetes medications. I didn’t develop a new pill or discover a secret. It’s diet and exercise!
I limit carbs in the following manner.
• Breakfast – 30 carbs
• 10 am Snack – 15 carbs
• Lunch – 30 carbs
• 3 pm Snack – 15 carbs
• Dinner 30 carbs
• Evening Snack – 15 carbs
Total Carbs = 135 carbs!
I use a YouTube videos for exercise. My wife and I center our diet on 31 superfoods that can be found in any grocery store and taste great! No secrets! No gimmicks! Just the right tools to fight Type 2 Diabetes!
I hope you’ll subscribe to my site and come back as I post blog articles and videos that answer the questions posed above. And those are just the beginning! What are your questions? Post them on this site and I will do my best to answer them!
Jim Lenze
A Crimson Rider!