Sugar Turned On Me

I’m usually keeping an eye out for what diabetes reasearch tells me should be off my menu and what can go back on. The recommended diabetic’s pantry list changes often enough that what I thought was okay last month might turn out to be the thing that’s killing me and vice versa. Take for instance the following two discoverys:

Eggs, a source of protein and generally an item I thought was okay to have, may be a problem for me. A recent study showed that having an egg a day can worsen things for you if have Type 2 diabetes and can help you develop it if you don’t already have it. The risk was reduced to nil if limited to one egg a week.

So, due to the study ,  researchers are now saying three eggs a week is good, more is bad.

Contrast this to potatoes, king of carbs. I avoid potatoes now, much to my own sadness, due to the carbs and the effects they have on my blood sugar.  A potato farmer in Austraila is suggesting that there may be diabetic safe potatoes in the form of the Almera variety .  According to the farmer in question, the Almera has a low enough glycemic index that a 150g serving (that’s about 5.2oz, just shy to us Yanks) won’t raise bloodsugar.

And it’s suitable for french fries. God loves us.

Happy thanksgiving, one and all.

NOTE: Sugar Turned on Me will be taking turkey day off, so look for a new post on Monday, Dec. 1st

Sometimes, I run out of strips to test my blood glucose with. This has two unexpected effects, both of which I’ve suffered after having misplaced 25 of them and finding them after a week.

The first is acting like I have a vacation from diabetes. I feel like I can have an additional cookie with my “before bed” snack. I don’t mind that I’m not sure if I had two rolls or three. I don’t think I can eat whatever I want, but I can push the line a little because I don’t have to see the result.

The second effect happens when I see the result. I’m not talking about the diabetics brand of remorse. I get obsessed. Since I’m not using the strips on the schedule I usually do, I figure I have bonus strips. I start taking my blood two or three times more often than I normally do. Part of it is wanting to know how certain foods affect me. The other part is trying to find a moment when the numbers seem normal again, expecting them to change when I haven’t really done anything to lower them like walking or dropping carb intake.

Last night, I had a salad in penance, though I know it’s not enough. I have more work to do before my blood sugar is back on track after the little week long binge of ignorance I let myself indulge in. Every time I let my numbers go up past where I’m comfortable, I’m setting myself back to step zero, the step where I have to remember I have a chronic disease and that if left unchecked will be the thing that kills me.

A week of letting it go probably won’t do me in, but letting it go for a week means that I’m more lax than when I wouldn’t let it go more than a day. Occasions become habits and habits become routine.

So back to the drawing board and in the process, trying to let some of my poor fingertips rest, the one’s now dotted with the little wounds that gotten in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, my diabetes didn’t count today because I wasn’t looking.

Never mind that’s how I got here in the first place.

Last night, my lady and I ordered Chinese food. There’s a couple of places in town that do it decently and its easy to find something on the menu compatible with my diabetes. Usually, I order a meat and veggie dish and get it “sauce on the side” meaning that my foods all naked, but I can more easily control what level of sugar I’m putting into me.

When we checked a menu we’d gotten in the mail from our usual place to make our choices. I saw that they had a short list of health conscious items. All of them were meat or tofu plus a vegetable, steamed, sauce on the side.

I smiled. They took my idea. Sure, they have a gym right next to it and there are probably other people who order it that way, but I feel I can take the credit.

This is most groovy as that means there’s one less restaurant I have to explain myself to when I doctor my dishes to protect my pancreas. Admittedly, at other Chinese restaurants  it’s still pretty easy to order food with sauce on the side or minus some of the more sugary seasonings, but knowing that there are more options out there, even if it’s just at one restaurant, makes me feel better, more normal.

Now if I can get my local vegitarian restaurant to start carrying stevia in their sweetner caddies, I’ll be estatic.

Every once in a while, I really need to drink something that’s not water. Admittedly, probably a third or so of my liquid intake is tea, but water has become my staple beverage and while it’s necessary for life, it’s not all that flavorful.  I went  to my local hippie grocery looking for some tasty fluid distraction when my eye fell on something that sent my heart all aflutter, a substance that I didn’t know existed: Virgil’s Diet Real Cola.

Before I knew I was diabetic, I consumed Coke with a fervor and gusto that should have made it no surprise when I found out my body was rebelling against sugar. In my teens I drank at least a 2 liter a day and as an adult I slowed down only a little. I went cold turkey after my diagnosis, the lack of cola in my life being in the top 5 downers about diabetes, somewhere above possibly having to have something amputated.

But today, I began to hope that a joy from my pre-diabetic existence might be once again a reality.

As I stared at the dark glass bottle, the world seemed to be a bit brighter, as if illuminated by the thoughts of children reflecting off the pearly white teeth of angels. I stepped forward, grabbing the bottle’s neck in mild disbelief but with no hesitation, lest it be all an illusion.

Like a kid with a new toy, I could not wait to get into my prize. I opened the bottle in the car and raised it to my lips, wishing I had something to clear my palette with before sampling what was either going to be a reunion with an old friend or a massive disappointment. I took a sip. I savored it.

This is where I should point out that you will be much happier in life if you enter into every new experience with no expectations.

The soda is solidly in the diet category, it’s xylitol and stevia backed sweetness coming in a 2g package of carbohydrates. All the ingredients are pronounceable, including kola nut and vanilla. The flavor of the soda is sweet and smooth, almost creamy. I knew halfway through the bottle that I would drink this again.

But the downer is that the cola flavor is masked by the other flavors on top of it. Xylitol is really sweet and so is the herbal supplement stevia. Combine that with a citrus note and the vanilla and you get a beverage where the cola flavor is kind of in the background, peeking around its playmates legs and then shyly backing away just when you’re sure it’s going to come out and make a formal introduction.

The end result is that if you’re a fan of vanilla Coke, you’re going to find a fair bit to love in Virgil’s Diet Real Cola. If you like just plain Coke or Pepsi, you might be less attracted to it.

But in truth, I’d still rather have this on the shelves than not, even if it isn’t the guilt free indulgence for which my little diabetic soul silently yearns.

If you go down the list of diabetes symptoms, you’ll find that many of them sound like judgment calls: Frequent urination, excessive thirst and excessive hunger. The problem is what counts as excessive or frequent? Where’s the line between wanting food because you’re diabetic and wanting food because you just you need food?

A few days ago, I had a day where I couldn’t stop eating. I had dinner. I had my usual nightly snack. I made a small sandwich. I drank a glass of milk. I had some water. I still felt a little nibbly.

The thing was I couldn’t figure out if this was normal hungry or  “I should be concerned” hungry. None the dishes I had seemed all that outrageous in proportion. I had some carbs, but I don’t think I went over 60 for the evening. It made no sense.

Looking around the internet, I found one person who explained it thus: If you are insulin resistant (like, say, a type 2 diabetic), even if you have a normal, reasonable meal, you body is going to use a little less of the energy you put into it than it should and convert it directly to fat. The body then tells you that you haven’t eaten enough because not enough got into the cells. After that, you end up staring at the contents of your fridge in your underwear, debating on the merits of fried chicken vs. telling your stomach to shut up and going to bed weeping.

A few diabetics pointed out they saw persistent and irrational hunger as a warning sign that their blood glucose was probably a tad high. I didn’t test myself the night in question, but I don’t doubt it.

I keep myself on as regular a meal schedule as possible to prevent overeating. I count carbs and try to keep myself honest. I know I need to keep myself in check.

Now if I could just tell my body that when it ignores everything I’ve put in it that day and cry’s out, it’s screaming demand a single, fervent word: More.

Now that World Diabetes Day has come and gone, it would be about this time that a concerned blogger might post a cautionary “don’t forget” article reminding you that diseases exist on other days beside the ones we set aside for their rememberance. The previous sentence withstanding, I am not that blogger. I read the news and I don’t think that people are really in danger of forgetting.

This doesn’t mean that what it means to have diabetes is commonly understood. I’d be suprised if 5 out of any random 10 people in America could tell you what diabetes actually is. But if the news is any indicator, diabetes is at the forefront of the thoughts of a lot of people.

Some of those are the people calculating that diabetes is costing America 200+ billion dollars a year. Some of those are people trying to cure the disease. Some of those people are trying to continue to educate about the disease and it’s prevention. Others are those trying to help the person in their life that can’t forget diabetes because they have it.

Some of the research is encouraging. As I posted yesterday, new drugs are constantly being developed. People are getting closer to the roots of the problem and others are finding ways to prune those roots.

Then there are studies like these:

There are miles left to go, so to speak.

So no finger wagging, no guilt tripping tugs at the collective conscious of the blogosphere.  The world knows that diabetes is there, both the parts that do and don’t make/use insulin normally. I trust you.

But if the world ever thinks it might forget… don’t think I’m not watching.

The Good:
Better Drugs for Type 2 Diabetes:
A couple of researchers, formerly of Pfizer, have come up with a new approach to blood sugar control medication. There is a current class of drugs that target a receptor called PPAR Gamma. These drugs lower one’s blood sugar but cause weight gain and loss of bone density.

If the researchers at Metabolic Solutions Development have succeeded as they believe they have, their medications would accomplish the same positive effects without the negative side effects. The drug is currently headed towards clinical trials and could be available on the market in 2013.

Leukemia Drug May Benefit Type 1 Diabetics
A leukemia drug that was designed to keep the immune system from attacking itself is showing promise in research to reverse Type 1 diabetes. The drug is called Imatinib and was tested on mice who were bred to have Type 1. Normally 71 percent of the mice would develop the disease but the group using the drug saw that drop to 20 percent.

The Bad:
HIV Medications May Raise Chance of Developing Diabetes
Some current HIV meds cause inflammation. One study is showing that this inflammation and the subsequent redistribution of body fat can cause people to develop Type II diabetes.

The Ugly:
CVS Accused of Pimping Januvia
CVS Caremark, the parent company of CVS Pharmacies, may have done something more intrusive that put a store on every block from NY to LA. The company used it’s list of patients on diabetes meds and sent their doctors a pamphlet touting the efficacy of Januvia, a medication that lowers blood sugar levels in Type 2 diabetics. The ads were paid for by Merck, the manufacturer of Januvia. A group of labor unions called “Change to Win” has taken offense to this, calling it an abuse of privacy agreements.

Merck and CVS say they are simply trying to raise awareness about the drug, not share patient’s information.

Change to Win includes the Put Pharmacy First campaign, a group of retail pharmacists promoting self regulation as well as Alarmed About CVS Caremark, which is a group that is exactly what it’s name sounds like.

Last week, I mentioned in this blog an article concerning a doctor that recommended dropping meat from your diet to control diabetes. While I don’t put down anyone who wants to try this method, I can’t do it. Not one little bit.

Any time it’s suggested that vegetarian is the way to go, I immediately say “But my eyes face forward. I have pointy teeth. I’m meant to be an omnivore.” I realize that this isn’t a iron clad argument, but I think there’s some truth to it.

Most Americans eat meat because it tastes good. There are those who specifically are after the protien or the iron, but it has flavor. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Considering the number of things I’ve had to cut out or extremely limit in my diet, I’m reluctant to drop anything else that is low carb. Moderation has to be observed of course; I’m not saying I think eating nothing but bacon is a good way to live. But leave the culinary joys I have alone, please.

Having any chronic disease is likely to make one a little more of a control freak. Things are taken out of our control so we try to exercise a bit more influence over those things that are within our power to determine. In my case, it involves drawing a line at foods I’ll give up and my line happens to be grain fed and medium rare.

I’m not a doctor, dietician, nutritionist or endocrinologist. I’m not saying what works for me works for anyone else. If for health reasons or even reasons of principle you feel that meat needs to be off the menu and your doctor agrees, then by all means go for it. But it seems that thinking removing a category of food with one broad stroke is not going to be a reasonable solution to any problem, much less blood sugar control.

So for my diabetes, I have no problem replacing my french fries with a salad or buying icecream in 100 calorie shotglasses. But when it comes to my pork chop… I think I’m safe.

Today is World Diabetes day. Celebrities such as the Jonas Brothers (one of whom has diabetes) and Danny Devito are showing their support. The International Diabetes Foundation(IDF) is asking for people to light a virtual candle in acknowledgment. In some places they are having sporting events, in others symbolic walks. Today, the world is paying special attention to a disease that is rising to “epidemic” proportions in India, on the rise in the Phillipines and affects millions in the good, ol’ US of A.

I’d like you to observe it too.

I don’t want you to give money or jog a marathon or anything, though if you want to I won’t stop you. What I’d like you to do to observe this day and what it means is do something to prevent you from getting type 2 diabetes:

1. Take a walk. 30 min of walking with a purpose three times a week will help you lose weight and keep you from hanging on to sugar you’re not using at your desk.
2.  Eat Something Small. One of the easiest ways to help control Type 2 diabetes is by limiting your portion sizes to something reasonable. It’s also not a bad way to not get it in the first place.
3. Drink Water. Some popular sodas were introduced as a medication. Then they became a treat. Now, they’re just what you get with lunch. Replace one sugary drink you would have today with water.
4. Read Something. Check out the IDF’s website . Go to the American Diabetes Association’s website, Wikipedia or Diabetes.org and look up the symptoms . Make yourself a little more aware of what diabetes is and what diabetics deal with on a daily basis.
5. Listen. If you know someone with diabetes, ask them what it’s like. You don’t have to pry, but be interested for a moment. Get some first hand info about what it’s like to have sugar turn on you.

World Diabetes Day started being observed in 1991 by a group that wants to raise global awareness on a treatable and often preventable chronic disease. Be one of the people that they make aware. And if any of the things I recommend don’t seem so bad… try doing them again tomorrow, especially 1-3.

If you want, you can be an observer of World Diabetes Day. If you really want, you can be a result.

Article the first:
In Texas, a doctor claims to have developed a diet that reverses heart disease and may even cure Type 2 diabetes. The core of the diet is eating “minimally processed, whole food, vegan” and cutting out “animal flesh” and dairy.

Personally, I’m skeptical. The food would be low fat, low calorie and would certainly help help lose weight, but I’m curious if it has benefits over and above other diabetes friendly diet. The article also doesn’t give specifics about the patient’s blood glucose levels, only that one was on insulin and now no longer requires it.

I give the three blood test strips out of four, though I’m looking forward to seeing if there is any clinical evidence disclosed to back up the doctor’s claims.
Link: Cardiologist Creates Diet to Reverse Diabetes, Heart Disease

Article the Second:
I’m glad I don’t have to take insulin, but for those who do, I’m told it’s pretty much life or death, especially if you don’t produce insulin due to Type 1 diabetes. This makes it nigh unbelievable that some diabetics in Australia are reportedly reluctant to take the medication because it comes with weight gain.

Gaining weight can raise your risks for heart disease and other unplesantries that can be further complicated by diabetes, granted, but not taking the insulin complicates things like functioning on a daily basis. The article doesn’t have any information as to specifically why people were concerned about their weight, only that they were.
Link: Fat fear cuts diabetes shot.