Sugar Turned On Me

While no one may be holding a spoon for you and making airplane noises, playing games with your food isn’t a bad way to form good habits. One example of this involves colors.

• When putting together a plate of food, have as many colors on your plate as possible.
• Jewel tones are best

Red peppers, yellow squash and orange yams all are on the list of things you should be more of. Even if you’re not into the striking presentation benefit that this sort of thinking can provide, there’s benefit to be had in terms of beta-carotene, fiber and vitamins from these foods.  Also, even if you do this just a little bit, it will help you pay more attention to what you’re putting into your body.

This has made me pay attention to how many things I eat that are brown.

In general, the American diet can stand to have more vegatables in it. Too few of us follow the ratio of 1/2 veggies, 1/4 starch, 1/4 protein. Little reminders like this one can make keeping good practices easier… and make foods that are worse for you look boring.

From time to time, I need to give credit where credit is due and to let people know where I misspoke. This is one of those times.

Error the First:

In discussing Disney pulling the Hannah Montana diabetes episode , I speculated that they pulled it over not wanting to offend their sponsors as I found it more likely than they were being responsible. Turns out I should have given them more credit. One of the people who read the post (thanks, AC) advised me that the episode was pulled because:

1. Saying that Type 1 diabetics could not have sugar at all, when they can with appropriate care and doses of meds.
2.  Misrepresented Type 1 Diabetes as being caused by too much sugar, when it’s a condition that develops at birth.
3. Called the diabetic character “sugar boy” which is kinda a jerk move.
4. Also, never showing the kid take his blood sugar or take insulin or referencing that he might, which kind of cut down on the educational value of the storyline.

So my apologies to the House of the Mouse for doubting them. You can call of the assassins dressed like Goofy now.

Error the second:

When describing the effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup, I said that sucrose was processed by every cell in the body. I got my sugars wrong: glucose is processed by every cell in the body .

Fructose, however, is still only processed by the liver. So while I got my facts wrong, it wasn’t about the part I was giving as a warning.

Though of a note, there’s apparently some concern of mercury levels in high fructose corn syrup due to a recent study. So if you needed another reason to shun the stuff, congratulations, you got one.

Thanks again for reading. New information to follow soon.

Dear Me,

There are a number of things I could write to you as you enter your 18th year that would be of great use to you by the time you hit your 37th. I could tell you which stocks to buy and when to sell them, but by doing so you’d likely negate the effect in the highly variable world of finance. I could tell you which relationships not to screw up and which not to get into, but each has taught you/me a lesson, and I wouldn’t be the person I am without it. What I will tell you about is how to avoid something that you’re doing to yourself.

Right now, you’re setting yourself up for Type 2 diabetes. No, you won’t be on insulin. Yes, it will still suck rocks.

If you wish to avoid this, start by drinking water. Straight. Without any caffiene, high fructose corn syrup or caramel coloring. At least one measure for every measure of that fizzy battery acid you push down your gullet. Start now and continue for the rest of your life.

Accept that two large orders of french fries do not constitute a meal. Yes, you can afford it now. No, you can’t afford it later.

For that matter, don’t rely on Burger King or McDonald’s too much for your food. When you get to be me, they will no longer taste good and in truth, probably don’t now.

Drink water. Yes I know I already said this one.

You like walking. Do that more. Everywhere. Never live somewhere you can’t walk to what you need. It will pay off, I promise.

Sleep regularly. Take off your clothes and brush your teeth beforehand.

Have you gotten a glass of water yet?

When you finally get around to taking martial arts, stretch before each session. It will keep you from injuring yourself and dropping the class. This will help you maintain the best health you will be in possibly ever.

Water helps with the stretching.

Do not fear salads. You will like them. Dressing is okay, but don’t overdo it. You will, but try to pull the amount back so that it doesn’t look like flakey soup in ranch broth.

With the salads, have water.

It does not make you more of a man or even more of yourself to kill a 2 Liter of soda in a sitting. Excess is excess, not a reward.

Follow these rules and maybe you won’t have to write this letter, which I realize will cause a time space paradox and such the universe into a singularity, but at least you won’t have diabetes.

So do this for yourself. Do it for your future self. And buy Google when it’s cheap oh god I can’t stop myself….

Sincerely,

Yourself

As I’ve said before in this blog, the good news about diabetes is that new treatments are being found every day, it seems. Old ones and new ones. Recently, the following three news stories caught my attention:

• Weekly Injections for Type 2 paitents: The prescription drug exenatide, sold under the brand name Byetta, requires twice daily injections. Currently, a once weekly dose of the medication, which boosts insulin production, is being tested and shows promise.
• Open Wide and Say “Ah”: Recent research revealed that diabetics have certain protiens in their saliva more commonly than people without. While still in the earliest stages of investigation, the reasearchers are hoping that this could be used to diagnose diabetes and maybe even replace blood tests, saving people from that delightful morning poke.
• Everything Old is New Again: In 1876, a drug called salsalate was being investigated as a treatment for diabeties. An anti-inflammatory, it’s used to treat arthritis today. A researcher believes that the people considering using it to help diabetics control blood sugar may have been on to something. Studies are being done and soon to be published that may give diabetics an additional and inexpensive (available as a generic, no less) medication.

Here’s hoping the above stories are not mere pipe-dreams, but something for us to look forward too.

An article ran in USA Today on Monday telling how some companies are starting to offer incentives to their diabetic employees who are able to keep the disease under control or at least monitored. Reading it produced some mixed feelings.

The primary emotion was “yippee” as the thought of the people who have All the Freakin’ Money(tm) paying attention to the needs of their workers, realizing that they have a vested interest in their health. Large companies tend to look at their people as replaceable cogs in the machine, in my experience and to see a company take steps to start dealign with them like humans again is refreshing.

On the other hand, there’s that nagging concern anytime I see a member of the the people who have All the Freakin’ Money(tm)  offer something good, that concern being are they going from employer to parent? Besides the fact that we shouldn’t require a cookie, so to speak, to take care of ourselves, I wonder if it’s a far jump from rewarding your people to requiring things of them.

In 2006, a man was fired for presence of nicotine in his system. In many states, including the one I live in, there are Right to Work laws that oxymoronically make it easier for a company to let you go. Would it be out of the question for a company to end your employment because you failed to meet the standards of the health incentive program?

The USA Today article does mention that the ACLU is keeping an eye out, making sure that the Americans with Disabilities Act is not violated. And my tin-foil hat-ish concerns aside, your employer making it easier to take care of yourself a good thing. And while the long term effects of these programs is something to watch for tomorrow, anything that makes having diabetes easier today probably should be cause for a smile or two.

Some days, I shouldn’t watch TV.

It’s not just that television is the crack cocaine of entertainment. It’s not just that I have other things I’d be better applying my time to. It’s the commercials. Like the one’s for IHOP.

The International House of Pancakes was once a source of comfort and release. After I had to add hyperglycemia into the equation, IHOP became ground zero for carb bombs and territory that I should only enter if I was prepared for a great deal of hearbreak. Their menu has about 3 things on it that I enjoy that won’t spike my blood sugar. I’m not even going to talk about how many of those I like.

It’s not that I don’t know how to eat a restaurants: go for proteins over breads, eat half of my meal and take the other half home, order water and don’t add carbs with sodas or the like. But none of that trumps the tasty images of neverending pancakes or the promise of soft, fluffy crepes.

There are other restaurants that cook nothing but pain and fail. Applebee’s taunts me with their Weight Watchers menu, still in no way built for diabetics. In fact most “brass and fern” style restaurants take some careful navigation through their menus lest I trip on any sugary landmines.

But IHOP is on TV every ten seconds, trying my willpower, offering me another affordable way to damn near kill myself.

Today, I went. I did not have neverending pancakes, though I did have crepes. I haven’t tested my bloodsugar yet and I only feel a little guilty, but at least the service sucked and I’ll have something to bolster my resolve when next I see their ads on TV.

Because I can resist pancakes.

Neverending pancakes? The tool of Satan.

One of the things that started to frustrate me about shopping for food, even before I got diagnosed as diabetic was bread. It was next to impossible to find bread without High Fructose Corn Syrup, Partially Hydroginated oils or anything I couldn’t pronounce without a help from a vocal coach. Post diagnosis, it became a little less of an issue as bread starting to register poison. Now that I’ve got a better idea how to manage carbs, bread is back on the menu again but the need for a brand without the aforementioned evils is even more of a necessity.

This is why I went “squee!” at the sight of Arnold’s Soft Naturals .

The Arnold’s bread company has been shooting for the health conscious sector of the bread buying market for some time. I hadn’t really looked at their products because I am less enthused about bread that crunches without toasting; peanut butter sandwiches don’t need seeds.

Their Soft Naturals line, though, is suspiciously similar in appearance to any other loaf sandwich bread. The texture is a little different, a little more al-dente than others but aside from that difference, it’s just regular old bread. I’ve tried the white and wheat and both are suitable for sandwiches, though the taste of the bread alone is a little more flat than some others, but that may just be because I’m not used to bread without all of the junk that other bakers put in it.

Arnold’s boasts on the package proudly about what’s not in the bread: No HFCS, no Trans-Fats. They also point out that it’s made with whole grains and has fiber, 3g per serving.

So as this is a review and not an advertisement, would I recommend this to friends and family: Yes. It’s a solid product for everyday use. The carbs are about the same as any other packaged sliced bread, but the things that aren’t in it that might raise cholesterol or stress my liver are enough to make me keep this as a pantry staple.

I get updates from Google on every story that mentions the word diabetes. Some list a battle with diabetes as part of a biography; others mention it in crimes (Diabetes Monitors Stolen!). Then there’s the duplicates of press releases. But even considering all that, I get anywhere from 5 to 15 headlines about diabetes a day.

That is a lot of talk.

Much of the conversation is about how the disease is affecting the world. One will talk about the cost of diabetes. Others will point out the risks diabetics face to every part of their body: heart, limbs, brain, etc. There’s been a lot of words written about how diabetes has become an epidemic in India and southern Asia.

It’s not all bad, though. The negative has become so hard to ignore that there are signs of hope around the corner almost every day. New meds are being discovered and tested. Lifestyle advice comes at us in double handfuls. Coke is going to be making soda with a stevia derivitive.

There’s hope.

Every day, more people are talking about the disease. There’s focus and there’s interest. There’s the desire for a cure and the will to prevent. Diabetes isn’t just something your grandmother deals with anymore. It’s becoming a thought on everyone’s minds.

I’m hoping one day we’ll have nothing to talk about, that diabetes will be cast to the same pile as the black plague and leprocy, that was once a greatly feared killer will be reduced to a medical footnote. That day isn’t today, but if we keep talking about it. Maybe it will come.

So listen.

I remember that when I was a kid in science class, I was amazed that you made vitamin D just by standing in the sun. Later, when I got older, I got more of it from milk as I’d not yet developed a taste for leafy greens but had gotten used to being nocturnal. I may be spending more time in the sun soon, though.

A recent study at Chicago’s Loyola University has shown that Vitamin D may prevent diabetes and helps reduce symptoms in those already with the disease. Apparently, Vitamin D has been the subject of a fair bit of research lately, connecting its lack to stunted growth in pubescent girls and breast cancer. It’s become what one article called the “it” nutrient, which thankfully doesn’t mean what it does when they talk about “it” girls, but rather that it’s getting a lot of attention.

While I’m always a little hesitant to jump on any health research until at least one person cries “balderdash!”, I won’t deny that this is a little exciting. Aside from the potential for another natural weapon in my anti-diabetes armory, it doesn’t suck that the research may help people avoid Type 1 diabetes altogether (fingers crossed).

I think I’ll go celebrate with a glass of milk. Or brocolli. But not in the same cup.

Today, my wife asked if it was okay to put some measurements of me online (I’m looking for a gently pre-owned Utilikilt). I said it was okay, but wasn’t sure why she’d felt the need to ask. She wondered if I’d mind that the world know that I have a 38″ waist.

This got me thinking.

One of the peculiarities about the human condition is that things which should be simple statistical facts often come with stigma. The come with pride, too, sometimes but in the end, things like weight, height and proportion are just numbers. Numbers that change at that.

I appreciate her concern and don’t fault her for asking. Most people would consider such a thing a personal detail and the sort of thing that one should be able to control access.  But some things I can’t afford to be shy about.

There are numbers that I might endanger myself if I ignore or try to hide, like my blood glucose and my weight. They are nothing about which I should be ashamed; I take responsibility for them, but I don’t think that they are comments on my character. The numbers only matter inrelation to other number, really, so why should I worry about them?

I’m 5′7″, 200-210lbs. My last A1C was 5.7 and my blood sugar this morning was a glorious 88, the lowest number it’s been in months. I fear none of these numbers and even when they have been higher (except for height, which pretty much just stays there) I have never felt that they were  score or that somehow indications of failure. They are just numbers. Saying them aloud will not hurt me.

Keeping them to myself, though? That just might.