A Walking Science Experiment

Whew.

Since I'm all about controlling my blood sugar these days, I spend a lot of my time planning out my food, discovering new foods, and looking at the ways I react to certain foods.  This post is a random list of what I've learned so far.

• As I mentioned in my last post, although my doctor told me that spot-checking my blood glucose levels wouldn't be useful at the level that I'm at, I have found that it has been a huge help.  So thank you, Amazon, for selling affordable test strips.

• In my last post, I also said that rice is a no-no.  I did a second test where I had just HALF a cup of brown rice, along with other things in a meal (protein, fat)... unlike last time when I had white rice in isolation.  Yet still, it did seem to raise my levels, so now I'm pretty much avoiding rice altogether.  This is useful information.  I've read that basmati rice might be an option since it's lower glycemic, so that will be the next test I do.  Yes, it sucks... being Asian-American... rice is huge.  I've been eating riced cauliflower and quinoa instead for now.  On that same thread, I suspect Japanese food will need to be limited since it contains a lot of "hidden" sugars.

• Pasta seems to raise me a bit, but at a more manageable level.  I don't eat pasta very often to begin with, so this isn't super useful information, but it's good to know I can pick at some without ill effects.

• I haven't done too much testing on sweets (baked goods in particular) yet, and the main reason for that is because a) I've found many alternatives to sweets (more on that later?), and b) I find that eating sweets begets cravings for them.  The first month after my test, I was pretty strict about my sweet/carb intake, and although I had a rough period where I craved things, that passed, so I don't want to trigger them again.  Now, there have been weak moments, mostly when we are at events, where sweets have not spiked me since I just nibble and eat other things with them.  This is good news.

• Finally, I ate a lot of yogurt, some of it sweetened, in the past year, so I wanted to see if this was what was contributing to my poor results.  Well, I finally got the courage to test this (those Fage Crossovers are the BOMB), and nope... it's not that.  Very good to know, but I'll be saving those for treats since again, the sugar within might beget cravings.

• I have switched to sprouted and einkorn (primitive wheat) bread, which I tolerate well, but I haven't really eaten other breads yet.  I will be sure to test other breads as I try them, but honestly, the sprouted breads are so tasty.  Bagels are a monster -- I'm not sure if I will test those or not, unless I get really desperate.  I used to love bagels, but it was another one of those items I cut in recent years since I have long known how carb-y they are.

• Back to the first bullet-point, my advice is to take charge of your health.  My doctors have not addressed my test results and probably would not until I plunge into full-blown diabetes.  They cared when I was pregnant and cared about my son when he was born, but otherwise, we are kind of on our own.  I think this is typical of doctors as a whole and not just mine, likely because of costs and limited understanding of these types of things.

This is very preliminary, but aside from rice, I think that if I just spread my carb intake throughout the day, I might be all right.  It does make me wonder why my official numbers have been high, but maybe it was more related to timing than anything else.

I should add that a few months into moderating my carb intake, I've felt pretty good overall.  Yes, there are rough days, but overall, I think I have a little more energy than before.  It does kind of burn me out to put so much thought into tracking and timing and testing.  For example, if I've eaten a smaller meal and get hungry shortly after, I can't eat again until it's time to test my glucose levels if I'm testing a good.  Also, going out is more complicated, and I find that's where I'm making the most "mistakes."  I'm hoping all these things get better with time, and this close tracking/monitoring period is going to be temporary until I knock the training wheels off.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing if I can move the dial back, but along the way, I'm doing something good for myself.  Perhaps this is all just one of those veiled blessings.

On the note of blessings, Happy (early) Mother's Day to those in the motherly roles in life!  Mothers make the world go 'round!  Although I typically don't really celebrate myself on this day because we're busy celebrating the older generations, I'm so lucky to have so many to celebrate with right now.