Hemoglobin A1C Test

Leah · Post by **Leah** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:25 pm

Hi Kari. Sorry to hear that you have yet another dietary thing to consider. I find this subject fascinating though since many of my clients have either pre or full blown diabetes. Many people on here are so right about the carbs. Whether it is sugar, rice, or potatoes- they are ALL simple carbs and ALL turn into glucose in your blood stream. Exercising is key. Most of the glucose is stored in your muscles (but there is a finite amount of storage). If you don't use them, the stored glucose stays put and there is no place for the next batch that you eat to go! Also, every time you put more glucose into your blood, your pancreas has to work to produce insulin. It's very taxing.... especially if your pancreas is not working optimally. So, for my clients, I usually tell them to try to eat most of their ( healthy) carbs AFTER they are active. That's the most receptive time. And if you can eat complex ones instead, they are released much more slowly into the bloodstream. Most people forget or don't know that fruit and veggies are carbs and that those are the best ones to fuel our bodies with.

Good luck. It sounds like you have a very good grasp on what you need to do and I have no doubt that you will succeed.

Leah

Kari · Post by **Kari** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:46 am

Zizzle - I haven't really given diabetes serious thought, since this is the first time the potential of it has come up for me. If you are correct about being predisposed genetically (I have double celiac genes), then that's one more reason I need to pay attention :(. I'm grateful that food and exercise are effective preventive measures.

Leah - thanks for taking the time to give such an easy to understand explanation of what happens in the body in response to carbs. I tend to think of sugar as "sweets" and "carbs" as "food", which of course is incorrect in terms of the internal process. I have never taken the time to concern myself too much about our "inner workings" - living with MC has forced me to change that attitude :(.

On another note, even though I lived in a big city (New York), and had a desk job, I always took time to exercise. It became essential for me over the years, as without it, my energy level crashed. I think exercising might have "saved me" from developing more serious issues over the years. Your suggestion of eating the carbs after being active sure makes sense, and I'll keep it in mind.

Love,
Kari

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:02 am

Kari wrote:Zizzle - I haven't really given diabetes serious thought, since this is the first time the potential of it has come up for me. If you are correct about being predisposed genetically (I have double celiac genes), then that's one more reason I need to pay attention :(. I'm grateful that food and exercise are effective preventive measures.

Kari,
Unfortunately, I'm not sure food and exercise are preventive measures for Type 1 diabetes. It's entirely an autoimmune attack on the pancreas. Yes, being GF should help, but you may want to ask your doc for antibody testing to make sure you aren't dealing with developing Type 1.

Deanna in CO · Post by **Deanna in CO** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 2:13 pm

Agreed, Zizzle. I have a friend who was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at over 40. We tend to think of Type I as "childhood" and Type II as "adult-onset," but that's not always the way it actually happens. Type I is a lot more serious and can require insulin so it's important to know which you are dealing with.

Kari · Post by **Kari** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:30 pm

Zizzle - thanks for the "heads up". Sorry to read about your DD's problems -

that all goes well.

Love,
Kari

Bifcus16 · Post by **Bifcus16** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:18 pm

Jean and Polly,

How did you manage the transition to cutting right down/out carbs and sugar?

I can do one day with no issues, but the second day I seem to be absolutely starving and nothing will help until I cave in and grab some high GI carbs. I get stressed and before I know it have grabbed some junk food. I wonder if I need to eat fairly large serves to start with until the cravings are resolved, and then reduce quantities once I have got over that.

One of my motivations is weight loss - it has been slowly creeping up for too long now.

Lyn

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:51 pm

Lyn - I went cold turkey, following a paleo plan. I treated the cravings like I treated my cravings for a cigarette when I quit smoking many years ago. I told myself that I just couldn't act on any craving and they would eventually go away. I think it only took a few days. I also made sure I didn't restrict the quantity of any of the other foods I was eating, which also helped. The body will adjust.

Jean

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:56 pm

Hi Lyn!

I am still transitioning myself and find it as difficult as you do. That's what made me realize the full impact of the addictive factor. One thing I've been trying to do is have some lo-carb snacks like olives, nuts, eggs, a piece of grilled chicken, etc. readily available at all times. But they still don't cut it when that urge hits - I agree, it's overwhelming. I am finding that it also helps to eat some fruit with low GI/GL values to satisfy that sweet tooth, like an orange, apple, pear, etc. Let me know how you do and if you discover any tricks that help. This seems to be as difficult as quitting smoking or caffeine. Guess I'll try what Jean and Leah recommend - toughing it out and ignoring the urges for a time and hope that they go away.

Love,

Polly

Leah · Post by **Leah** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:58 pm

Hi Lyn. Speaking from a fitness trainer's point of view..... "hunger" has little to do with eating carbs. All of my clients have some kind of eating issue and it always seems to be emotional. They could be happy, sad, stress, or memory emotions. They may not know what the triggers are, but they definitely have them. Also, like others on this board have said, Sugar and simple carbohydrates are addictive. The more you eat, the more you want. Once your blood stream is empty of glucose ( it is either stored as energy in your muscles or is converted into fat), you "crave" more. It's not an empty stomach sending hunger signals. If it was, then healthy foods would satisfy just as well. I hate to say it, but the only way to break the addiction, is to stop eating them. It can be done slowly, but once you break the bad habit, it becomes much easier to adhere.
Good luck
Leah

Christine. · Post by **Christine.** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 6:36 pm

Last year before I had mc symptoms I was on a low carb diet for 6-7 months and lost over 20 pounds. ( I actually needed to lose it, believe it or not). I love that diet and I think it was generally gf and held off the onset of the disease. It was after I relaxed my diet that I started experiencing symptoms. There were other triggers as well but the diet helped me.

2 years ago I was moving towards type 2 diabetes but between the low carb diet and the mc diet I'm fine now
Chris

Leah · Post by **Leah** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:33 pm

Good job Christine. It's not an easy thing to accomplish.

Kari · Post by **Kari** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 6:35 am

Well, after reading all these posts, at least I know I'm not losing my mind :). This carb craving is unbelievable!!! Thanks for your input everyone.

Love,
Kari

P.S. During my research, I've read that plain yams with nothing added are OK - any thoughts???

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 7:24 am

Unfortunately, Kari, yams, like potatoes are a high carb root vegetable and not a good choice when restricting carbs. Sorry. The carb cravings do go away eventually.

Jean

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:22 am

Hi again,

While surfing the net, I found this info on the Livestrong website about sweet potatoes (Kari, my understanding is that virtually all "yams" in our grocery stores are sweet potatoes):

Glycemic Index
The way you prepare sweet potatoes makes a difference in their GI. The GI of a 150-g sweet potato, boiled with its skin for 30 minutes, is 46. That number rises to 94 if the same sweet potato is baked for 45 minutes. These dramatic differences come from the way the starches in sweet potatoes gelatinize during cooking. Foods that turn viscous, or jelly-like, in your digestive tract have a lower GI because the gelatinous substance slows the release of the nutrients in the food. Baking your sweet potatoes instead of boiling them changes the quality of their starches and transforms this root vegetable from a moderate-GI food to a high GI-food.

Glycemic Load
The glycemic load is a way to take a food's carbohydrate content into account when figuring its impact on blood sugar. The GL considers both the quality and quantity of the carbohydrates in a food. A boiled sweet potato has a GL of 11, compared to a GL of 42 for a baked sweet potato. Because the GL doesn't take a food's nutritional content into account when measuring its metabolic effects, it's important to consider the health benefits of the sweet potato's vitamins and phytonutrients when making your food choices.

Macronutrients
A 150-g sweet potato baked in its skin offers 31 g of carbohydrates with only 135 calories and no fat, making it a low-calorie, virtually fat-free source of energy. A single sweet potato has 3.8 g of fiber, which regulates bowel function and may help lower your low-density lipoprotein levels, commonly known as bad cholesterol.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/29502 ... z1tADzQA1L

Love,

Polly

Leah · Post by **Leah** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:31 am

Kari, yams are a high carb food, BUT because it has fiber it goes into your bloodstream more slowly ( than a simple carb). You are not a diabetic, so you must still be producing a fair amount of insulin. Insulin "escorts" glucose ( it attaches itself) into the muscles. If it's missing or low, the cells can not take in the glucose as energy. That means it is still in the bloodstream .Most people in your situation can eat a SMALL amount of healthy carbs as long as you don't "flood" your system with too much at once. Small amounts spaced out... Helpful?

PS fruits and veggies are also carbs