cjodyssey's Journal, 13 June 2018

I do not know about most of the things in this post, and i don't check my blood sugar. I am doing IF (albeit much more casually than many here), and i either try to have two meals bookend my feeding period, or i just try to push the one out to the end if it looks like i will just do omad. You are doing well with your weight loss. Hopefully it will be a virtuous cycle and you will have increased options going forward. 

I check my blood sugar when I get up (fasting) and usually in the afternoon about an hour after I have eaten. I do t eat after 7Pm and before 8am. Not sure if that’s considered fasting. 

My dad test about 30-1 hour after he gets up from the table. I started checking my keytones with him at that time. I don’t know if that is the recommended time, but he’s been doing it for a couple of decades. I can’t seem to eat enough in the 6 hour fasting window I was trying for either. I ended up feeling starved the next day. I do better with brunch and dinner. What’s your eating window? 

You should check your fasting blood sugar when you get up in the morning and then one to two hours after you START eating. This is because most of the food you've eaten will be digested within 1 to 2 hours and blood glucose is higher then.  

I check in the morning (surprising how much that changes even while fasting!), 2 hours after eating (again some foods/drinks shoot me up wayyy high), and before bed (2 hours after eating). 

Happy birthday to you too 🎉🎈 I am very insulin resistant. I check morning blood sugar every once in a while. But due to the morning BS phenomenon you can't really go by that. I'll check 1/2 1 hour, two hours, then you know what your body is doing. Just test yourself to see how your body responds. On keto my bs barely moves now . I m sorry I didn't read your past journals to know why you would test sugar. I'm going to get a ketone meter because I always have a hard time getting fat adapted and I think it's the only way for me to know how food really effects me. Sorry about your spine. What a bummer. 

Oh and if I don't get too a minimum amount of calories in feeding window, I usually go grab a block of cream cheese or high fat food just so I don't toss and turn a few hours later from any hunger that might creep up after feeding time. I hate not getting sleep. 

if you are testing for a new food one hour and two hour after your first bite if you're just testing for blood sugar 2 hours after first bite. at one time I was a 13.9 for A1C current reading 4.6 

Thank y'all for the information. I've already learned some things. I'm testing because I am highly insulin resistant. I wanted to start testing my blood sugar to get an idea of how what i choose to eat is affecting me and how often extra insulin, on top of what i already have in my bloodstream, is being pumped into my system and for how long. My sugar levels used to stay very level even on carbs because even my fasting insulin was very high. Now though i fear it's beginning to not quite be able to keep up so i thought testing would help me form menus and guidelines. I would also like to get a ketone meter but they aren't covered by my insurance. 

I bought the Caretouch from amazon. It’s a little expensive but their strips are cheaper than some other brands. I think it works lol. I bought it so I could figure out how much carbs I could eat and still be in Ketosis but I’m too afraid of being kicked out to try. Oh and I also read an article on how you can mathematically estimate your ketones according to your glucose readings. I’ll have to search for it again.  

Oh I'd like to read that. I'll watch, too. 

Search, autocorrect, not watch. O.o 

CJ, I'll address BS in my next post. Coincidentally, I *also* have "ligamentous and facet hypertrophy present with effacement of thecal sac with severe thecal sac stenosis. Also there is severe bilateral neuroforaminal narrowing" and "L5-S1 ... diffuse disc [HERNIATION] with contact of the left exiting nerve root with the disc." Plus, I have degenerative joint disease at L4-5 with a cyst impinging on the spinal cord. ______________________________________________________________________ In 2007, I was 250 pounds. A neurosurgeon didn't even introduce himself but immediately suggested laminectomy and fusion at L4-5. _______________________________________________________ I have 25 years of experience analyzing disability, including post-op back surgeries. I would have to be LAYING ON THE FLOOR, PARALYZED, beFore I'd let anyone cut into my back. ___________________________________________________________________ I found an American chiropractor with a degree and certification in Chinese medicine. (She said she'd found that the symptoms that recorded with chiropractic manipulation recurred, whereas acupuncture provided more lasting improvement.) She did a complete work-up and prescribed acupuncture. It took about 18 months, but she saved my back. I still have the same degenerative conditions, but the inflammation from the disc herniation improved with "tincture of time," as is often the case. I have occasional sciatic pain radiating from L5-S1 that improves with rest and very gentle back & abdominal strengthening exercises. ______________________________________________________ Morbid obesity is a major factor in back strain. Give your back time to respond to LCHF/keto (to lessen sugar-related inflammation) and additional weight loss. In the meantime, observe proper back mechanics: Don't bend over to lift; carry heavy items in your arms above waist level. If it's too heavy for that, get help. _____________________________________________________________________ Practice this as often as possible (whenever you're standing in line, for example): Stand erect, as if there's a string pulling you up from the crown of your head up to the ceiling. Tuck in your chin and tighten your abdomen and buttocks. When you get comfortable with this posture, add this: Line up your ears, shoulders, hips, and feet, as if the string is pulling you up through your spine, with feet shoulder-width apart. Raise your shoulders to your ears, and then roll them back and down, as if you're tucking your shoulder blades into your back pockets. You can do the shoulder roll and shoulder blade tuck when you're sitting in a hard chair (or church pew!). This posture improvement will strengthen you back AND make you look instantly thinner! It gets easier the more you practice.  

Regarding blood sugar testing: I'm a T2 diabetic. After 17 years of dietary noncompliance, I'm lucky that I still respond to dietary "modulation" and can lower my medication. ________________________________ I test on rising, before meals, and two hours after the first bite of my meal. I test again before I go to sleep. Eating twice a day, that's six times a day. Testing is critical, since I take insulin. (I no longer take metformin due to diarrhea.) I inject Levemir (long-acting insulin) morning and evening, Victoza (non-insulin) in the morning, and Humalog before meals (short-acting insulin on sliding scale depending on the pre-prandial -- pre-meal -- reading and carb count in my planned meal). I adjust the dosage of Humalog by noticing the post-prandial (after meal) BS response to the carb count of my meal. I used to aim for under 120 mg/dL before and 160 mg/dL after meals, but I'm now averaging 113 mg/dL overall -- much improved from 215 mg/dL as recently as May 6th. LCHF, even imperfectly, is working! ______________________________________ I know long-time T2 diabetics who *never* test b/c their M.D. hasn't specifically recommended it or says it's "unnecessary." That, IMHO, is malpractice. You cannot know how well (or poorly) your blood sugar is responding to diet and/or medication unless you test. ______________________________________ I use Abbott's FreeStyle Lite glucometer, provided at no cost thru my endocrinologist. (Meters are cheap to produce; Big Pharma makes money on the test strips.) Health insurance covers the cost of six test strips per day (180/month -- requiring two 100-strip boxes per month) because I take insulin, and only with my MD's certification that such frequency is "medically necessary." ___________________________________ In the alternative, Walmart's "Relion" brand meter and strips are relatively inexpensive and available without a prescription.