Comments on: Diabetes Update – Januvia Prescription

By: Gail

Gail — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:56:12 +0000

Lara,
Hang in there and keep moving towards your goal. You will find the diabetes educator so valuable and supportive. Reading the contents on the labels is so important. Try to look for fat-free. I found that when I look for sugar-free, I didn’t always review the fat content and that may be keeping your blood sugar higher overnight. Keep eating the legumes. Have you read Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes? He discusses a vegan diet. I am not 100% vegan, but I do include more beans than before. The other tip that I find helpful is eating a fruit for my night time snack. The fruit snack is the best. It keeps me at a good level overnight. If your sugar gets low overnight, your liver may be releasing glucose to compensate.
The most important tip that is helpful to me is the consistant exercising. I know you have researched the increased insulin uptake after exercising. Neither cardio nor weight resistance alone is sufficient for me, I include both along with yoga and walking my dog. The decrease averages 30-40 points. The days I miss exercising, I see the result.
You have been smart with your research and should be proud of your weight loss. Don’t get discourage, you will find the best combination of habits and medication.
Good luck!

By: darya

darya — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:09:44 +0000

@Lara Sounds like you’re doing great and approaching food wisely. If oatmeal and brown rice are your only grains, it is hard to find too much fault in that! And like I said before, losing 7lbs is AWESOME if it is slow, natural fat loss.

Good for you!!!

By: Lara

Lara — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:21:50 +0000

@darya – Thank you for your feedback!

I am including nuts and beans more in the diet than grains, although I’ll admit that I’m still relying on my morning oatmeal and brown rice at dinner to replace things like bagels and pasta.

I’m planning on posting my meals here soon, including my reasoning for eating what I do. I’m trying to follow a mostly Mediterranean-style diet for a couple reasons: 1. It’s in my heritage, and I lived in Italy (on the Adriatic which borders Greece as well) and 2. It’s a highly recommended diet for diabetics, as it includes lots of great oils and fish, nuts, low-fat cheeses, and all the stuff I love.

I’ve become addicted to almonds, avocados, and feta cheese. LOL

I don’t mind canned beans for their taste, however I’m pretty positive that because I rinse them completely, I’m losing some of the benefits of the fiber and nutrients… they sit in a can for however long with that gooey liquid, which you know absorbs the nutrients, and then they get rinsed away. Can’t be half as good as making them from dried. I’ve found some ways to do it with my slow-cooker (don’t have a pressure cooker and can’t really spring for one right now).

I’m pretty secure feeling about my diet choices – I know that the reason I didn’t lose more is because I really didn’t get on the treadmill every day. I’ve been dieting on and off all my life, it’s standard for me to used to be able to eat ANYTHING but as long as I worked out, I could still lose. This time’s different because I’ve got blood sugar to worry about (but exercise will drop that too).

Thanks again for stopping in, it’s really nice of you to take the time to share your knowledge here! :) I’ll probably work more on using beans/lentils where I can, it’s just that right now I’m having enough trouble just maintaining my calorie count. LOL

By: darya

darya — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:53:04 +0000

I understand that your doctor wants you to lose weight quickly, but honestly if you are losing more than 1-1.5 lbs per week it is not fat that you are losing, so what good does that do? If you can keep the weight loss steady, I would not try to lose more quickly. It will never last if you lose too fast (burning muscles destroys your metabolism).

I will soon write a post on my blog about diabetes diets, but since it is still a few weeks away I will tell you a few pointers that I have learned in my reading (I’m a scientist).

Unfortunately, it seems like diabetics are so insulin resistant that even real, whole, intact grains are problematic when first trying to lose weight. Although these can be worked back in the diet eventually, first you need to regain your insulin sensitivity.

Instead, the latest data implies that legumes are an effective alternative. It seems diabetics have more success when completely replacing all grains with beans and other legumes. So instead of having brown rice, have some lentils or beans as your starch for a couple of months.

If you are going to try this, I recommend cooking beans from scratch (dried beans), because they taste much better than canned. They take a long time to cook though, so I use a pressure cooker for mine (cuts it down to 30 min). Also, lentils cook in about 20 minutes (try French green lentils that keep their shape well – I’m posting a recipe tomorrow), and are a great option when time is a factor.

Nuts are also beneficial to diabetics.

Best of luck with everything–I really believe you can beat this. Feel free to drop me an email if you have any questions.

By: Lara

Lara — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:20:54 +0000

@Bernie – Thanks for the support! He wants bigger numbers initially, to drop the sugar as fast as possible, and then for me to slow down.

@kirwin – You’re amazing… thank you for putting it that way!

By: kirwin

kirwin — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:38:01 +0000

I know it’s not the numbers you were hoping for but seven pounds is seven pounds. Consider this: that’s a newborn baby. You did AWESOME, and you are heading in the right direction.

Keep it up. It’s the tortoise that wins the race.

By: Berni

Berni — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:12:57 +0000

Sounds like you are determined to make some , hooo! It’s interesting your Doc wanted a bigger weight loss, I’d kill for those numbers. I’ve hung a sign up in my room that says “Remember: Cholesterol” So when I wake up I’m remined first thing what my priority is, it’s helping. Don’t be hard on yourself about not being 110% perfect…. who can be?