Leslie's life class ensues

Happy Little Friday (a hopeful term coined by a friend of mine to bridge the gap between hump day and the ever popular Real Friday, aka Thursday), blog friends.  I took a day off from blogging yesterday and am eager to get back here.  The accountability in this arena is so important to me and is seeming to yield some good karma at this juncture in my life.

Wednesday morning I woke feeling amazing.  Brain fog continues to subside which makes my head feel so much clearer.  This has always happened when I've given up sugar and it's various relatives.  Why I have known that for years and continue to crawl back to the dark side is baffling.

My FBS was 109 again, 2nd day in a row.  I felt ridiculously good about myself for showing up at both my appointments on Tuesday  (more on that in a sec...).  I returned to work to discover that a couple of suggestions I'd made regarding 2 of our "consumers" had been followed, which was gratifying.

What was different yesterday was that I was in such a big hurry in the morning, in order to get to my 7 a.m. A.A. meeting before work, that I didn't have a lunch prepared.  I grabbed some things to throw together for a salad in my office, but by the time lunch rolled around, I didn't feel like making the salad.  I ate some chicken that was to go into said salad, and had a handful of almonds.  Cue warning music from offstage.  I've been trying to eat VERY low carb, as in Atkins Induction phase.  That plan reliably shuts off my cravings for junk within a day, so I felt fine and satisfied.

As the day wore on, I started thinking about what to fix for dinner that fit the plan (tossing in a potato or something for hubby) and realized nothing sounded good.  But by late afternoon, I started feeling empty stomach hunger pangs that are not present ever when I'm in my addictive crazy eating all day mode.  Obviously.  And still nothing sounded good.  I've noticed this a few times this week, which is a good thing.  But my new education about Type 2 is revealing to me that I need to not get too uncomfortably hungry because my blood sugar can also go too low.  It is just now dawning on me that the next time I experience that feeling, I will check the number, but it didn't dawn on me at the time.

In trying to stay on the almost no/very low carb level, I got some more almonds, and then more.  Then I had a piece of ham and a slice of cheese, and felt fine.  Turns out hubby a church thing to attend, and was happy to fix himself a PB&J sandwich.  He was out of the house by 6:45, at which time I cooked up some turkey burgers to have for lunch the rest of the week.  I had one burger, but after I wanted something else.
I ended up having popcorn - not microwave, but not air-popped either.  I probably had about 5 cups, and that was the last thing I ate for the night.  I figured that might not be a great choice, but it wasn't sugary or sweet, and it satisfied me.

Blood sugar this morning:  118.  Still much better than it had been, but up 9 points from the last 2 days.  This tells me several things.
1.  This is a learning process.  It will take time for me to figure out my body and its tendencies, especially considering how long I've ignored her.
2.  Getting my blood sugar to a normal level is not a one walk dog.  It is a dynamic process that will change continually.
3.  The Atkins induction plan is no longer sustainable for me over more than a few days.  I start feeling deprived quickly of fruit, some vegetables (like carrots), and just getting too focused on eliminating every possible source of even healthy carbs.  I believe low carbing to be a sound way for me to eat, but nothing extreme.
4.  This is a learning process. (yes, repeat of #1)  Emotionally as well as physically.  Even mentally - I tend to black and white thinking - I'm either all good or all bad when it comes to eating.  This has always been a set up for binges, overeating, and bad choices.  Moderation and reasonability are highly coveted states for me, and I know I can get there.

There's more, but that's enough for now.  I just got a wonderful book that is already a good resource, Diabetes Weight Loss Week by Week, written by an RD and Certified Diabetes Educator.  I am at the beginning of this journey (even though almost 4 years in) due to the fact I ignored it for so long.  I'm hungry for information, and ready for success.

The doc appointments went fine.  Especially good was with my Primary's Nurse Practitioner, who said that I don't need medication at this time, given my blood work, because I'm still at levels where I can reverse the course with diet and exercise and education.  She agrees that the classes would be too elementary for me and prescribed a few sessions with a diabetes dietician and educator.  Whether or not my insurance pays, I'm doing that.  She wants me to get bloodwork rechecked in 3 months, which will be early June, to see what's doing.  (translation:  what I'm doing!)  And at the suggestion of Vickie, I did say that my goal was to cure this, not just control it, and the NP agreed that is a doable goal. 

I'm on my way.  Sorry for this long post, but I needed to process some of what went on for me yesterday.  Stay tuned!