Thursday, January 17, 2013

Crackers and Jam Who Knew?

So, I am struggling along with the new changes. That is totally said with tongue in cheek, of course. How hard can it be to add such delectable things?  

This morning, I had (1/4 cup before cooking) oatmeal with a tablespoon of  brown sugar and a glass of milk. Lunch was a cream cheese and cucumber sandwich with a bowl of romaine, onion and apple salad. I just polished off a snack of gluten free crackers and two tablespoons full of fruit spread, and I am thinking of all the lovely options there are for my evening meal!  It will likely involve a fish fillet and baked potato of some sort, with whatever I can dig up for vegetables.  Possibly an onion, beet and goat cheese salad to start with perhaps a side of green beans garnished with toasted almonds?

The pickin's are getting pretty sparse!  I am down to the last dregs of produce in my refrigerator.  I have a list as long as my arm of all the foods that will work well for me now that I am back in the carb eating world, and I know for a fact I can easily buy them all without worrying that they will go bad. No longer will I have to limit the carbs so severely.  The basic plan is to include 30 - 45 grams of carb with every meal and 15 for each snack.  The diet may not do anything for the scale, but it is doing wonders for my moral!  And the best thing is, that my sugars have leveled out to just where they need to be, pretty well through the day.  I really have an appetite now - something that I really haven`t had in quite a while. Why bother feeling hungry when you can`t eat my body was saying!  Well, now, it reminds me that it is feeding time at the zoo before I even glance at the clock. Life is good!


Monday, January 14, 2013

MMMMM LUNCH!!!

All sorts of adventures are happening under our roof!  For one, we had a drain pipe burst and render our family room useless.  Thank goodness it was covered by our insurance. The wet is gone, but the disorder lingers on as we await dry-wall and carpet men.  I have also started insulin therapy, which has rendered me pretty useless for anything other than testing and figuring out how to stuff more carbs into my life! For years, I have avoided them, because they just did not make me feel good,  but now? They are an unmovable  requirement of the new regime.  It is finally coming together, and I am getting the hang of the new rules.



So, I have started to eat more carbs. And to eat every three hours,  to snack....all those things that 'dieting'  has preached against, are the very things that I need to do! Just goes to show, that when you think you know it all, you just may not.  I would like to burn every diet book I have ever read, every program I have ever been on, and every mean spirited word out of every doctor that didn`t bother to check why I was able to thrive on so little, choosing to believe instead, that I was lying about my diet. But that is all water under the bridge, and I am just happy to have a team of professionals on my side that have heard this all before, and don`t doubt me for a minute.  Instead, they are putting their efforts into helping me find a balance.  Hopefully, this will remedy the years of misguided information that has rendered my body extremely proficient at retaining every calorie.

Of course, there is always a downside. More carbs has equaled weight gain for me, but it is unavoidable. Hopefully I will have more energy and move more, to compensate, but if not? I will have to learn to live with the consequences. Nothing in life is free, is it?

And I have gained over six pounds to date.  Sigh.  BUT my levels are the best they have been in years.  I do best when in my own kitchen, and it definitely shows in my numbers. For the last couple of days, I, have been hovering at a normal level!  This is a miracle for me.  I have been gradually adjusting my dosage, but being the impatient person I am, it was difficult not to go overboard and add more insulin too quickly.

There must be some merit in this fill your face with carbs diabetic diet.  Lunch today was a major coup.  Goat cheese, Craisin, walnut, apple salad. MMM good. 250 calories, 14 carbs. Still not enough carbs, but Rome wasn't built in a day. My goal is to have 30-45 grams carbs per meal, and 15 grams  for my bedtime snack.  My afternoon snack is usually something from lunch that I didn't have room for! I also had a slice of gluten free bread, toasted with 5 gms of butter,  three slices of Piller's turkey breast and five olives.   (Only four in the picture, but there were five! Kitchen duty is hungry work!)  I think the trick is to use small bits of tasty things that give you a luxurious feel to the dish....who wants to face a lettuce and tomato salad when you can have variety like this?  I am determined to use foods that are natural occurring carbs in fruits and vegetables, rather than too many baked or overly processed items.  Gluten free baking is very  carb dense, and not very filling, whereas this lunch? Should keep me until 2:30 when it is time for a snack!




Goat Cheese Craisin Apple Salad

Toast 10 gms of walnuts.

In a mixing bowl, whisk 1 T of Miracle Whip with 1 T skim milk and a dash of vinegar. 
Add 10 gms of craisins, then stir well .

Dice a small apple and toss in with the dressing.

Add a few slices of sweet onion.

Add a well packed  cup of sliced romaine lettuce.

Sprinkle toasted walnuts and 10 gms of unripe goat cheese over all.

250 Calories 14 carbs 13.5 grams of fat