And So It Begins...

There is so much to say about this disease called diabetes, so I might be posting frequently for awhile...til I get it all out of my system. It has only been a year, but so much has happened. We have learned a lot, Urban Cowboy and me...but we are still learning and there is so much to learn.

Years ago, when the Atkins diet was popular, we tried it. It didn't last long because even though we lost weight and our triglycerides were better than ever, I was afraid of the amount of fats that you had to consume. So after about 6 months or so, we returned to the Standard American Diet...aptly called SAD. But as we were taking ourselves off the Atkins plan I said to myself -- if you had diabetes, this is how you should eat.

So, when we were faced with the diabetes diagnosis I recalled that experience and I began an online search for a carbless way of eating. Awake in the middle of the night, I would search for as much information as I could find. One of the first places I landed was Jenny Ruhl's bloodsugar101.com

I think I was up all night reading all the pages she had posted. One of the first things I learned is that Urban Cowboy should be testing his blood for glucose frequently. He was not open to doing this initially...maybe I became a bit of a nag...and eventually he agreed to do it. I remember the day we were at Costco and he decided to buy a glucometer. And you also have to buy test strips to go with the meter...the strips are the expensive part. We took that meter home and read all the instructions. Urban Cowboy began testing his blood first thing in the morning and an hour and 2 hours after each meal. #learningcurveglucometer  #haveyouevernaggedanUrbanCowboy #thankyouJennyRuhl

And, of course, while you are focused on checking your blood for glucose...it is necessary to also focus on how many carbohydrates you are eating each day. So we began a journal to record everything so that when we went to the doctor...or the diabetes education classes, we could show them what we had been doing.
#learningcurvecountingcarbs #diabeteseducation #diabetesjournal

Pride!