Saturday, April 18, 2015

It's All About You!

There seems to be a tendency among human beings in general to follow the successful ideas of others.   We know that because there are so many successful "do as I do" courses, classes, get rich quick seminars, etc.   Look at the way that product sales soar if Dr Oz recommends it on his TV show!   An unknown herb or supplement can become high in demand overnight!

Of course it is also this way in the diabetic community.   A new diabetes drug is approved and advertised on TV, marketed to your doctor and the next thing you know either your doctor is giving you a sample or you are asking him about it yourself.    When somebody posts a cinnamon "cure"or an okra in water "cure" on facebook every one lines up for it.  When someone else posts on a blog that their blood sugar goes down by 40 points when they walk a mile or pull weeds for 30 minutes you may think that you should try it yourself.  Another diabetic may post that their morning blood sugar is always lower when they eat peanut butter before bed.   You want to try that too!

Disappointingly you may have found that you've tried many of these things that are working for others and instead of lowering your blood sugar it raises it or does nothing for you at all.   That bottle of Bitter Melon capsules is now sitting unused in your cupboard because it raised your blood sugar even though Dr Oz told you how successful it would be at lowering it!    It can be so frustrating!

Why isn't this working!











We are all individuals!  Let's not forget that!   Your body is not Bob's body or Sue's body.    Your liver function is not the same as Bob's and your cortisol (stress) hormones don't respond like Sue's.

Sue can eat peanut butter and you can't.   Bitter Melon worked wonders for Bob but it worked like a placebo for you.   Someone posted a perfect blood sugar reading on facebook after eating a 10 oz steak with a heap of onions on top.  At the same time you're upset because you just had a 30 point rise from your 3 oz piece of "plain Jane"chicken thigh!   It's no wonder you are ready to throw in the towel!

Well, don't do that!   Instead take some time to focus on learning how YOUR body works!

How do YOU respond to stress?  How does YOUR body respond to a one mile walk or raking the leaves?

What is the meat or vegetable portion size that YOU can tolerate for steady blood sugar control?   Maybe you can eat a tomato or perhaps you can't.   So how do you know?

"Nothing worth while is ever easy and nothing easy is ever worthwhile" as the saying goes.   This is true or it wouldn't be quoted often.   You are your own N=1 experiment.  (N meaning the number of people in the experiment).

You may want to stock up on an extra inexpensive meter and additional strips like the Reli-On meter and strips from Walmart.  It costs about $16.00 for the meter and only $9.00 for 50 strips.  You will need to use these for your experiments.

Here is a helpful article to get you started in checking your personal responses to exercise, stress and carbs or other foods.   Believe it or not, some people get a high blood sugar from beef but not from chicken so you may even want to do testing of various proteins on your N=1.

Click on the link below to see some examples of how to run some personal tests on yourself.  These are examples but you can think of more.

What You Can Do to Stop the Blood Sugar Rollercoaster -  By Sheri Colberg, PhD 






Dr. Brian Mowll of Sweetlife Diabetes Center has a short 9 minute video above on how to test your own responses.  He also explains some common terms.   

To finish this up I want to encourage you to make this a journey of discovery of yourself.   In the case of blood sugar control, that is, YOUR personal blood sugar control; it is all about you!   It is not about the other guy!

Do not follow the leader!  Become the leader of your own journey!