Got Diabetes? Eat Cake!

It seems to be unique to diabetes that it is a disease that is really not to be taken seriously. That is, of course, until it actually DOES get serious!    Until then many diabetics and their families, their health service providers, dietitian's and the world in general is blind to the fact that this is a disease which has many serious consequences when ignored.

Diabetics themselves also tend to be in denial  even in the first days and weeks of the scary diabetes diagnosis.   Many don't want to use their meters (assuming that their doctor even suggested one). Rather than understanding that life is going to have to be different now many question how they can continue to eat as they always did by "just cutting back a little bit" and take the medications.   That may go okay for a while but it won't make diabetes get better or go away.  Diabetes is not simply a broken bone!

Society doesn't help.  Diabetics get shamed into eating as if they are not diabetic.  They are told "One plate of ice cream and cake won't hurt you!" or "One donut isn't going to kill you!  Enjoy it!  This is a party!" or they may resort to something even more shaming like "Isn't the food I'm serving good enough for you?"

I sometimes hear people say "Just take an extra pill." or "Can't you just go on insulin?"  That is easy for them to say since they have not been diagnosed and don't have to give themselves a shot!    I have seen some of my diabetic family members load up their plates with rolls and potatoes with gravy, pizza, juice and dessert and saying "I can eat anything I want!  I just take my pill and I'm not worried about it" as they throw their head back in a good ole laugh!  

Think about other diseases or conditions that have perhaps less life threatening consequences but are actually taken seriously!   When someone says "My cholesterol is high so I have to skip the butter" no one says "Oh come on!  You only live once!"  No, in fact everyone in the room will nod their approval.  Someone who says that their Gerd or heartburn will act up if they eat a bowl of chili seems to be very much understood.  A person who has had a previous stroke is usually taken very seriously by their family, friends and co-workers.   They don't tell the former stroke victim not to be worried about it happening again.

Grocery products are very careful to note on packaging that something is gluten free so as not to make someone who is sensitive sick.   Packages will say clearly that a product is made in a factory that may have also handled nuts in order to warn those with a peanut allergy that the product may cause them harm.

Hospitals are notorious for not taking diabetics carbohydrate intolerance into consideration.   They treat diabetics as though they actually need more carbs and sugar than normal people do!   Even if the diabetic is in the hospital for a foot amputation a glucose drip is given along with plates full of bread, fruit, milk and juices.   If the diabetic patient complains the nurse just purses her lips and says "Don't worry honey!  We have insulin for you!"    

What is the answer to the way that the diabetes epidemic is not being taken seriously by society?   What is the answer to the way that diabetics are told that there is nothing you can do to get better?

The tide is changing a bit.  There are more doctors and nurses and other health care providers who have recognized that Diabetes does in fact have very dangerous consequences that can end up shortening lives by years.

It is interesting that a large number of the health practitioners who have come around to a low carb way of eating are also the health practitioners who handle the most severe complications of the disease.  Those who are dealing with the kidney disease, the eye disease and those who have done hundreds of amputations in their practice.  They see the patients who are finally succumbing to the end stages of the disease when changing to a low carb diet would have probably kept the patient from being in their offices'.

While it seems impossible to change those who make the guidelines that diabetics are told to follow we now have the impact of social media and diabetics are beginning to actually question their physicians and diabetes educators bringing them studies and books to show what they have learned.

It is sad that I see so many diabetics talk about how they have actually been shamed by their diabetes educator for actually trying to get well!   Some doctors even "fire" their patients for refusing to eat a high carb diet!   "It's progressive. There is nothing you can do to stop it and you are going to need insulin!  That's just the way it is and you need to accept it!"

So, LET US EAT CAKE!    (not!)

Does Your Relationship With Food Define You?

The new year is coming upon us! Yes, resolution time again! The gym memberships will surge, Weight Watchers will advertise their specials and many will once again for the umpteenth time try to adhere to a diet and exercise program. Again at this time of the new year I would like to address our "self talk" and beyond that a person's belief in "self hate" or "self loathing". This is often the recipe for failure. Food and your relationship with food does not make you a good or bad person. Whether you are overweight or not does not dictate your goodness or worthiness for living. Yet, many tell themselves this exact lie! Do you?

If you try and you fail do you consider that this is human and the success lies in pulling yourself up and starting over again? Or when you fail do you tell yourself that you are never going to be anything but a failure and that you are not even WORTHY of success SO "I might as well just give up!" Which one are you? Can you change? Yes you can change! There is no failure if you keep getting up and get going! There was once a man who failed over and over again. Abe Lincoln, one of the most loved and respected presidents in the U.S. A common list of the failures of Abraham Lincoln (along with a few successes) is: 1831 - Lost his job 1832 - Defeated in run for Illinois State Legislature 1833 - Failed in business 1834 - Elected to Illinois State Legislature (success) 1835 - Sweetheart died 1836 - Had nervous breakdown 1838 - Defeated in run for Illinois House Speaker 1843 - Defeated in run for nomination for U.S. Congress 1846 - Elected to Congress (success) 1848 - Lost re-nomination 1849 - Rejected for land officer position 1854 - Defeated in run for U.S. Senate 1856 - Defeated in run for nomination for Vice President 1858 - Again defeated in run for U.S. Senate 1860 - Elected President (success) Don't let the bad thoughts you have heard in your own head dictate how you will respond to the food that is around you! You always get to choose whether you try, don't try, try harder, or whatever. It's not a reflection on your personal character. I don't believe any of us are perfect 24/7 ! We were not/are not perfect parents either but we didn't quit! It's too important! So don't quit! Your health is too important! If you mess up go do it again! Stop telling yourself that you are a bad person! Don't let anyone else tell you that either! Don't make a resolution that you will not keep! Make a detailed written plan that you can keep! Then tell yourself that you can do it and that you are not a failure!

Are You Sabotaging Your Success?

Years ago I read a book that changed who I am. It was a book about how our own "self talk" makes us succeed or fail in many ways. The book taught me to examine what I was saying in my own head to be unsuccessful. In my case in my young adult life at the time I had very low self esteem and experienced panic attacks in groups. The book told me to pay attention to what I was telling myself at those times and to write it down. I began to see a pattern of how I told myself how worthless and unimportant I was. I even thought that people were laughing about me. I mean how silly to think that anyone was that concerned about ME!

At the time I was also probably at my highest weight and was eating to sooth myself. This was something that I didn't recognize was tied to my dislike of myself and my fear of others.

It was my self talk that affected my eating patterns. It was not just what I told myself about food, it was also what I told myself about my lack of self control. I gave myself reasons to be out of control. I told myself why I couldn't succeed.

Once I started listening to my "self talk" and writing it down I realized that I was sabotaging my own life! I was bullying myself! It is bad enough to be bullied by others but it is worse to bully yourself into failure!

I write this because it applies to "lack of self control" or "failure" in changing diet, walking away from the cake, closing the refrigerator door, putting the junk food item back on the shelf and in many more ways that we tell ourselves "why I can't do this"!

How does this apply to reversing diabetes? It applies because it is our "self talk" that makes us give up. It is our "self talk" that makes us believe that we can't do this. We tell our self that "it isn't fair", we tell our self that "I just can't give this up". We tell our self that "I have no control".

So listen to your self talk. Write it down just as you are thinking it! I bet you do not even realize what you are saying about yourself until you listen and write it down.

In the book I read called "Telling Yourself The Truth" by Author's William Backus and Marie Chapian there are chapters called "Misbelief in Self Talk", "Misbelief in Lack of Self Control" and another called "Misbelief in the Fear of Change".

There are many more misbeliefs that we tell ourselves that can make us unable to stop the cycle of bullying ourselves and making us feel that we can not succeed, but we can succeed! So get a pen and paper and start journaling what you are telling yourself. You may be very surprised to discover what your inner bully is telling you!

The Magic OF Ketosis!

Besides lowering blood sugar what does the LCHF ketogenic diet do for you and why is the side benefit often weight loss? There is a really good explanation of this as I have experienced in my own life while eating this way since December of 2012. When I first started eating this way I did start out eating 3 meals a day and even a snack at night. Sometimes I did just skip breakfast though or just had breakfast for lunch. Still, I ate kind of as we were taught to eat trying not to skip too many meals.  

As months went by things changed. I didn't need to eat for many hours after waking up and in some cases literally just "forgot" to eat. I had my Bulletproof Coffee in the morning and it kept me going until 1 or 2 PM. When I finally was hungry I ate my 75-80% fatty meal keeping my carbs low and my protein moderate like the size of my inside palm. As a diabetic large amounts of protein can be problematic as they can convert to glucose or glycogen that may increase blood glucose later.  

As time went on I was even less hungry and went even longer between meals. Sometimes as long as 22 hours naturally. So even though I was eating high fat meals I was burning body fat. You can easily understand the reason. I stopped eating! I was fasting! I didn't think of it as fasting though. Not at all. I just followed my body's natural desire to eat or not eat. It really is a simple concept!  

The biochemistry isn't so simple though. I am not a biochemist and I'm not going to pretend to be one but here are the basics. Eating less often naturally lowers your insulin levels. Eating moderate protein also keeps insulin levels lower than eating a 12 ounce steak. Of course if I only ate one meal in 24 hours I could certainly take in a larger protein portion because for the next 23 or more hours of not eating my insulin will be low during that time. Don't get me wrong here! I am not telling you that you have to fast. I am telling you that eventually you just will end up doing it and you won't even think about it in that way! That is part of the magic!

The magic of the lowered insulin levels is that fat burning begins! Fat stores that have been unable to be utilized now can be released. There is no additional fat being stored from your diet because you are not overeating carbs, proteins or even fat. You are eating just enough! Your body perceives you in a fasted state (low insulin) and begins to use the body fat. This is a natural thing. It is just like the tribes who hunted but didn't get their kill for a few days. Did they lose their energy? Were they unable to continue to hunt because they needed food! No, not at all! They burned their body fat as naturally designed to do. We have done it for thousands of years. Only in the last 35 years have we been taught to eat our 3 meals and 2 snacks. What has that accomplished? The LCHF ketogenic diet is best for blood sugar, it's best for health and it seems to be the best for weight loss because you keep your insulin low and the reality is that it seems to lead to naturally just plain eating less food! So is a LCHF diet a super high fat diet? No it is not at all! Not when you become fat adapted and are not eating your 3 meals and 2 snacks! You are now burning body fat instead because you don't need to eat 24/7. You will be reversing high blood sugar and reducing meds. This is the best gift of all!