Lemon Zest Cookies

I made Lemon Zest Cookies today!  They turned out really good!

Here's the recipe I used.

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup Pyure
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• Zest of one lemon
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp Pyure liquid stevia extract

1. Preheat oven to 325F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sweetener, egg, lemon zest, lemon juice and stevia extract. Beat in almond flour mixture until well combined.
4. Form by hand into 8 to 10 even balls. Flatten with the palm of your hand to about 1/2 inch thick circles.
5. Bake about 20 minutes, until set and just barely brown around the edges. Remove and let cool on pan.
   

Adapted from http://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2014/11/low-carb-lemon-poppyseed-breakfast-cookies.html

New sensor spot + new recipes to try!

I changed my Dexcom sensor today to my other arm.  My other sensor was going on the fritz so I figured it was done.  It was giving me false high and low alerts, which is annoying because that will mess up my figures in the Dexcom Studio software some.  *sigh*  Oh well.  This new one seems to be doing well now!

I have a few low carb recipes lined up to make and try!  I'm really excited!  One is for lemon cookies and the other is for pudding!  I'll post them after I try them and let you know what I think!

Reflections of a Diabetic

I've had a lot of thoughts running through my head lately; in particular, thoughts about the Gospel and diabetes and the low carb diet.  

I never realized how much they are alike.  

What is the Gospel?
The Gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, came to Earth to redeem us (sinners) to Himself by dying the death that we deserve and being raised to life on the third day, defeating death and offering us eternal life and salvation if we would believe in Him.  He is the only way to this salvation and eternal life.  Without Him we face separation from God and spiritual death when our physical bodies die.  With Him we have hope and life everlasting. 

This is the good news, but not everyone accepts it.  Not everyone accepts it as truth.  They reject it, scoff at it, and persecute those who do believe it.  They make up other false beliefs and religions to try to create their own truth, and then manage to deceive other people into following them. 

What is the good news for diabetics?
In a very similar way, the good news for diabetics is the low carb/ketogenic diet.  It has been around for hundreds, even thousands of years, and was the diet that diabetics were placed on at the turn of the 20th century, before insulin was discovered in 1921 and successfully used in a patient in 1922.  Medical professionals at that time understood that diabetics could not metabolize carbohydrates and sugar, and placing them on carbohydrate restricted diets was the only thing they could do for their patients. 

Then, in the mid-1970s, the low fat, high carb diets began gaining popularity and became the normal recommended diet for all patients, diabetics included.  This proved catastrophic as the number of patients who developed both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes skyrocketed in the next 40+ years.  However, the medical professionals still turn a blind eye to these facts and continue to push for high carb diets for their diabetic patients.  A few doctors and patients have turned against the tide, and are facing resistance, but are seeing high levels of success.  

In the same way that the Gospel is being shared in a world that fights against it, the low carb diet is fighting against nay-sayers for the benefit of diabetics. 

Both meet resistance, persecution, scorn, and ridicule. 
Both are being pushed aside as false, or folly, or myth. 
Both offer hope, life, and good things for those that follow them (though the Gospel is highly superior, of course!). 
But truth is being shunned, cast before swine, and falling on deaf ears.  

In the same way that Christians should share their faith (with excitement and enthusiasm), diabetics and health professionals should share the truth and benefits of a low carb diet with other diabetic patients.  No one else is going to step up and proclaim the truth, especially when they are so blinded by the deception that is being passed off as truth by the rest of the world. 

Only those with eyes to see can lead the blind. 
Only those with ears to hear and mouths to speak can share the good news.
Only those who have seen and tasted the good fruit of their labor can adequately share it with others.      

Truth be told, I'm a very reserved person and don't like to toot my own horn.  I have improved a little but it still doesn't feel "right" to me.  I think my comfort with sharing my personal successes has improved only because I do my best to give credit where credit is due and that's to the Lord for showering me with so much loving-kindness.  I have to remind myself that it's all because of Him that I'm doing as well as I am, because I'm nothing on my own.

You can feel uncomfortable with sharing your own good news, but you can also think of it as a celebration - something is working for you and you're excited, so why wouldn't you share it? 

Especially when it can bring light and life to those around you.

A Perfect Day

I'm blown away by God's kindness and goodness to me.  My blood sugars yesterday and even today have been pretty much perfect!  Check it out:

Later on I'm going to share with y'all what it's like to go through a day in the life of a diabetic.  Most people have no idea what kinds of things I have to do to manage my diabetes.  So I'm going to show you.

Today's Results

Today's appointment went pretty well, over all, but I have to admit I was disappointed.  I was praying my A1C would be lower - in the 5s - but that proved to not be the case.  It came back at 128 mg/dl, or 6.1%.  Everything else looked good, although my thyroid was a little higher than Carrie would've liked.  She left my dose as is though, since there isn't an in between dose.  We'll see how things look in a few months when I go back on June 23rd.  

Anyway, I was so disappointed when I got home that I took one of the home A1C tests I'd bought not too long ago to see how it compared.  This is the result I got:

Yes, it's in the 5s.  And Dr. B's A1C chart says I'm in the high 5s (5.8) so I guess that's where I am.  I'm trying to figure out how to get out of this rut.  I thought I'd been cracking down on things but I guess I haven't as much as I thought.  I feel so close yet so far...again.  And it's annoying because even though it's ever so slight, I've gone backwards a bit.  I know I had a bunch of false lows on my Dexcom (which I pointed out to Carrie and showed her what my actual readings were), and some random highs here and there, which I'm sure messed up my A1C since they were so close to my appointment date. 

A1C is measured as:
50% - 30 days
25% - 30-60 days
25% - 60-90 days 

So the closer you are to your test day, the more heavily weighted those readings are toward your results. 

Maybe next time I won't get my hopes up so much.  I'll probably just be disappointed again.