Carb-counting and Insulin Pump Therapy

Today, I met with an RN at my endo's office to discuss carb-counting and insulin pump therapy.

They also weighed me and I've lost 4 pounds since my appointment 2 weeks ago. I was happy to hear that, even if they thought it wasn't necessary. Anyway.

Apparently I've been miscalculating carbs in fruits and rice & potatoes (meh) so after she gave me a carb-counting sheet, we started discussing insulin pumps. She gave me three brochures on some new insulin pumps that she recommends and showed me some of their demo models. I'm not sure which one I'd choose at this point, but two of them might be compatible with my Dexcom in a few years.

One is called the Tandem t:slim and it's a touch screen with a rechargeable battery.
Another is the Medtronic MiniMed 530G and it has its own blood sugar sensor (like the Dexcom) and is really user friendly.
The third is the OneTouch Ping by Animas, and it's apparently "tubeless," meaning there's no tubing connecting the pump to the infusion site.

I'm going to have to look over the brochures more to see which one might be good for me. I'm still on the fence about it.

Looking back on 2013 and Looking forward to 2014

Well, 2013, it's been real.  Today's your last day.  Tomorrow we start fresh with a new year.
Highlights of 2013:  

• getting married in March and honeymooning in the Bahamas for a week.  :) 
• welcoming a new baby nephew in May 
• watching Joe & Georgi get married in June
• visiting my family over the summer and swimming in their pool
• vacationing in Old Fort in August and geocaching for the first time
• self-publishing my first poetry volume in September
• moving to Tennessee in November
• celebrating our first Thanksgiving and Christmas as husband and wife

It's been a good but hard year.  But as hard and frustrating as it has been, I wouldn't change anything.

I've decided that a gluten-free diet isn't enough...I need something more - actually, something less.  I need an even more limited diet.  I need an organic, simple diet like the hunter-gatherers had.  My antibody levels for Celiac may have dipped back down into the normal range, but I still feel sick to my stomach sometimes, as well as lightheaded when I stand up too quickly and nauseous when I shouldn't have any real reason to.  I know there's a lot of damage that's been done to my gut from processed foods and toxins that are being snuck into foods that are being labeled as "safe" to eat (but they're not, of course!).  My blood sugar numbers spike continuously and sometimes drop unexpectedly.  I really do hope that a simple diet like the SCD Lifestyle diet can help me get a handle on my gut healing and blood sugar numbers.  It will involve cutting out grains, starches, and other high carb foods, meaning I will eat nothing but meat (fish, poultry, red meat, etc), veggies, fruits, dairy, and nuts.  Yes, that means no bread, cakes, pies, pasta, cereal, etc.   Not even the "gluten-free" kind.

I want nothing more than to start this new year with that goal first and foremost in my mind.  I've been drifting aimlessly for too long and I have nothing good to show for it.  I want 2014 to be the year that I stop drifting and pick up my paddle and start rowing with a purpose, toward the prize I can't yet see.    

I also want to write more this year.  More poetry, more novel-writing, more blog articles and posts.  I need to make more of an effort to get my "art" on paper.

I'm still trying to decide which direction to take this blog.  2013 proved to not yield the results I was hoping for and I'm honestly surprised about that.  "Don't Kill With Your Words" was my highest viewed post with 465 views.  None of my other posts came anywhere near that number.  As much as I appreciate the traffic, I'm hoping to see a more consistant viewership in 2014 regardless of my post topic.  I guess we'll just have to see what happens.  And once I figure out what to do with this blog, I'll have my answer.

Anyway, may 2014 bring the changes for which we're hoping and the answers which we're seeking.

God bless.

Researching an Old, Healthy Diet

Lately, I've been researching an old, healthy diet that I think I need to try.  No, it's not for weight loss, or weight management, or anything like that.  It's for the health of me and my body.  

Celiac disease has taken its toll.  Even being on the gluten-free diet, I still don't feel the way I know I should.  My stomach still gives me issues, my head aches and throbs for no apparent reason sometimes, and I'm less energetic than I know I can be.  

If you've read my household blog, www.gentleandquietlamb.wordpress.com, you know that I've been researching all natural skin care products, hair care products, and cleaning products, and I've been pleasantly surprised with almost everything I've tried in the past year.  It feels so good to be rid of those unhealthy, chemically-laden, cancer-causing, commercial products that plague our everyday lives.  What's worse is that they are being passed off as "good and necessary" things!   

While researching all the different products I mentioned above, I stumbled upon some articles about the additives (artificial flavors and food coloring, etc.) and carcinogens disguised as preservatives (BHT, BHA, etc.) they put into our foods (aka processed foods).  I couldn't believe that even some of the so-called healthy foods that we are being sold are filled with these sorts of things!  

A few days ago, my mom sent me an article about the same toxins being found in gluten-free foods (and even in higher concentrations than non-gluten-free foods) and, I admit, I was disheartened to hear that the diet I have been prescribed to follow is nothing but a basic surface diet.  It not only neglects to eliminate all of the contributors to my poor health, but it also deceives me into believing that gluten-free foods are "safe" when in reality, they may very well be even more toxic!  

It seems to me like it's a feeble attempt to keep Celiac patients hanging dependently on their doctor's every word.  We're supposed to trust the experts, aren't we?  At least, that's what we've been told to do because the experts know what they are talking about and have our best interest in mind.  

Yeah, right.  If that's true, why aren't they telling us to go on the Paleo diet?  

 

(Y'know, the way human beings used to eat, back before meals were packaged and sold to us in convenient little cardboard boxes?  I knew I admired the Native Americans for a reason.

• They exercised dominion over the animals and used every resource the animals had to offer so as not to be wasteful.  Every part had a use.

• They ate off the land and tended to the plants and fields surrounding their villages, the way God first commanded Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  

At the end of the article about the toxins found in gluten-free foods, there was a link to the author's research on the Paleo diet and I started looking into it for myself to see if it was something that might actually help me in my search for Celiac symptom relief.  I honestly have to say, I wish I had thought about food this way from the beginning.  

- If wheat nowadays is so heavily laden with chemicals and is genetically modified beyond my body's ability to digest, common sense would have me wonder about the genetic and chemical properties of all the other foods I eat on a daily basis! - 

What I found was incredibly encouraging, even though the concept was incredibly simple.  The Paleo diet is basically the hunter-gatherer diet.  It consists of things you can hunt or find, such as the following foods*:

• Meat - GRASS-FED, not grain-fed. Grain causes the same problem in animals as they do in humans.
• Fowl - Chicken, duck, hen, turkey…things with wings that (try to) fly.
• Fish - Wild fish, as mercury and other toxins can be an issue in farmed fish
• Eggs - Look for Omega-3 enriched eggs.
• Vegetables - As long as they’re not deep-fried, eat as many as you want.
• Oils - Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil – think natural.
• Fruits - Have natural sugar, and can be higher in calories, so limit if you’re trying to lose weight.
• Nuts - High in calories, so they’re good for a snack, but don’t eat bags and bags of them.
• Tubers - Sweet potatoes and yams.  Higher in calories and carbs, so these are good for right after a workout to replenish your glycogen levels.

That's the way our ancestors ate before processed foods came along.  You can read about it here (and I strongly encourage you to do so!):

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/10/04/the-beginners-guide-to-the-paleo-diet/

(*Note: list taken from The Beginner's Guide to the Paleo Diet website)

 

The health benefits are for everyone, not just Celiac patients.  If you're living on processed foods like all the other obese, diabetic, and chronically ill people in America, how long do you really think your body can last without developing those same problems?  Our bodies weren't made to be nourished by fake foods.  Our bodies consist of delicate, sensitive vital organs, tissues, and cells which can only function properly with specific nutrients and dietary requirements that just aren't being advocated enough by national experts or doctors.     

The research is out there.  So, why aren't doctors recommending this diet when treating their patients?   

I don't know about you, but I think it's time I went Paleo.