Another gorgeous day in mid-Michigan . . .

. . . and here I sit, coughing and hacking. I didn't get here yesterday because I had a dr. appt that went far longer than I thought, and then I was running hither and yon finding supplies to manage my diagnosis of diabetes. I was hoping that the numbers would have been better, but I kind of suspected they were going the wrong way. I craved sugar all last week, and I was drinking water like there was no tomorrow. The PA was very positive and said that medicine now catches diabetes much earlier and so with some small changes in lifestyle it is very manageable. Carbs need to be watched, but that's something I've always had to do since for most of my adult life I have been hypoglycemic. I pretty much know what I need to do and what foods I can eat. I am looking forward to getting over this awful cold so I can get outside. Exercise acts to lower blood sugar.

To answer some comments that were left here:

For "Foodie":
If it were a milder cold, I would go for it with the walking, but I am really congested and just doing normal stuff has me breathing really hard.

For TJ and Ida:
The Sun (Latin: Sol), a yellow dwarf, is the star at the center of the Solar System.
I hope you see him soon. :)

For Jinx:
I will most likely go with Sugar Busters - no carb counting, just sticking to foods that don't raise insulin. It's a lot like Atkins Maintenance.

Back to my diagnosis - my glucose readings aren't really all that off. What is happening is that once my sugar is up, it takes longer than it should to come back down. I took my first dose of Metformin today. This week I am to take a fasting blood sugar reading on 3 mornings. Today's was 119 which I think is kind of high for a fasting blood sugar.

Then on 2 days, I take a reading 2 hours after a meal. Doing this will give me a pretty good idea of what foods I need to avoid or eat in smaller portions. My kit came with a video and there really isn't anything I can't eat - as long as the portions are controlled. For now I am avoiding all refined sugars and flours because those are triggers for me. As I mentioned before, I have been hypoglycemic for many years. Hypoglycemia is often thought of as the opposite of diabetes, but it really isn't. The diet is pretty much the same and so is the aim of keeping blood sugar level. With hypoglycemia, the pancreas puts out too much insulin which removes more glucose from the blood stream. I'm guessing that after many years of over production, my pancreas wants to rest so now it's not putting out enough, or my body is resistant to its effects - insulin resistance. Hypoglycemia is actually more of a precursor of diabetes.

In my book, the PA wrote that my fasting blood sugar should be below 110 and my readings after meals should be below 160. I did pretty well on the after meal readings, but as I said, this morning's fasting blood sugar was 119.

Afternoon update:
Last night I couldn't sleep because of the coughing and so I popped in the Biggest Loser video from last Tuesday. I missed the first hour because I was at a banquet. I am soooooo glad I taped it. The first part of the show was a reflection on how far the contestants had come. I saw the sadness in their eyes as they watched videos of their former selves and wondered why it is that we can't feel that for ourselves when we are living it. Only in retrospect. I wonder what it would have been like if their former selves had seen a video reflecting their victories ahead of time. I'm probably not making sense, but I think the people that make it in the long haul, are the ones who CAN visualize their victories. I had Tara pegged from the start as the possible winner of this thing. From the start she exhibited a self confidence that made me wonder how she ever got so big in the first place. I can't wait for tonight's episode.