Keeping a logbook has been the most valuable thing for me. It keeps me disciplined and gives me information on how I'm doing over time and in response to different activities. It also makes me more accountable on a daily basis. The best way I found to make sure I keep logging was through my iPhone. I use the Glooko products and they've made it so easy to keep an electronic copy that I can take notes on, review, and even share with my DE. Check it out if you get a chance. Bottom line, make sure you logbook! :)
Re: Giving birth to larger than normal baby — This question is unclear -- whose childbirth? My birth or that of my children? I chose to assume it meant my kids' birth. From what I've read, though, this is probably a multi generational problem.
DaveTheCompGuy Re: Blood glucose over 180 mg/dL — For people not in the US - what would this be in mmol/L? In Canada, normal BG is between 4.0 and 7.0.
sab63090 Re: High serum ferritin — don't know
pandemonica Re: High serum ferritin — If your serum ferritin is high, then you may have a hereditary condition called Hemochromatosis which leads to the pancreas, liver, and kidneys oxidizing, literally *rusting*, which leads to diabetes, liver disease, and kidney diseases such as gout.
pandemonica Re: Resveratrol — See http://ajpendo.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/00487.2005v1 for a reviewed study of Resveratrol on Diabetes Type II
I am prediabetic (familial) but I'm monitoring my blood glucose occasionally. I have been taking resveratrol for longevity purposes for 2 years. My blood glucose is still acceptable and I'm 56yo.
pandemonica Re: Resveratrol — Resveratrol has been said to help against Type 2 diabetes. See e.g. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071002131152.htm .
Since it is cheap and looks side-effect-free we could take it or not take it and monitor our blood glucose, and post the results. Anecdote: My mother claims it lowers her sugar quite a bit.
pandemonica Re: Blood glucose monitoring — @Antidrugrep: You are correct, but it's important to mention blood glucose monitoring as a method for things like diet management or people (especially prediabetics) might not know they need to monitor. In most treatments for most diseases, you take something and hope/expect that it works. With diet management, you need to monitor yourself in order to discover and learn what works and what doesn't. The BCM shortens the feedback cycle to the point where diet management works. Without it... well.. "I'm going blind. Must be something I ate in the past two years".
bewing Re: Diet management — A sound maintenance program (diet, exercise) makes a real difference.
Antidrugrep Re: Cinnamon — This is a "natural" treatment that I lump together with medicines like metformin, glyburide, etc. - they don't "cure" diabetes, they help give diabetics a fighting chance to halt or reverse the disease thru substantive changes in diet and activity. Studies showed significant effects with at least 1 gram per day. Just don't make it cinnamon-and-sugar on toast!
Antidrugrep Re: Vitamin D — See "Vitamin D deficiency" category under "causes". For normal weight adults, 4000 IU per day is a good start. Overweight adults probably will need more. Get your levels checked, before and after supplementing for a few months.
Antidrugrep Re: Exercise — Is an explanation even necessary? I think the standard recommendations are okay, as far as they go. The only thing I'd add is try to find ways to move and sweat that are fun and rewarding, rather than boring, unpleasant or painful. No one expects you to train for a marathon or swim the English Channel. More muscle and more time translate into more Calories burnt, everything else is up to you.
Antidrugrep Re: Diet management — This should be the FOUNDATION of diabetes management, along with exercise. Forget the "low-fat, low-sugar, high complex carbohydrate" nonsense. How does fat consumption contribute to insulin resistance? Trick question: it DOESN'T. Sugar and starch(aka "complex carbohydrates") DO. The studies that show such nonsensical diets work were actually short-term calorie-restriction (typically 1400-1500 Calories/day) studies. Caloric restriction works no matter WHAT kind of food you eat. The problem: STICKING WITH IT. Starchy and sugary diets put people on an insulin/glycemic roller-coaster, which drives up hunger, making it virtually IMPOSSIBLE to limit calories in the long run without a violation of civil rights. With high-protein, low-starch/sugar, high-fiber diets, people naturally tend to eat fewer calories, short- and long-term. Just try it. And be creative - it doesn't have to be just lean chicken and celery sticks.
Antidrugrep Re: Blood glucose monitoring — How is monitoring suppose to treat diabetes? All it does is tell you how well treatment is WORKING.
Antidrugrep Re: Vitamin D deficiency — Yes, Vitamin D affects blood sugar control, too. Plenty of scholarly spewage on dead trees to back this up. Deficiency is associated with both insulin resistance AND impaired insulin production/release. Supplement as needed, and get your 25-OH (NOT 1,25-OH) Vitamin D blood levels checked.
Antidrugrep Re: Overconsumption of sugar and starch — The mechanism is pretty clear. Yes, you may roll snake eyes on the hereditary dice and be more likely to develop it sooner. But to emphasize this as the root cause and to plead ignorance as to others is one of the most horrifying instances of willful neglect on the part of the health care industry.
Here's the way it works: starch raises blood sugar just as much and almost as fast as free sugar. Do this often enough and long enough - thereby raising your insulin in response - and your insulin resistance will increase. Insulin resistance is the hallmark of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Period. We've set arbitrary lab value thresholds for insulin resistance vs full-blown diabetes, but THIS DOESN'T MATTER. If you are insulin resistant, and you eat more than enough total sugar+starch to replace muscular stores of sugar(glycogen), you NEED to cut down. The biggest offenders? Wheat, rice, potatoes, and corn. Anything that you eat containing products of these crops is probably contributing to your glycemic load, and therefore insulin resistance. That includes bread, pasta, corn meal, and the "heart healthy" breakfast cereals (the AHA, incidentally, receives lots of money from General Mills and other food conglomerates in exchange for their stamp of approval - caveat emptor). Just read the labels: subtract "Fiber" from "Total carbohydrates", whatever's left will raise your blood sugar. Not fat, not protein, but CARBOHYDRATES. You subtract the fiber because it DOESN'T raise blood sugar. Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway) the Food Pyramid, with the "complex carbohydrates" as the foundation, does nothing more than maintain the market for major crops which would otherwise have to be subsidized. The Pyramid Scheme didn't emerge from the Surgeon General's office, or the Dept of Health and Human Services. It came from the Dept of AGRICULTURE - think about what their job is - hint: it has nothing to do with consumer health. But again, I digress.
Keeping a logbook has been the most valuable thing for me. It keeps me disciplined and gives me information on how I'm doing over time and in response to different activities. It also makes me more accountable on a daily basis. The best way I found to make sure I keep logging was through my iPhone. I use the Glooko products and they've made it so easy to keep an electronic copy that I can take notes on, review, and even share with my DE. Check it out if you get a chance. Bottom line, make sure you logbook! :)
Re: Giving birth to larger than normal baby — This question is unclear -- whose childbirth? My birth or that of my children? I chose to assume it meant my kids' birth. From what I've read, though, this is probably a multi generational problem.
DaveTheCompGuy
Re: Blood glucose over 180 mg/dL — For people not in the US - what would this be in mmol/L? In Canada, normal BG is between 4.0 and 7.0.
sab63090
Re: High serum ferritin — don't know
pandemonica
Re: High serum ferritin — If your serum ferritin is high, then you may have a hereditary condition called Hemochromatosis which leads to the pancreas, liver, and kidneys oxidizing, literally *rusting*, which leads to diabetes, liver disease, and kidney diseases such as gout.
pandemonica
Re: Resveratrol — See http://ajpendo.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/00487.2005v1 for a reviewed study of Resveratrol on Diabetes Type II I am prediabetic (familial) but I'm monitoring my blood glucose occasionally. I have been taking resveratrol for longevity purposes for 2 years. My blood glucose is still acceptable and I'm 56yo.
pandemonica
Re: Resveratrol — Resveratrol has been said to help against Type 2 diabetes. See e.g. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071002131152.htm . Since it is cheap and looks side-effect-free we could take it or not take it and monitor our blood glucose, and post the results. Anecdote: My mother claims it lowers her sugar quite a bit.
pandemonica
Re: Blood glucose monitoring — @Antidrugrep: You are correct, but it's important to mention blood glucose monitoring as a method for things like diet management or people (especially prediabetics) might not know they need to monitor. In most treatments for most diseases, you take something and hope/expect that it works. With diet management, you need to monitor yourself in order to discover and learn what works and what doesn't. The BCM shortens the feedback cycle to the point where diet management works. Without it... well.. "I'm going blind. Must be something I ate in the past two years".
bewing
Re: Diet management — A sound maintenance program (diet, exercise) makes a real difference.
Antidrugrep
Re: Cinnamon — This is a "natural" treatment that I lump together with medicines like metformin, glyburide, etc. - they don't "cure" diabetes, they help give diabetics a fighting chance to halt or reverse the disease thru substantive changes in diet and activity. Studies showed significant effects with at least 1 gram per day. Just don't make it cinnamon-and-sugar on toast!
Antidrugrep
Re: Vitamin D — See "Vitamin D deficiency" category under "causes". For normal weight adults, 4000 IU per day is a good start. Overweight adults probably will need more. Get your levels checked, before and after supplementing for a few months.
Antidrugrep
Re: Exercise — Is an explanation even necessary? I think the standard recommendations are okay, as far as they go. The only thing I'd add is try to find ways to move and sweat that are fun and rewarding, rather than boring, unpleasant or painful. No one expects you to train for a marathon or swim the English Channel. More muscle and more time translate into more Calories burnt, everything else is up to you.
Antidrugrep
Re: Diet management — This should be the FOUNDATION of diabetes management, along with exercise. Forget the "low-fat, low-sugar, high complex carbohydrate" nonsense. How does fat consumption contribute to insulin resistance? Trick question: it DOESN'T. Sugar and starch(aka "complex carbohydrates") DO. The studies that show such nonsensical diets work were actually short-term calorie-restriction (typically 1400-1500 Calories/day) studies. Caloric restriction works no matter WHAT kind of food you eat. The problem: STICKING WITH IT. Starchy and sugary diets put people on an insulin/glycemic roller-coaster, which drives up hunger, making it virtually IMPOSSIBLE to limit calories in the long run without a violation of civil rights. With high-protein, low-starch/sugar, high-fiber diets, people naturally tend to eat fewer calories, short- and long-term. Just try it. And be creative - it doesn't have to be just lean chicken and celery sticks.
Antidrugrep
Re: Blood glucose monitoring — How is monitoring suppose to treat diabetes? All it does is tell you how well treatment is WORKING.
Antidrugrep
Re: Vitamin D deficiency — Yes, Vitamin D affects blood sugar control, too. Plenty of scholarly spewage on dead trees to back this up. Deficiency is associated with both insulin resistance AND impaired insulin production/release. Supplement as needed, and get your 25-OH (NOT 1,25-OH) Vitamin D blood levels checked.
Antidrugrep
Re: Overconsumption of sugar and starch — The mechanism is pretty clear. Yes, you may roll snake eyes on the hereditary dice and be more likely to develop it sooner. But to emphasize this as the root cause and to plead ignorance as to others is one of the most horrifying instances of willful neglect on the part of the health care industry. Here's the way it works: starch raises blood sugar just as much and almost as fast as free sugar. Do this often enough and long enough - thereby raising your insulin in response - and your insulin resistance will increase. Insulin resistance is the hallmark of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Period. We've set arbitrary lab value thresholds for insulin resistance vs full-blown diabetes, but THIS DOESN'T MATTER. If you are insulin resistant, and you eat more than enough total sugar+starch to replace muscular stores of sugar(glycogen), you NEED to cut down. The biggest offenders? Wheat, rice, potatoes, and corn. Anything that you eat containing products of these crops is probably contributing to your glycemic load, and therefore insulin resistance. That includes bread, pasta, corn meal, and the "heart healthy" breakfast cereals (the AHA, incidentally, receives lots of money from General Mills and other food conglomerates in exchange for their stamp of approval - caveat emptor). Just read the labels: subtract "Fiber" from "Total carbohydrates", whatever's left will raise your blood sugar. Not fat, not protein, but CARBOHYDRATES. You subtract the fiber because it DOESN'T raise blood sugar. Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway) the Food Pyramid, with the "complex carbohydrates" as the foundation, does nothing more than maintain the market for major crops which would otherwise have to be subsidized. The Pyramid Scheme didn't emerge from the Surgeon General's office, or the Dept of Health and Human Services. It came from the Dept of AGRICULTURE - think about what their job is - hint: it has nothing to do with consumer health. But again, I digress.