Well, some musings as a pregnant mother.....
So, yesterday I got the fantastic news that I have gestational diabetes again. I only did the one hour test, but it came back at 10.3, grounds for diagnosis and skipping the 3 hr, which is good because drinking that glucose and sitting for three hours makes me feel horrible, and so I am glad I could skip that part of it. I will begin non-stress hospital tests weekly for this.
29 weeks, 4 days, blood pressure 118/65 a bit higher than a month ago, however, this was also after she told me I would be going to a dietician at the diabetes center and given a meter, and strips and would be poking myself six times a day for two weeks to check my sugars.
Im ok with eating as a diabetic, because as long as I kept my carb intake to ONLY good unrefined carbs and non starchy, not only did I keep my weight healthy, but also kept my blood sugars regulated. I am insulin resistant and processed or white carbs make me crave them unbelievably.AFter consuming them I get tired and sometimes my fingers swell, so I do try to avoid them at all costs.
I eat whole grains, sprouted grains and vegetables in place of pastas etc... how people can say that by eating a lower carb diet you are missing out on ESSENTIAL vitamins?
Do these people honestly think that a low carb lifestyle means eating only fats and meat? My goodness, when you replace your amounts of pasta for example with an equal amount of vegetables or sprouted grains, HOW can they say you are lacking vitamins and fibre?
After one year of altering my eating habits, I was re-evaluated by my previous family physician from where I recently moved from and my bad cholesterol had gone down, good cholesterol was up, blood sugars were perfect, (even my throid seemed to be more within normal limits?), my blood pressure was down to a 'perfect' level and I had also dropped about 50 pounds.
The BIGGEST gift to me from that experience was that I no longer craved carbs, sugars or unhealthy things. Food stopped being an addiciton. I had taken control of it and felt FANTASTIC. My energy levels were GREAT, something that never occurred for me when I ate a low calorie low fat diet.
WE NEED fats ,but NOT when we overload with carbs. Our bodies are designed to be able to utilize calories from fats and proteins as energy, but when we feed it carbs instead, our body eagerly uses that form, as it is easiest and our bodies have been mis-trained to do this. As a result, the fats are not used as energy and sit in our blood stream, and they make us fat.
BUT if we used fat as our source of energy and not carbs , we would not have this build up in our body. The more strict, ketonogenic diets have been very productive in dealing with epilepsy and even schitzophrenia, ( http://www.neuro.jhmi.edu/epilepsy/keto.html . Accessed February 2002.
Lefevre F, Aronson N. Ketogenic diet for the treatment of refractory epilepsy in children: a systematic review of efficacy. Pediatrics 2000; 105: e46.
Sirven J, Whedon B, Caplan D, et al. The ketogenic diet for intractable epilepsy in adults: preliminary results. Epilepsia 1999; 40: 1721-6.
Qin P, et al. Risk for schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like psychosis among patients with epilepsy: population based cohort study. BMJ 2005;331:23)
Whereas the basic lower carb diet helps with the nation's big time pharmaceutical pocket stuffer of diabetes, as well as certain allergies etc.
If pregnant, you can still watch your carbohydrate intake BUT you must not go into ketosis, the jury is out as to whether or not this is a risk for the fetus, but until then, err on the side of caution and add some fruits, (very high in carbohydrates) a few starchy veggies here and there. Keeping a carb intake of about 150 is what I plan on doing.
So what does this have to do with my intro today? Well mainly I am dreading my visit to the nutritionist because I already know from past experience how dead set against this they are.
The recommend an amount equivalent to two handfulls of vegetables in a meal- ok, thats fine.... a FIST sized amount of starchy carb, and a PALM sized amount of protein.
Ugh.. My last family doctor a young Japanese man who was VERY against the carb pushing done out here, always talked about how we would like to see the food pyramid revised. Talked about how the Diabetic Associations of North America needed revisioning as well.
A relatively recent statement from the spokesman for the ADA (American Diabetic Association) says:
"Low carb diets are helpful for managing diabetes, but they aren’t recommended because the ADA thinks that low carb is too difficult for people to “live with long term."
And as stated by Laura Dolson from about.com
"In other words, instead of trying to help people follow the diet that is best for them, this prominent organization admits to recommending a diet that is less healthy for diabetics –- a diet that could cause a type 2 diabetic to take more medication, progress to becoming dependent on insulin, or even suffer from any of a number of health problems caused by poor blood glucose control.
One result of this policy is that people who find that low-carb diets work for them in managing their blood glucose end up ignoring the advice of their doctors and nutritionists and striking out on their own in their quest to find a healthier diet. We see these people in our low carb forum. They come looking for help in managing their diabetes -- help they are not getting from the medical community. Many people report that the diet they were advised to follow is not effective in keeping their blood sugar controlled.
This stance of the ADA is equally important for those who are insulin resistant (pre-diabetic, metabolic syndrome). In fact, it is probably a misnomer to call people in this group PREdiabetic -- it is more accurate to say that they are in the early stages of diabetes. In order not to progress to “diagnosable” diabetes, taking care of their health is vital, and reducing carbohydrate intake is arguably the most important thing they can do to prevent progression of the condition. (Exercise also plays a vital part.)
How do you know if you are insulin resistant? The article Is Low Carb For You? lists many of the signs, symptoms, and risk factors for prediabetes. Anyone with diabetes in the family or a woman who has had gestational diabetes is also potentially in this group.
The ADA should be helping diabetics to find ways to make carbohydrate reduction work, instead of insisting that it can't be done." -
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/news/a/adalowcarbdiabe.htm
Laura Dolson is About.com's Guide to Low Carb Diets, is a health and food writer, and develops low-carb and gluten-free recipes for home cooks.For her complete profile see Here
So, I am hoping that I am not told how important it is to eat potatoes and pasta, etc and that through my poking and keeping a journal of my foods, she can see that I am not harming myself and am able to control my blood sugars for the next 8 weeks until my c-section without insulin. I will keep the blog updated with my sugar/diet results lol... there is of course the cahnge that I might TOTALLY blow the whole sugar thing, but I am pretty confident, with my previous diet experience, that it will be fine.
29 weeks, 4 days, blood pressure 118/65 a bit higher than a month ago, however, this was also after she told me I would be going to a dietician at the diabetes center and given a meter, and strips and would be poking myself six times a day for two weeks to check my sugars.
Im ok with eating as a diabetic, because as long as I kept my carb intake to ONLY good unrefined carbs and non starchy, not only did I keep my weight healthy, but also kept my blood sugars regulated. I am insulin resistant and processed or white carbs make me crave them unbelievably.AFter consuming them I get tired and sometimes my fingers swell, so I do try to avoid them at all costs.
I eat whole grains, sprouted grains and vegetables in place of pastas etc... how people can say that by eating a lower carb diet you are missing out on ESSENTIAL vitamins?
Do these people honestly think that a low carb lifestyle means eating only fats and meat? My goodness, when you replace your amounts of pasta for example with an equal amount of vegetables or sprouted grains, HOW can they say you are lacking vitamins and fibre?
After one year of altering my eating habits, I was re-evaluated by my previous family physician from where I recently moved from and my bad cholesterol had gone down, good cholesterol was up, blood sugars were perfect, (even my throid seemed to be more within normal limits?), my blood pressure was down to a 'perfect' level and I had also dropped about 50 pounds.
The BIGGEST gift to me from that experience was that I no longer craved carbs, sugars or unhealthy things. Food stopped being an addiciton. I had taken control of it and felt FANTASTIC. My energy levels were GREAT, something that never occurred for me when I ate a low calorie low fat diet.
WE NEED fats ,but NOT when we overload with carbs. Our bodies are designed to be able to utilize calories from fats and proteins as energy, but when we feed it carbs instead, our body eagerly uses that form, as it is easiest and our bodies have been mis-trained to do this. As a result, the fats are not used as energy and sit in our blood stream, and they make us fat.
BUT if we used fat as our source of energy and not carbs , we would not have this build up in our body. The more strict, ketonogenic diets have been very productive in dealing with epilepsy and even schitzophrenia, ( http://www.neuro.jhmi.edu/epilepsy/keto.html . Accessed February 2002.
Lefevre F, Aronson N. Ketogenic diet for the treatment of refractory epilepsy in children: a systematic review of efficacy. Pediatrics 2000; 105: e46.
Sirven J, Whedon B, Caplan D, et al. The ketogenic diet for intractable epilepsy in adults: preliminary results. Epilepsia 1999; 40: 1721-6.
Qin P, et al. Risk for schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like psychosis among patients with epilepsy: population based cohort study. BMJ 2005;331:23)
Whereas the basic lower carb diet helps with the nation's big time pharmaceutical pocket stuffer of diabetes, as well as certain allergies etc.
If pregnant, you can still watch your carbohydrate intake BUT you must not go into ketosis, the jury is out as to whether or not this is a risk for the fetus, but until then, err on the side of caution and add some fruits, (very high in carbohydrates) a few starchy veggies here and there. Keeping a carb intake of about 150 is what I plan on doing.
So what does this have to do with my intro today? Well mainly I am dreading my visit to the nutritionist because I already know from past experience how dead set against this they are.
The recommend an amount equivalent to two handfulls of vegetables in a meal- ok, thats fine.... a FIST sized amount of starchy carb, and a PALM sized amount of protein.
Ugh.. My last family doctor a young Japanese man who was VERY against the carb pushing done out here, always talked about how we would like to see the food pyramid revised. Talked about how the Diabetic Associations of North America needed revisioning as well.
A relatively recent statement from the spokesman for the ADA (American Diabetic Association) says:
"Low carb diets are helpful for managing diabetes, but they aren’t recommended because the ADA thinks that low carb is too difficult for people to “live with long term."
And as stated by Laura Dolson from about.com
"In other words, instead of trying to help people follow the diet that is best for them, this prominent organization admits to recommending a diet that is less healthy for diabetics –- a diet that could cause a type 2 diabetic to take more medication, progress to becoming dependent on insulin, or even suffer from any of a number of health problems caused by poor blood glucose control.
One result of this policy is that people who find that low-carb diets work for them in managing their blood glucose end up ignoring the advice of their doctors and nutritionists and striking out on their own in their quest to find a healthier diet. We see these people in our low carb forum. They come looking for help in managing their diabetes -- help they are not getting from the medical community. Many people report that the diet they were advised to follow is not effective in keeping their blood sugar controlled.
This stance of the ADA is equally important for those who are insulin resistant (pre-diabetic, metabolic syndrome). In fact, it is probably a misnomer to call people in this group PREdiabetic -- it is more accurate to say that they are in the early stages of diabetes. In order not to progress to “diagnosable” diabetes, taking care of their health is vital, and reducing carbohydrate intake is arguably the most important thing they can do to prevent progression of the condition. (Exercise also plays a vital part.)
How do you know if you are insulin resistant? The article Is Low Carb For You? lists many of the signs, symptoms, and risk factors for prediabetes. Anyone with diabetes in the family or a woman who has had gestational diabetes is also potentially in this group.
The ADA should be helping diabetics to find ways to make carbohydrate reduction work, instead of insisting that it can't be done." -
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/news/a/adalowcarbdiabe.htm
Laura Dolson is About.com's Guide to Low Carb Diets, is a health and food writer, and develops low-carb and gluten-free recipes for home cooks.For her complete profile see Here
So, I am hoping that I am not told how important it is to eat potatoes and pasta, etc and that through my poking and keeping a journal of my foods, she can see that I am not harming myself and am able to control my blood sugars for the next 8 weeks until my c-section without insulin. I will keep the blog updated with my sugar/diet results lol... there is of course the cahnge that I might TOTALLY blow the whole sugar thing, but I am pretty confident, with my previous diet experience, that it will be fine.
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