Coffee, Coffee, Coffee!

REPOST from former blog My Type 2 Diabetic Life ©

May 15, 2020

I don’t know about you, but I can’t start my day without my ritual of morning coffee.  It’s my coffee and a protein bar.  Every. Morning.  And I have favorites.  I can’t help it.  Some people are addicted to things like their bazillion calorie frozen margaritas for lunch or dinner, but me?  I have to have my coffee.  If it’s available in an IV, hook me up!

It would be a close race if I was in a coffee drinking competition up against Lorelei Gilmore!  (If you’ve never watched Gilmore Girls, you should!) 

via GIPHY

I get you, Lorelei Gilmore! 

I come from a family of enthusiastic coffee drinkers.  My parents were big coffee drinkers.  My dad drank coffee up until bedtime.  Both of his parents were coffee drinkers.  My dad’s father, “Pa” as we called him, drank his coffee out of a little bowl.  I always thought that was funny.  He drank his coffee like I like mine – with a little sweetener and some cream (stevia & fat free milk, in my case).  He passed away when I was young, but he would let me sneak a sip from his bowl when my parents weren’t looking.  

My mother used to tell me “it will stunt your growth” if I asked for a sip of her coffee when I was a kid.  Her mother, “Grandma” as she was known, drank a LOT of coffee.  Black and super strong.  Her father, “Grandpa” was his moniker,  was never a coffee drinker in my lifetime.  He was a penny-pincher, and the story goes that he declared if coffee became priced over $1.00 a can, then he would never drink another cup.  That price came and went, and he stopped drinking coffee cold turkey.  

So I guess I inherited that love of coffee from most of my family.  I love my Scotty P’s Big Mug Coffee, and my Think Smooth Peanut Butter protein bar.  As the Jonas Brothers sing “We go together… better than birds of a feather, you and me…” 

Image: My Type 2 Diabetic Life © 
Using WordArt.com

Every morning I make my coffee and have my protein bar while I’m getting ready for my day.  Then I have another cup of coffee late morning, and often a cup of decaf after dinner.

I have tried coffee many ways – I’ve tried the Bulletproof method, and it tastes pretty good, but I don’t like the idea of all of the high fats that are consumed in that style of coffee – MCT oil (or coconut oil) and grass fed clarified butter… that was the only way that I’ve ever been able to drink a coffee without some sort of sweetener.  But I just couldn’t get beyond the idea of the high fat, since I am already watching my cholesterol.  

I don’t like the overly sweet fancy versions of coffee you get at some of the fancy coffee shops.  Just the regular drip is my preference.

When I make my coffee, I make a cup of my Scotty P’s Big Mug Coffee, I use a packet of Truvia (stevia), and a splash of ultra-filtered lactose-free, fat-free milk.  

I like the ultra-filtered milk because in an 8 oz serving, it has 13 grams of protein, 6 grams of sugar, 450 mg of calcium, and no lactose – the nutrition facts say that there are 6 carbohydrates in a serving, which is attributed to the sugar content of milk.  

A regular milk 8 oz serving has 8 grams of protein, 12 grams of sugar, 276 mg of calcium, and contains lactose.  There are several brands of ultra-filtered milk.  Many people are familiar with Fair Life, which I have tried before, but I use MooTopia, which is produced by the same corporation, but for a grocery here in our region.

I was worried when I was diagnosed as a Type 2 Diabetic, because I have read in a few places that caffeine could cause blood sugar spikes.  So I was not ready to quit coffee cold turkey.  

I began to purposefully check my blood sugar levels at 30 minute and one hour intervals after having my morning coffee, so that I could make sure I wasn’t sabotaging myself. 

Image: My Type 2 Diabetic Life ©

My waking blood sugar has recently been hovering between 87 – 97 every morning for the past few weeks.  My endocrinologist, Dr. Folb, told me that my fasting blood sugar goal needs to be 105 or below.  Yay!  I’m an over-achiever!

Thirty minutes after drinking my morning coffee and having my protein bar, I have averaged a blood sugar between 118-124.  One hour after drinking my coffee and having my protein bar, my blood sugar has averaged 112-118.  Dr. Folb told me after a meal, it’s ok if my blood sugars get up to 140, and then come back down by the next meal.

Blood sugar check 1 hour after last drink of coffee.

Image: My Type 2 Diabetic Life ©

I’ve not gained any weight back, and my blood sugars have remained in the ranges that my endocrinologist has set for me.  So luckily, I am able to continue drinking my coffee.  

My afternoon and evening coffees are averaging the same numbers.  I’ve asked other Type 2 diabetics what their experiences with coffee are.  I’ve gotten a range of responses.  Some are like me, and it doesn’t affect their blood sugars.  Others have said that they get serious spikes in their blood sugar after just one cup of coffee.  

The most important thing that I would tell another Type 2 Diabetic is to talk to your endocrinologist, and ask them first. Like any food or beverage that you put into your body, always check your blood sugar.  I am always watching what I eat and drink, and checking my blood sugars – if there’s a spike, then I’m all over it like Nancy Drew, being the detective to find out what spiked my sugars, so that it doesn’t happen again.

Let me hear from you in the comments.  If you’re a Type 2 Diabetic, please tell me (in the comment section here) your thoughts on drinking coffee.  

• Does it spike your sugars?  
• How long have you been a coffee drinker?  
• Could you stop drinking it if your doctor told you that you had to stop?  

I’m curious.  

And for those of you who are not diabetic, what are your thoughts on drinking coffee?  I’ve read studies that suggest that if you drink several cups of coffee a day, that it can possibly prevent diabetes.  Obviously, not my case… but I would still love to hear from you in the comments section. 

Thanks for stopping by to read my blog.  I hope that you’ll subscribe – top right corner of the page if on a desktop, and bottom of the post if using a mobile device.  

In the meantime, continue with your social distancing, live well, and be well!   

*Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.

Diet Is Not a Dirty Word

REPOST from former blog My Type 2 Diabetic Life ©

January 24, 2020

My great grandparent’s dining room table. It reminds me of a Norman Rockwell painting.  

Image: My Type 2 Diabetic Life ©

Some of my best memories are around the dining room table enjoying a meal with family and friends.  Breaking bread with others has been woven into society, across all cultures, since the beginning of time.  

My great grandmother would say “I don’t have a thing to feed y’all,” but then her table would be FILLED with food.  It was like clowns getting out of a car at the circus, but in this case, it was that “down home country cooking” coming out of her kitchen.  

The kids’ table (This is not me. 😁 It’s my aunt and cousins.)  Image: My Type 2 Diabetic Life ©

Like many people in modern day culture, I fell into the trap of processed foods.  I recall as a kid, getting excited when we got to eat TV dinners.  Those little aluminum trays of food where each item had its own compartment was quite a novelty for a kid who was a picky eater.  None of the food was touching the other food! 

TV Dinners were a TREAT!
Image: TES.com

For working moms in America, the mantra became “if you can make it out of a box, it’s in like Flynn!”  Bring on the mac & cheese, the rice-a-roni, the hamburger helper, and the frozen chicken strips!  I could say dinner was good “and I helped!”  (If you grew up when I did, you’ll remember that last quip from a commercial using an unnamed boxed product to make baked chicken – and pork chops – that supposedly tasted like it just came out of your grandma’s frying pan.)

When my diabetic journey began, I looked into my pantry and saw a multitude of boxed, processed foods.  Same thing in my freezer and fridge.  So I grabbed the trash can and my sweet husband helped me to cull through it all, and throw out all processed foods.  I even dumped the sugar and white flour out of the canisters, and got rid of the sugar filled sodas.

We then went to the grocery store and started shopping the perimeter.  We loaded up on produce, fresh poultry and fish, nuts, seeds, and whole grain (lowest carb we could find) bread.  We also only drink water, plain sparkling water, and coffee.  We use fat free, lactose free milk in our coffee, and Truvia.  

Image: My Type 2 Diabetic Life ©

I have ALSO learned that the more WATER I drink, the lower my blood sugars are.  WATER is your friend, whether you’re diabetic or not.  We are drinking so much water that we have invested in the 5 gallon refillable jugs (you can get them from Whole Foods or off of Amazon), and we got this nifty pump gadget off of Amazon that just sits on top.

When this began, my first thought was “oh lord, I’m going to have to go on a diet.”  But as I began to search Google for diabetic friendly recipes, I realized that the word DIET is not a dirty word.  We have to eat to fuel our bodies, The word DIET is defined as the kind of food that someone habitually eats.  It doesn’t mean depriving yourself of nutrients.  

There are two things that I began to look at when figuring out if a recipe would be healthy for my body (because what’s healthy for someone else may or may not be healthy for me) – carbohydrates and sugars.  (I’ve not yet had my appointment with the nutritionist, so I’m just kind of going on what I’ve read in the Mayo Clinic book and on the American Diabetes Association web page as my current guidelines.) I try to stay in a range of no more than 30 carbs per meal, and as few sugars as possible.  

If I was going to be cooking from a recipe, how in the world would I know this information?  I know I can read nutrition labels on those boxes, and on cans of stuff, but if I’m cooking from scratch HOW can I figure out the nutrition?  I found a super nifty website that does it for me!  All I have to do is type in my ingredients and it will create a nutrition label!  How cool is that?  At Very Well Fit I use their nutrition label calculator to create a nutrition label for EVERY recipe that I have put in my recipe binder.  (My sweet sister-in-law got me started making recipe binders. Now it’s an addiction, I think. 😆). Very Well Fit draws from the database that is used by the FDA, in order to create their labels. The FDA is who oversees the nutrition label laws in the US, so I trust this site.

Here’s an example of one label that I created for a low carb hummus recipe (not my recipe) using the nutrition calculator. The calories seem a little high, so I’m still not sure if I’m going to make this recipe, or create a new one. When I do, I’ll make sure to write a post about it.

Image: VeryWellFit.com Nutrition Analyzer

So what’s the take away from this long rambling post?  Diet is NOT a dirty word.  I’ve learned that diet is simply the fuel you put into your body.  I’ve also learned that I have to drink LOTS of WATER, and know my carbohydrate and sugar intake.  (Ask your doctor and/or your nutritionist about how many carbs and sugars you should be having per day. Everyone may have different targets.)

In future posts, I’ll share some of the recipes that I’ve used, along with nutrition labels to those recipes.  I’ve started a brand new recipe binder that I am using ONLY for recipes that are diabetic friendly.  I’m still keeping all of my old recipes, and will work through them to see how I can adjust them.

Image: My Type 2 Diabetic Life ©
Binder from: Amazon

I’ll also be adding future posts about the new workout habits that I’m trying really hard to make a part of my life.   

Thanks for reading about my journey.  Feel free to ask questions in the comment section below.  

*Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.

My Type 2 Diabetic Life: A1C – So many things I never knew.

REPOST from former blog My Type 2 Diabetic Life ©

January 23, 2020

I’ve heard the term, but when diagnosed, had no earthly idea what A1C meant, nor how it affected your body, and no medical personnel had ever bothered to even give me a pamphlet explaining it.  I wish I had known, because maybe then it would have made the possibility of diabetes more realistic to me.  A simple blood test was all it took to change everything in my life.  

Along with my diagnosis came the knowledge that my A1C was 8.1.  This had no meaning 

whatsoever to me, so I had to start educating myself.  I starting reading, and found that as your blood circulates through your body, glucose sticks to the blood cells.  The higher the number, the more sugar that is stuck to your blood cells.  “Eating well” for one day or one week, or even one month, before going to have bloodwork is not going to change your A1C, because the glucose (aka sugar) doesn’t drop off of the blood cells for THREE MONTHS!  Holy cow!  So there’s no way of faking my way out of that one. My new endocrinologist doesn’t even want me to fast before my bloodwork. 😲 That way she gets the TRUE picture.  

Here’s a simple animation that I found when trying to find information.  It helped me to understand a little more about what exactly is A1C.

Video Credit:  Vanderbilt University Medical School student, Halleck C

Every cupcake, cookie, hamburger (bun), chicken sandwich, M&M, candy bar, soda, enchilada, tamale, baked potato, you name it – it was sticking with me. It was more than just a “stick to your ribs” kind of thing.  It was “stick to your blood cells I’m gonna tattle on you” thing.  

As I read, I began to understand that not just refined sugar, but anything that was high in carbohydrates was turning into sugar and sticking to my blood cells.  The more I thought about it, the more it actually became disgusting.  

I think I read every single page and link on the American Diabetes Association web page.  I got a much better understanding of A1C from reading their explanation.  The ADA defines A1C “as the estimated average glucose” level in your bloodstream over a three month period – which is called eAG.  It’s kind of scary to read that when we are testing our blood sugar in the morning, and right before meals, that those readings are actually likely lower than what my level really is – so my meter is really like a momentary snapshot, but the A1C is the bigger picture.  

You can learn more by clicking here:  American Diabetes Association 

If you know your A1C, here’s a calculator that will convert your A1C to eAG: American Diabetes Association A1C to eAG calculator

I’m still learning, and have found some confusing information on the ADA website – but it’s what most doctors go by right now.  One page of the ADA website says that the recommendation for A1C is 7% or below.  But another page says if your A1C is 6.5% or higher, you are diabetic.  I’m not sure which one it is, but my goal is to get to 5%, if I can get my body to cooperate.  

I did find some additional information on the National Institute of Health that said if diabetics can keep their A1C at 7% or below, there would be less complications.  You can read about that here:  National Institute of Health – National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

I realize this post seems like a science class lecture, but this is exactly what I needed to learn, in order to understand why I need to cut out refined sugars, and scale way back on carbohydrates, which turn into sugar in the bloodstream. 

I hope some of this is helpful to someone.

Thanks for reading my story. If you’ve got a question or want to comment with additional helpful information, please use the comments section.

*Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.

My Journey: How did I get here?

 REPOST from former blog My Type 2 Diabetic Life ©

January 21, 2020

Welcome to my life… my new life – My Type 2 Diabetic.  This is a journey that my health has catapulted me into, but not without warnings.  Warnings that I, unfortunately, ignored. 

About 5 years ago, I had a checkup with my primary care doctor, who told me “Wow!  You really need to watch your triglycerides!  They’re very high.  Your cholesterol, too!”  I had no idea what this really meant, or how to watch these things that I had seen on advertisements with old people as the characters in the commercials.  

So I continued my life with my wonderful and fun husband.  We enjoyed going out to eat – A LOT.  And we ate yummy things like Chick-fil-A and burgers, and Mexican food.  After all, we live in Houston.  The food capital of America, where there are more restaurants than you can throw a stick at.  We also like to cook, so we made things like steak and baked potatoes, and cakes and cookies.  All the things in life that are delicious.  

In the summer of 2015, I ended up in the hospital for 10 days with acute pancreatitis.  I had no idea how it happened, or what to do to stop it again. I didn’t realize that high triglycerides from eating poorly could cause pancreatitis.  But we became a little more careful about what we were eating.  Barely.  I lost a lot of weight in the hospital.  (The one “positive” side effect of pancreatitis… I guess.)  I vowed to never have pancreatitis again, because… well… PAIN!  More painful than childbirth!  And I prefer sleeping in my own bed, thank you.  Hospital beds are undoubtedly the most uncomfortable.  But even after leaving the hospital, I didn’t seem to recognize the foreshadowing that was pancreatitis – this warning sign that I needed to pay closer attention to my health.

We continued on with our lives – eating out, cooking, having fun with friends.  Occasionally walking the neighborhood greenbelt so that we could pat ourselves on the back and say we got in some exercise.

Fast forward to mid November of 2019.  I went to a new internal medicine physician, who took all the bloodwork, listened to my story about the high triglycerides and high cholesterol, and what I thought was “middle age weight gain.”  I went home to wait on the results of the bloodwork.  I figured she was going to call or email and tell me that I needed to lose some weight.  (Yeah, that weight I lost having pancreatitis?  I gained it back and a little more.)   The afternoon of the doctor visit, I got an email that was ugly and glaring.  The words screamed in my face:  “YOU HAVE DIABETES!  YOUR A1C is 8.1! YOUR TRIGLYCERIDES AND YOUR CHOLESTEROL ARE EXTREMELY HIGH!”  

What does this mean?? There are those words again.  “SIRI!  What does A1C mean?” And all those other medical terms?  I was frantically searching Google to find everything I could about triglycerides and cholesterol and Type 2 Diabetes.  

I asked myself how I had gotten to this point.  But in the back of my mind, I knew that it was because all along, I thought this wouldn’t happen to me.  But here I am now, and how am I going to deal with this?

I began educating myself on diabetes.  As I searched the internet, I found so many sources of information, but the dilemma was which ones were truly reliable.   I also decided to buy a book –The Mayo Clinic Diabetes Diet: 2nd Edition: Revised and Updated, so that I could start learning more about diabetes.

Image:  My Type 2 Diabetic Life

At the same time I began reading this book – which really reads like a college textbook, dry but chock full of information – I also began researching the very best endocrinologists in the Houston area.  (I used to go to one about 15 years ago, but stopped going because the office was so far from our home.) I asked friends, neighbors, and even people on the neighborhood social media app, who they recommended.  It finally came down to one name.  So I made the appointment and waited – they couldn’t get me in until January, 10 weeks down the road.    

In the meantime, as I was reading the Mayo Clinic book, I was also joining various Facebook groups for diabetics.  (That’s a story in and of itself, for another day.)   There were two things that stood out as I was reading – diet and exercise.  Well my diet was not that great, as I already said, and my exercise was lacking, too.  

So I made it my mission to clean up my diet and start working out.  Thankfully, my husband was on board as well, because I needed his support!  

It’s been a whirlwind 11 weeks since my diagnosis as a Type 2 Diabetic.  My life has changed and is continuing to evolve in so many ways.  I hope you’ll continue to follow me and encourage me as I navigate this journey of My (new) Life As a Type 2 Diabetic.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section. I hope you’ll continue to return and read about my journey. 

**Disclaimer:  I am not a medical professional, nor do I have any expertise in medicine, other than my own personal experiences.  This blog only documents my personal journey.  The information contained in this bag is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice.  Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified healthcare professional.  Nothing contained in this blog is intended to be used for medical diagnosis or treatment.