Continuing My Cure!

Beginning My Journey of IF (Intermittent Fasting)

An image of candy in a bowl
An image of candy in a bowl

I began this journey on Sunday, December 11, 2017.  A couple of weeks before that I had one of my few bouts with depression when it hit me that my daughter and her family, including my two precious and adorable grandsons, had only six more weeks until they moved out of the US to Papua New Guinea as Wycliffe Bible Translators.  It will be over two years before I see them in person again.  That was so depressing that I did what I usually do for comfort – eat!  I ate half a bag of MM’s which tasted great and made me feel better until I tested my BGLs (blood glucose levels).  It was into the 500’s which was a wake up call.  I immediately got online and read about high blood sugars (hyperglycemia) and it really scared me.

I was so mad at myself that I would do this.  I realized if I didn’t get my blood glucose levels under control, I may not be here when they do get back in two years.  I made up my mind right then that I would change and do something about this – get my sugars under control and also my weight.  Even thought I had been eating much better during 2016 and had lost 30 pounds, I had gained 6 back and I was still morbidly obese – my BMI was over 40 and I was stuck in a wheelchair because of my weight, back pain and deconditioned body.

Luckily my blood pressure was okay, and my heart was ok as far as I and my cardiologist knew.  I wanted to keep losing weight, along with getting my blood glucose levels under tight control.  My daughter had never knew me thin and in shape (I became overweight during my pregnancy).  I want to be thin and healthier and hopefully out of this wheelchair when my kids return on furlough in two years.

I determined to be more strict with my diet and start my water aerobics again in 2017 since I have access to an indoor pool year round.  I began to research and read more about controlling diabetes and losing weight.  Then I ran across an article on Dr. Jason Fung and his book “The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended”.  I downloaded the book to my iPad and read it.  He described helping his patients actually cure their diabetes through intermittent fasting (IF).  Many had lost weight and got off all of their medications in a few months.  I was definitely intrigued by this and his research.  He described his experience with intermittent fasting and that of some of his patients.  He also compared IF to bariatric surgery.

My previous diabetes doc had encouraged me to consider bariatric surgery; however I have a bone marrow problem in which I produce too many platelets and abnormal ones at that.  This make me a clotting and stroke risk.  I had actually had a stroke after a previous elective surgery to repair a large hernia, and while I was fortunate that I did not have a lot of lasting damage, I had decided to not plan on having any more elective surgeries.

So when Dr. Fung said this about fasting:

“If you do not feel well for any reason, you simply stop fasting.  It is entirely reversible within minutes.  If you wish to stop fasting for several weeks for personal or medical reasons, then you may do so. If you want to indulge during the Christmas holidays or during a summer cruise, you can do that as well.  Simply get back on the program once you are finished. 
Compare this to bariatric surgery (sometimes called “stomach stapling”).  It has helped many people lose a lot of weight, at least in the short term.  But this surgery has tons of complications, almost all of which are irreversible.  And you cannot simple reverse the surgery itself.  It’s permanent.  if you are doing poorly, that’s simply too bad.  Fasting, on the other hand is completely within your control; you may fast or stop fasting anytime you wish.”

So fasting is basically like bariatric surgery
without the surgery!

I have had friends to have bariatric surgery and they had some serious complications requiring additional surgeries.  I definitely did not want to chance this.

After reading Dr. Fung’s book, I did more research on intermittent fasting, finding lots of resources and downloaded and read another book on IF.

“Intermittent Fasting – Yes to Carvings! Lose Weight, Gain Muscles & Get Lean the Easy and Enjoyable Way”

An image with graphic text Facebook
An image with graphic text Facebook

Then I looked into support groups on FaceBook and found the “Wefast Intermittent Fasting Community “which is a closed group, but I asked to join and was quickly allowed to join the group.  I read the various discussions and began to learn more about IF and then began asking some questions myself.  Everyone was very helpful and of course knew much more than I did about fasting.

I started my version of IF on a Sunday and tried some fasts of 12-18 hours and lo and behold I realized I could do this and not be ravenous during the fasting period.  I would fast from dinner to lunch the next day with no problem.  I continued to read more about IF and ask additional questions.

I especially had questions about how much of my insulins, both short and long acting, I needed to take.  I would talk with my regular physician about this but I don’t see him until January 13, 2017.  One of the members of the fasting community was a doctor himself and he began to take me under his wing and suggest what I should do about my medications.  Doc Manny (Dr. Manuel Lam)  even made up a schedule of fast/non-fasting days for me to follow.  Dr. Lam has become my FaceBook friend and is helping me with lots of my questions about what to eat and how to keep my blood glucose levels from dropping too low.  I’m so thankful to have his help.

My BGLs stayed pretty high at the beginning, but now they are coming down except for my usual morning highs.  I even broke a fast yesterday for my sister’s and I to have our annual “holiday sister’s luncheon”.  We traveled to a great restaurant at a vineyard (Wiederkehr’s Weinkeller Restaurant) and had a wonderful meal together.  Then I went back to fasting.  I must admit last evening I did have a couple of moments of slight cravings, but I drank some bone broth and ate a spoonful of coconut oil twice and I’m back to no hunger today.  I will fast today and tomorrow be back to eating low carb, whole food.

Today is day 11 of my IF journey and I’ve had several fasts and am moving to alternate day fasting.  I weighed 260 on December 11 and today I weigh 252.8., that’s 7.2 pounds.  I’m excited about this and encouraged to keep this up.  I still have a long way to go, but now there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.

Comments

Thanks for looking at my site and coming to this page. I would love for you to leave any questions or comments below.  In addition, I’m open to new topics to research and comment on as they pertain to my own health and experience living with diabetes.  Please share your interests and questions in your comments.  I also love to hear others stories about how they handle their own diabetes issues.

– Shirley

 

Experiencing a diabetic low (hypoglycemia)

What a hypoglycemic attack is like?

Many people may wonder (even some new diabetics) what a hypoglycemia attack or a diabetic low  feels like.  I’ve had many of them and while I’ve never been so low as to lose consciousness or require hospitalization, none of them have been any fun.

What is a diabetic “low”?

An image of a blood glucose meter showing 48
An image of a blood glucose meter showing 48

Low blood sugar (glucose) can result from several things:

  • Lack of food
  • Exercising without eating to replace carbs burned
  • Drinking too much alcohol
  • Medications, even diabetic medications
  • Certain illnesses and disorders

My lows tend to be from not eating enough and then taking my regular insulin injections.  This then brings my blood glucose levels down below 70 on my meter.  Most (actually all of the time) times I can recognize the feelings of my BGL going down and know what is coming.  When that happens, I can check my level earlier and catch it before it gets too low. Continue reading “Experiencing a diabetic low (hypoglycemia)”

Lets follow Hippocrates advice

Hippocrates had some good advice

Hippocrates said

“Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food”
-Hippocrates

An image showing a healthy salad
An image showing a healthy salad

Hippocrates was one of the most important figures in establishing medicine as a profession.  He lived around 300-400 years BC.  He founded the Hippocratic School of Medicine and is thought of as the Father of Western Medicine.  It is also thought that he or a student of his wrote the Hippocratic Oath in which our modern physicians swear to uphold certain ethical standards.

Because I was curious about the oath and you may be also, I’m including it below: Continue reading “Lets follow Hippocrates advice”

Curing My Diabetes!

Will this Cure Me?

An image of a woman walking dogs
An image of a woman walking dogs

This week I decided to cure my diabetes.  This disease has disrupted my life over and over and I have suffered lots of pain, frustration and even fear over the years.  Plus treating it has been pretty expensive both money wise and time wise.  I discovered a book by Dr. Jason Fung titled “The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended“.  Dr. Fung claims that intermittent fasting (IF) has healed many of his patients.  I read this book and the testimonials of many of the patients who lost weight and got off all their diabetic meds and normalized their blood sugars.  It was very encouraging and I decided that I wanted to try this approach myself.  The one statement in Dr. Fung’s book that made up my mind is that

 

“…fasting is just like bariatric surgery without the surgery”

Continue reading “Curing My Diabetes!”

My weight loss journey continues

It’s all about Food

image of fresh, gluten-free sald
A fresh, gluten-free salad

Well, its been a while since I’ve blogged my journey.  As I continue eating the “whole30” way, and researching this way of eating (WOE), I am more and more in favor of this WOE.

I’ve managed to keep to my 26 pound weight loss (gaining back around 4 pounds from my high of 30 lost), even during the stress of selling my home and moving to a new home in a new town.  Although the stress of living out of boxes and not having a functional kitchen has stagnated my progress for weeks at a time, I’m still determined to stick with it because of the many other benefits of eating this way.

Why do I want to stick with this plan?

I’m finding that when I cheat too much or fall off the wagon and begin eating fast food and more processed food, that my pain and swelling increases dramatically.  I can cheat just a little with no major problems, but too much wheat, sugar, soy, etc.,  and my body starts rebelling.  My blood glucose rises and my joints and muscles begin to ache.  Once again, I find I cannot sleep at night because of the discomfort.  A few days of pain and I’m very willing to go back to eating whole and unprocessed foods.

My diabetes doc has been extremely happy with me also; especially for losing 30 pounds the last time I weighed in his office and he has lowered my insulin doses twice to help me avoid lows (lol! this seems so funny for me with my history of high BGLs).   My ultimate goal is to go completely off the insulin injections and I really believe I can do that if I persevere.

Continue reading “My weight loss journey continues”

Encouraged by my Whole30 diet

It Starts With Food

Its been a while since I posted because I’ve been in lots of pain and discomfort and extremely busy with helping get our home decluttered so every room can be repainted.  I’m also reorganizing all the drawers and closets to clear out stuff we don’t use anymore.

We had our old kitchen remodeled with new cabinets, back flash and tile and I’m loving it.  I have granite countertops, pull out drawers, a cool cutlery drawer and under counter lighting.

My hip and back pain had reached a level I almost couldn’t bear and I had decided to talk to my rheumatologist about back and hip surgery.  But then I read about the Whole30 eating plan and was very intrigued by the results I’ve been reading about.  So I purchased the ebook about the program and one of the receipe books too.  I began this fairly restrictive way of eating around the 9th of April (at least I then began eating lots of veggies and less bread and gluten free food).  On April 24th I started the complete plan with all its restrictions in earnest.

Continue reading “Encouraged by my Whole30 diet”

Is it worth the pain and depression?

Do you ever get tired of it all?

Some days I really do get tired of everything and wonder “why am I still here Lord?”  This rarely happens, but when I’ve been in pain for days on end, I can get pretty depressed and think those kind of thoughts.

Living with chronic pain

Actually I can’t remember when something didn’t hurt.  It seems like there is always some part of me that is in pain. Between the fibromyalgia, degenerative discs, hip pain and of course the neuropathy, I never seem to get a break.

It doesn’t help that docs are so hesitant about issuing pain meds nowadays.  For me, the extra strength Tylenol just doesn’t do it.  The tramadol my rheumatologist prescribed does help some, but I’m afraid of taking too many of them because of side effects.  It is a synthetic version of codeine and can be just as addictive.  It can also cause strokes, seizures, and other issues.  However, recently I have tried taking one or two more each day.  Up to now, I’ve doled them out 1 in the morning and 1 at night.  Now I’m taking an extra 1 twice day when I absolutely can’t relax or sleep because of the pain.

The worst of it is that when I feel a little better, I try to do more things and then I have to bear the consequences of doing that.  For instance, Mel and I went to our vacation home 5 hours away for a long weekend recently and I drove on the way up and basically paid for that for the next three days (Mel had oral surgery the morning we left so I had to drive).  Then when we came home and Mel drove.

I was still hurting so much from the drive up, that I was literally miserable the entire way home. I couldn’t get comfortable no matter what I did.  My restless legs kicked in and I spent the entire trip basically rocking back and forth in my passenger side seat without my seat belt so I could stretch forward and relieve the pressure on my lower back and stretch my legs.  I was exhausted when I got home and went straight to bed.  After getting up and trading the bed for the recliner several times, I finally went to sleep and woke up around 10am the next day.  Today I’m researching chronic pain.

Being in pain is not easy, especially when the pain does not go away. Chronic pain is a debilitating condition for the millions of people who live with it every day.

While medication goes a long way in pain treatment, it is often not enough to control all of the symptoms. When chronic pain is poorly controlled, living with chronic pain can be a challenge.
Found in this article.

Coping with chronic pain

Some things I do try when I’m in pain is:

  1. Exercise:  I mainly do stretches since I can’t walk more than a few steps.  I usually stretch lying down in my bed or back in my recliner.
  2. Hot showers or bath.  When my legs and hip hurt, a hot shower or even better, a bath seems to help relax me. But I can only do that at our vacation home with its step-in tub.  I can’t get out of the regular tub at our main home, so I’m stuck with the shower.
  3. Think about other things.I like to read to try to take my mind away from the pain and sometimes that helps but not all the time.
  4. Bible reading and prayerI enjoy my Bible reading also and especially reading the Psalms.  Reading them I know that I’m not the only one crying out to God for help in the middle of the night.  When its really bad, I post for prayers from my friends on Facebook. When I was going through the awful neuropathy pains with my leg and feet ulcers, I posted for prayers regularly – I’m convinced that is the only way I made it through that terrible pain each night.  At times I was ready to call it quits and prayed God would just go on and take me home.  But He didn’t so there must be a reason why I’m still here.
  5. Music. Sometimes I tune into Pandora and the hymns radio channel and lay in my bed listening untill I fall asleep.
  6. Heat. My heating pad and my rolling massager is my best friend when my hips and legs are at their worse.  I lay on the heating pad and enjoy the warmth.  I roll the massager up and down my calf and the outside of my thighs, where knots have formed from the fibromyalgia.  I have knots and trigger points of pain all over my body that can be felt under my skin – its really weird.
  7. Cold.  Funny how the opposite can also help.  Icing my hip and low back can sometimes help too.  I think in reality, it just helps to get your mind off the pain.

Battling Depression

I know I sometimes get really depressed after days and days of pain and discomfort.  I see and experience every day all the things I can’t do anymore.  I envy people who get up and walk across a room without a thought of how blessed they are to do that so effortlessly.  I dread dropping something because it hurts so much to bend that far over in my wheelchair and pick it up.

Managing my wheelchair takes so much time and effort and I’m so slow at everything I do – it drives my husband crazy to see how slow I am at doing things and moving around – but I like to do things for myself so I don’t feel so entirely useless – he doesn’t understand that.

Recently a friend lost her son, who’s the same age as my daughter, due to a workplace accident and it struck me so hard that that beautiful young man is gone and yet I’m still here.  I grieve deeply for my friend and her husband, parents are not supposed to outlive their kids.  With my own daughter and her family moving to a third world country to become a missionary, I do worry a lot about their safety and health.

I manage my depression in several ways:

  • By taking Cymbalta.  I take it for its off-label use to treat my fibromyalgia and neuropathy and it does help for that. It also keeps my mood pretty even.  Most days I can’t force myself to cry because my serotonin and norepinephrine is working well.

There are two naturally occurring chemicals in the brain that are responsible for mood and mood stability. Under normal circumstances, these two chemicals — serotonin and norepinephrine — are in a specific balance. However, these chemicals can become out of balance, causing changes in mood, specifically depression. Cymbalta works by re-establishing the balance of these two chemicals, and in turn, relieving the symptoms of depression.

The same two chemicals responsible for mood also have an influence on pain perception. Just as an imbalance causes depression, an imbalance of these chemicals causes pain. When Cymbalta re-establish chemical balance, the symptoms of pain may be relieved, as well.  Read more here.

  • I read my Bible a lot and pray a lot when I get depressed.
  • I also keep telling myself my family loves me and needs me, over and over.
  • I always try to have something to look forward to even if its something small.  I make plans or set goals to reach:
    • Losing a certain number of pounds by a certain date (a near date).
    • Setting a day/time to paint or go out to eat with friends.  Maybe planning an artist retreat with a friend.
    • Plan to FaceTime my daughter and talk to her and my adorable grandsons.
    • Plan to eat out with my husband so I don’t have to cook.
    • Plan a visit with one of my sisters to catch up.
    • Buy and download a new ebook I want to read or buy and stream a movie that I really want to see.
    • I enjoy researching online and posting on Facebook or in forums with people who like the things I like.
    • I truly enjoy going to our vacation home in the hills of Northwest Arkansas.  Even though I do hate that 5 hour drive, I love it once I’m there.  I take lots of massage baths in the step-in tub and when I feel good, I can go to the indoor pool.  We bird watch in the sunroom and on the deck and enjoy the peace and quiet.  When I feel really good, we can drive around so I can take pictures.  We have a trip planned in two weeks and I’m looking forward to that right now.  I also have an artist retreat planned with a friend for the last week in April and I have that to look forward to also.

The trick is giving yourself a reason to look forward to or make it through another day. Also I try to accomplish certain things each day.  Like I always load/unload the dishwasher and do at least two loads of laundry.  I wipe off the counters and start “Rosie”, our robotic floor cleaner to go over the floors daily (I love our Rosie)!  Once or twice a week I dust furniture and clean the door glass where Boaz, our giant schnauzer has left his paw prints.  It also helps to have Bo around to pet and love on – he gives great “giant hugs” too.  You can read about him at my “Living With Boaz” blog site.

Sometimes I think about surgery for my back and a Pain Management Clinic to help with the pain.  However with my blood condition (essential thrombocyemia) and having thrown a clot and had a stroke after a previous surgery, I avoid any elective surgery.  So maybe one day I’ll check out a Pain Management Clinic. But for now I’m staying with my current treatments for pain and depression.

Comments

Thanks for looking at my site and coming to this page. I would love for you to leave any questions or comments below.  In addition, I’m open to new topics to research and comment on as they pertain to my own health and experience living with diabetes.  Please share your interests and questions in your comments.  I also love to hear others stories about how they handle their own diabetes issues.

– Shirley

 

Success – Weight is going down!

Weight loss Success

Since my last post, I’ve been doing so well.  After the 10 pound backsliding gain, I’m doing great with losing that.

This morning my scale sat at 261.2 pounds, very close to that 257 I had reached before the holidays.

I’m keeping up with my breathing exercises.  I’m doing them at least once a day.  I also actually went to the gym and did 35 minutes of weight training.  Just a little and a very light workout.  2 sets each on about 5 different weight machines and 5 minutes on the treadmill.  I was using the lowest or next to lowest weights on the machines.  The treadmill was sitting at #1 for resistance.  That tired me out and also made me very sore.  So sore I had a fibro flare-up that evening the next day.  I may try to go to the gym again on Saturday but I’m waiting till I get over the flare-up.

The main reason I’m wanting to do some weight training is to help with sagging skin.  I’ve been watching “My 600 lb life” and “Skintight” every night and the sagging skin after major weight loss is really worrying me.  I want to lose about 138 pounds by the end of 2017 with a final goal weight of 145.

With my bone marrow disorder making me a clotting risk and my previous stroke after surgery, I really do not want to have surgery to remove excess skin.

I’m aiming to go slow, at around six pounds a month.  I would like to be at 200 by the end of 2016. That’s 83 pounds this year –  about 6.9 pounds a month. And then lose the rest during 2017.

My Eating

One thing I am doing is eating healthy.  I’m trying to eat lots of cool salads, fruits, no white bread, lots of vegetables and I’m adding things like hemp seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, spirolina and dried cranberries to my salads and using olive oil as my dressing.

I’m also purchasing eggs from veggie fed hens and free range hens, drinking almond milk and V8 juice and water.  I’m using turkey bacon and very lean meats too.

My dinner of rice and veggies, squash, salad and multi-grain garlic toast
My dinner of rice and veggies, squash, salad and multi-grain garlic toast

Tonight I’m having chicken with small potatoes, onion, seasonings and rice cooked in my crockpot with veggie broth. I have left over squash and onions to go with it.

Things to help with sagging skin after weight loss

I’m researching things to do to help with sagging skin.

  • Lose weight slowly
  • Weight train to keep muscles under your skin
  • Be patient even after weight loss and give your body at least 2 years to tighten the skin naturally.
  • Stay hydrated
  • Use creams (I’m using a special cream for pregnant money to avoid stretch marks).
  • Eat healthy and give your body the vitamins and minerals it needs.

The one thing I have going for me is that I never did get stretch marks during my pregnancy which is a good sign.  But I’m 62 years old which is not good.  I’m looking into essential oil therapy and I’ll let you know how that goes.

Deep Breathing Technique

I wanted to share some videos of the deep breathing technique I’m using.  I only use the first exercise because of my physical problems.  I’m hoping to add more of the exercises as I lose weight and can move easier.  Here’s some YouTube links you can use to learn the techniques from Greer Childers:

There are several other videos on Youtube you can check out.  Just look for Greer Childers, bodyflex, or oxycise.

Comments

Thanks for looking at my site and coming to this page. I would love for you to leave any questions or comments below.  In addition, I’m open to new topics to research and comment on as they pertain to my own health and experience living with diabetes.  Please share your interests and questions in your comments.  I also love to hear others stories about how they handle their own diabetes issues.

– Shirley

One step backward!

Healthy salad

Two steps forward, one step Backward – my life!

I know my last post was so positive, however, I managed to blow it once again.  The holidays got to me and I did a backslide.

Actually instead of losing, I managed to gain back up to 269 – instead of losing.  I did catch myself after several weeks and modified my diet, so I’m now at 266.6 and on my way down again. Continue reading “One step backward!”

My ongoing weight loss journey through deep breathing!

Losing weight by breathing

Yes, I’m continuing my journey using deep breathing for weight loss.  I’m still at 20 pounds lost.  However, I’m only doing one deep breathing exercise per day (a set of six).  And I’m keeping this weight off.  This is so exciting for me.  I’ve never been able to lose weight and keep it off this long.  And all this with just one set of deep breathing exercises.

 

Researching

I’m continuing my reading and researching how to lose weight by breathing deep and keep finding new articles to read.  This has encouraged me and reaffirmed to me that deep breathing will definitely work for me.

Some of my online finds are as follows:

Amazed

It truly amazes me that I can lose weight doing these deep breathing exercises.  Since I am handicapped and use a wheelchair almost all day, I have been searching for some ways I can lose weight sitting here in this chair.  I found out about this deep breathing pretty much by accident while surfing the web.  It caught my attention and I began to read and research the possibility that this might work for me.  Then I decided to purchase the book by Greer Childers (in the list above).  When I got that and began reading it and seeing the different exercise she teaches along with the breathing techniques, I decided I would try at least the first exercise that I can do sitting in my wheelchair.  I was so surprised to find out that it worked for me.

Actually, the breathing technique isn’t as easy as it seems.  It is work and I’m tired after I do a few of them.  I’m finding that doing them twice a day or more truly helps me to lose weight.  I’ve already put myself on a more healthy diet through the Whole30 plan and found that works for me too.  Now I have a successful exercise plan to go with it.

Comments

I encourage questions an comments and you can leave them below. – Shirley

NOTE:  This post contains affiliate links, which when clicked and a product is purchased, I receive a small commission (with no additional cost to you).