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Archive for September, 2008

20% of us have Blood Sugar Problems

Friday, September 26th, 2008

I am constantly reminded just how many people have blood sugar problems.  Just yesterday I was at Whole Foods in Santa Monica sampling our Granola Bars and it seemed like I talked about Blood Sugar Issues with people more than I have in a while.

While Diabetes is rampant and very problematic for people, Hypoglycemia is also a very big problem.  It seems to me that Hypoglycemic people have a problem because they produce insulin as appropriate and then keep producing insulin after they no longer need it causing their blood sugar to continue to drop.  This may be in response to eating food that causes blood sugar to rise rapidly or to spike.

Hypoglycemia is much more dangerous than spikes in your blood sugar.  Lack of sugar in the blood can cause you to pass out and become comatose quite quickly.  You can also go into a coma if you have Diabetes, however with Hypoglycemia that can happen very quickly.

You’ll know you are having a low blood sugar episode if you experience any of these symptoms: you are uncontrollably sweating or shaking, you have palpitations, you feel cold and clammy there are a number of other symptoms for this problem, so read up on this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoglycemia

For me, I know my sugar is dropping when I get uncontrollably hungry.  I focus on food and block the world out until my sugar is normal again.  If you are concerned about this problem check with your doctor.  Learn about Low Glycemic foods and how your control can be improved with them.

Eating Right on a Budget

Monday, September 22nd, 2008

Just because you have diabetes and are spending more money on yourself to manage your health doesn’t mean you can’t make up the difference by managing your diet.  Today we’ve been programmed to eat out, it’s fast, it’s easy, it’s not usually very healthy.  Not only do your options limit you to fatty, salty, carb loaded foods, you are probably spending between $7 and $20 for that meal.

One safe change is to eat home or take breakfast or lunch from home.  Starbucks makes great coffee, but there is almost nothing on their menu that is either healthy or cheap.  I recently looked at their 20 drinks with under 200 calories and about fell off my chair!  When a restaurant puts out brochure like this you have to think about how many calories and how much money you are wasting.

Keep your choices simple.  A cup of coffee or tea has almost no calories but start getting fancy and suddenly a Nonfat Carmel Macchiato will hit you with 170 calories and 1gram of fat.  Not to mention the cost.  Go ahead add that Blueberry Oat Bar to snack on.  It’s one of the healthier treats that they sell with a hefty 390 calories and 15 grams of fat. 

Drink the coffee, pass on the cookies & cakes.  Eat at home more and focus on low glycemic meals that you prepare with less fat.  Saving money means putting a little extra effort in to purchase and prepare your own meals.  You’ll find better ingredients and save money!

Let US eat cake!

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

Managing your diabetes requires a balance between your desires, your needs and your doctors recommendations.  I say recommendations because not everyone I’ve talked with says they follow the doctors recommendations to the letter.  In fact when it comes to diet, no matter what your doctor says it is up to you to act.

Diet is the one thing you will make sacrifices with when really focusing on the control of your diabetes.  For me over 15 years, I’ve made major changes…yet I still crave snacks and the occasional Twinkie :)   So how do I get past these cravings?  It is not easy.  Most of the time I can.  I’ll grab a granola bar because they satisfy me without spiking my sugar.  Other times I give in.  Recently I attended a wedding and was going for the sugar free baked goods, they looked fabulous.  The taste left much to be desired, so I took a piece of cake.  Managing to eat only one piece and stopping there was the win for me.

Now I’m back on track and not feeling deprived.  I’ve managed to pass through the danger of binging on sweets while fitting with the crowd and enjoying the party.