Category Archives: Life

or, Change No. 1

First, there was me, and since there’s so much of me, this is going to be a huge post.  No pictures, tho.

Four months ago at my semi-annual checkup I had a discussion with my doctor about how my blood sugar levels were continually creeping higher and higher by tiny, tiny increments.  I told her that I didn’t want them to get to the point where I was desperate, but looking back today, I think I was already there.

(Let me take a minute and say that I have really liked my doctor because she never rushes me out, always takes care of something that’s come up between the time I’ve scheduled my appointment, and my actual appointment, and she always thoroughly discusses the many options she gives me to take care of whatever reason I’m there.  I just found out yesterday that she’s leaving and I’m crushed.)

So one of the things we discussed was my taking, for 3 months, 1 daily dose of the oral anti-diabetic drug Metformin.  I. HATED. IT.  It really threw my body for a loop.  I had super low-blood sugar days where I constantly felt like my head was a balloon.  I had a few days where I almost fell over in a faint.  I had days where I had no energy no matter what I did.  I had nose-bleeds that scared Mister.  I hated that I was taking a pill.  I stopped taking it a month ago and I cannot believe the difference in how I feel now that I’m not taking it anymore.

Also during that time I read and read and read and read books about diabetes.  I spent so much time online researching tons of things (many so conflicting!), that I didn’t feel like being on the computer to do anything else – which is another reason my blog has suffered.

It was depressing!  I wasn’t stitching, I wasn’t quilting, and I wasn’t reading – except about diabetes.

Then something happened.  Someone I know mentioned doing Whole30.  Since I’d never heard of it before, and as I’m prone to do, I switched my reading to that.  I read a new word, but it got filed away in my head. After reading all about it, I decided it wasn’t for me because I wouldn’t be “allowed” to eat so many things that I felt were good for me.

Then something else happened.  Someone else I know has a mother, who was close to my age, change her lifestyle and she went Paleo.  There was that word!  So I jumped online and started reading some more, and I bought a book that explained why eating Paleo is good for you, instead of just being told to do it and look good in a bathing suit (which, at my age, I don’t care about anymore).

Here’s how I basically define Paleo = grain-free, dairy-free, legume-free, modern vegetable oil-free, refined sugar-free, and processed food-free.

Now, before anyone rolls their eyes, and leaves, let me say my blog is not turning into one of those paleo-fanatic, don’t talk about anything else, blogs.  I just need somewhere to write down how this is working for me.  Would it be great to get some support, sure, but that’s not why I’m sharing this.

Ok, now for the last thing that happened that pushed me over the edge to just go for it.  MISTER IS TRAINING FOR TRIATHLONS AGAIN.

Yep.  I’m back to cooking for an athlete again.  I know I should have started this for me, but if his training is the nudge I needed to do this, then I’ll take it.

I read about so many ways to get started.  From throw everything in your pantry away and go cold turkey to slowly transition into it.  I didn’t want to overwhelm me or my pocketbook so I decided to ease into it.

About 3 weeks ago I had some oral surgery. Since I knew 1/4 of my mouth would be full of stitches I decided that day was the day to start.  Nope, it wasn’t the 1st day of the month, and it wasn’t on a Monday.  Isn’t that always when we begin these things?  Since I had decided to do this one step at a time, I made the decision to cut out bread from my diet.

The first week, instead of eating bread 2x a day almost every day, I had bread once.  I also had some saltines at the beginning of the week because the pain meds I was taking from my surgery made me nauseous and that helped.

Does this mean I’ll never eat bread again?  Nope.  I love me a Diamondbacks Hot Dog.  I love a good hamburger out with friends.  Pasta. Enchiladas. I love “bread.” What this means is that I am going to do my utmost to not eat bread except for special occasions.  We grilled burgers the other night and I made mine the exact same way I always have, except I ate it with a fork and knife because it wasn’t between two halves of a bun.  I now buy bread that I don’t care for, but Mister likes, and I keep things like burger buns in the freezer and thaw 1 or 2 out for Mister. We had dinner out with friends a few days ago and they served biscuits. I had half of one. It wasn’t good enough for me to finish the other half.

Bread is not the only change I’ve made.  As things run out I have either stopped buying them completely, or I’ve changed over to a “whole food” or “organic” variety.  I just now realized I haven’t had a potato chip in all this time, and I love potato chips.  I know there are some in the cabinet (lunch size bags), but I have no craving for them.  I’ve switched from half-and-half in my coffee to unsweetened almond milk.  I honestly cannot taste the difference.  Which brings me to my next thought.

I try to never say “never.”  LOL  I’m not going to say I’ll never give up dairy.  I love milk, and cheese, but I have eaten less of it over the past couple of weeks, without trying.  I’m not going to say I’ll never give up grains.  Right now I’m making refrigerator oatmeal a couple of times a week.  I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I’m not going to be anal about it. I’m just going to go with this and see where it takes me.  I will say there are some things in my pantry that have never been there before (ghee, coconut oil, chia seeds) and I’m eating things like spinach and kale for breakfast.  The only hard part so far is not being lazy with the cooking because we’re in the 115 degree days here in Arizona, but I’m trying to make things that will last 3 meals or so, like Crock Pot Pulled Pork.

Even as things slowly change I know there are certain things I need to seriously consider giving up.  Right now I’m contemplating artificial sweetener.   This one will seriously impact my life.  I love Starbucks’ Skinny Vanilla Lattes.  Starbucks does not serve almond milk (and I’ve tried soy with a yuck outcome) and their skinny sweeteners are made with artificial sweetener.  So for now when I get a Starbucks it’s just their shaken black tea, no classic 😉  I do have some of the Torani Sugar-Free French Vanilla that I use at home.  I used to be a 3-pump girl, now I’m a 2-pump girl.  I have one more bottle in my pantry, and I’ll switch to 1-pump when I open that one, and then none.  That seems so impossible to me now.

Next will come the physical part.  Stitching, quilting, reading, they’re all so sedentary and I have no intention of giving up any of them.  I have a membership at our local YMCA and next Tuesday after I have my follow-up dental appointment – and hopefully all the stitches are removed – I’m headed over there to talk to a personal trainer.

So how is all of this going to impact my blog.  I’ll be posting numbers and recipes, and the occasional photo.  Sort of like this 😀

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

3-4 lb pork shoulder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sea or kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper – freshly cracked pepper has the most flavor
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp honey or agave
1/2 tsp liquid smoke

Massage the salt into both sides of the roast. Mix the other spices together and rub into both sides of your roast. Place in the slowcooker. Mix your liquid smoke, agave/honey and water together and pour over the roast. Cover. Set the cooker to low, and allow to cook 8-10 hours.

NOTE: If you’re using smoked salt you may not need the liquid smoke.  This is a repeat recipe for me and I use the leftovers to make several other meals like tacos, and asian lettuce wraps 😀

7/8/14 0/0
7/15/14 -4/-4
7/22/14 -2.6/-6.6

If anyone asks me a question, I’ll gladly answer it, but you aren’t going to find a ton of “this is what I ate today” posts here, or tons of “food” photos. Who wants to see a bunch of photos of sliced organic tomatoes, steamed veggies, salad, meat, day in and day out. Unless it’s a recipe, you won’t be hearing about what I’m eating, except when I maybe share something I’m changing or giving up.

I promise my next post will be more “fun.” I’ve updated my quilt page at the top, and written down all of my WIPs. I’ll be talking about a few of them.