Brian:

I was on Metformin for YEARS when I first got diagnosed. It killed my stomach. I couldn't leave the house until the afternoon. I kept going to the bathroom. I also weighed about 275 at the time. Didn't watch my diet whatsoever. Didn't take diabetes seriously AT ALL.

They tried diabeta, glyburide, Glucophage, Glucovance (this is metformin added to something else).

Nothing worked. I will never forget (about 17 years ago). I went around the corner to a new physician. She kept taking my sugar. I had blood tests. My sugar reading was 265.

The doctor looked at me and said: "Maybe, in your case, your sugar is supposed to be 265"???

A DOCTOR TOLD ME THIS!!! Do you think I was informed enough to say "are you nuts?" Thankfully, soon after I changed physicians, (but I still did not watch what I put in my mouth). My brain hadn't kicked in yet.

What changed me really was being in the ACCORD program, and even then, it took about a year. I went to a nutritionist with my husband (after he had the stent put in and had to go off of salt, and was put on metoprolol and all other kinds of meds).

We both went because I'm the cook in the house. Oh, I rarely ate beef back then. Rarely.

I remember asking the nutritionist "can we eat beef once in a while?" and I remember her saying "why on earth do you want to do that to your body"?? I said "I have no idea, I just want to know"

And she said: "Maybe once a week, IF YOU HAVE TO" I'll never forget the look on her face. She was about 35 years old and had a body to die for. I asked her "how do you maintain that body?" and she smiled and said "I work at it, believe me, I work at it'. Never forgot her. Or that conversation.

I never had any beef after that. I had really given up on beef years before but I had the occasional Romanian Tenderloin steak once in a blue moon. But after those visits to the nutritionist and we learned about the glycemic index and what we should be eating and should NOT be eating, well it all clicked in my brain.

Too bad this was when I was 55, 56 or so.

Should have done this in my 20's, but then we are really not too informed when we are young. We just grab the moment and it's all about self-gratification. What makes us feel good.

Then we develop habits which follow us around for life.

I watch the Biggest loser and I watched when, after a month on the ranch, they bring all the people into this room and they have to face a challenge. Now many of these people have already lost 25 to 30 lbs.

What is the challenge? There, in front of them, are Reese's peanut butter cups, cupcakes, pizza, fried chicken, EVERYTHING SWEET, SUGARY, AND OTHER STUFF FULL OF FAT!!

I looked at the tv and said "ewwwwww"

But when the contestants walked into that room, they were drooling. One person said "oh my god, I'm dead, this will be my downfall"

I looked over to Alan and I said in disbelief: "why is this their downfall? , They've been on the ranch, eating good stuff for 30 days, and exercising their heads off, they have detoxed their bodies". "So why is this their downfall?"

so some of them gave in, and others did not.

It's all the brain thing. This is how I look at it. The brain has to change.

And I find it absolutely amazing (and the trainer was talking about this on the last episode). Do you know that some of the people who lost their 200 or so lbs, GAINED IT ALL BACK AFTER BEING ON THE SHOW??

I said to Alan "that's because their brain didn't change, they are overweight brain in little bodies, and sure enough, the bodies caught up to the brains".

Obesity is a killer, and especially in diabetics. It's really a killer. We are surrounded by food, on tv, when we go out, I mean, IT'S JUST THERE. And all the sweet stuff.

If we don't change our brains, our bodies won't change.

It took me quite a while to get to my way of thinking.

I once read that there is only a 5% success rate for losing weight. I yo-yo'd all my life.

Thankfully, I'm not doing this any more. I grow my sprouts, (and I've even learned to bake sugar free). Didn't do that before.

I did a lot of damage to my body eating the way I used to eat. I can only hope that from now on, my new way of cooking and eating, will benefit my body and my heart and other organs.

I like this hobby (growing stuff in my kitchen). And I'm learning about new sources of protein.

My podiatrist (and you're gonna love this), told me the other day: "Melody, have you ever eaten Alligator?" and I said "what???" Alan gave him such a look I burst out laughing.

Seems he just returned from North Carolina and Alligator meat is BIG where he was visiting. He told me "when you buy Alligator meat you are only buying the tail.".

He told me to go on the internet and look it up. Gosh Darn, if the guy didn't know his Alligators. It's sold like Omaha Steaks are sold.

You can buy Alligator patties, steaks, etc. They are farm raised, have less cholesterol than chicken, have 20 grams of protein, and have 110 calories a serving.

Alan told me "don't you dare". I said "I just might".

What do you think?

Anybody here ever eat alligator meat??

lol