So Fenugreek is out for me! I take thyroid.

Today I am 135 fasting. I got up in the night at 2:30am and it was 130. Over time I'll do night readings...to see if the dawn starts up at 4am or so.

Tonight I'll start the Glumetza 500mg.

I found a forum on LoCarb eating where people were discussing various things to lower the dawn phenomenon. Some said Fenugreek worked, some had big effects from Cinnamon, and others had failures with both. It appears that people are quite different when it comes to this factor.`

I am interested in the red wine effect. That is one I will start first I think. But first the Glumetza (and I have Imodium handy).

Hi Mrs. D.

I just had my first binge breakfast. Began my breakfast around 8:15 a.m. Drank my lemon water before I left the house. Walked the 8 or so blocks to my breakfast place. Had a bacon and egg with cheese on a toasted roll. Two cups of coffee with one pack of splenda in each cup. Next time I'll try it with my liquid stevia to see if it makes any differerence in my post prandial.

At 10 a.m. I took my protein drink (Jay Robb Whey drink with Stevia). Downed that, 5 minutes later walked over to take my post prandial. Now maybe I was not supposed to drink that drink and immediately take my sugar but I did it anyway.

My sugar was 199. I have never taken my sugar exactly 2 hours after a meal. I would ordinarily wait until 12 or so and take it and it's like 104 to the highest of 130. I have no idea why it was 199 exactly two hours after my bacon egg and cheese sandwich on a roll or maybe it was the protein drink, who knows? I also took the readings on each hand so it stayed within range. One hand was 199, the other hand was 197.

I shall take it again right before lunch so I have a good log of readings on my binge day. And I'm going to have some fenugreek tea, and tomorrow, when I come home, I'll have the tea also and THEN do the post prandial thing. We'll see if the fenugreek brings it down two hours after I eat breakfast. Never did this before. I was concentrating on the fenugreek tea right before bed time, but I did have a sip or two during the day. Now I will try a half cup of the fenugreek tea right after a meal. This is going to be SOME experiment.

I'll do my walking (I do this every day). Also I will begin to do the post prandial thing all week long to see where I'm heading.

Oh, I went to the butcher that is right next to the breakfast place and I walked in (thinking I was going to buy my Romanian Tenderloin Steak (otherwise known as Skirt Steak). I looked at all the meat and I asked Dominick, the owner, "do you sell skirt steak", and he said "oh, sorry, no we don't". So I set off to buy some other kind of steak.

Well!!! you should have seen my face when I looked over the various cuts of meat. All I can tell you is that Melody is not going to pay $11.98 for a small club steak. Holy Cow.

So I went over to the Pork. That was more my speed. Bought a package of Pork cutlets for $2.63.

I'll take two for tonight, freeze the others and have 3 weeks worth of binge meals for that price.

Oh, I bought a nice Idaho potato. So tonight I shall enjoy my feast.

And you'll find this funny. When I walked in for breakfast, I told the waitress. "Sue, I need a menu, I'm not having my usual two eggs with cheese on a plate". I look at the menu and everything is like six bucks,so I said "how much is a bacon and egg and cheese on a roll with coffee? Five bucks.

Now I haven't paid five bucks for a breakfast in my life. But it's one day a week so I went for it. Do you know that the other people in the cafe (who know about the binge thing because we've been discussing it all week), well they shouted out 'Give me what Melody is having for breakfast" I never laughed so hard.

So it appears that I'm not the only one who is doing this binge thing on Monday.

lol

Melody

Next time you go to the butcher ask about Flat Irons. These are typically ground up at many places... but cut from the top of the chuck, they are very tender, fairly low in sat. fat, and much cheaper than other cuts. UpNorth they still charge 2.99/lb (because they don't know better), Krogers charges 9.99lb. here.
A pound is 3 servings for us. 2 for that dinner, and one left over for my morning steak omelet. The meat is very very nice!
(Costco calls them "tri-tips" but I don't think they are exactly the same cut). UpNorth they have a resident butcher on duty who cuts the meat off a huge carcass. So prices tend to be lower.
We typically have them do the Flat Irons for us in advance(they freeze them for us)..because they can't guarantee a day to have them ..and we can't get over in the boat like you can in a car. I love these, and we don't buy any other cut anymore.

I would test right before the next meal. Testing right after eating tells you nothing. You want to see if your prandial insulin release works well and fast during the day. If you test after a meal do it TWO hrs after. Also the more fat in the meal, the slower the spike after. Avocados are good for this. Good fats, fiber and slowing down stomach emptying. This approach is good for type II's. Test readings that stay elevated the whole time until the next meal are problematic. You want to see the levels come down to normal before you eat again.

So far the only snack that does not elevate my glucose is nuts.
So I do some pistachios. I haven't tried cheese yet tho. I am running thru my strips pretty fast. They are not cheap. I get 300 for 3mon at $70.00 from my insurance.

wow, Flat Iron!! never heard of that in my life.

Will test my sugar as you suggested (before lunch). And tomorrow, after I eat my breakfast I'll go next door to the butcher and inquire about Flat Iron. I only he doesn't look at me and ask "Flat WHAT???"

LOL

Melody

Flat Irons: my son taught me about these.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_iron_steak

http://www.askthemeatman.com/flat_iron_steak.htm

Also called a shoulder top blade. In the past it was ground up into "ground chuck"... What a waste!

We broil ours. (we broil most of our meats).

They are very very tender.

Very interesting articles.

Oh, it's 1 p.m. About to eat lunch. A bison burger and my sprouts salad, (going to have some lemon water first).

Just took my sugar 131.

I had some Fenugreek tea before. The darned stuff works.

So I shall continue to keep my log and see where this heads.

And if I get skinny doing this, well YIPEE!!!

At least I'll fit into those lovely Pajama Jeans.

Melody

Let's call it "treat day" instead of binge day...??? That is more accurate.

We learned about it about 3 yrs ago. My son learned about it by watching the Cooking Channel... He saw it on there.

I don't know if in NY where you are, it may be called something else. So be prepared with the alternate names.

TREAT DAY it shall be. And we have the Food Network, don't know about a cooking channel.

I am brewing a nice pot of Fenugreek Tea. I make a BIG mug. Lasts for 2 days.

If I would have known to do this two years ago, well, I would have had better numbers for 2 years, but as they say "better late than never"

And you should see how the Fenugreek is helping my friend (who is my beautician). Her numbers in the a.m. are 95, 98 and she is THRILLED.

She's giving me some of her clothes that no longer fit her, but now fit me.

She weighs about 110. (that's the one I told you about). She is so happy with her blood sugar results she calls me and says "come come, I have more clothes"

And you think SHE'S THRILLED?? lol

I'm the one who is thrilled. I have no clothes that fit me because I lost MY weight, so now we are sharing clothes.

I LOVE this.

I used to wear a size 24 and a half when I was 32 years old.

I remember being in the bathroom, and I had washed one of my dresses to wear for the next day. It was a wash and wear material. Very light, very airy and it was size 24 and a half. I will never forget looking up at that dress hanging on the hanger and saying to myself "I am not THAT big".

I was!!

Mel

P.S. I have a good question. This lemon water thing that I drink before a meal. Do I do this before each meal, during the week, or only on Treat day. Seems to me if this opens up cell receptors, wouldn't it be great for each meal? or Doesn't it work that way?

That is a good question. I am doing the grapefruit at least once a day...mostly at night now. The nights I used it, my morning fasting levels were lower by 10-15pts. So I think it works for diabetics all the time. (I put a link to a paper on this thread or the other one about that).

Ah, so tomorrow I shall pick up one of those six packs of unsweetened grapefruit juice. And I took my sugar again at 4:30 p.m. and it was 128. I then decided if this was going to be a treat or a binge day, I would also eat at a different time. so I ate at 4:30 pm. The wine? I had red. I found out I don' like red. I remembered I like burgundy. Later I will have a piece of sugar free cake and a nice cup of coffee and at 10 p.m. I'll have a small piece of salmon. Plain. Every night I eat some protein before I retire and it works for me. That and a few sips of fenugreek tea.

So next week, I shall eat and drink something different.

Thanks very much for ALL your help and much luck with your sugar readings.

I'm rooting for you.

Take care

Melody