Dorrie:

Hi, my sugar reading used to be like yours, but I was never 135. I was always over 200. I was on so much metformin that I never got out of the bathroom.

The people at Cornell put me on Lantus and that combined with good eating habits, well, this morning it was 100. I'll take 100 any day of the week.

Oh, want to hear something interesting?? Whenever I eat any type of fish, my blood sugar reading is beautiful the next morning. Now I never cheat or eat any red beef, (I havent' had any red beef in a long long time). But I watch portions, But I do eat chicken, and turkey burgers, and of course my buffalo chicken sausage which I adore. But when I eat fish, the next day, my blood sugar is absolutely on the money. I don't know why fish does this but I eat fish 5 times a week now. Hey, can't hurt!!!!

Take care,

Melody

I'm sorry to ask on your thread but have a ? about sugar. I remember another poster stopped the added sugar to help with pain. I know many others watch it. How do you do this? I ask cause I'm not diabetic and I'm thin but the candy and sugar in my diet is out of control to where I'm nauseas but still keep going. My nutritionist said its common among people with past eating issues. We have tried everything a balance of protein/fat/carbs,mini meals,small treats and then I go overboard. I could eat sugar plain and I mean that. Do I just lack willpower or what? I don't want a diet or to loose weight just want to maintain and be healthier. I love my nutritionist and she really helped me get healthy but was wondering what helps others. Thanks.

Daniella:

Hi Hon. What you have is a compulsion. The fact that you can eat plain old white sugar, right out of the container, or bowl (this is what you said right??), well, I would assume that most people cannot do this. I never heard of anyone that does this. Yeah, overweight people eat cupcakes, ding dongs etc. But not plain white sugar. That is a compulsion, well, this will take therapy, an understanding of why you are doing this and listening and following your nutritionist's advice.

It's very hard to change our habits. We are all creatures of habits. Some habits are very very hard to break. You have acknowledged that you have an eating disorder. That is very good, and it's a good step in the right direction.

If you believe that the sugar you are ingesting is contributing to your PN, then you have to condition yourself not to eat any sugar, especially plain white sugar. This is bad for your teeth, let alone what it might be doing to your PN.

This is a subject best discussed with your therapist, (perhaps in one of the group sessions).???

I wish you well hon.

Oh no I didn't mean really eating sugar plain. I don't do that just a lot of candy and like I could almost each sugar straight but not really. Just a big sweet tooth and the amount of candy I eat increase daily instead of decreases. I know the more you eat the more you want. I think I just need to really focus on not having it and having better things in its place till I get used to it. I eat pretty well balanced meal since on a meal plan but the extras are always in form of sugar stuff like candy or baked goods. Sorry for the confusion. I'm not that bad about sugar to eat it plain. Thanks

I'm a teacher here, but it's not really a stressful job... I've had worse. Too be honest, I'm was way more stressed when I got the 72 result than I am now. I'm currently taking ALA Fish oil, could that elevate it as well?

Daniella:

I'm so sorry.

You said: "I could eat sugar plain and I mean that"

I took you literally. I am so sorry.

But from what you have indicated, you have a sweet tooth and you would like not to have a sweet tooth, right??

Habits, Habits, Habits. That's all this sweet tooth stuff really is.

A bad habit. You can try and replace this with another habit. That's exactly what I did. I used to zone out in front of the tv at night with bags of chips, dips, ding dongs and whatever. Really medicated my brain. I felt nothing.

Then I learned and I re-trained my brain not to do this. Now I get excited about salads. It's so funny. The other day I was describing my salad to a friend over the phone. I said "oh you should see what I created. Romaine Lettuce with grape tomatoes, sliced radishes, diced zucchinis, sliced red onions, 5 small sliced black olives, a bit of croutons and a spash of extra virgin olive oil, a dash of fresh squeezed lemon juice, and fresh ground pepper. Add a bit of sea salt, and you're in heaven". My friend burst out laughing over the phone and said "you've got to be kidding, you're excited about your salad???" and I said 'it's absolutely delicious". And she said "but it's a salad" and I said: "yeah, but you don't understand" and then I went on to describe all the colors in the salad and the greens and where it's going into my body and how healthy, etc." I said "now imagine eating a steak" and she said "now you're talking" and I said "now, imagine this. you're eating a dead animal" and she stopped in her tracks and said 'but I don't look at a steak that way". And I said "but I do". I walked her through the steps it takes for the cow to ultimately be the piece of meat on her plate. (My goal is to someday be a complete vegetarian but I must admit, I like my fish, and it really manages my blood sugar very well.)

So I re-trained my brain to look at food differently. I did that with chips and ding dongs and sweets. I just imagined where all those refined carbohydrates are going into my body. I imagined it breaking down in my digestive system, and all the bacteria growing and increasing my sugar reading.

Believe me, it works for me. I wouldn't touch an ice cream sundae or a piece of cake. I just learned to look at food differently and try to picture it as fuel and think of where it's going in my body. I don't crave sweets anymore. But I do have one of my home-made blueberry muffins every day. It satisfies me and I imagine what the blueberries (all the anti-oxidants in them) well, I just imagine them doing their anti-oxidant thing in my body.

The imaging of the salad works because it's all fresh, healthy, fiber and it is absolutely spot on delicious. I eat a salad every single day. Sometimes for dinner also (with some grilled chicken). I may change the veggies, but it's always romaine, clean and washed and the other ingredients. It's crunchy and satisfying and does not impact my sugar.

I should have done this 30 years ago but who had brains 30 years ago??? Not me. lol

So now I have brains.

You take care and do the imaging thing.

Melody

Melody,
Thank you for that post. When my husband took me to Mayo I only weighed 123lbs at 5' 7" tall. Mayo's dietician and Gastro looked me over and told me that I was anorexic (never had been before) because I was so thin. But it was a learned habit.

My mouth didn't like spicy, hard, chewy, or chrunchy things because of the dryness from Sjogren's. So I ate home made chicken soup, ground chicken patties baked, baked potatoe with plain yougurt, no bread, nothing sweet except buttered carrots. But Mayo told me that I'd have to eat xx number of calories a day just to maintain my weight. They told me that I'd die without those calories. Well I had fought much too hard to go on living in my limited way so......I ate and I ate like they told me to, even things I didn't like. Rich creams, Ensure added to my cream soup bases, etc.

My brain unlearned the anorexia after we got home with one simple increase of the Lyrica. My tongue is still as dry as it was and I'm sure as tender, but the Lyrica cuts down the pain in it. So I ate, and ...ate and I'm still eating. But now I've got to unlearn the eating. I'm gaining too much weight and it isn't comfortable. I'm up to 150 and I'd like to be thin again so I'm now going to use Melody's diet to eat and get this weight off. Good by apple pies, ice cream, lattes, etc. (you got the idea)

So I'm telling you that learning to eat is just that. Decide how you are going to eat and then learn it. After a while you will not want to eat any other way. I'll learn to eat thin again and it will work. But the secret to not getting tired of it, is to allow yourself whatever you are craving, but only ONE (1) small 1/2 cup serving. And don't do it often. I have a little bowl that will only hold 1/2 cup and my husband and I call it Billye's Little Bitty Goody Bowl.

I'm determined to go to my husband's Kiwanis Christmas Banquet. My second social outing in a year. I have a lovely new silk pantset to wear...teal pants with a long tunic coat of brown silk cut in the oriental look at the collar. And new brown rope of pearls (I made them) necklace and earrings to wear. Now if I could just find a shoe I could wear. Also found a tiny silk brocade purse on a long strap to carry. Won't I look elegant??!! But............I have to lose about 10 lbs. That's enough just 10. I can do it, can't I, inspite of all the meds? I need some help here folks. I am refusing Prednisone. I will not gain that weight, have that look or that temperment. I will make it without it. I'm strong.


You realize all of you, don't you? This is a huge peptalk to me. And I'm really looking for some support that I can do the diet and not take the prednisone. The doctor says that if my sed rate isn't down in the blood work he's doing next week, it's Prednisone for me. I'm telling him no there has to be something else. We've raised the methotrexate as high as we can. We'll have to use something besides Prednisone. Mrs. D...what is the best choice do you think?

I'm sorry this is so long.
Love,
Billye

has anti-inflammatory properties. But with your hidden bleed, I don't know if it is safe for you.

I had a patient with an autoimmune kidney flare...he was near to dialysis, and his doctor found a paper from China describing high dose fish oil for it.
He took 13 grams a day with doctor supervision, and it stopped the kidney damage. Later when I was counseling him, on his heavy use of Zantac etc,
we ended up with the gluten free diet. I guided him to how to do it, and this further improved his GI and kidney functions. Needless to say he was very very happy with the result. He was in his early 40's and it was dunning to have to
look at dialysis and a kidney transplant.

Here is a paper on inflammatory issues seen in cancer, and the benefits of fish oil (6 grams/day)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...ubmed_RVDocSum

another :
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...ubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...ubmed_RVDocSum

This one shows positive anti-inflammatory effects with Omega-3s
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...RVAbstractPlus

But the doses you would need Billye, should be monitored by a doctor, as they will thin the blood, more than lower doses will.

Billye:

The outfit sounds TO DIE FOR!!!! And Teal!!! Well, that itself is the color of Queens. It's so regal. I bet you will look like one million bucks.

As for the 10 pounds. (And I don't know if you have to go on the Prednisone, and if you do, well, you do, and that's all there is to it). But face the day as if you won't and your brain will kick in and help you out.

Since you have dry mouth and can't eat crunch hard veggies, why not do what Jerry Seinfeld's wife said to do??? She was on Oprah Winfrey last week and she just wrote a book on how to get your kids to eat veggies when they absolutely refuse to eat them. How do you do this? By pureeing every vegetable and sneaking them into their food.

Now you don't have to sneak anything ito your food because you like veggies right? But you can't eat them the way they come off the tree or the root or whatever. You have to make them easy to swallow.

So take some fresh brocoli, some zuccini, some carrots, and put them in a blender until they are ground up fine.

Then you can spray pam in the frying pan, put the ground up veggies in the pan, and cook until very tender. You will then have veggies that are easy to put in your mouth, easy to swallow and you will get your fiber.

You can make mashed potatoes (just leave out the butter, and add some smart balance), and a sprinkle of parmesan). There's another soft dish for you to eat.

And don't get me started on fish That alone is soft, easy to make, and cooks in 5 minutes.

So there's your dinner. Cooked puree veggies, soft mashed potato, and a piece of fish. Then after dinner, you can reach into that snack bowl of yours and indulge. You've earned it.

For Breakfast, there's always oatmeal, or scambled eggs. That's soft and can't be too hard to eat, right??

Lunch can be some soup, either home-made or one of those reduced fat Cambell or Progresso. Progresso makes a light soup that is very good. About 120 calories. I mean, you can't go wrong with 120 calories, right.

All you have to lose is 10 more lbs, right??? You eat like this until Christmas (and if you're able), take a walk every day for 30 minutes.

The pounds will drop.

Guess what I just ate??? One of my muffins, with a nice cup of Dunkin Donuts Coffee. I tell you, this coffee is addicting. The smell alone goes to my brain.

It's pure heaven. But then, I learned how NOT to have two egg mcmuffins, hash browns, sausages, etc. for breakfast. All bad choices.

Now I make better choices. My body is the better for it.

So you go girl. You put on that Teal Outfit, take a picture and show us.

And if, by chance you have to go on the prednisone, don't worry, we'll get you throught that too!!!

Melody

Sorry, blame it on Mel. She got me too jazzed up to sleep last night so you got that rambling post. Sometimes I have to let it all out and you guys get it. Anyway, the idea is how can I get that inflammation marker down safely. I'll double my fish oil, and clean up my diet. I got off the gluten free diet while we were at Mayo and haven't been back on it again. Mayo told me I didn't need it but I do believe it's the way to diet. No flour equals no bread or pastry's or gravy. But you can eat that way. I did for a long long time. And I know a lot of you do that.

Thanks for all your support ......and patience.
Billye