The outline is on Hooshmans's website. There are a few things that are outdated, such as the inclusion of diet soda (which has been found to spike blood sugar even more than regular soda.) I've combined the majority of his guidelines, and also used info from the paleo movement. WWW.Marksdailyapple.com is a favorite of mine as well, and you can access everything you need for free there as well.

Your sugar should be 70-110. Some people can only function between 110-120. Anything below 70 you need to keep an eye on. Defintely don't take insulin if you don't eat.
It is very important that you have 3 meals a day. Carbs -It is important to eat a significant amount. Dr.'s should tell you no more then so many in a meal. But you definitley need carbs. Carbs effect insulin. You may need 60 or so a meal. Ask your dr.
Starch's- starchs will keep your insulin high for about 24 hours or so. Keep starchs low to none.
You defintely need to work closely with your dr. This is not something to mess with because it can effect every part of your body, most importantly your eye sight. DONT FOOL AROUND, PLEASE

Dr. Swarzbein was the Director of the diabetes center at the Sansum Clinic in Santa Barbara several years ago (one of the oldest and at the time, most prestigious diabetes programs in the country.) She found a direct correlation between heart patients that were put on low fat diets, that then developed type II diabetes within 6 months--1 year. Having them journal everything they ate and their blood sugar responses, made certain patterns very clear... She switched their diets, and the diabetes went away, along with their need for insulin.

What's almost amusing, is that I can pinpoint exactly when I began to experience issues with my bloodsugar--when my father was diagnosed with type II diabetes, and diet Coke became a staple in our home. I got up to a 6 pack a day and was like a junkie with the stuff. I'd get headaches and get the shakes if I didn't have access to them every few hours. Although I haven't touched the toxic stuff in over 20 years, my blood sugar sensitivities continued. Until this past year, I always assumed it was just a matter of time before I developed type II diabetes.

It was common for me to sleep 18 hours a day. Yes, my meds were a factor. But, I've been on the same dosages for many years. I stopped eating processed carbs regularly and I'm no longer Rip Van Winkle! My swelling has decreased, my pain levels have decreased slightly, my severe stomach pain is
gone, etc.

Traditional diets will tell you to eat several small meals a day. The standard American diet is comprised of roughly 300g of carbs per day. We are as a nation fatter and sicker since it became the standard belief that low fat was healthier...

I would never suggest anyone switch their diet without discussing it with their doc, especially if you have diabetes. But, if you do the research, it might give you some better choices to work with. I certainly kept my doc in the loop when I began my diet change and it was with his full support.

Thanks, You are all so kind, and caring!
It makes me feel good..
I think that the better I eat, the less insulin I need.
My father controlled his with his diet, that was a long time ago, now there are many more options. Since they're watching my gall bladder, they want me low fat for the time being. I'm not that kind of guy, and the diet juices (I'm a juice junkie, not soda) don't taste so great. But, I'm getting along so far, day by day.
God Bless you all for your kind support!

Pete

asb

A lot of the time it is just a matter of getting used to the taste of new things. I NEVER drank water before...always hated the taste and had trouble keeping it down and not getting sick. Now I can drink 2-3 bottles of water a day and it's just fine without any flavoring or anything. Same thing with vegetables...never touched the stuff before but now after a few months (and it really didn't take that long) I find that I actually enjoy the unprocessed, fresh stuff that I eat. I had to get over my initial resistance to these things and their taste...but once I got used to it I actually like the stuff I eat now.

I hope you are able to get this under control (whether with diet, meds, or both). I really am sorry that you have to deal with these other things on top of the RSD. Makes me feel very lucky that I only have the one (at this point anyway). Good luck.

Hey Pete,
If you're a juice nut you should get a juicer or blender and make your own. I just recently watched a documentary about a guy from Australia who came to the USA and drove around for 60 days with a juicer in the back of his car and only had green juice that he made. He was a diabetic too and all the fresh juicing helped him...

Catra, I believe cutting out processed foods, actually helps your palate. And adding an inexpensive water filtration system, like Pur, onto your kitchen sink, will give you the taste of bottled water without the expense.

Pete, I love fresh juice as well, but seriously run a carb/sugar check per oz for any fruit juice you consume. If you have an iPhone Atkins has a good carb counter ap. 4 oz of fresh oj=13g carbs. 1 orange=8g carbs. A strawberry power sized all fruit smoothie from Jamba Juice=87g carbs. You could eat almost 3 Snickers for the same carb count. While there is obviously better nutrition in the juice than the candy, sticking with whole fruit is much safer for your blood sugar...

My Dad had a small stroke after he binged on candy (very bizarre behavior for him) and almost lost his sight as a result. He was only 50 at the time.

Another trick is to use small quantities of juice with sparkling water or ice tea.

Some fruits have a higher concentration of sugar when you buy organic. The claim is that pesticides result in higher water content in the fruit. Try buying organic apples if you can get them locally.

That's interesting about the organic fruits...I don't think I ever would have thought about that. We just started using a Brita water filter...so I use that now to refill my water bottles. The bottles are easier to transport with the walker that I use. But what I have noticed is that there really is a difference in taste with the different bottled waters out there. I'm guessing it has to do with the way different companies purify the water or something?

But I definitely think you're right about the palate thing. I grew up with my parents never cooking so all we ever ate was fast food or tv dinners (unless it was a holiday or we ate out at a restaurant). But now that I have gotten used to what my boyfriend calls "real food" I don't think I will be able to go back. I have to admit there are times where I don't really feel up to "making" something or cutting up vegetables and I wish I could just pop a tv dinner in the microwave because that is SO easy...but I've been goood and I know that in the long run this is much better for me.

Great advice and information! The low fat diet is interesting... I have a water filter.
I have a juicer too, I've just basically forgotten about it! It seems that I'm eating healthier, and finding my need for insulin to be going down!
I'll see how it goes.

Thanks folks!

Pete

Catra, reusing disposable plastic water bottles is not advised. The plastic starts to break down and chemicals can leech into your water. Pur (Brita likely has a version as well) has a travel size water bottle with a small filter in it. They're plastic as well, but higher grade that's supposedly safe.

Different bottled water has different levels of trace minerals, and the different filtering (or lack there of) process can definitely change tastes as well. Some bottled water is simply tap water that goes through a filtration process. Fiji water has a high silica content, so it's very smooth. I used to be a bottled water snob. Voss is my favorite hands down. It's also remarkable the difference in taste of tap water depending on location. I moved last year, from an area where there were reasons to be concerned about the water, and it really is nice to no longer have to deal with trying to transport heavy water packs with one hand!