Primal Challenge Journal (Griff)
(246 posts) (30 voices)-
Griff
MemberMost of you have probably seen my story - Mark front-paged it today. I want to give a report on what my blood sugars have been looking like today, as well as what kind of exercises I did today.
I don't have a kettlebell or a set of clubbells, nor do I live in an area where I can go out and find Heavy Things to lift. So instead I'm making do with the weights I can find at home, at least for now. I have two 16-ounce water bottles; full, they weigh a pound each. I also have two 1-liter bottles; full, they weigh 2.2 pounds each. Finally, I have two 2-liter bottles; full, they weigh 4.4 pounds each. Right now just the one-pound bottles are hard enough for me to lift for the number of reps I need to do, but I'll work my way up to the others as I go.
I'm using a modified version of the Tabata method, with some additional ideas from Dr. Bernstein's "Inverted pyramid" method, where you work the muscles when they're tired and keep working them in decreasing weights until failure. I can't get up from the floor on my own yet, so abdominal crunches will have to wait until I'm lighter, but I'm doing squats, basic arm work, and chest work while standing holding a one-pound water bottle in each hand. I work up a sweat!
On the days I'm not doing lifting, I'm doing about twenty minutes of aerobic dancing - not high-impact, though. Just enough to get my blood pumping.
The one issue I'm having with exercise right now is that it spikes my sugars. No matter whether I'm doing aerobic or anaerobic exercise, I can count on my sugars being elevated for several hours after I work out. It's very frustrating.
I've also discovered that I can't handle any carbs at all until after two p.m. So I can't do like Mark does and have a big-ass salad for lunch. I have a small salad with dinner; anything more, and my sugars go kaboom.
I know it won't always be this way, but it's frustrating.
I'm also worried about kidney stones. I know exactly what that feels like, not because I've had one, but because I had a congenital kidney blockage when I was a kid and there was a very distinct sort of pain that went with it, and when we finally got a doctor who knew what he was doing, they thought it was a stone at first. They figured it out when I was 18, so I had plenty of experience with it. I hadn't felt it since surgery 20 years ago removed the blockage, but I'm starting to get twinges again, in the same kidney. I'm wondering if it's kidney stones, and that has me a little worried. I'm taking an extra 200 mg of potassium citrate every day, to try to stave that off, but I've only been doing that for about a day.
Anyway, suggestions on these two issues would be helpful.
Posted 2 months ago # -
maba
MemberGriff, I don't know the answers for your questions but I just wanted to tell you that your story is inspiring and I wish you all the best. I saw your post on cc40's thread. I'm sure you'll have amazing results and I can't wait to see your before and after pictures too. Good luck buddy!
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
MemberYesterday's progress:
Breakfast: leftover sirloin steak, about 4 oz.
Morning snack: leftover baby back ribs, about 4 oz (no sauce)
Lunch: 2 no-carb burgers with cheese (and yes, I ate too much)
Dinner: Chicken with marsala mushroom sauce, 2 cups cooked broccoli with browned butter and mizithra cheese, salad with ranch dressing, no croutonsTo drink: LOTS of water
Exercise: 20 minutes dance in the morning
My blood sugars were up yesterday. I didn't like it. And today they're up, too - but I didn't get much sleep, and that could explain it.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
MemberProgress, 8/30:
Today I had to get up early for church because I was an usher today, after being up until 3 a.m. for a party. I only got about four hours sleep.
Breakfast: three-egg omelette with cinnamon and pepper, 2 strips bacon
After breakfast, I took a six-hour nap due to being up way too late last night.
Snack (at dinnertime): Leftover pork and veggies
Dinner (at 1 a.m.): two eggs, two strips bacon, two sausage links, caesar salad without croutons
Exercise: None today; I was completely wiped out from the party last night (where I did get some exercise). Today was a rest day.
My blood sugars are back to "normal," mostly, since my nap. I think that I need to make sure I get enough sleep because when I don't, it shows in my sugars.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
MemberProgress, 8/31:
I was still tired this morning from the weekend partying, but I was at least functional.
Breakfast: two-egg omelette with organic pork sausage
Lunch: None, I wasn't hungry
Snack: 1/4 cup macadamia nuts and 1 strawberry - and a happy thing for me about that. I've been allergic to strawberries for nine years, and now I'm thinking it may have been a pesticide or something on the strawberries that caused the reaction, because I didn't react this time. Yay!
Dinner: Brussels sprouts cooked in bacon fat, and a center-cut pork chop with mushroom-red onion sauce and pie spices.
Exercise: I ran a bunch of errands, and in the heat, too. And because of the heat, my sugars have been running in the low 120s most of the day. They finally got down to 105 right around the time I started eating dinner. I'm still eating, so we'll see where they fall in two hours.
Total net carbs today: 20 - and that includes last night's midnight snack.
My Grok shirt arrived today, along with a copy of the Primal Blueprint. The shirt isn't big enough for me, yet, but give me six months. :D
Posted 2 months ago # -
suzyschnitz
MemberI feel your pain on the kidney issues. I was born with hydronephrosis, and had surgery to remove most of my left kidney on my 1st birthday (1979). They left a piece about the size of a fingertip.
I was on medication until about nine years old.
Then, about three years ago, I went and had testing done for injured discs in my back and they found by mistake my kidney problems were back, in the same kidney. Surprise! It has expanded to twice the normal size of the healthy one and basically is like a bunch of grapes, lots of pockets, all full of stones, with a partial uretal blockage. Doc will be putting in a stent soon, I reckon, because it is just getting bigger and I can feel my kidney when I slouch to the left side.
I'd hate to feel what it is like to pass all those stones... I wish they would just remove it and get it overwith, but no!
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
MemberWhen I was eighteen, they discovered that I had a congenital kidney stone - a warped place in the ureter. They did a partial urotostomy to remove it. I know exactly what kidney stones feel like!
Fortunately, the potassium citrate seems to be clearing that up without issue.
I feel your pain.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
MemberProgress 9/1:
Breakfast: three-egg omelette with cinnamon and parmesan, 2 strips nitrate/nitrite-free bacon, 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Lunch: Ground beef stroganoff (success) with zucchini "pasta" (failure), 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Dinner: Broccoli beef made with ribeye steak, cauliflower "rice," 1/4 cup each strawberries, raspberries, macadamia nuts, 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Evening snack: 1 ounce string cheese, 1/4 Trader Joe's 73% dark chocolate bar
Exercise: 20 minutes dance
Total net carbs today: 41, but my sugars were lower and better controlled than yesterday. The coconut oil is miraculous.
I've also found a hiking buddy and we will try to go hiking sometime this weekend, maybe when my kids are here, if the heat lets up.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
MemberAbout exercise spiking my blood sugars: I have, I think, found a solution (suggested to me yesterday in the "Too Hot to Exercise!" thread by DiabetesCanKissMyButt.
I have to eat first. I can't exercise on an empty stomach and still avoid a spike.
I just did a ten-minute intense strength training session about a half hour after finishing eating. My sugars went down! Always before, they've gone up 20 to 40 points. This is amazing. Tomorrow I'll find out if it works equally well for cardio. If it does, I'm in clover.
I didn't get nauseated this time, either, and I always have before when I've eaten prior to exercise.
I also wonder: could my intake of coconut oil have something to do with both the lack of nausea and the lowered sugars after exercise? Because that's really the only change I've made since the last time I tried this. Thoughts, experiences?
I've made so many changes in the last three weeks. I've stopped drinking caffeine. I've completely cut out grains and processed foods. I've started adding coconut oil to every meal (which has shown a huge difference in my sugars). I'm working out in some way every day - not intensely, but consistently.
For strength training, I'm using two 2-liter bottles and two 16-ounce bottles, which weigh about 4.5 pounds and 1 pound each, to do what Dr. Bernstein suggested in his book The Diabetes Solution: lift slowly to muscle failure starting with heavy weights until you can't lift them anymore, then immediately moving to lighter weights, with no rest period, so that you're exercising your muscles while they're tired. The reason he recommends this for diabetics is that more sugar gets processed in anaerobic exercise than in aerobic exercise - about 19 times more.
I was able to do 16 bicep curls with the 4.5-pound weights, but only 7 tricep lifts (where you hold the weight behind your head and lower it). And let's not talk about lateral raises, okay? (I'm embarrassed; I only managed 4 with the bigger weights.)
One thing that is confusing me: the lighter weights are harder to lift once I've lifted the heavier ones - that is, I can't do as many reps as I could when I was just lifting the lighter ones. Is that normal? For example, I managed 16 bicep curls with the bigger weights, but then couldn't get through more than 8 with the lighter ones. Should I expect this?
Exercises done today: bicep/tricep curls, lateral extensions, front extensions, "bench press" and "fly" lifts (while standing; I don't have a bench and I can't get up from the floor on my own yet) and squats with weights in my hands. My heart rate was at about 62% of maximum when I was done, right in the sweet spot Mark talks about in PB.
Overall, happy today.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
MemberProgress!
I gave in today. While I was at the student health center picking up my prescriptions, I asked if I could step on the scale real quick.
377. I'm down 20 pounds in 19 days!
Wow.
When I got home, I measured my waist. I've lost six inches off my waist in 19 days!
Wow again.
Average blood sugar today: 107. That's about 7 points lower than ANY average I've had since starting this. (Coconut oil good!!!)
Breakfast: Cinnamon-parmesan 3-egg omelette, 2 strips Trader Joe's nitrate/nitrite-free bacon, tablespoon coconut oil
Lunch: 1/4 cup each strawberries, raspberries and macadamia nuts; tablespoon coconut oil
Dinner: 6 oz. steak, 2 strips bacon, 1 chicken breast with skin, 1/4 cup each cucumber slices, broccoli florets; 4 oz blue cheese dressing, 1 Lindor dark chocolate truffle; 3 coconut oil gelcaps
To drink: water!
Exercise: 12 minutes intense lifting, as above.
20 pounds in less than 3 weeks. Wow, oh, wow.
Then again, according to thedailyplate, I've been in calorie deficit to the tune of at least 500 calories every day. So maybe this isn't that surprising of a result?
Posted 2 months ago # -
Anand Srivastava
MemberCongratulations, for your recovery. I have also lost a lot of weight, by just controlling my insulin, although not with a paleo diet. I am mostly vegetarian. But I do understand the basics.
Why are you worried about your blood sugar level? Does it cause any physical problem?
Everybody will get a higher blood glucose when exercising anaerobically. The exercise will reduce your glycogen stores, and the liver will produce more to replenish it. So the level will be high. This shouldn't cause any problem.
Lets say you burnt 100kcal during lifting a very heavy weight a few times. You will need to replenish that. The liver will generate 25gms of glucose. This goes into your blood stream. The total blood level is built up with just 4gm of glucose. So your blood level will rise a lot.
Don't worry about it, unless it causes any real problem. If it does then you want to go slow. Burning calories at a slower rate, ie taking longer breaks.
I didn't see any fish oil/caps. Add it. Its the most important part of recovery. Drink about a spoon every day. I am sure your sugar control will get better.
My mother was having slightly higher fasting glucose. She did try several things (ofcourse not paleo). The fasting glucose became good once she started the fish oil.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
Member@Anand: My goal is to have a completely normal A1c. I can't do that if my sugars are spiking, through exercise or otherwise. I want my waking sugar/fasting glucose to be in the 80s and my post-meal sugars to be below 110. (This is measuring it in mg/dl, not mmol/l as you are probably more familiar with. In mmol/l, it would be 4.4 fasting and no more than 6.1 post-meal.)
I already told you, in a different thread, that I do take fish oil every day. I just don't list it; to me it's a vitamin. But FYI:
Fish oil 3x/day (after meals)
Chromium 200mcg 1x/day
Potassium citrate 200mg 2x/day
Multivitamin 1x/day
B-complex (to increase thiamin) 1x/dayI also take coconut oil with every meal, in a spoonful from the jar if I'm home, or in gelcap form if I'm not (the jar doesn't travel well), as well as adding cinnamon to my morning eggs.
Everything I've read about anaerobic exercise is that it doesn't spike blood sugars because it uses up the sugar in your system far more efficiently than aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise spikes sugars. Where did you get your information about exercise and blood sugar?
Posted 2 months ago # -
I didn't know coconut oil came in a gelcap form. That's neat.
Sounds like you are doing fabulous. Keep up the great work!
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
MemberOur home scale arrived today! Eerily, my husband and I have identical weight loss - we've both lost 20 pounds since we started low-carbing.
Today's food and activity:
Breakfast: Cinnamon-parmesan 3-egg omelette, 2 pieces non-nitrite/non-nitrate bacon, TB coconut oil
Lunch: 2 ounces summer sausage, 1/2 grapefruit, 1 oz cream cheese, TB coconut oil
Dinner: Beef and broccoli made with ribeye steak, cauliflower rice
Evening keep-my-sugars-down-overnight snack: 1/4 cup raspberries, 1 ounce string cheese, 4 ounces Bordeaux
Exercise: 20 minutes aerobic dance
To drink: about 90 -100 ounces of water.
I was energized all morning but yesterday evening and this evening I've been yawny-tired. Not sure why.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
MemberToday was a rough day. My dad died in January and today would have been his 64th birthday. So I was kind of draggy all day, and it showed up somewhat in my blood sugars.
Food and Activity...
Breakfast: 3-egg cinnamon/parmesan omelette, 3 strips nitrite/nitrate-free bacon, 1 TB coconut oil
Lunch: 2 oz. summer sausage, 1/4 cup macadamia nuts, TB coconut oil, 1 oz. string cheese
Dinner: Old Spaghetti Factory dinner salad, broccoli with browned butter and mizithra cheese, chicken marsala, 4 coconut oil gelcaps. I only finished about 2/3 of the chicken and broccoli, but my appetite was yowling at me. :(
Evening snack: 4 small strawberries and 1 oz string cheese.
Activity: Weight lifting, upper body and squats mostly.
To drink: About 80 ounces of water.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
MemberThanks Catalina!
Yeah, my older daughter's birthday is Monday, so she wanted to go to OSF - we went there with my dad a lot, and it was one of his favorite places. We were prepared - they publish their nutrition data, and they'll sub broccoli for the spaghetti in their Chicken Marsala and Parmesan meals. Also, you can order the entree portion as a side dish - a side of Chicken Marsala, for example - without the pasta, if you don't like broccoli. My husband got a side of Marsala and a side of Parmesan, and a dinner salad with pesto dressing, and was totally satisfied.
I'm glad I can keep going to OSF. Hey, maybe someday they'll start offering spaghetti squash for a sub for the pasta. I can hope...
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
MemberYay for good blood sugars today!
My average today is 109, which is fantastic, and my highest BGL today was only 114, before breakfast. I didn't exercise today, but that's because it was so hot out that I was risking heatstroke if I did.
Food today as follows...
Breakfast: 3-egg parmesan/cinnamon omelette and two slices applewood smoked, non-nitrate/nitrate bacon, TB coconut oil
Lunch: No lunch. Breakfast was at 11 and kept everyone full until dinner at 5:30.
Dinner: Cinnamon chicken with cauliflower "rice," yellow squash saute', TB coconut oil.
Snack: 1/4 Trader Joe's 73% chocolate bar, 1 oz string cheese, TB coconut oil.
Lots of water, as usual. No activity - with the heat, today was definitely a rest day. I even took a nap in the middle of the day! It's amazing to get tired because you're tired, not because you're crashing.
I have high hopes for tomorrow morning's sugars. The last time they averaged this low I'd had a bit of the dark chocolate the night beforehand, too. Hoping it'll act the same way as last time.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
MemberToday was a rough day emotionally. I'm still missing Dad pretty hard. As a result, although the chocolate worked and my morning sugars were 104 (!!!) I got stupidly upset and my sugars soared to 131. Took me most of the morning to calm down completely, and then I crashed because of being too low. Average sugars today: 115.
Today's food and activity:
Activity: Chasing after my pre-teen kids to get them to go to church, come back home, clean up their room... I figure I was moving a lot, although I didn't time it or anything.
Breakfast: As usual, 3-egg cinnamon/parmesan omelette, but this time two turkey sausages instead of bacon (we were running short on bacon and I wanted to use up the sausages first), TB coconut oil.
Lunch: Low-carb portobello mushroom burger, 3 coconut oil capsules.
Dinner: El Torito fajitas. JUST the fajita meat (steak, chicken and shrimp) and onions. I've read up on the low-glycemic foods, and onion and grapefruit are two of them, so I'm cautiously branching out. I figure the fajitas were about 5 ounces of each meat, plus a cup of so of cooked onion (about 3/4 of a raw medium onion). When I got home, I took two TB of coconut oil.
Now I'm going to have the oddest nighttime snack ever, I'm sure: a square of dark 73% chocolate, an ounce of string cheese, another TB of coconut oil, and half a grapefruit. We'll see what my sugars look like in the morning.
To drink: LOTS of water.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Griff
Member(I should be putting dates on these.)
Morning check-in, 9/7:
Well, my sugars didn't react so well. I think I have to not eat after 8 p.m. if I'm going to have good sugar numbers in the morning - they were at 126. Of course, I also woke up an hour later than I usually do, which could be part of the problem.
Posted 2 months ago #
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