Primal Challenge Journal (Griff)
(246 posts) (30 voices)-
Catalina
MemberOkay. . .just one more thing about the plantar fascitis that I almost forgot--I got it from a trigger point massage book, and it did work for on-the-spot relief: sit with your bad foot crossed over your knee--grab your shin with both hands and with your thumbs, find the tender spot on your inside calf (around the middle usually). Put pressure on that while moving your foot back and forth. (And you don't have to touch your ticklish feet!)
Posted 1 month ago # -
nina_70
MemberGriff - awesome news about your AM blood sugar levels! You might have mentioned this before, but I don't know if you're supplementing w/ Gymnema Sylvestre? It's something you can take at night too (I've had some diabetics I know supplement this at night to control overnight blood sugars). It works well in conjuntions w/ Chromium too...which I know you're already taking.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Griff
Member@nina_70: I haven't tried that, but I think I've actually found the key to keeping my morning sugars lower. For the past two days, I've been taking a teaspoon of cod-liver oil morning and night.
For the past two days, my sugars have been 114 in the morning and consistently lower all day, in the low 100s and the mid- to upper 90s.
Of course, I want to see this keep going for a week or two or three, but this may be the key. I hope it is.
Anyway, my high yesterday was 114 and my low was 94, for a beautiful average of 102. I did not eat breakfast because I didn't need to; I ate lunch (a chicken caesar salad) and dinner - some cheese, nuts, and ham. My net carbs were 13.
No exercise yesterday, apart from walking around campus. But that's okay. I feel pretty good for all that.
Glad to see some positive motion on the blood sugar meter, I gotta say.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Griff
MemberSo yesterday, we attended a wedding.
My average yesterday was 110, with a high of 122 that was really inexplicable (I'd eaten almost nothing for dinner) and a low of 101 before dinner. I got a lot of exercise on the dance floor at the wedding reception - at least 45 minutes, probably more like an hour.
How do you handle low-carbing when you go to a place where you don't have control over the menu? Well, first prepare for probably not being able to eat - go out to eat before the event and have substantial food so that you don't need to eat in case you can't. My husband and I had lunch yesterday at about 2 p.m. He had eggs, bacon and sausage, and I had steak and eggs with some bacon. That way, I was protein- and fat-loaded and ready not to eat if I couldn't eat what was served.
Although I managed to get some blocks of cheese and some raw low-sugar veggies before the dinner at the reception three hours later, there wasn't a lot of primal food available. I had a bare spoonful of the high-sugar balsamic vinaigrette dressing on my salad, and gave away my tomato, and had a bare half-flute of champagne to toast the newly married couple. But apart from that, I didn't have dinner. I couldn't. Between low-carbing and my wheat allergy, I couldn't have the overly-breaded chicken breast, and who knows what might have been in the gravy? I couldn't eat the whipped potatoes or the rolls, either, and carrots tend to spike me as well, so the only thing on that plate I could have had was broccoli, and I'd already had cruciferous veggies earlier in the evening during the hors d'ouvres course. So I just said "no thank you" each of the three times the waitstaff tried to push the plate on me, which confused them. My sister-in-law said "I wish I had your willpower," which confused me. I don't see this as a willpower issue. I see this as a not-having-an-allergic-reaction issue.
In any case, I was a little hungry - and vexed that my post-dinner sugars were at 122, which made NO sense, after my "meal" - but once I got on the dance floor, the hunger disappeared. I took a couple of songs off every now and then, when I got so sweaty that my coat was getting ready to cook me, but then I was back on the floor as soon as I cooled off. I thought I might have to eat when we got home, but when we finally got home I really felt no need to eat, so I took my cod-liver oil and my nighttime supplements and went to bed about an hour after we got home.
Point of this story: It's not the end of the world if you have to skip a meal. If you don't have control over what you will be served, just make sure you eat adequately beforehand to cover what you would otherwise be eating. It worked fine for me, and I don't seem to be damaged as a result of it.
And the wedding was fun, despite not having edible food available to me. I didn't have to eat the cake or the food to have fun. For a lot of people, that might be confusing too. I know that for me, the point of going to weddings used to be that I could have delicious food at the reception. Now, the point of going to weddings for me (apart from celebrating the joining of the two people I care about!) is being able to dance on a crowded dance floor. There aren't any good clubs in my area, so weddings are about the only chance I get to dance.
More of my friends need to get married and throw big weddings. That's all there is to it. ;)
Posted 1 month ago # -
Griff
MemberThanks, kuno1chi!
Yesterday my average was 107, with a high of 115 after dinner and a low of 98 before lunch. My average today may be a bit higher than that, because my waking sugar was up at 122 this morning, but that's okay - when my blood sugar goes up, everything else goes down. The same thing is holding true today.
Yesterday my weight was at 356. This morning it's 352. Once again, a stall has broken with a tremendous jump forward and down. This pleases me very much. (And that means I've lost more than 25% of the weight I want to lose, which, considering it's only been 8.5 weeks and I need to lose nearly 180 pounds to reach my goal weight of 220, is tremendous.)
I didn't eat breakfast yesterday because a) I didn't need to and b) I was asleep until about 10 in the morning, by which point any hunger I might have felt had long passed. All the dancing on Saturday wore me out in a big way; I was useless most of the day until we had to start our laundry at 3 (we finished at 9 p.m., which is pretty good for a six-load day), so apart from carrying baskets back and forth and hanging up clothes, I didn't get much exercise - but after yesterday, I think I really needed a rest day. Lunch was just some cheese slices; dinner was my own riff on the ground beef curry masala that Catalina posted about in the "Quick Primal Meals" thread. Net carbs for the day: 14.
I'll be taking my cod-liver oil this morning and that should be enough to bring my daily blood sugar average down some. I am pretty sure I know what caused this morning spike; I had a snack at close to midnight. Oops. Won't be doing that again, that's for sure. And I'll definitely be getting exercise; today is a "hike all over campus" day.
I didn't start this with the goal of weight loss in mind, and for a while I was uncomfortable about it because I've always been a fat-rights activist. But more and more, with me feeling better and better, I'm reaching the conclusion that it's okay to feel happy about losing weight, too. I still won't be small at 220, and I may even want to drop more at that point; we'll see. I will say that I was stalled for over a week, and only started to see weight-loss progress again when I really got strict with myself and limited myself to 20 carbs per day (Atkins induction level). So I don't think I can go outside that limit for a while. And that's okay. I am handling this so well, I don't want the carby foods I used to eat, and so I don't feel deprived at 20 carbs/day.
I may go hit the weight room at school tomorrow. The two-liter bottles are getting too light for me to feel any real burn.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Griff
MemberSo my average yesterday was 109, with a high of 122 when I woke up and a low of 95 before dinner. The morning number irritated me, because I'd had five days straight of mid-110s numbers in the morning. The only difference was that the night before I'd had a late-night protein snack. Now I get it: I have to eat early enough that I don't have protein conversion overnight which would spike me. So no more late-night snacks.
This morning my sugars were back in the 114-115 range, which pleases me.
Yesterday I actually had three meals, but I went over my carb count (33 net carbs, wince): bacon and an attempt at fried eggs for breakfast - I cannot make good fried eggs to save my life, which is driving me nuts! - a "caprese salad" snack for lunch (fresh mozzarella balls, pesto sauce, grape tomatoes and arugula), and three-meat fajitas with onions and a Mexican caesar salad for dinner (no starches, breads, or chips).
Exercise? Yeah, I got that, too. I walked all over campus yesterday. It is so weird to be able to walk around without feeling like I'm going to collapse.
My goal for this coming week is not to eat out any day except yesterday and Wednesday (Mondays are my "tough day" at work, and Wednesdays we go to see our kids in another town for visiting night so we really don't have a choice about going out to dinner). To that end, we visited Trader Joe's last night and bought a few of their "easy to make" meals: flank steak rolls and chicken breast rolls. This way my husband, who dislikes steak because it's hard for him to digest due to gastric bypass surgery, can have a chicken roll while I have a steak roll. Everybody wins. Yay. In addition, I have a freezer full of meat that I can easily make dinners with if I get up early enough and put together a crock pot. I'm thinking that tonight will probably be a pork tenderloin, which I need to put into the crock pot before we leave for school and work this afternoon.
So, live and learn: If I want decent morning sugars, I can't have late-night snacks. I'm not even sure why I had them the other night. I was feeling like I wanted to snack, but I wasn't hungry, and I probably should have just not had anything. Live and learn.
Posted 1 month ago # -
keep it up, griff!
Posted 1 month ago # -
Griff
MemberThanks, DCKMB!
My average was 109, with a high of 115 in the morning and a low of 93 before dinner. Not too shabby.
I didn't have breakfast; my first food was lunch, but it was breakfast food: four fried eggs and three strips of bacon. Dinner was pork tenderloin and what turned out to be too many veggies at once: summer squash, broccoli and red onion in the crockpot. We have some left over but I'm probably not going to have most of the veggies; my sugars went up more than I'd like.
I didn't really get much exercise yesterday.
Net carbs yesterday: 23. I should have skipped the strawberries at the end of my dinner. Oh well. Live and learn.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Griff
MemberI'm very excited about this trend. According to the spreadsheet I keep, my average morning sugars are at 117, which is just two points away from my first blood sugar goal (average morning sugars 115). This morning, my waking sugar was 102. I got a fair bit of sleep, too (about 10 hours), which might be why it was so nice and normal.
Yesterday's average was 111, with a high after dinner of 124 (wince) and a low of 100 before bed. I did get quite a bit of exercise walking all over campus, but I was completely dead tired by the time the day ended.
I'm starting to leave food on my plate. This is a new thing for me; I've never done it before. Yesterday's lunch was a chicken caesar salad; I ate all the chicken and about half the greens, then felt full. I couldn't take it with me as salad doesn't keep, though. And last night, if I'd been thinking, I would have stopped at one plate of food at the buffet restaurant we took the kids to for visiting-night dinner. I like going there because I can get all kinds of proteins and avoid the carby foods without having to do a lot of negotiation with the waiter, but I should have stopped at the first plate. I probably wouldn't have had that bloody 124 if I had stopped. But I still stuck with fattier proteins: chicken drumsticks with the skin on, sirloin steak, ham. I also forgot to bring my dinnertime supplements with me in the morning rush, which may be part of the reason why my sugars went up that far after dinner.
Net carbs yesterday: 13.
After my wonderful 352 the other day, my weight has been bouncing between 356 and 357, and my measurements have remained constant - no downward change there. It's annoying me, but today at least my weight was at 354, so I'm hoping this will be the start of a new downward trend. I'd really like to achieve my November 1st goal of 340. After that's met I think I'm going to set ten-pound goals for each month instead of 20. I may have reached the point that the inevitable slowdown is starting.
In any case, things are mostly going pretty well. We're going to go hiking this weekend, up a steeper trail than I've done before.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Griff
MemberToday's average shocked me.
It's 99.
Let me say that again.
My average blood sugar today was _99_.
...
...
!!!!!!!!!
This is what I've been hoping to do ever since August. Two months later, I've achieved it. Almost exactly two months later - my two-month anniversary was two days ago.
Okay, so now I should do the daily recap thing, but I just had to share that first.
My high was 109 before lunch and my low was 89 before dinner. Lunch was just three ounces of monterey jack cheese; all I really felt I needed, as I wasn't that hungry. Dinner was meatballs made with egg, beef and green onion (and black and red pepper), wrapped with bacon and baked, with a mushroom-onion saute' to go with it. It was divine.
I didn't get much exercise today, although I did walk onto campus and back out to the parking lot, so it was something.
99, folks. My blood sugar is in the completely normal NON-DIABETIC range.
Long may this trend continue.
(99!!!!!)
Oh, and net carbs today: 11. :D
Posted 1 month ago # -
klcarbaugh
MemberWOW. WOW. That is so awesome!!!
Incredible. I am sure that you will get more and more days like this as you progress... though you will probably still have a lot of higher days in between for a few more months at least.
Again... wow.
By the way, do you take vitamin D?Posted 1 month ago # -
99! YEEHAW!
Posted 1 month ago # -
Griff
MemberThis is the second day in a row that I've had an average of 99.
Now, I can't trust this is completely accurate, because I spaced out doing filing in the evening and I was really late taking my post-dinner blood sugar, but I'm going to try the same meal again tomorrow and test two hours later and see where I am. My high today was 105, and my low was 84. I'm very pleased.
I didn't eat breakfast; I had some jack cheese for lunch, and a couple pieces of broiled chicken and some strawberries for dinner. That was really... it. And I got a hell of a lot of exercise today, walking around in nearly-100F heat. I had to hike all over campus.
Net carbs today: 6. The berries. That's it.
If this pattern continues, I'm going to be so happy. :)
Posted 1 month ago # -
Congratulations, Griff!!
You are such an inspiration. I had a hard day today - lots of temptation to cheat. Reading your success stories helped me keep on track. Thanks :)Posted 1 month ago # -
Griff
MemberThanks hfox and truckergirl!
Truckergirl: cheating becomes a non-option once you've lived this way long enough. I'd never, ever go back. Not with all the successes I've had.
Okay, so I was three points higher on my average today than I had been yesterday or the day before, but I had a high of 113 this morning that I'm pretty sure was anomalous, because the rest of the day my sugars stayed below 107. My low was 97 for a nice smooth average of 102, which is so close to 99 that it feels like that.
Net carbs today: quite a few, actually - 15. I'm happy to report that my sugars went down to below 100 again after the same meal I had last night for dinner, so I'm fairly certain that the post-meal 104 yesterday was not a fluke. And in the learning-to-listen-to-my-body department, we took the kids out to eat as we always do on the Saturday they stay here, and I had half the buffalo-wings appetizer and realized I was full. So I brought my entire dinner home (two hamburger patties with cheddar cheese) except for the half avocado and the single cup of salad with bleu cheese dressing - I ate that part. But the rest? Took it home. I'll have it tomorrow or the next day. *shrug*
I'm annoyed with thedailyplate as its recipe builder seems to have suddenly gone on the fritz, but I'm going to make the Korean-Style Short Ribs that was posted here the other day - I simply used thedailyplate to look up each individual ingredient and then come up with totals for the whole recipe, using Excel. I have to use the blackberry version as I'm allergic to kiwi. But instead of grilling them, I'm going to marinate them overnight and then use the slow cooker to cook them all day long tomorrow. Om nom nom nom.
We didn't go hiking today because it was beastly hot and dry outside, but that's okay - I ran errands with one of the kids and got plenty of exercise that way. I think that it's almost time to Lift Heavy Things again, though.
Man, I am pooped. It's time for bed after I make that marinade, I think.
Goodnight, folks.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Griff
MemberToday I've dropped two pounds. I'm down to 349. For the first time ever in my life, I weigh less than the number on my driver license.
My average was 100, with a high of 108 and a low of 89. I ate four small meals: half my leftover dinner for breakfast, some cheese and raspberries for lunch, the wonderful short ribs from the slow cooker for dinner, and a bit of fried cheese and macadamia nuts as a late-evening snack. (One mistake: I should not have added any water to the short ribs. Eh. I'll know for next time, now. And I saved the remaining broth; I might be able to use it in other dishes.)
Exercise today? Surely you jest. I had a day off today and I took it. Tomorrow I'll be doing plenty of exercise walking all over campus.
Net carbs today: 15. I rock.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Griff
MemberWell, 104's a good average to have. It's not quite as low as my ultimate goals, but my sugars tend to go up slightly on days when I haven't had enough rest. This morning I was rudely awakened by the gardeners using their weed-whackers outside my window. Believe me, I got up. About four feet up.
Anyway, my average today was 104, with a high of 110 and a low of 97 - not too shabby. Net carbs: 10. Exercise: Oh yes. All over campus, walking (and hurrying) to get from room to room in the ten-minute passing period they allow us.
Breakfast was my other leftover hamburger patty from Islands the other night, and I had no lunch. Dinner was crockpot chicken with coconut-flour-based gravy, and raspberries (and we still have half the chicken, half the broth, and half the gravy left over!). To drink: Water water water, of course, and lots of it.
I've had a slight headache today and I'm not sure why. There's no proximate cause except, possibly, being woken up too early. I have been yawning my head off all evening, so maybe that's all it is.
Today has been a mostly good day, all told. And I'm down to 348 according to the scale this morning. Woot. That's 49 pounds lost, folks, in nine and a half weeks. At this rate I may still make my goal of 340 by the end of October. And I've been complimented by a lot of people about my weight loss. I still don't see it, but I'll trust the people who say they do.
Posted 1 month ago # -
klcarbaugh
MemberHaha. I said I was 118 on my drivers license when I was more like 106. I thought I would never get above 115...
Gee, that lasted.
Griff, I honestly thought that it would take less than a month to get a normal reading. I am friends with a low carb diabetes doctor who says it happens that fast.
Of course nobody is the same and I am learning every day. I learn a lot form you, so thanks.Posted 1 month ago # -
Griff
Member@klc: Believe me, I hear you. I wasn't trying to be snarky.
When you start out weighing 397 pounds, it probably takes longer to get a normal reading (even if your bg's are "only" in the 180s, as mine were) than it does if you weigh 120 pounds and your bg's are in the 300s. There's less body mass to deal with and faster insulin receptor upregulation, I'd think, in a smaller body. You might ask your diabetes doctor if there's a weight variable in there affecting normalization of blood sugars on low-carb plans.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Griff
MemberMy average today was 104 (high 111, low 87) and that's probably because most of my food came from one meal - dinner. I had a small breakfast of leftover chicken, and no lunch. Dinner was three-meat fajitas with onions and a salad.
But 104 is still so close to normal that I'm going to just go with it. Heck, a reading between 90 and 120 is supposedly "normal" even for normal non-diabetic people two hours after a meal. I figure I can live with averages in the 100s (below 110).
Not much exercise today; it was mostly a work-on-schoolwork day, and a go-to-work day. Tomorrow I'll get plenty of exercise walking all over campus. I'm on my tenth cup of water for the day and plan to get in 12 or 13 before bedtime.
Net carbs today: 26. Definitely higher than I'd like. But my sugars are still behaving themselves!
No weight loss today, but that's all right. I'm very pleased to have lost 49 pounds in only ten weeks. That's damn near miraculous.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Baglady
MemberHowdy Griff!
First off your dedication is awesome, I am so intrigued! We are different I don't have as many pounds to lose, but I have struggled with being -pre-diabetic for the last 7 years and my doctor says I have beat it, my A1c being a 5 last check in the spring. I really thought I was doing pretty darn good till I found PB, you and then tested myself this morning 114:(, I have been PB 2 weeks. I have so many questions for you but will try to hold them off as much as possible to not clutter up your journal while I read your whole journal. So far I am up to page 2. So if you don't mind I have question this morning.... How many times a day and what are the prefferable times to check it? I want to monitor myself this way for a while too to get my averages. I am such a Curious George now! LOL!
Have a great day!
Posted 1 month ago #
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