I continued doing the program but soon my blood sugars were back to where they were before I started. It was more than a little scary and a lot frustrating to see this happen.
As I began to analyze what the problem might be I realized that I had been thinking about that "20-potato-a-day" diet guy and the good results he had, so I had increased my potato consumption. I don't think I was doing 20-a-day, but I was eating them for perhaps 2 out of 3 meals a day. I never fried them. I was still eating low fat, so I steamed them with some onion and applied some herbs and low sugar/no fat ketchup to the top layer and plunged in. In doing that my vegetable intake also plummeted. I was eating the potatoes alone -- like he did.
I like potatoes but my blood sugars went back to what they had been before. And I was even beginning to have anxiety and panic attacks. What the heck? After I had gone through that about three or four days, with sleepless nights and pacing, I drove to Walgreens and wildly purchased some double chocolate dipped peanuts and ate half a bag. Oddly enough all the anxiety went away. I also stopped eating potatoes. I still don't know what happened there, except I had noticed that some of the potatoes I had were sporting small sprouts that I was cutting off. It might have been the sprouted potatoes but, never the less, I'm not eating them like that anymore.
I finally had to admit that the "20-potato-a-day" regimen might work for a middle aged healthy man, but it was not working for this post-menopausal pre-diabetic woman, so I got rid of the unopened 5-pound bag of yellow gold potatoes by giving them to a friend, and moved on. I have two small red ones in the fridge and am not sure whether I will throw them out or eat them with some sauerkraut.
I was also having brown rice meals. Sometimes by itself, and sometimes with veggies. As I continued the experiment I could see that my blood sugars never again went down to normal and I felt very frustrated. I had been following the advice but it was not working for me. I had even begun to notice that my stomach was having a lot of "burning" which, in the past, has been associated with too many starches.
I continued to consume about two servings of fruit during the day. I continued having either oatmeal or rice with every meal with a few vegetables to add variety. My blood sugars did not get better.
I even had an "I am so discouraged with this that I'm going to binge" episode, for a few days too. I ate a whole bag of corn chips with beans or refried beans. That was a monumental disaster. The good BM's I was having disappeared and I was suddenly constipated again which of course meant the scale was now going up again. Eye. Yi. Yi. After a few days of that, I utilized some magnesium to help get things moving again. In a few days, things were finally back to normal -- more or less.
So in looking it over I'm thinking I've got to forget about "starched-based veganism" and head towards something better. I don't want to go back to being a meat-eater, although I think a little meat now and then should not be a problem.
I am now going to try out Joel Fuhrman's vegan approach which is not starch-based but vegetable-based. I had previously found a graph of his that I had downloaded and it suddenly showed up on my background screen. As I looked at it, I realized that this should be my adjustment to the experiment. Here is the chart:
I had already made the decision to reduce the grains and increase the beans but had not been thinking about the vegetables. I felt odd in the produce department at the grocery store as I realized I am a vegan who does not like or eat a large amount of vegetables, so I might need to make an adjustment.
I am aware that on this chart the percentages do not add up to one hundred but will make the effort to remember these pictorial proportions throughout the day. I'm single so I usually prepare a meal with two of the sections from the chart at one meal and then at the next I may repeat or alternate choosing from two other sections.
A note on the beans: they give me horrific gas so I had previously reduced my intake just for the noise reduction. But as I continued reading and finding out how well beans go hand in hand for a diabetic I wanted to know how to cook them so I do not get such horrible gas.
I found some advice from a fellow vegetarian who already experimented and found the following guidelines produce cooked beans with less gas -- although, so far, in my experiment the gas is not totally gone but it is somewhat better than it was and I don't have it for such a long period of time using just the first 4 guidelines:
1. Soak -- this is imperative. Even if you cook them in a pressure cooker (like I do) you still need to soak them over night in plain water. Soaking is said to actually get them to "sprouting" stage which produces some enzymes that pre-digest the fibers that cause the gas.
2. Change the water 2 or 3 times. -- It also helps to then, the next day, cover them with fresh water and bring them to a rolling boil for about 5 minutes and watch the gas foam up to the top of the pan. Pour this water off, rinse the beans in a colander, and then cover them with water and do it all over again. After that then cook the beans.
3. Do not cook the beans in salted water. -- This one was a surprise to me but I decided to try it out. They are not actually too bad that way. They said it was OK to add salt AFTER they are cooked so that is what I do. Of course I use "Real Salt" which is unprocessed and has lots of minerals.
4. Add some gas reducing herbs to the cooking water. -- I used cumin, dill seed, and curry powder because I had that on hand. They also recommend: ginger, cloves, coriander, and a squeeze of fresh lemon. I don't know if they help but the beans I tried cooked this way did seem to be less gas producing -- although not entirely gone. Note: If you like onions and garlic in your beans do not add them until the beans are already cooked. After the beans are cooked you can add any thing you like to make your final recipe.
5. Kombu in the water is supposed to magically remove the gas from the beans. -- This is a sea weed product. I have just cooked my first pot of navy beans with a six inch strip of the stuff in the water. I have just tasted them and they are not bad at all. When I was reading up on this stuff I noticed that it is 100% iodine as listed on the label and I thought that was a good thing. I had been worrying that I was not getting enough iodine so had started mixing my good salt (Real Salt) half and half with some iodized sea salt. Perhaps with the Kombu in the beans I may not have to continue that practice.
My new-found adviser (Alex Picot-Annand, Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Certified Life Coach) said that after the beans are cooked you can either remove the sea weed or cut it up small and just leave it in the beans. When I brought the steam down and removed the lid on my pressure cooker to view the beans I stirred them around a little and noticed the sea weed was being broken up, so I decided to encourage that and leave it in the beans. I don't see where it would hurt anything. After my first tasting of the kombu/beans I'm enjoying them. So, this is a good taste addition, at least. I'll have to see if the gas problem is reduced and will get back to you on that one. I think the next time I might use my scissors and cut up the strip rather than putting it in whole.
I have just ordered Dr. Fuhrman's book, "End of Diabetes" (Paperback) and also his cooking DVD called: Secrets to Healthy Cooking
His web site gave me the opportunity to also download one of his past newsletters for free, so I chose the one on diabetes from September 2003. Right there on page four the head line reads: "Starch-Based Diets No Answer for Diabetic" -- which I had just found out -- the hard way. Well live and learn.
In the mean time, I also have read about water intake and have attempted to keep my water consumption up to 64 oz (at least) per day. Although some days I have a little less. I am still drinking more water than before.
So that is where I am. I am down a few pounds but not enough to be memorable. My blood sugars are not dangerous (100 to 134) but they are not yet improved -- like they were in the first 11 days (80-95). I want those blood sugars back.
Love you. Hope all is well with you.
Be back soon,
Marcia
