Sugar Bugs.

Sugar is crap.  It tastes really good, but it's way too easy to eat too much of it.  It's in most everything processed because people love it.  Also if you add enough sugar to something that doesn't taste very good, all you'll taste is sweetness.  It makes yuck palatable and it makes it unhealthy to boot.

I miss it though.  I've been using the phrase sugar bugs when I talk about carbs with Carboface.  It's become our catch phrase for mocking or talking wistfully about the foods we used to love.  My niece's dentist used the term to explain why they had to brush their teeth.  :)

High Fructose Corn Syrup is a bad idea too, and that's because of the higher fructose content.  Fructose is the crap part of sugar.  It's the part that messes up you up metabolically if you have too much, not just once in a while - consistently.  I don't want to eat anymore of it...even though it is delicious!  But it's easy to get fooled when you read ingredient labels, because it's disguised,  and often the amount of sugar or HFCS is not even accurately represented.  

Sugar or carbs, may feed cancer cells too.

I'm trying to stay away from sweeteners too because they can cause insulin resistance as well.  I think the body responds to the sweet taste, and releases insulin in anticipation of the food energy that would be dumped into the bloodstream, and that insulin dump makes you hungry.

I'm not going to give up sweeteners altogether, but I am treating diet drinks and sugar-free jello with some respect.  They aren't FREE foods.  They are foods I can eat in moderation so I don't miss eating carby treats as much.   I do notice that they rev my appetite some, so it's probably good to have them in conjunction with other more filling foods.

And xylitol is a good sweetener.  It creates a perfect PH balance in your mouth and promotes healing in your gums.  Good news if you have gingivitis.

I have some Omega 3 liquid  that is sweetened with xylitol.  Carboface was worried that it had carbs so when checking it out, I found this info on xylitol incidentally.  My dentist told me it was good to chew sugar free gum as long it had xylitol, and now I know why.

I did a lot of walking today, a few hours worth, and I still feel so surprised and grateful at how I'm much more able to do physical activities.  It's remarkable how much MORE and stable energy I get from NOT eating carbs.  I think back to how I used to have to carry around food all the time in case I'd have a crashing low blood sugar.  It happened ALL THE TIME.  My blood sugars were good, if low at times, but really I was taking too much insulin!

Carboface and I were talking and wondering about the exact chemical processes involved that differ when you process carbs, or protein, or fat, for your body's needs.  Then he found this interview with Robert Lustig.  It's new!  And it has a great little animated segment that really explains what goes on when you eat.  And this article explains the processes too, same here.

I almost forgot, my weigh in this week - I'm down to 165.5, and Carboface hit 210. 


WHAT I ATE TODAY

12:30 pm
2 egg omelet
60g cheddar cheese
1 T spinach cream cheese
1 green onion
1/2 small tomato
1 1/2 slices bacon
arugula

2 cups coffee

4:00 pm
1 oz mozzarella
cucumber
green tea
water

4:50 pm
1 oz cheddar
1 oz mozzarella
cucumber
1/4 cup mixed nuts
lime diet coke
green tea

6:30 pm
1/2 stick pepperoni
1/2 oz cheddar
tea
water

8:30 pm
2 thighs chicken
1/2 yellow  pepper
1/2 green  pepper
soy sauce
butter

10:00 pm
green tea leaves

11:40 pm
1/2 pack soft tofu
sesame oil, sesame seeds
soy
Rooster hot sauce

1:06 am
1 T miso
4 rounds cucumber
slice ham
green tea
water

3:30 am
1/2 pack soft tofu
soy sauce

BLOOD GLUCOSE

11:08 am
before breakfast
7.8

4:51 pm
before cheese, nuts etc
5.5

8:27 pm
before chicken and peppers
5.1

3:23
before bed
4.9

Food Log - April 15, 2012 - WB

I am having to put a period at the end of the Induction. label, because otherwise auto complete makes it into pre-induction.  What the hell?  I hate when something that is supposed to be a shortcut turns into a huge pain in the ASS!!!

I weighed myself when I woke up, and I'm down to 168.5, I was 177 at last Sunday's weigh in, and before that my highest weight was during my last period, at 185.  I've lost 8.5 pounds this week and 16.5 lbs total.

Bleagh.  I went off the rails today.  Just a little bit of added carbs along the way got me all the way to 35!  And I'll probably want to eat again today before I go to bed.  Dang.  I don't quite have the hang of balancing the carbs out, and I haven't had the foresight to buy enough variety in low carb fruit and vegetables.  Cauliflower and greens are the big winners.  Cucumbers, strawberries too.

I'll figure this out though.

Today I hit a wall in terms of feeling very bored with food.  I miss the roller coaster ride of eating carbs.  My meals used to be so much more enticing.  I don't even feel hungry anymore....well I do, just my hunger is so slack in comparison.  I can understand those people who forget to eat now. 

WHAT I ATE TODAY

2:00 pm
3 eggs, scrambled
50g mozzarella
2 breakfast sausages
2 slices bacon
butter
1/2 cup ice blue kool-aid
2 cups coffee

5 g 


4:00 pm
1 spicy thigh - Church's Fried Chicken
1/4 grapefruit


11g


6:07 pm
1/2 can chili sardines

 2g

7:30 pm
1/4 cup cashews
1 cup ice blue Kool-Aid

7g

9:40 pm
5 strawberries

3g

10:00 pm
1/2 package firm tofu, fried and marinated
soy
rice vinegar
chili sauce
minced garlic
2 1/2 cups raw cabbage - stir fried til tender then with tofu and marinade
1 cup ice blue Kool-aid

8g

12:30 am
soft tofu
soy sauce
sesame oil
chili sauce
sesame seeds
cucumber
water
green tea

3g


BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVELS


1:03 pm
before breakfast
7.3

3:57 pm
before chicken
6.7

12:27 am
before bed
5.1

Introducing Wheat Belly and Carbo Face

The Last couple days I've been thinking about giving up carbohydrates and how that will affect my life.  I am sick of being sick.  I have a host of chronic illnesses that seem to stem from the fact that my body does not process carbs well.


My partner is healthier than me, but he too has health issues.  He's mainly concerned with losing weight.  Like me, he's struggled with his weight, most of his life.  I'm overweight too, but I have lipodystrophy and the fat in my body is mostly internal adipose tissue, and especially in my liver, there is tons of fat.  I used to feel like there was nothing I could do,  that I straight up had a wonky body that needed tons of meds, but the feeling of helplessness surrounding my health has dissipated.  Like in the movie I was watching tonight, Henry's Crime, where Keanu Reeves's character says,


"I used to go along with everything.  I didn't feel like I could change it."


Now I wonder why I felt that way - so resigned to my fate.


Well, maybe think about that later.  For now, I'm just glad I have this feeling of empowerment over my health.


My goal in starting this blog is to motivate and track our progress while we change what we eat and do.  We're gonna shed the habits surrounding food and lifestyle that aren't supporting health and replace them with eating patterns and exercise routines that are easy to live with long term.  I want these changes to be enjoyable.

All this was prompted when Carbo Face cued up this YouTube interview where Gary Taubes  explains how insulin is used to store fat in the liver.

I have type 2 diabetes,  and I've had that diagnosis for the past 10 years, yet it took a random youtube video for me to get this information. Even though I've been seeing tons of doctors, often more than one specialist a month, I've never had one tell me, well that insulin you're taking  - THAT's why you have fatty liver.  Well maybe it's not that simple, but I mean really.  If just once, a doctor had straight up said, carbs turn to fat because of insulin, well maybe I'd have chosen not to eat carbs instead of taking insulin.


Anyhow.  This is where I'm at right now.


Still eating carbs, but doing it in a conscious way where I'm saying goodbye to the foods I've loved that haven't treated me well.  They've been abusive, so I'm thinking on divorce.  First we'll go for a trial separation, then we'll try a couple dates and I'll see how they treat me.


 I'll be doing a weekly weigh in,  and keeping daily food and medication logs, and also note whatever extra effort is made on the exercise front.


Wheat Belly

182 lbs

waist 45
hips 37
neck 16
bicep 11
thigh  18.5

Carbo Face

220 lbs

waist  47
hips    41
neck   16.5
thigh   24
bicep  14


Here's to a healthier future.