Diabetes Health Talk

Hubby (type 2 diabetes) told me yesterday that he would probably never be able to go swimming again. He is worried about his feet - he has another infected toe. As disappointing as it is for me to know he won’t be joining me in the pool - it must be much more disappointing to him. He LOVES to swim.

Nor is it apparently a good idea to use the foot spas that are so popular.

Several years ago I bought hubby a foot spa for Christmas. I looked EVERYWHERE in our small town trying to find one - finally had a small pharmacy order one for me. Nowadays you can find one in every sort of store - they are coming down in price, too.

This all comes back, of course, to the fact that diabetics should take extra good care of their feet.

Hubby wears cotton socks year round - in the colder months (Alaska, remember?) he wears a pair of polar fleece socks over the cotton socks.

Every night when he takes off his socks, he checks them for any tell-tale signs of bleeding or oozing. He then checks each toe with the help of a hand mirror to see if he can see any cuts or bruises.

Even the smallest cut can become infected. With neuropathy, the sensation of pain that would drive any of the rest of us bonkers just is not there. Hubby has found infected sores in the past that he did not even know were there.

He doesn’t feel it if I or one of the grandkiddos step on his toes - he doesn’t feel it if he stubs his toe into a door or wall - he doesn’t feel the same pain you or I might.

So, he has to take these preventive precautions.

Right now he has a prescription to use a hyperbaric chamber to help increase the speed at which his foot heals. Last time it was amazing just how quickly all that extra oxygen caused healing.

So - take good care out there - and if you are wondering if foot spa usage - or swimming - are appropriate for you, please check with your physician. Follow his/her instructions.

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Hubby and I have been in the big city for the past couple of days - he had his second cataract surgery Thursday afternoon. I cannot tell you just how impressed I am with the staff of this office. They have some of the nicest people working there - very concerned for the patients and yet they crack jokes and keep the whole atmosphere light. I appreciate it muchly.

And, the surgeon? He prays before EVERY surgery - and he does upwards of 40 a day - two days each month. But he takes time to ask the Lord’s guidance while he performs the surgery on each patient. THAT is a blessing in more ways than I can tell you.

But, back to the title of this entry and a bit about the picture.

When in the big city (remember, we live in small town Alaska) one must - MUST, I say - simply try all of the new restaurants that are within your budget. And, so . . . thanks to a recommendtion from our B&B hostess, we stopped by City Diner before heading out of town Friday afternoon.

Oh, my, oh, my, oh, my!

Things we did NOT order:

Chicken Fried Bacon (yes, you read that correctly - chicken fried BACON!)

Flat Foot (fried balogna and fried egg on a bun) - hubby was tempted - he LOVES fried baloney - yes, he was born in W.VA, so he says BALONEY.

What we did order:

Cold Meatloaf sandwich and Granny K’s Killer Chili (hubby)
and
Tuna Melt with pineapple cole slaw (mine - the tuna was great - the slaw so-so)

And, of course - I had to try to Orange Moose to drink: orange soda with ice cream - a float if you will.

And, as I author the PurpleMoose Gazette, and because I collect the purple critters, my mind went directly to how I could make a PurpleMoose! Grape soda over vanilla ice cream! Yup, already planning my next birthday party. I need a plate from The Moose’s Tooth to hold the moose cake I’ll ask the Ladybug to make me - and then everyone steps up to have a PurpleMoose ™ from the Nana! Yup - it’s a plan. Now, if I can just remember it until January.

Back to the City Diner - just looked it up and see that it is owned by my favorite local tv cook - Chef Al and someone he has often as his guest - Chef Kelly. Didn’t see either of them there but then we weren’t looking for them, either.

There was a crowd at lunchtime - but our wait for a table was short - shorter than the 10 minutes we were quoted when we got there. Service was fun and the decor was just like you would expect in a diner from the 50s.

The menu - well, just pick and choose and you won’t have that heart attack - all things in moderation, remember?

city diner, anchorage, eating healthy - or not, cataract, surgery,

What not to eat when watching your glucose levels . . . click below to view the video. Sugary Verdi. It’s very clever animation.

So - what DOES a diabetic do when they crave something sweet?

Hubby noshes on sugar free gelatin cups. We started buying them for the grandkiddos - we take one of our seven grands with us each week for our shopping. The youngest always loves to pick out jello for his family. Hubby has started bringing some home for himself as well, and now I find empty cups in the garbage every day.

You see - this is where I would have a problem with diabetes. I absolutely LOVE chocolate. I enjoy frosted cakes, too. But I have noticed that as I stay away from such things longer that a little bit goes a LONG way with me these days.

Even my chocolate craving has stilled somewhat. Maybe it is the swimming? I have noticed that I seem to be eating a bit less - even with all of the burned calories daily. Hmmmmmm.

A funny thing has happened this week at the pool - beginning the first of October the prices were increased. We used to pay $2.50 or $25 for a punch card of 10. Now it is $4 or $35 for a punch card of 10. Amazingly . . . MORE PEOPLE are coming now than were coming in September.

Of course, a lot of them are making up missed gym periods.

Sure makes for interesting dynamics in the pool, though. My daughter and I generally share a lane anyway, although I do my best to stay out of her way. She is, after all, in training. (She plans to do her first triathalon next year - there, Ladybug - it’s in print! Now you HAVE to do it.)

Some of the regulars like to have their own lane - and they are pretty choosy about which one it is, too. Ladybug likes the wall, so swims in lane one. I would like to have my own lane, and sometimes start out in one by myself, but that generally changes just as soon as the younger folk show up.

Our lifeguard is really good, though. He keeps a careful watch on who all is there and where they are at all times. All this in between good-natured barbs as we show off for him.

Come on - you know that YOU show off for the lifeguards, too.

So - do your exercise and eat your sweets - okay, eat sensibly. THAT’s the ticket!

frosting animation, verdi, exercise, swimming, diabetes

Sticks and twigs - twigs and sticks. That’s what Alaska’s resident moose munch on every day. This mama moose and her yearling calf crossed in front of me this morning as I was driving to church. They cooperated for several minutes as I stopped nearby - in the middle of a very quiet road - and snapped away.

Docile creatures - just as long as you give them their space. Do NOT attempt to walk up and try to pet them or get a closeup picture - invest in a lens that can allow that closeup shot.

Sally is Living Without Meat - and recently talked about iron deficiency. She states “I was anemic when I was a meat-eater, and now am not.”

That’s interesting - I suffered a nasty bout of anemia a few years ago - and as it came on so slowly I didn’t even realize I was sick. I had my regular med check with my doctor - for hypertension - and the tech did bloodwork on me. He caught me as I was paying the charges and asked me if I was “having any symptoms”.

Erm - can you give me a little more to go on here? What sort of symptoms are you asking about? Well, he said “tiredness” and named a few others. He and the doc took me back to the room and we began discussing what they had discovered - and we began tracking back to what could have caused it - nope, not vegetarianism. It was not food related at all. I had just had a 6 week bout of menstrual bleeding - the big final blow-out period before menopause - and that had depleted my iron stores.

So, THAT was why it felt like I was walking through jello when I walked across the room? I had NO oxygen in my blood. Humpf!

Now, hubby does not eat beef - it causes unpleasant side effects that affect everyone in the room, if you follow my drift. He eats chicken and pork. On occasion I will crave beef and give in to it when we eat out. I need more variety in my diet than hubby. He has always been a happy camper eating one thing (when younger it was hamburger) over and over and over again.

We are not vegetarians at our house. But we do seem to eat fewer meat items each week.

I think the MOST important thing that I can do for my hubby is to make sure he has as balanced a meal that I can prepare. What he eats I cannot control, but what I cook, I can control.

Mama and her baby munching alongside the road.

vegetarianism, moose, alaska, diabetes, diabetic,

Fall is in the air here in Alaska. We still have not had snow, which is fine with me. I imagine it may be a week or so before we do, but it is sure coming down the mountainsides quickly. We watch the snow line come further down each day and know that soon the clouds that are bringing rain to us and snow to the mountains will soon catch up to us and drop the white stuff.

So, it is time to turn the furnace on - or up in our case - hubby has been chilling lately and has turned the thermostat up to suit himself. In fact, he had to buy and install a new thermostat because the old one (same age as house - 30 years!) was just not working very well. We’d hear a click and then the furnace would run and then it would go off. Over and over again. Very annoying - and I’m sure that the gas company was charging us for each click, too.

ANYway . . . back to the fall and Alaska.

It’s time to at least bring the jackets to work in the car - if not wearing them. Sweaters are helping stave off the chill, too.

And, then there are the apples.

I was in a training all day today and will be again tomorrow. It is near my house so I figured I could run home at lunch time to have a cup of soup - but the powers that be catered in lunch for everyone. That was very nice and very unexpected.

There was salad, rolls, small new potatoes and chicken. Stuffed chicken. Chicken stuffed with an apple based stuffing. I tasted cinnamon and the apples and it made a quite nice addition to the baked chicken. Yum! I’m going to have to see who did the catering tomorrow if I can.

So, in honor of the fall and in honor of apples I decided to look for a good baked apple recipe to share with all of you tonight. This one looks YUMMY! Mint baked apples.

I used to fix baked apples for hubby and Lessa and her sister all the time. I think I may have to get some good baking apples this weekend.
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Mint baked apples
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 40–50 minutes

2 large red baking apples (about 8 ounces each)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons golden raisins
2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint leaves
2 teaspoons reduced-calorie margarine
Water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Core apples through the top, stopping 1/2 inch from the bottom. Peel a 1-inch strip off the top of each apple around the hole. Place apples in a shallow baking dish; set aside. In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, raisins, and mint. Fill the apples with the raisin mixture. Top the raisin filling in each apple with 1 teaspoon margarine. Carefully pour 1/4 inch water around (not over) apples. Bake uncovered for 40–50 minutes, or until apples are tender when pierced with a fork. Remove apples from remaining water and serve warm or chilled.

Yield: 4 servings
Serving Size: 1/2 apple

Nutrition Facts
Per Serving:
Calories: 118
Carbohydrate: 27 g
Protein: <1 g
Fat: 1 g
Saturated fat: <1 g
Sodium: 20 mg
Fiber: 4 g
Exchanges per serving: 1 fruit, 1 other carbohydrate
Carbohydrate choices: 2

This recipe was developed by Tami Ross, a Diabetes Nutrition Specialist and Certified Diabetes Educator in Lexington, Kentucky.

diabetes, baked apple, apple, fall, alaska, nutrition

It’s important no matter what kind of nutrition needs you have, but especially so for diabetics . . . reading labels.

I used to be much better at it - take more time in the grocery aisles reading labels to make sure the fat levels were low enough and the sugar levels were low enough for both hubby and me. Now that we take the grandkiddos (one at a time) shopping with us, there is a lot more confusion and we all get tired more quickly. So, I am not quite as good about keeping up with what I am putting into my body.

Three of our grands live only two doors away and they love to come to our house after school for a snack. Lately I have been buying the 100 calorie snack packs for them. I figure that they must be better than the other fat/salt/sugar laden packages I was buying for them before.

Tonight I decided to look at the label on the shortbread cookie crisps just to make note:
Calories: 100
Total fat: 3g (0 trans fat)
0mg cholesterol
Sodium 120 mg
16 g carbs
Sugar 6g
Protein 1g

Nutrition.com gives an idea of where we might find hidden sugars or salt in the foods we eat.

I guess I should take the time to learn more about the whole nutrition/sugar/salt thing so that not only my hubby can become healthier, but I can, too.

sugar, salt, nutrition

One of my goals when I began writing this blog was to talk about how diabetes has affected my life. I am not the diabetic in the family, but diabetes, like any other disease, affects EVERYONE in the family.

I have mentioned before that hubby was diagnosed in the 70s when we lived in Ohio. We were in our 20s at that time. Hubby lost a lot of weight - which was a good thing and prescribed by his doctor at that time. He took oral medication for a short time only. The doctor had told him that he could stop at a certain point and so he did.

We then moved to Alaska and hubby decided that he was handling the disease all on his own. He never did like going to the doctor. Soon, his weight began to creep back up, although he has never gotten as heavy as he was back when first diagnosed.

Symptoms began creeping up on him again - and soon he found himself visiting the doctor for one thing or another. Again, because he does not like going to the doctor (they waste my time - my time is as important as theirs, etc.) he kept letting symptoms slide.

Finally, he could not handle the various complaints and his physician’s assistant sent him to a diabetes specialist. They have had a pretty good relationship for several years now - and I am grateful for that.

In the interim, many things have been lost in our relationship. And, yes, diabetes is to blame for many of them.

Writing here is helping me to face up to some of those - forcing me to understand that many (not all) of our difficulties are due to a disease.

Probably the hardest thing to accept - and, thus, to forgive - is that a lot of those difficulties could have been avoided if only . . . he had continued to see a doctor all those years . . . he had taken care of his disease . . . I had forced the issue.

lots of if onlys.

And, so my goal for writing here is to flesh out my thoughts and to allow YOU to share your thoughts and feelings, too.

So . . . why don’t you leave a comment or a question and let’s explore a bit, shall we?

diabetes, symptoms, disease

Last week I talked about hubby’s impending office visit with his specialist. That is not the frustrating thing, by the way. No, the visit went well and the doctor was pleased - sort of - with how hubby is doing.

“He gave me a B,” hubby told me. “Which is better than an F,” he continued. I guess his doctor told him that he is doing well, although not as good as he COULD be - at least he is not as bad as he could have been, either.

Also discovered that when hubby became this doctor’s patient, he was one of the very first patients he had in Alaska. How neat is that? The doctor says that he still sees the first 15 or 20 patients he started with.

Oh - the frustration? Hubby brought home his meds from the pharmacy and they are using the WEIRDEST lids - they are next to impossible to get off easily. I am thinking about asking for the little old lady type of lids the next time I get meds. My hands just don’t cooperate the way they once did - getting that whole push down and twist thing working all together - especially on nights like tonight when the clouds rolled in and my hands began to hurt . . . well, it’s just not that easy.

So - even though the bottles our pharmacy uses are not pictured or described here, here are some easy to follow instructions on how to de-child-proof your bottles. And, of course, DO NOT use these methods if you have children in your house. And, if they come to visit, please keep all meds out of the reach of little hands and mouths.

Hmmm - maybe I should ask our pharmacy for these types of bottles - so I can then use the methods described. Hahahahaha

From BMJ, a publication for doctors comes the following:

Some participants saw readings as a proxy measure of good and bad behaviour—with women especially, chastising themselves when readings were high. Some participants continued to find readings difficult to interpret, with uncertainty about how to respond to high readings. Reassurance and habit were key reasons for continuing. There was little indication that participants were using self monitoring to effect and maintain behaviour change.

I found a link to the article through the Diabetes Monitor website.

Not sure about all of you, but I have seen some of this in my husband - he monitors because he has been told to - it’s a habit. The only time he doesn’t is if he is out of supplies or if he is away from home. (well, on long trips he takes his equipment and supplies, but quickie trips to Anchorage? nope, not usually)

What do all those numbers mean? What should you do about the changes in the numbers? If it is too high, what do you do? If it is too low?

When is the last time you talked with your doctor about these questions? What is the advice you have been given?

No, I’m not here to give you the answers - I’m here to raise some of the questions and get all of us to think.

I have read blogs of some folks who punish themselves when their numbers go too high and then crash (HARD!) the next time they test - it only stands to reason how that can happen - we are not changing our eating habits so much as chasing the numbers - and that can be dangerous to all of us, but especially to diabetics.

So - what’s the answer? All things in moderation. Instead of having something full of starch or carbs and then not eating the rest of the day, cut the portions and eat a smaller bit of starch or carbs and then go on with our regular eating pattern the rest of the day. The goal, as I understand it from hubby, is to maintain an even keel with the testing - not the constant UP and DOWN that some of us have.

makes sense to me.

glucose monitoring, high numbers, low numbers, healthy tips

So - what did you all eat for breakfast this morning? They say (the infamous “they”) that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

As such - the most important meal, that is - we need to view it as the foundation for the rest of our day.

I am not a big breakfast eater - it takes a lot for me to bother about fixing something other than a quick cup of coffee. But I know that it is important to take that time. In my head I know that. So what do we do about making sure we take care of that necessity and still get everything else done that needs to be done?

Hubby, who is the diabetic, has his morning down pretty pat - he gets up and sits for a bit to wake up. Then he has a bowl of oaty o’s (you know the “C” cereal) with 1% milk and a piece of wheat toast and a cup of coffee (or a pot of coffee).

I need a bit more variety, so I often will opt for an English muffin - with or without peanut butter and banana, or a bowl of instant oatmeal - with or without toast or muffin, or sometimes I will take the extra time to mix up a fruit smoothie.

Then it is off to work and thoughts of what to have for lunch mid-day or dinner that evening.

Funny, isn’t it, how our days and our thoughts are focused so much on the food we are going to/willing to place into our bodies?

Hoping you have a healthy, well-fed weekend, everyone.