Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Getting things back into perspective

I had two disasters happen and 1 predicted challenge.

First I went to a doctor check-up and mentioned that I didn't understand if I was eating raw food, why wasn't I losing weight faster. He asked what I was eating that was fatty, and I told him I ate nuts, seeds, and avocado. So the doctor told me he'd have his diabetes educator talk to me when I checked out at the front desk.

Mind you, up until this point I was eating at least 80% raw food with no problems. No cravings, except for the cravings I felt were caused by my metformin. I could handle those. I was eating vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and seaweeds most of the time.

So I'm standing there at the front desk with a full waiting room. The educator walked out, looked me up and down, and said, "Well, when I have a SKINNY diabetic and I want them to gain weight, I tell them to eat nuts, seeds, and avocados." She stopped and looked me up and down again. Then silence. So I was like, "Ummm so.....I don't eat those?" She exclaimed, "BINGO!" Told me not to eat them, and walked out.

As I'm walking to my car, my sister calls and says she's been diagnosed with alpha-1 antitripsin deficiency and her doctor told her because both our parents were carriers, I had it too. Great...another chronic disease? So I was pissed and not really in a positive frame of mind.

Okay, so I go home and try to eat vegetables, fruits, and seaweed. I started to get really bad hunger pains and cravings. It was awful. You know....if my other foods are fruits, vegetables and seaweed - what's the big deal if I eat nuts, seeds, and avocados? And how can she make diet recommendations based on one question to her from my doctor? At least I wasn't eating hamburgers or pizza.

Combine this with my "who gives a turtle" attitude over the A-1-A deficiency, I started eating more "regular" food. I gained 4 pounds back, lost the glow, and pretty much just fell off the raw wagon.

So, I've been off the raw and therefore my diabetes control sucked. In addition, the Arizona heat was too much for me and my sister to continue the jogging/crossfit stuff in the evening when we both had time. So that stalled in May.

I had a little talk with myself and got some great feedback here and on my YouTube site. Thank you all you great people!! It's not the end of the world. And we always have more control over things than we think we have.

I'm going back on the raw - with the nuts, seeds, and avocados, thank you. My plan is mostly veggie smoothies and salads during the day and then cooked veggies or more indigenous recipes for dinner, most of the time anyway. Hopefully back to about 80% again.

I found a cheap Parks and Recreation center that looks promising with cardio machines and a weight room - so we are going to go check that out. Cross your fingers it has good cooling.

I was so bad I didn't go for the A-1-A deficiency lab...but I went ahead and did that this past Friday. See what it says, and I'll let ya'll know.

So I was down, but I'm not out. :)

3 comments:

  1. Hi, I came across your blog because I've been researching raw food/diabetes for my dad. He is type 2 and hoping to try going raw.

    I can totally relate to you with craving food based on emotion, ugh. It's an uphill battle! I hope you're doing well and hopefully back to eating what makes you feel the best.

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  2. You definitely need to be careful with fats - even on the raw diet if you are eating the so called "good fats" - it's so easy to have too much. I HIGHLY recommend that you read 80/10/10 diet by D.Graham - he gives an excellent explanation how fat interferes with absorbtion of sugar into the cells, causing all kinds of problems. I also highly recommend making and drinking lots of green smoothies (fruits, veggies and LOTS of various LEAFY GREENS) to get rid of cravings - there are some good books about that too on Amazon - you can try V.Boutenko's Green For Life.

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  3. I have looked into the 80/10/10 diet - as far as I could without plunking down money for a book. It seems to be pretty interesting. I drink lots of smooties made from dark leafy greens, and I have a couple of V. Botenko's books - very good! I'm climbing back on the raw bandwagon. Hard to fit it into my life, but I'll figure it out. Do you have kids and family who don't want to do raw? How do you deal with that? Thanks for commenting!

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