Health for life

Hi,

On the "Carbohydrate Addicts Lifespan Program," (CALP) they tell you to weigh yourself every day and then take an average at the end of the week. Ive been doing that, and it appears that I am gaining a pound a day. Not happy with that. I attribute it to the very slow plumbing, so have gone back on the magnesium. I was hoping that the high fiber in the shiratake noodles would help to correct that problem, but maybe I have to eat them for a longer time to see the results.

One thing about the magnesium: I use the brand called "Calm" which is a stevia sweetened powder that you add to a cup of water (hot or cold, as you wish). I know that over time you have to begin increasing the dose to keep getting the same results. I had been using one level teaspoon for a long time, but now see that I need to increase the dose. The problem I have with that is that the taste is so overpowering that a higher dose all at once in the cup is difficult for me to take. It has dawned on me that I could simply drink two cups instead of one, so that will be my solution. I can drink one cup with one level teaspoon of "Calm" without too much problem. In fact, I rather like it, it reminds me of a lemon flavored soda. So now I shall have two cups for a dose and get the increase that I need without shocking the taste buds. And more water is good for me. Problem solved. I hope. For now, I may need to do that morning and night, as my doctor suggested.

I also bought a bottle of sesame oil made in Hong Kong at the Dekalb International Farmers Market, since it is on the list, and have fallen in love with its hearty warm and toasty nutty almost burned scent and flavor. It really perks up a meat and gives it a lot of good flavor that I like. I fried up two butterfly pork chops last night that I had cut apart into four pieces before beginning, in the sesame oil, garlic powder, salt and Italian herbs. After I had cooked them on low heat for quite a while I took them out of the pan and slivered them into many small pieces that I can place on top of salads or in shirataki noodle dishes. I tested one and it was kind of bland, so I threw the slivers back in the pan and added a little more sesame oil, garlic, and Italian seasonings. That really perked them up. I placed a few on top of a salad and had a nice meal. The rest are in the fridge waiting for their next appearance. Perhaps I should freeze some for much later. I dont want to become bored with them, too soon!

I am still watching low carb recipe videos on YouTube. They have quite a few recipes, including shiratake noodle recipes. If you think about it, a low carb meal consists of meat and vegetables, but many of the videos are like casseroles made with substitutions. One was "macaroni and cheese" where the substitution for the macaroni was tofu, so technically it is tofu and cheese and if you think about that, that is two kinds of cheese (Tofu is soy cheese), so it really is cheese and cheese. I must admit it looked really good, but I dont eat Tofu because I dont think it should be consumed by humans. (I dont like the soy revolution that has taken place, because I believe that soy promotes cancer.) So I wrote and asked if the author thought that shirataki noodles might be a good replacement for the tofu.

I went ahead and ordered a variety pack of noodles and a packet of glucommanan powder just to experiment with the powder. I have stumbled across quite a few ways to use the powder. One is as a thickening agent. It says that it thickens ten times more than corn starch, so you only use a tiny bit, get to make gravy, and there is no increase in carbs to the meal. Another use, I shared in my last blog about the guy who made his own noodles in his fry pan. I might try those. But the third use is to sprinkle it on other food -- kind of like Sensa. That seems like an easy way to add fiber to all this meat that I am eating, without much fuss, and I need the fiber and like the no-fuss.

The only draw back that I have found from the shirataki noodles is that they seem to clog up my sinuses. I figured out that the dizziness I suffered the other day was from water in the inner ear -- a problem I have from time to time. I had noticed all through the juicing that my nose was running more than usual. It has increased since I started the CALSP, and with the addition of the shirataki noodles it seems to have moved on to cloggy especially in the evening. I was clearing my throat a lot last night at church, which was a little embarrassing. Perhaps I just have a mild cold... but maybe it is the glucommanan. I hope I dont end up being allergic to it. That would be very disappointing. I shall wait and see what happens with the new brand that Ive ordered and try to observe what happens after I eat them each time.

I published and then had to delete a comment made by someone on my before-day-one blog (the one with which I started this blog). One of the things they said was they wanted to see me make more posts (?). So I let the person know that the archive was on the right hand side of the screen in my reply. This person had also included a link to something called "Prediabetes Diet" which I scanned very lightly and thought was good information, so I published the post. Then I went back to read the link a little better and saw that it is the standard American Diabetes Association diet with lots of grain and fruit which I cannot support, so I deleted the post and my comment. I really hate having to do that but dont like my blog being used for someone elses agenda, especially one that I know promotes or increases prediabetes and diabetes conditions rather than reducing them. The idea is to avoid the complications of diabetes, not run faster toward them.

It is hard enough to manage the condition without misinformation being forwarded, too. Ive worked long and hard and done too many personal experiments with different foods in relation to my actual blood sugar levels to ever go down the road of fruits and grains again. They are simply not good for diabetics in any amount -- even though the majority of "authorities" still think people need ten servings of grain a day as on the governments food pyramid. We do not need ten servings of grain a day -- that is too much even for normal healthy people. Diabetics need to let go of grains completely. Grain is what is killing us, in the form of ined flour and even whole grain and whole wheat flour, along with the low fat/high carb diet which some people can tolerate but which is not good for anyone with diabetes of any kind. Better information is out there, if people are interested. It does not take much work to find it, either. I feel so sorry for those who listen to their diabetic nutritionist tell them to eat small servings of rice and bread every day and then do it. They will soon be on insulin if they are not already. Eating rice and bread (grains) promotes blood sugar highs.

I also tried the vegan approach but that did not exactly work out for me, either. Even on the juice fast my upper numbers did not decrease, although the lower ones did decrease. The span seemed to widen out which I think meant my blood sugar was spiking. I did include a little fruit -- just following the directions -- but that does not work for a prediabetic as I am. Even though I am not at this moment losing weight, the Carbohydrate Addicts Lifespan Program has given me very much better blood sugar numbers.

My meter shows that my average blood sugar for the past seven days has been 110, which is excellent in my eyes. It is not yet normal which is about 88 but Ive not seen 88... well.... ever... since I started having to check my blood sugars. But... you know they dont tell you start checking them, until they are high, and have become a problem. I think everybody should have one, so they can see what is going on in their own body. I remember being afraid of pricking my finger but have learned that that is nearly painless if you set the needle at the right depth for you. My skin is very thin so a low medium depth draws blood almost without pain especially once I learned to prick on the side and not the tip.

As to the weight I have two things going on that are holding the numbers up. One, I stopped taking the diuretic because they should not be taken for lengthy periods of time and Ive already been taking it for two years -- and two, the plumbing stopped moving -- both of which will give higher numbers to a persons weight. I have noticed in the mirror that my neck is no longer as wide as my face, so I know some of the fat is disappearing, it just does not show up on the scale. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow and I know my doctor will not be as understanding as I would like. Although she will still see a weight loss, I dont know how much it will be. I think it may be around five to seven pounds. We shall see. I have taken three doses of magnesium, hoping that will aid a little, and it has, but not very much. So maybe a diuretic would help, too. Maybe that is not the right way to go about it, but, I feel compelled to try to do something in preparation for the visit. (I guess that is about "looking good" -- oh so shallow!)

Since stopping the diuretic my ankles have been fine in the morning but as the day wears on they get a little thicker and poofey. They are not extreme, but I know I am holding water. I have been drinking more water, according to the plan, and thinking that perhaps that has helped to keep them at a minimum.

Anyway... still on the road, checking things out. Hope all is well with you.

Be back soon,

Marcia

Want to better understand the perpetual anguish of a chronic illness?  Well, thanks to online streaming from the Harvard School of Public Health, readers can better appreciate the eerie similarities between hyperprogressive liberalism and incurable diseases like elevated blood sugars.  Both can go on for decades, are irreversible, cost a lot of money and are ultimately caused by inappropriate choices.  The Disease Management Care Blog is, of course, writing about this hour long video of former Massachusetts Governor and former Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis.

Sadly for health orm Obamaists, the supremely competent and confident Mr. Dukakis trashes the concept of accountable care organizations at about the minute 35 mark, dismissing it as a reincarnation of 1990s style HMOs and capitation.  And he doesnt stop there. The additional problem, he says, is that well waste ten years analyzing what he foresees will be a foregone conclusion: ACOs are destined to fail. 

Whats more, since health care markets are such a dismal option, he concludes the only choice thats left is price-setting "regulation."  Assume State Insurance Departments have power over hospitals, call everyone into a room, assume theyre decent people, appeal to their economic self interest and everyone will be happy.

Yet, once the DMCB got over Mr. Dukakis "legend in his own mind" persona, it believed the former Governor has a good point: if ACOs fail, well be left with two choices:

1) a governing class who is ready to step in with enlightened top-down governance or

2) a reintroduction of market forces that seeks bottom up competition and consumerism.

In the interest of fairness, if readers want to see a counter-argument in favor of markets, check out this one-sided nine minute Cato Institute video that teaches us weve havent really had a health care market for decades. 

Alternatively, if youre in the mood for neither of the above videos, perhaps your time would be better spent on viewing something that offers far more than either of the options above. 

You Go Bizzle!



Image from Wikipedia

Too-big-to-fail JP Morgan is losing billions of dollars. Greece is getting ready to prop up their banks with devalued drachmas. Facebook is getting ready to monetize your personal data. Dozens of health care organizations are jumping into shared financial risk arrangements. The good news is that while nothing is standing between utter disaster and the U.S. stock markets, the Euro or your privacy, physicians have this handy Care Continuum Alliance resource titled "Population Health Management: A Road Map for Primary Care Practices."

Thanks to this well written, extensively erenced and evidence-based report, primary care leaders can learn how to align population health management (PHM) with their primary care physician network to reduce risk, maximize savings, achieve efficiencies and minimize any disruption of their physicians work flows.  The rest of the world may be going to hell in a hand basket, but docs will be far better positioned to bend the cost curve and be rewarded with that fat end-of-year reconciliation check.

The report discusses:

1) how health risk assessments (HRAs) can be used to gauge the risk of those patients you dont know about;

2) the role of predictive modeling in stratifying the risk of your attributed population;

3) how to recruit and engage patients at greatest risk

4) how clinical guidelines can be best applied at the point of care

5) why care managers can assume responsibility for identifying and recruiting at risk patients and advocating on behalf of the guidelines.

How can the Disease Management Care Blog be so confident that this report is all that and more?  It helped write it.

And the best part is that the document download is for free.