A
Hi Gwynn, apologies in advance but I'm not sure how to PM you. How did you go into remession without meds please?
Hi,
It was basically strict diet and exercise, weight loss.
I kept (and still do) note of each days food nutrition, supplements, minerals, meds that I consume using a somewhat large application that I wrote. I also record all the medical bits (like blood glucose, weight, etc)
With the application I can easily manage what I eat and keep within set limits
But that is no help to anyone who doesn't have the application. So, if I had to start from scratch I would (did) :-
1. Reduced the carbs to 130g a day, or less, if possible. This does need calculating. Can be done on paper but it soon gets messy.
2. Kept the protein and fats up to at least RDA. In fact I ensured every nutrition aspect, vitamin, mineral was at RDA or slightly greater. ODA (Optium daily allowance) it seems is a better measure but I have not looked into this yet.
3. I ensured that I kept hydrated
4. No sweets or snacks or eventually, occasionally allowed them.
5. Exercised every day (I had to build that up as I was so unfit). I chose walking as it was easiest and I like walking on the beach. I listen to an mp3 whilst walking to ward off boredom.
6. I allowed myself the occasional treat
7. I set sensible, achievable goals (eg aiming to initially lose 5Kg weight, then at that goal shifting to lose another 5Kg, or exercise 30 minutes a day, shifting to an hour a day when I could do 30 minutes easily, etc
8. I recognised that changes take time and are cumulative, so did not worry about glitches (well I tried) and just kept on going.
9. I used a blood glucose meter to do 2 things. Firstly to record my waking BG and secondly to record the effects of specific foods (which I did every day in the afternoons)
10. I researched anything and everything I could to do with diabetes, diet and health but quickly realised how hard a job that would be because there is so much contradictory, consfusing stuff out there.
11. I made mistakes, did not beat myself up about them but tackled them head on
12. I joined this forum which helped me and supported me a lot, especially in my understanding.
14. I gained an understanding that what works for one person may not work for another. We are all unique. This is not bad but it does mean managing my diabetes is slightly harder work
15. I quickly realised that I had to work out how to manage my diabetes for myself and do it myseld as the NHS could not (being under resourced)
16. I enjoyed my successes. They might mean nothing to anyone else or appear trivial, but to me it was part of my great journey.
17. I did not just take orders from the doctors and nurses but negotiated, researched their suggestions, took control, which, most of them liked (as it took pressure off them and they could also claim the successes for themselves)
18. I started off buy buying a food nutrition book which steered me in the right direction
19. At first I panicked, despaired, was annoyed with myself but quickly realised that if it was going to be 'fixable' then I had better fix it as best I could. And that 'best I could' improves as I go on and learn more and more.
20. The initial worry/fear of 'I can't eat anything as everything has carbs' was replaced by a more assured feeling as I calculated my diet aspect for each meal and each day and soon found a pattern or aspects that worked. For example I worried about getting enough potassium in my diet. Everything I considered just messed every other diet aspect up. It took me ages to work out that if I have 150g tomato juice with 1g Losalt and 200ml fizzy water, then it was palatable and full of potassium. So 6 of those a day plus 3 potassium supplement capsules a day, plus food gave me (for today for example) 5600mg but it had to be adjusted down because of my meds to 4200mg which is acceptable. I could only work this out because of my App and a willingness to experiment
21. Yes, a willingness to experiment is important. I became a long term experiment. I tackled each aspect I could analytically to get the best theoretical outcome possible for me. For example I wanted/needed to know which specific foods spiked my BG, hence the afternoon tests after consuming selected foods. As another example I tried new (to me) foods which promised helpful aspects and found some that were good. Lettuce! I hate lettuce but lettuce is full of vitamin K and with a small amount of salad cream, is palatable. So I have 100g of lettuce with my lunch every day.
Sorry this has become 'War and Peace'
22. It's all about taking control for yourself where you can.
Does any of this help?
And before you ask: the App I use is a home grown Excel program, however, there are some great Apps on the internet specifically designed to help dieters and diabetics, I recommend reseaching one of those.
So, no App? then find one on the internet. Or better still ask on this forum what people here use.
Hmm I wonder if this forum has a section for people to explain their methods of achieving remission? That would help so many people. I've not looked yet...
on the other hand, the few jelly babies I stored in a Lift tube have kept their texture pretty well. Will keep that in mind now that I'm using Novorapid more often.
