Minor update…

[everydayupsanddowns]

I neeeed to perfect my tofu cooking, particularly getting it crispy.

I got this from t’internet somewhere…

• Firm tofu (not silken)
• Press for 30 minutes in paper towel
• Preheat oven
• Cut pressed tofu into cubes
• Mix 1tbsp oil and 1tbsp soy sauce in a bowl
• Toss the tofu to cover
• Sprinkle over 1tbsp of cornflour and mix until no dry/white specks are left
• Spread on lined baking tray
• Bake for 25 mins near the top of oven at 200C

It has worked every single time for us.

Extra flavourings / marinade / sauces are a good addition when they are crispy.

 

[Amyfaith]

Note to self: check if I have any cornflour left before leaving for work tomorrow…. ;-)

 

[Amyfaith]

Propanalol works pretty quickly, I take 40mg 3 times a day. You could just take it when you are anxious and it will calm it down.

I’ll have to give that a go next time I have a bad reaction to something. My anxiety is always weird - I get the immediate panic, and then a very physical, and always super delayed response (like 2 days after sometimes). The SSRI used to keep it under control but I got a bit sensitive to the side effects and I’m on a dose now that doesn’t seem to do as much as it should.

 

[rebrascora]

Or you can use Halloumi instead of Tofu if you are not vegan. A bit saltier but has lovely flavour and all you need to do is cut into cubes and fry it until golden to get lovely crispy cubes. Works well in a cauliflower, halloumi and butternut squash curry.

 

[Amyfaith]

Or you can use Halloumi instead of Tofu if you are not vegan. A bit saltier but has lovely flavour and all you need to do is cut into cubes and fry it until golden to get lovely crispy cubes. Works well in a cauliflower, halloumi and butternut squash curry.

I love me some halloumi. And paneer. All the fryable cheeses. :-D

 

[Amyfaith]

Just had my appointment and - 49! I’ll take that, especially given where I started.

 

[SB2015]

Just had my appointment and - 49! I’ll take that, especially given where I started.

Well done. How satisfying to see how well your changes are working. Keep up the good work.

 

[Amyfaith]

So, a question: what should I be focussing on now (aside from keeping things in a good range)? I’m a little disappointed my numbers weren’t lower, given what my meter has been telling me, but three months is a long time and as I think I said, I’m reasonably sure I’m missing some spikes. So here’s where I’m sitting:

-The weight is still coming off, albeit slower than it was. Still averaging 1-2 lbs/week most of the time. Presumably I shouldn’t look to counter that.
- Carb intake is usually 120-140 most days. Less than that and I have issues with not enough fibre/calories. Most meals are around 30g. Starting to get a sense of which carbs I’m more sensitive to. Oats, beans, most veggies, and corn generally fine; potatoes neutral provided I don’t have too many; wheat often not great; long stemmed broccoli skyrockets my glucose for some reason.
- Loosened up carb control last week on holiday, which was nice - still mostly reasonable amounts, just more potatoes than I’d normally have. No carb creep noticed yet, but we’ll see. Disconcertingly normal readings even after chips (but there was a 15 min walk and a rather large steak and salad alongside that, so….).
- Emotional stress definitely affects my glucose readings, so I definitely need to work on that, somehow. It’s not stress eating - I actually lose my appetite when I’m upset - but the adrenaline surge. (Picked a bad job for this genetic make up, it seems…)
- Low-ish carb doesn’t bother me, overall, but my result has made me reconsider my experiment to see how much I can ‘handle’ (because clearly with that result there’s been a lot of higher numbers than what I’ve been seeing). Is it worth getting a Libra to see what’s going on underneath for a few weeks? Should I do lots of post meal testing (30, 60, 90, 120, 180 mins?) to see where I sit? It’s just disconcerting to rarely even see up to a 7.5 after meals and then get an a1c that suggests that’s my *average* rather than the exception, even if it’s still a very good result. Just trying to make sense of it, given my data. Am guessing there a few days where things were significantly higher, or my meter was out of whack - but I’ve not really changed up how I’ve been eating since I went low carb in January, so I’m a little mystified.

Basically: stay the course, shift something around? Thoughts? Does a high a1c just take its sweet time to go down because of the long-term nature of it? (Obviously need to get an appointment to discuss mental health stuff, which could make a big difference, but that’ll be at least six weeks as my regular GP is on leave the rest of this month…)

 

[Leadinglights]

Although 130g cars per day is suggested as being an amount that low carb quite a few people find they do need to go lower than that to reduce their HbA1C to normal and keep it there so your 120-140g may just be a bit too much for you even though your monitor readings look as if your HbA1C would be normal.
Can you trim a few carbs off your menu and see if that would make a difference.

 

[Amyfaith]

Hmm could well be right there. I did have a period in April/May when I wasn’t testing as much and dinners were mostly 45ish g carbs so that could well have done it, despite spot checks suggesting that sort of intake leads to mid-7s. A lot of that was chilli type dinners, so most of the carbs were coming from beans, which I haven’t had for a while. I may test that one out again with more of a rigorous testing regimen, see what happens.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hmm could well be right there. I did have a period in April/May when I wasn’t testing as much and dinners were mostly 45ish g carbs so that could well have done it, despite spot checks suggesting that sort of intake leads to mid-7s. A lot of that was chilli type dinners, so most of the carbs were coming from beans, which I haven’t had for a while. I may test that one out again with more of a rigorous testing regimen, see what happens.

I make chilli quite a bit and add lots of veg as well as kidney beans, I always wash them before adding them and 1 tin usually makes 6 portions so not too many carbs per portion.

 

[Drummer]

Hmm could well be right there. I did have a period in April/May when I wasn’t testing as much and dinners were mostly 45ish g carbs so that could well have done it, despite spot checks suggesting that sort of intake leads to mid-7s. A lot of that was chilli type dinners, so most of the carbs were coming from beans, which I haven’t had for a while. I may test that one out again with more of a rigorous testing regimen, see what happens.

You are doing well if you are eating so many carbs each day - but it might be wise to check with beans, or any legumes.
I soon found that I can extract more carbs from legumes than the listed amounts when I was testing.

 

[Amyfaith]

You are doing well if you are eating so many carbs each day - but it might be wise to check with beans, or any legumes.
I soon found that I can extract more carbs from legumes than the listed amounts when I was testing.

Yeah, I’m wondering about this a bit - but post prandial tends to sit very low with beans for me when I have tested previously (like a rise of 1 usually, max). Wonder if it’s going high earlier/later? How glucose results translate into a1c results, though, is a bit more mysterious to me.

 

[Drummer]

Yeah, I’m wondering about this a bit - but post prandial tends to sit very low with beans for me when I have tested previously (like a rise of 1 usually, max). Wonder if it’s going high earlier/later? How glucose results translate into a1c results, though, is a bit more mysterious to me.

You are probably 'safe' with legumes then - I can get almost twice the carbs listed, so can a few others I've mentioned this to. It really was quite puzzling at first, but the same thing happened a couple of times and the penny dropped. At least, when I eat my half portions of peas or beans I don't get the usual windy consequences, never have done.
I am pretty sure that there is no direct connection between BG levels and the HbA1c number.
I reduced my maximum carbs by 10gm a day when my HbA1c was 42, waited a year, and my HbA1c was - 42!!
My daily checks after meals were down, but it made no difference to HbA1c.

 

[Amyfaith]

You are probably 'safe' with legumes then - I can get almost twice the carbs listed, so can a few others I've mentioned this to. It really was quite puzzling at first, but the same thing happened a couple of times and the penny dropped. At least, when I eat my half portions of peas or beans I don't get the usual windy consequences, never have done.
I am pretty sure that there is no direct connection between BG levels and the HbA1c number.
I reduced my maximum carbs by 10gm a day when my HbA1c was 42, waited a year, and my HbA1c was - 42!!
My daily checks after meals were down, but it made no difference to HbA1c.

Hmm yeah - best I can tell my peak is about 45 mins to an hour after eating (high fat meals are later), which explains why things often look pretty flat with my BG tests. But even then, again, the worst I’m seeing these days is about 7.5. *Something* is raising my a1c though and I’d like to get to the bottom of that if I can. Fasting numbers are still low 5s, with the odd upper 4. I gather the only thing to help with that is not *too* few carbs and general fat loss, so I guess stay the course with weight loss (much as it pains me - and my closet - to say it).

 

[Leadinglights]

Hmm yeah - best I can tell my peak is about 45 mins to an hour after eating (high fat meals are later), which explains why things often look pretty flat with my BG tests. But even then, again, the worst I’m seeing these days is about 7.5. *Something* is raising my a1c though and I’d like to get to the bottom of that if I can. Fasting numbers are still low 5s, with the odd upper 4. I gather the only thing to help with that is not *too* few carbs and general fat loss, so I guess stay the course with weight loss (much as it pains me - and my closet - to say it).

Are you by any chance anaemic a that can affect your HbA1C and also hormones can play a part.

 

[Amyfaith]

Are you by any chance anaemic a that can affect your HbA1C and also hormones can play a part.

Not anemic as far as I’m aware. My hormonal IUD is probably in need of replacement (they’ve recently switched it up to 8 years from 5; I’ve had this one for 6.5 so it works for contraception but the hormones are basically gone so there’s more bleeding and that could be making me anemic-ish?), and I’m probably just edging into perimenopause by my guess based on my mom. Getting the Mirena replaced is high on my list of priorities for the summer, if I can get a referral (sexual health only changes then out for contraceptive reasons without a referral). But yes, good shout - I’ll do some investigating….

 

[Amyfaith]

Oh, I may have figured it out (I'm WFH today so doing some frequent post-meal testing). Bread bad. Bread VERY bad. A small sandwich (1 slice of bread - 27g carbs) full of meat, cheese, and lettuce is my usual go-to but it looks like at 1 hour in, I go a good bit higher than my 2 hour result would suggest and stay there for a good 45 mins (not like 10 but today was 7.8 at 60 mins after eating, and it was a typical sandwich for me). I generally don't test lunches as I'm at work, and hadn't done a 30 min by 30 minute test with this sort of meal, so that may well be the culprit. So I'm guessing wheat is probably a no-go except in very small portions.

Ideas for easily packable lunches that don't necessarily require nuking much appreciated... (I'm familiar with 'oopsies' as bread replacements but not a huge fan...) A google suggests thinking 'charcuterie board' may be the way forward...

 

[Leadinglights]

Oh, I may have figured it out (I'm WFH today so doing some frequent post-meal testing). Bread bad. Bread VERY bad. A small sandwich (1 slice of bread - 27g carbs) full of meat, cheese, and lettuce is my usual go-to but it looks like at 1 hour in, I go a good bit higher than my 2 hour result would suggest and stay there for a good 45 mins (not like 10 but today was 7.8 at 60 mins after eating, and it was a typical sandwich for me). I generally don't test lunches as I'm at work, and hadn't done a 30 min by 30 minute test with this sort of meal, so that may well be the culprit. So I'm guessing wheat is probably a no-go except in very small portions.

Ideas for easily packable lunches that don't necessarily require nuking much appreciated... (I'm familiar with 'oopsies' as bread replacements but not a huge fan...) A google suggests thinking 'charcuterie board' may be the way forward...

In general the guidance is that if finger prick readings are consistently 4-7mmol/l fasting and before meals and no more than 8mmol/l at the 2 hour point for the 3 months prior to the test then the HbA1C is likely to be normal. This of course may not apply to everyone and may depend on age and other factors.

 

[Felinia]

I've picked this post up late, but would like to add roasted squash to the potato alternatives. A dusting of paprika adds flavour.