What Does My Body Want From Me? - Part 4

What can I drink?

More people continue to reach out and I do appreciate it.  I hope in some simple way some of you find the same success that I am experiencing on my journey and what I am learning.

BS - 106 this morning.  I had some really good grapes before I went to bed last night

BP - 110/75 (home machine) - HR - 61 looks like this is settling down nicely after stopping my medicine

I have made it clear I am leading you toward journaling to understand the impact of different life style events on YOUR body - it is different than mine.  I am also hoping this will help as many of us go see the doctor every six months and that is when we find out how good or bad we have been.  Creating your own journal will let you know each day how you are doing.

The final group to discuss and share information is about what we drink and how it impacts our bodies.  I will not discuss soda or soft drinks as they are not good for us for any reason.  If you drink them, you will be able to journal the impact.

Coffee - how much and what kind.

Coffee is the one drink that still causes the medical community some anxiety on how it can / cannot help diabetes.  There have been many studies around this topic.  Here is the complexity of what they are dealing with:

1. It has been proven that coffee helps control blood sugar levels
2. It has been proven that caffeine alone raises blood sugar levels by as much as oral medicines reduce it
3. It has been proven that drinking 4 or more cups of coffee a day reduces the risk of getting diabetes

So the problem to these guys are or still exists to be; how can coffee appear to help control blood sugar levels when they know caffeine spikes it.  They know this because they have tested giving caffeine straight to people and it spiked their blood sugar levels.

There is one thing they ALL agree upon, if you are going to get some caffeine it better be through coffee and no other sources - including diet soda/pop/coke/soft drink or whatever you call those drinks.  I think that is amazing how each part of the world has a different name for a soda soft drink.

So my position will be - test and find out the impact on your body.  Obviously, the added items like sugar and cream have an impact but I am leaving that on the side - since you will be testing.

I have a friend who gets kidney stones all of the time, and his doctor said lay off the coffee.  I have cut back to one a day just like he has.  I still drink caffeine in mine - helps charge my morning. Working from home I do not get coffee.

Water - how much and what kind?

I bet you are asking yourself - what does he mean what kind?  I have friends who say I drink diet pop, I am getting my water - NOT!!!  I am talking about pure water and what it does for our bodies.

Most doctors will say 4 8 ounce glasses of water a day is good.  But again, I think you should understand your body and what goes on with it - as for water, there is a natural test going on in your body at all times.

Your urine is the testing that is consistent.  But to understand how this is true and what is going on - we should go back and revisit what is going on within us diabetics.  We are either creating too much insulin or our bodies is not taking it in.  Either way, we end up with too much or a high blood sugar level, we get dry mouth and urinate frequently.

If you are urinating frequently - you stand a good chance of dehydration - so you need to drink more water.  If you are urinating frequently and dry mouth, see a doctor ASAP.  

For me I love water so I have a tendency to drink a lot of it - on many days. I asked my doctor if I was or could drink too much and he said - yes, you can.  The over drinking will cause you to go a lot and most often your urine will have no color.  When this is happening, you are or could be flushing valuable minerals and supplements down the toilet.

He suggested monitoring and knowing when I need more or less water.  Believe it or not - I check the color of my urine and if it is getting clear - I might be taking on too much water.  On hot days on the golf course I want to stay hydrogenated so I might drink 8 20 oz cups of water or more.  I know what is going on out there so not as concerned as on days when just sitting around the office, meaning you can drink a lot of water and you are sweating it out - not urinating.

Alcohol consumption - Yes, No, Maybe

The best way to put this is from many sources - no.  There are many studies out there that claim red wine and resveratrol help control blood sugar levels - but the truth is it appears not to help and is not going to be the cure for diabetes as once thought.

I do not drink hardly at all but as the American Diabetes Association says - if you want to have an occasional drink of alcohol - use a red wine.  Stay away from alcohol, sweet red wines, white wines, and other forms of alcohol.  The red wines contain less carbohydrates and sugars so they are better.

Here are some other ways that alcohol can affect diabetes:

• While moderate amounts of alcohol can cause blood sugar to rise, excess alcohol can actually decrease your blood sugar level -- sometimes causing it to drop into dangerous levels.
• Beer and sweet wine contain carbohydrates and may raise blood sugar.
• Alcohol stimulates your appetite, which can cause you to overeat and may affect your blood sugar control.
• Alcohol may also affect your judgment or willpower, causing you to make poor food choices.
• Alcohol can interfere with the positive effects of oral diabetes medicines or insulin.
• Alcohol may increase triglyceride levels.
• Alcohol may increase blood pressure.
• Alcohol can cause flushing, nausea, increased heart rate, and slurred speech.

My advice, like all things - IN MODERATION! Be sure to test and know which kind of alcohol works for you.

Teas - are they okay?

It appears from several different studies and knowledge experts, that green teas are extremely good for us diabetics in so many ways.  There are so many studies and how these teas can help - I will let you search out the good kinds and select a few.

Summer teas and sweetened teas are not in this list.

So drinking green tea is great and a good substitute for coffee.

Stay away from Aunt Matilda's Summer Sweet Tea.  If not, make sure you are wearing a medical alert bracelet!  

So now you have your drink category and we are finished with the majority of the build up to journaling.  Tomorrow's post will bring this to an end.

May God give us the will power to drink his natural waters and teas to help us control our blood sugars and to change or manage a better life style.  May he make it easy for us to move from drinks that cause us to have poor blood sugar levels and may he take away any of our addictions to these drinks.

Bob,