What Does My Body Want From Me? - Part 5

The big day - creating a journal

I want to welcome our new visitors and it appears we have picked up someone from Germany.  Welcome to the blog and I hope you get some valuable information from each post.

BS - 101 this morning.  Appears I am at 100.  The following chart identifies where you fall in the spectrum of diabetes:

Fasting Blood Sugar Levels - This is the one taken in the morning
Normal - 70-100 mg/dL
Prediabetes - 101-125 mg/dL (I am on the low side of this and appears to be my level)
Diabetes -125 mg/dL and above

Since I have been as high as 530 and often in the 200s - I was and still am a diabetic.  I have not cured it - I am just managing it through a life style change.

BP - 112/74 (home machine) - HR - 62 still holding good on this.

Whew, the big day is upon on and I feel like we have been preparing for a golf tournament.  Now we just have to execute what we have been working for and make this thing happen.

I am going to ask you to dig deep down inside yourself and make a simple pledge to stay with the journal for 90 days.  I am asking for ninety days for two simple reasons - our A1c measures in a 60 -90 day cycle so it is a nice rhythm to get into.  Secondly, if you do this for 90 days, it will provide a lot of information as to what is going on.  For me - the journal helped me bury in my mind the things that impact me so when it starts to occur again, I can understand quickly how I have gotten out of sync with my numbers.

We have discussed a lot of different things in the past two months and hopefully I will bring them out in this journal again - not to explain but to remind.

I hope you have a computer and can do this on a spreadsheet as it really helps to track and see progress.  I have a VA portal that has some of the tools to help with the journaling but not all of the tools.  You can also use the free one at https://247.diabetes.org/Home.aspx they have some of the basic information you can use.

There are many others and some cost.  I did not find any that measured what I wanted to measure so I created my own.  There are also many meal planners on line but again, I did not find any that was really exceptional.

You can do the research and maybe you will find one on the internet that works for you.

So let's get  started.

For every line item in the spreadsheet I would keep track of calories, carbohydrates, Glycemic Index, and Glycemic Load, Protein, and Fiber.  All of these help monitor what is going on.

I created a daily sheet and then created one for the week's average followed by the monthly averages, and then a program average.  Yes, I know this is a lot but is not your body and health worth it.  It took me 60 years to destroy my body - I guess giving it back 90 days to learn how to repair itself was not all that bad.

What I drink.

I do not consume much alcohol, if any, but I had a line in my spreadsheet for the following items:

Red Wine, Alcohol, Water, Coffee, Milk, Fruit Juices, and Soft Drinks.  By monitoring these I could see what I was adding to my body through drinks and what the impact might be.  After reading about juices and their GI and GL I gave them a toss along with most of my coffee and soft drinks.  Went back to water with a squirt of B-12 flavoring.  I got some taste and pleasures and add some B-12.

What I smoke.

At one time, I smoked so I had that on my chart - how many cigarettes or cigars did I smoke a day.  I quit that habit two years ago so this time around I did not have to log anything in my journal.

Oh, Oh.  I think I just let out a dirty little secret - it appears I have tried the journaling more than once.  Yes I have - as a matter of fact 3 times.  So I am an expert at starting and stopping.  But this time around, I knew I wanted to change and I was going to stay with it.  I was going to journal and test and make sure I knew what was going on.  I succeeded this time and that is why I am asking for 90 days.  I always thought I could do it for a couple of weeks and be done - did not work.

What is my sleep pattern.

Add a line that allows to to register when you went to bed.  Add when you might have actually fallen asleep and another column for when you woke up.  I am a tosser when I go to bed so there might be times I went to bed at say 10:00 PM but did not fall asleep until midnight.  Remember, we are trying to determine YOUR SLEEPING pattern not you in bed pattern.  Rest is good but it is the sleep our body needs to regenerate its energy and strength.

I also added in after a while, my mood or did I feel like I was under any stress or bother.  I had a journal just for my feelings - they play a big part as well.  Right now I am stressed out with some work stuff so I know it is there.  I have the ability to move through it now without spiking my sugar levels.

What medicines and supplements.

I had a line in my spreadsheet for reach medicine I took and when I took it.  I did the same thing for my supplements.  I found that I often missed my medications or did not take them at the right time.  This is important.  Most often I would forget to take them to work.  By journaling, I realized this and it become obvious.

I created myself a little container and took it to work with me on Monday's so I had my noon medications and supplements at all times.

I still do that with my supplements so I stay on top of it all.

What exercise did I do.

There are not many resources out there to help determine the calories you are burning or what exercises are helping you.  Again, there are ones you can pay for but I did not feel it was worth it.  So I simply created a line to show what exercises I was doing.  In the beginning it was walk the dog for two miles in the morning and evening.

Now it is a daily routine added along with the walks.  The important thing - do something.  Logging it will show progress.

What am I eating.

There is no question this one is difficult and consumes a lot of time.  I can only apologize but still encourage you as this one is the big one.  It will tell you a lot about your eating habits, patterns, and how much you are taking in of the important food groups.

Yes, I created a spreadsheet that had basically blank line items.  Across the top I had Breakfast, Morning Snack, Lunch, Afternoon Snack, Evening Meal, and Evening Snack.  I had a place I could log when I ate.  remember, us diabetics are driving for consistency - our body works better that way.  We want to eat and take our medications about the same time.

For each food I consumed, I had the grams, weight, or measurement.  I am a simple kind of guy so I have the basic same foods so mine was easy.  But I would also list the carbohydrates, fiber, calories, and fats for each food group.  I was into understanding GI and GL so I logged that as well.   At the end of each line and day I would have a total of each number.

I found out some interesting facts about my eating habits and times I missed and times I would not eat enough.   This is just not about measuring over eating - it is about measuring how we eat to fuel our body properly.

How is my blood glucose doing.

This is the big one - this is the one we are after at all times.  I had a spreadsheet to run this and a good meter that had memory in it.  I set my meter and made sure the clock and time was correct so it could help me monitor what was going on.

I tested when up woke up - Fasting test.  This will let you know what is happening to your body at night.  You will also be surprised how your sleep patterns impact this one.

I tested before I ate and after I ate.  Remember, testing after eating has been discussed as 1-2 hours.  I would learn to play and see what works best for you.

This is critical and may be you do not have to do them all for all the days.  I started out monitoring each one everyday.  When I discovered that certain foods did not spike my sugars, as much. I would stop.  Or since I tested in the morning I had a good idea what breakfast would do so I would skip breakfast test.

I did the same for my snacks until I settled in on them.

I often tested at night before I went to bed.

All of this was in my journal and as I started to make my life style changes I could see the results and was encouraged in so many ways to continue on.  It is why I say - give it 90 days.  If you are making changes and serious about controlling your diabetes, then you will see results.  The slightest gains will make you feel AWESOME!

I ask you now to give it some thought, ponder on it.  If you are ready to go on a journey, start your journal.  You know you and your body.  I am very detail orientated and want to know everything so mine was detail - yours may not be.  Make it YOUR JOURNAL for YOUR JOURNEY!

May God grant us one simple thing - the heart to listen to our bodies and change them as he would want us to change.  May we truly make our bodies as the temples he desires.

Best of luck on this one,

Bob,

PS.  You need any help setting up a spreadsheet - just email me and I will help - bob.dant@gmail.com.  If you have a difficult time getting the strips you need, you email me and I will see what I can do.  Do not let fear stand in your way or a shortage of resources - we are here for you.