Rachel's Journey

testing from bb

tigerrach — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:38:26 +0000

Testing

updates…..

tigerrach — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:16:13 +0000

well, camping was fun! i did not do my c25k workout on friday night.. in lieu of riding 8.2 miles on my mt.bike in flagstaff on saturday and hiking/spelunking 1 mile in a big giant lava cave as well.. i had to walk my bike a few times as the ride got the best of me.. i started to cry when we reached the camp, i was just overwhelmed w. emotion it over took me… riding that long – being able to do it.. yet having to walk the last part of it my body could not take anymore..

stupid me, i was so shaky when i go done, i thought for sure my sugar was low… so i drank some orange juice… and well my sugar sky rocketed… and i had to lie down and i fell asleep.. very common for me to do when my sugar spikes …. ugh

i did pretty well the whole weekend.. up until we came home – we stopped at kfc… i was starving.. i had one chicken breast (did not finish the whole thing), a half a biscuit and a small side of mashed potatoes and beans… i was so hungry… and well i paid dearly for the carbs all day.

i then began to crave things.. i came home had two oreo cookies… and before i went to bed i had buttered popcorn.. stuuuuupid..

i woke up with a sugar reading of 128! yowza.. very very high for a morning reading!

the problem of going to kfc was ME not being prepared. i need to be prepared for situations… and have the right food available and not always depend on jeff to cook it for me…

today, i had one egg and two pieces of uncured turkey bacon for breakfast and my sugar got down to 104… much better… for lunch – quinoa pasta (no gluten…) and homemade tomato sauce… and that’s it.. i snacked on a couple of walnuts today… nothing big

and wowza my sugar just spiked to 179 – WTF – its 4pm i had lunch around 1pm… don’t know why its spiking now. i am so tired… i have a photoshoot at 6pm for a cover photo… and i need to do my c25k workout after that… and edit a few pics… and i am already starting out tired… hmmmm

i have to get this sugar thing under control… i think i have to give up ALL pasta (which i have done already) – but now i have to give up the quinoa too…. and pasta sauce… just can’t do it… it really spikes my sugar..

so frustrating, i am a work in progress…

know your own body

tigerrach — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:20:14 +0000

Ugh! I am learning to really listen to my own body. To really listen. I had steel cut oatmeal for breakfast. We cook in on low all night in the crockpot. I topped it with cinnamon. Strawberries blueberries and raspberries. Yum!

Well about 30 minutes later I feel slightly funny. That weird feeling that my sugar is climbing. I check in 129. Ok its high but not too bad since I just ate. Well another 30 mins goes by and now I feel that way I feel when my sugar is high. I cannot focus. I cannot concentrate. I want to take a nap. Scattered and chaotic is how my brain feels. I check my sugar… 153!!!! Yikes. This is frustrating! Now I need to decide is it the strawberries? I am drinking green tea rigjt now as I do every morning after breakfast. I hate this feeling. Its hard to describe. For me is akin to that feeling of being sligjly buzzed. I will be able to tell the moment it comes back down.
No wonder I felt this way all the time before when I was eating loads of sugar and carbs.
I am a work in progress

chub rub

tigerrach — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 05:37:18 +0000

Ok so I did manage to get ny workout in. Day 2 of couch potato to 5k. I debated on when to do it. I had a quick biz appt at 6pm tonight and then we had a trip to target (school stuff) and trader joes planned. In preparation for being away this weekend camping we needed to get this stuff done
I almost did the workout at lunch but changed my mind. So at 9pm tonight I put on my sports bra,shorts and sneakers and went for it!!

Running in shorts is a bad idea when ur thighs rub together. Hence chub rub. Ugh. I had a hard time focusing cuz I was so focused on the chub rub chafing!! But I did it. And I feel freakin tired! Hahah. We ate dinner after my workout. I ate too much and drank too much water. I have that crazy full too full feeling. I am ready for bed

We ate brown rice with sauteed chicken (with franks red hot sauce). We call it buffalo chicken

I am so glad I stuck it out and did my workout. I am offf to bed to rest my chub rub
I am a work in progress.

coming down sugar part deux

tigerrach — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:56:15 +0000

Well I can now tell when my sugar goes back to normal. I have clarity of the mind. I can focus and think more clearly and I truly feel better my sugar is now back to 113. Much better. I can’t even imagine what people who get even higher readings must feel… I wonder if this has a corelation w kids and their ability to focus and concentrate at school. How difficult it must be after eating a crappy deep friend school lunch. Icky!

I am a work in progress.

sugar

tigerrach — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:15:20 +0000

I have been watching my sugar since I meet w Dr Jen last month. Diabetes runs in my family and she told me unless I make a change I am headed in that direction soon. Ugh!
So I check my blood glucose levels many times a day. It has helped me to understand it and to see what boosts it up. What triggers it to go down. My goal has been ti stay as close to 100 as I can consistently

Its been a real learning process I have really come to understand about glycemic index (google it)

I can really feel when my sugar is high. I have trouble focusing. I can’t concentrate. I imagine this is what adhd might feel like. I hate it. I felt like this a lot before making all of these changes. I had no idea at the time it was related to blood sugar. I feel my best when its around 95 if I can be that precise.

So right now its 147. About an hour after having steelcut oats and blueberries. Strawberries and raspberries. Hmmmmm. It was 106 this morning when I got up

I am struggling most with keeping it low when I first get up. It is usually around 106 and should be more like 90 or lower. Work in progress

I am drinking green tea right now. Which has been known to lower blood sugar. I may need to take a small walk.

I am a work in progress

c25k Day One

tigerrach — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:28:29 +0000

ok peeps.. its day one of c25k – which actually means COUCH Potato to 5k.. its a 9 week program that is supposed to train a couch potato to run in a 5k… I downloaded the podcast w. music – it tells me when to run, when to walk… Its a 30 minute thing 3x per week. Today I warmed up for 5mins, alternating 60 seconds w. running, 90 seconds with walking.. and then a 5 minute cool down.. for a total of 30 minutes. ok it was hard… but i made it through…

I want to be a runner… one of those people who wake up and crave the run… and feel so awesome after the run! that is what I want. The jury is still out – after day one. I will keep going, so that is a good sign. I had my son take a picture after that workout.. so i can remember this

i think i can – i think i can – i think i can

vacation…

tigerrach — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:45:33 +0000

Going on vacation presents challenges when tryng to stick to a very specific eating plan. On thursday morning I weighed in at 193 even!! I went to Vegas w my mom and sister for the weekend. Here are a few of my observations…
I notice overwieght people everwhere now. I look at their faces and recognize that look and feeling. That feeling of ugh I feel awful. There’s not usually a spark or any life or energy. I saw so many people moving around like zombies just going through the motions and I remember feeling that way too! (I know some of them r just hungover, I mean it was Vegas, right?!). It sort of reminded me of the movie Wall-E with all the fat people with short arms and legs who never walked and just drank frappes all day. Haha sad. Really sad

When on vacation it is so much more difficult to eat healthy. Most restaurants cook everything drowning in butter. Its deep fried. Full of chemicals and fat. For someone like me who can not have sugar or yeast or things like sausage or bacon (remember those evil nitrates) it was a challenge to find good choices. Some places had absolutely nothing to offer me! I sure do appreciate hottie husband’s cooking even more now!!
I watched my mom eat all the things that I used to eat fried foods. Bread. Tons of sweets and I watched her conplain of bloating. Being tired. Getting headaches. (She’s 81 and weighs 125lbs).

And I realized even more that I am doing the right thing for myself! I did allow myself some Creme Brulee for dessert one night after walking 4+ hours in Vegas. I don’t want to deprive myself completely I find if I take one bite of things sometimes. It makes me feel better to just have the taste and sometimes now more often it seems those old foods just don’t taste good to me! Being headache free and feeling thinner and healthier are so much more worth it!
I also noticed that I was not quite as winded walking upstairs. I was in Vegas in May and how I felt physically on this trip is so completely different.

II really wish I would have started this transformation a lot sooner!!!

The starting line…

tigerrach — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:22:58 +0000

the starting line… this blog will document my journey… to good health!

I am an overweight 41 yr old wife, friend, sister, daughter, aunt, mom…. i have never been an athletic person. I always worked out a scheme to skip gym class all of my life… i was not always over weight… from the age of 25 I started to gain weight.. I am 5’3 – so i show weight fast…

my highest weight was 212.. that was a size 20. I have been on many (every type, actually) diets… some worked short term…some didn’t… my issue was consistency… i could not keep it up – for more than a month or so…

Well i did get myself down to 204 and maintained that for a few years now… I suffer from migraines… and in an attempt to find the cause, i gave up dairy about 2 months ago… and what a difference that made. I have never enjoyed milk… i alway used it as a means to soak my cereal! But i do love cheese… and all things icecream!! I noticed an immediate change after about a week… the stuffed clogged sinusy feeling went away… and the weird stomach issues too… i was hooked… Dairy is a thing of the past..that was easy – having it made me feel sick, not having it made me feel better!

So my friend talked me into seeing a natureopath dr. here in my hometown… we did a full blood work up… and whala! I have super high triglycerides… super high cholesterol and super high blood glucose… my body also has a systemic overgrowth of candida (yeast!) – on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the worst) my candida result was a 4!! No wonder i feel so lousy… I am a size 18 – i feel bloated, fat and exhausted all the time.. i have trouble focusing… i have memory issues… i am tired… tired tired..

So based on my family history of heart disease (all of my grandparents) and diabetes (my dad, his mom) – my dr. tells me i am prediabetes.. and if i don’t make a change QUICKly – I will also get type II diabetes…

Well! That was all i needed to hear!! I am committed and on board for change. So I have incorporated the following changes:

no diary, no red meat, no yeast, no gluten, no bread, no fruit (except strawberry, blueberry, raspberry), no rice (except brown rice), no pasta, no potatos.. and lowering my carbs (not atkins, more like southbeach)

surprisingly it has been easier than i thought… its been almost a month (july 6th is when i saw the dr.) and I have lost 7 lbs… and i feel so much better.. i have tried a few things (like a small dairy queen sundae) – or some cheese or pasta and i have felt awful!! that cured me for sure! no temptations!

the weight is falling off of me.. i have not incorporated excercise yet.. that will be another blog very soon explaining my plan…

i am taking vitamins again too! not my strong suit.. again the whole consistency thing!

This is my outlet to journal my daily/weekly progress on making change! STAY TUNED!