Wednesday, April 11, 2007

My Jump-start diet

I started my reversal of diabetes several weeks before starting the blog. mostly because I never thought of journaling until I saw the dramatic results of the diet.

I had read Reversing Diabetes by Dr. Julian Whitaker first. Armed with that information I decided I could do this. Dr. Whitaker suggests in his book that sugar, while not good for one, is not the culprit in rising blood glucose levels as fat is, and to lower one's consumption of Proteins! I had already removed as much trans fat from my menu as I knew was there, I rarely eat any prepared [refined] foods, few simple carbohydrates. I was at a loss as to how to get started. But I decided to make a concerted effort to eat as low a calorie, low carb, low salt/sugar and nearly zero fat diet as I could. I was reminded that some fat is needed to assimilate the vitamin A one takes in, not to worry about that.

Breakfast:
always two thin pieces of rye toast with an ever diminishing smear of butter, and 1 large cup of green tea. I prefer the Jewish rye because it has caraway-good for the digestion and I like it.

Lunch: usually a small bowl of watered down homemade turkey vegetable soup. a small glass [4-6 oz] of tomato juice.
or an apple

Dinner:
Medallions of chicken breast skinless and boneless, sauteed with cut up bits of broccoli ( I like the stems and stalks as they stay crunchy]
I use a small amount of Extra virgin olive oil to saute in.

snack: apple small crisp and juicy.

Later I wanted to lower my intake even more so I used the daily tomato juice as a snack instead of during a meal. Each day I strove to eat less despite the hunger that I felt all the time. I've fasted recently, about 4 years ago and I wasn't nearly as hungry after the first day.

This diet was bland, and boring but I was only on it for two weeks before adding in some salt, spices and a bit more actual food in the form of larger portions.

I found that using Mrs. Dash, Paprika, garlic powder and garlic cloves the food was tastier and more filling.

All in all I've lost 28 pounds, no mean feat for being post-menopausal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~homemade Turkey soup~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
I start with lots of chicken stock [all fat removed] simmer two turkey wings in the stock, when the meat is falling off the bones cut up meat, remove any skin, skim the top for fat, add in three carrots chopped into circles [this is homemade soup, it's not supposed to look like it came from a can] several stalks cut in half moons of celery, lemon-pepper to taste, onion cut into slivers, and allow vegies to cook until done, Add parsley a few dashes of Paprika--serve, it takes a few hours to make but we always have left overs I can eat for lunch, watered down of course.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I will repeat the recipes occasionally for those who are new.
Supplements I took then:
Milk thistle-liver improvement-detox

grape seed antioxidant

Coral Calcium

Chromium-improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood glucose levels

zinc-healing-development, reproduction, digestion, respiration and proper brain, nerve, vision and immune function

B-complex

Cinnamon to regulate blood glucose levels

flax seed oil- antioxidant- also for digestion

Psyllium plus-digestion

Bilberry-eye health-diabetic vision support

Alpha lipoic acid for Liver healing;antioxidant
yes, that's a lot of supplements but I had a huge health debt to repay.

Also I was making an effort to stay busy, I made things in my shop, spending long cold hours working at this time.

I also drank lots of clean water.
Sometimes I varied my dinner by eating a can of sardines, especially the ones in Mustard in a tortilla like a burrito, before you say ewe, there's lots that is beneficial in this dinner, the fish, the turmeric in the mustard sauce, the flour tortilla, yes.

acceptable snacks:
apple,
6 oz tomato juice,
stalk of celery with half serving of peanut butter. One snack per day.

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