A breakfast of sorts

OK, since I'm obviously not doing at all well in controlling my Type 2 diabetes based on the evidence of my last blood tests, I have to make some fairly drastic changes in my lifestyle.

I believe that a low-carb, high-fiber (40-55 grams per day) diet that includes lots of vegetables and some fruit, along with aerobic exercise (rowing, cycling), strength training (free weights), and stretching (yoga) will improve my blood glucose, reduce my A1C, and will reduce my need for medications, and maybe finally reduce my LDL cholesterol. That's been the goal all along. I would also like to win a big lottery jackpot, but if I don't buy tickets, there's not much chance, is there? No.

So I've promised myself (again) to try to fix things. So for either breakfast or lunch the last few days I've been making a ridiculous drink that contains:

• Inulin, a soluble pre-biotic fiber that does not affect blood sugar
• Chia seed, very high in fiber, very low in net carbs, and high in omega-3 and -6 fatty acids
• Glutamine powder, which provides a non-essential amino acid (protein building block), and may be useful in reducing carb cravings (please, please!)
• Soy isolate protein powder, a low-carb, high-protein product
• Unsweetened soy milk
• Psyllium husk for soluble and insoluble fiber
• Cocoa powder for a bit more fiber, iron, and chocolate flavour.

This makes about 1.5 cups of a thick crunchy brown drinkable mess (which doesn't actually taste too bad) with 13g net carbs (and about 10g fiber), 11g healthy fat, 215 calories (more or less) and 35G protein. Then I drink about 500ml water to wash it all down.

Now, if I don't sabotage myself by consuming high-carb processed crap between (or instead of) regular meals, I should see some results. Right?

Stop the diabetes, I want to get off!

I had really disappointing results from my recent blood test -- since I lowered my dietary cholesterol to 5 mg per day or less by reducing meat, dairy, fish, and eggs in my diet, the LDL has gone UP (though the HDL and triglicerides are still good). I finally accepted a statin prescription for Crestor.

Also my A1C (aka HBA1C or glycosylated hemoglobin) went up instead of down. That's mainly because 1) I "forget" my nighttime insulin quite often, as well as the oral meds, and 2) I eat too much starchy food (even though it's whole grain), and 3) I don't prepare and eat the vegetables I buy.

And I don't seem to have enough energy to exercise, which is a symptom of uncontrolled blood sugar. But I need to exercise to help control my blood sugar -- it's a vicious cycle for sure.

David Mendosa is a type 2 diabetic who was overweight (BMI of 40) and had an A1C of over 14% when he was diagnosed. He learned how to manage his own DM and now has a BMI of 19 (very good) and an A1C well under 6.0, which is about what non-diabetic people average. I read his column (click here to read it: http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/75990/motivation?ic=6044) about what motivates him to control his own diabetes and to help motivate just one other person at a time.

You can imagine that I have a lot of work to do to get such control!!

Garbage piling up

The garbage being reported about the city workers' strike, that is. After three days drivers are already lining up at waste transfer stations to toss their household waste, but strikers are making each supplicant wait 15 minutes, causing four-hour lineups. I wonder how many of those drivers leave their motors idling on these increasingly hot and humid days... I have no opinions on the strikers' or the city's issues, although if you can avoid using up your sick days, you ought to get some credit for that.

Last year homeowners and landlords in Toronto had to choose a garbage bin they thought they could fit two weeks' worth of garbage in. The mid-sized (1.5 bag size) to extra-large bins (I think four bags fit) have incremental costs associated with them, while the smallest bin (one bag) garners a $10 per year rebate on our solid waste management bill. I'm frugal (well, cheap), I recycle everything I can, and avoid excess packaging---well, we're all supposed to do that! So I generally put out the equivalent of one bag a month.

Our last bi-weekly garbage pickup was a week ago Tuesday. This week would have been recycling. Our Green Bins are emptied every week, because they hold compostable material including the stinky, attractive stuff like bones and fat and disposable diapers. And dogs and raccoons tip them over and scavenge what they can, leaving the crap strewn on the sidewalk for birds and squirrels and cats to pick over.

Now, we had lots of warning about this. The Green Tenant alerted us early enough, and provided numerous options for surviving a garbage strike, including some from his six-year-old son. So why didn't people adjust their habits JUST IN CASE? I guess some of us did. If the strike lasts another month, I'll probably have a bag and a half to go out. And being mostly vegetarian now I'll be able to compost almost everything except the used cat litter.

Which reminds me---I should go down and declump my babies' litter boxes today. I'll store the clumps in my old garbage can.

An almost pleasant dental cleaning

I finally got to the dental office this morning for my tri-annual cleaning (just before my medical benefits end). I'd put it off for a week or so because I just didn't feel like going. So of course I frantically flossed, brushed, and rinsed this morning and drove up to my excellent dentist, with whom I've been a patient for over 15 years.

I've written about this before---over the past year or so, regular use of Crest Pro-Health toothpaste, Oral-B toothbrushes, and regular flossing have reduced my time in the hygienist's chair by about 25 percent. I no longer have dark brown stains on the inside gum line from smoking, strong black coffee, too much red wine, and "forgetting" to brush and floss.

I got "vanity" braces as an adult in 1992 (very successful, though due to bone loss I lost a molar due to bone infection and just got a permanent bridge to replace it). And I still have a bonded retainer on the lower inside teeth from when I got the train tracks off in (I think) 1994. I've argued with Dr. Dave about removing it but he says he regrets getting HIS retainer removed. The retainer makes it difficult (though not impossible) to floss down there. But while he thought the toothpaste was gritty when he first started using it himself he likes it a lot now.

Me too. But when I tried to e-mail Crest today I didn't get much luck. I'd like to tell them myself how well it works from a dental hygiene dilettante.

Online medical records...NOT

I wanted to get my prescriptions refilled before my benefits run out on Thursday. Last week I dropped in at my doctor's office, filled a few vials from a very belated blood requisition with the phlebotomist, and talked to my GP for a few minutes. She opened my secure personal file on her computer, and noted that last time we'd talked she still wanted me on a statin (but I had wanted to try to get my LDL cholesterol down by lifestyle changes, which she had also noted). She took my blood pressure (120/80) and added it to my records. She renewed all my prescriptions online by direct link with my drugstore, and by the time I got there an hour later my oral meds, insulin, test strips, and Novofine needle caps were waiting for me, along with my bill for the co-payment. Earlier this week I received an e-mail requesting my presence ("please call for an appointment") and a copy of my blood test results for me to review before I went to the medical office.

Then I woke up.

Between 2002 and 2005, I knew or heard of a dozen people (literally) from my then-workplace who left to pursue careers at the then-new-ish Smart Systems for Health Agency (SSHA, now eHealth, which has been in the news a lot recently). I even applied for a job there... These were all business analysts, project managers, database administrators, programmers, and so on. It was a pretty exciting idea---develop software and processes to create secure online medical records for most Ontario residents. (I think they all left SSHA to take productive jobs.)

And after years of hot air and multimillions of tax-payer-funded dollars spent, most Ontario residents still don't have online medical records. From the link above: "2007 statistics show that 25 per cent of family physicians in Ontario have electronic records, compared to 50 per cent in Albert, 89 per cent in the United Kingdom and 98 per cent in the Netherlands." Probably a few remaining rural Dutch residents who still live in windmills (kidding).

In fact all that happened last week at the doctor's office was true, except for the online medical records part, which I made up (and I did thank everyone for letting me in without an appointment). It was when I got to the pharmacy that I found that the doctor had neglected to write my name at the top of the prescription form. This was on Sunday, and of course I had put off getting the thing filled until I ran out of something, so of course the pharmacist couldn't fill the prescriptions. They've known me for years, but rules are rules, though I did get a few pills to tide me over.

I went back Monday and asked about my prescriptions. The druggist on duty said there had been nothing faxed from the doctor's office though the office manager had called me that morning, asked me to come in to review the blood test results, and assured me they had indeed faxed the correct information. So the druggist went to the fax machine and there was the corrected form under a bunch of others. It was a busy early Monday afternoon (and very hot outside), and the 15 minutes I was told I had to wait turned into well over an hour.

I was finally transferring my goodies to my bag when I noted to the pharmacist that the NPH insulin I use was in a new package. He said, no, it's the same package, and opened one to show me a large vial that you fill disposable needles from. He then realized that the "pen caps" on my prescription were for a different injection system, and I had to wait another 15 minutes while they corrected the prescription and adjusted the bill upward somewhat. (They still owe me two months' worth of one of the orals, for which they didn't have enough in stock. If there had been an online order they could have had it restocked before I got there.)

While I waited---again---I used the in-store blood pressure monitor: 118/75, though my pulse was over 120. I'm sure that by the time I retire at age 75 the province will be able to read the RFID chip in my arm and tell me I'm not eligible to be diabetic anymore. But it was a lovely dream while it lasted.

it's not this, it's that

My friend AL reminded me: "you didn't get fired .. you got downsized .. there is a huge difference between the two." (I didn't know then but I've since learned there has been at least one other person let go and a number of reporting structure changes.)

Well, yes, there is, especially when an interviewer asks why I left my last job (but maybe they're not allowed to do that). I could say I was laid off---but that implies a possible return to work. I wouldn't say I was fired, because there was no cause, and I did get a package. I could say I was terminated, but that just sounds like fired again, with an unhappy parting of the ways. I won't say I was down-sized, because they might just hire a contractor to continue where I left off (unlikely). And some companies call it right-sizing because they're adjusting the workforce to match the work needing to be done. Note that they never ADD people when they're right-sizing.

Anyway, my cats have been a tremendous comfort, snuggling up beside me in bed, stomping all over the keyboard, and barfing up hairballs in ill-planned places. They don't care that I was booted out---they're just happy to have me at home.

And another thing...

When I went grocery shopping yesterday I picked from my huge collection of reusable shopping bags. Since June 1, Toronto merchants must now charge five cents per plastic bag they distribute, even the little markets and non-food retailers.

That hasn't affected me too much, since I've been bringing reusable bags to the store for years, even before they were heavily promoted. (And I saved my recyclable cans, bottles and papers and dragged them down to Guelph's public recycling bins as early as 1982.)

But the black cloth-like ones made of recycled soft drink bottles, while they're washable, are collectors of lint and hair. While they're still usable, they don't look too hot. I paid 99 cents for most of them, and got a few free at the Green Living Show the last few years. They ARE re-recyclable (is that a word? I guess it is now).

But the ones I like best are made of a light tarp material (plastic coated), and they are larger and have longer handles. I'm sure if I made a pile of all my bags they'd block the front door.

So, it's time to cull---I've had good responses to most of my FreeCycle and ReUseIt posts, so I guess I'll try there first. Someone with a little patience and time to kill can probably clean them up.

UPDATE: Within a few minutes of posting my offer of a dozen used and new shopping bags, I got a response, and the bags were picked up off the porch that very afternoon. A minor step in decluttering...