Hi everyone, Here are the details - First of all I'll set the scene-
I was in very good health [I thought] and because of my age I was called to the surgery for one of those general check ups. My Dr. was as surprised as I was to discover I had type 2 and high cholesterol. I have always been slim, never smoked, drink only a glass or two of red wine per week, have a good diet [my diet as it was then was approved by the Desmond team, I just needed a few tweaks due to being diabetic]
So, as I was told to try control it by diet
I swapped all white potatoes for sweet potatoes except for a couple of roasties on Sunday. I made sure that all bread was whole grain and all pasta was wholemeal. I cut out almost all sugar added type foods like cakes, puddings, biscuits and desserts and the one spoon of sugar that I normally had in drinks. I limit fruit to no more than two per day.
and although I didn't do any specific exercise at that time, I walked a lot, gardened, ran around after the Grandchildren etc.
Diagnosed Aug '12
Age 65, weight 9 stones 10 lb, well within the ideal weight for height ratio. Statistics, 36 - 32 - 36 [room for waist improvement]
HbA1c 57 mol. Cholesterol 8.5 all else, BP, BMI etc was fine.
Check up result now
Age 67 at beginning of Oct. Weight 8 stones 10 lb - I didn't set out to lose weight, being already slim, and am now bordering on being underweight, the loss just happened through cutting out added sugar. Statistics now 36 - 30 - 36 so the weight loss has sorted my waist out!
HbA1c 46 mol cholesterol 4.3. BP etc all fine.
Typical diet now -
Breakfast 5 days a week 50g porridge oats with 300ml almond milk [the 29 cals one] a sprinkle of either ginger or cinnamon and sometimes a few blueberries. [Very occasionally I'll have two eggs on 1 slice of wholegrain toast] Saturday breakfast is a treat 1 pancake with apple cooked in cinnamon and about a teaspoon of maple syrup. Sunday mackerel, the hot smoked sort which I heat in the microwave + 1 slice whole grain bread.
Lunch - one or other of these or something very similar 2 slices whole grain bread with ham and tomato or avocado or cheese and tomato or tuna or humous with veg sticks or 2 poached eggs on 1 whole grain slice of toast. In addition I always have an apple or very occasionally a peach.
Main meal pretty much anything but majoring on veg and using whole grain carbs, + sweet pots, basmati rice or cous cous. eg. lasagne, shepherds pie, mousaka, grilled fish, spag bol, chilli and so on. If I make a pie it's only single crust and to compensate a bit for the pastry I don't have any other carbs eg. sweet pots, with it.
Desserts I don't have desserts now as a general rule, if I do it's likely to be a few strawberries or one scoop of ice cream and that only happens about once every 6 weeks.
Snacks
A handful of mixed nuts or a couple of oat cakes with cheese, or similar.
Drinks No more than two 'proper' coffees per day, all the rest are decaff. Max half bottle of red wine per week, tap water, at night one hot choc [low calorie variety, I like Weight watchers, it says to use 3 teaspoons which is 5.5 g carbs but I only use 1 teaspoon].
No sugar in drinks and I don't add milk either.
After a few weeks I discovered that I'd lost my sweet tooth and no longer even fancied a slice of cake or whatever.
Naughty food Very occasionally, someone's birthday for eg. I'll have a very thin sliver of cake minus the icing it probably amounts to just 1 'normal' slice in a whole year. At Christmas I'll have a small mince pie with a teaspoon of brandy butter on no more than two occasions. The only sweet things that I still really enjoy are Thorntons Viennese truffles. My husband buys me a small pack [about 10 chocs] for my birthday and at Christmas and I have one per day and compensate by having one less slice of bread. I love fish and chips but only have it about 3 times per year.
I don't feel at all deprived, mainly because I feel and look so much better for cutting out added sugar. I would no more want to eat a dessert, or other 'bad' food now than I would want to eat worms.
Exercise
Once diagnosed I started to do a bit more walking and then after a few months I injured myself while playing with my Grandson and ended up seeing a chiropractor. As part of my treatment he gave me some rehab exercises to do to strengthen my core muscles and because I liked the
effect they were having on my body, a flatter tum for one thing, I kept asking him for more exercises and I also took a Pilates class. I did the class once a week but incorporated the moves that I had learned into the routine I was doing with my chiro exercises. After 6 months of that I was flexible enough to do what I'm doing in my photo and was the envy of all my 60 something friends. Danny, my chiro, then suggested I see a colleague of his who is qualified in all things to do with core strengthening etc and who would tailor my exercises specifically for me and my rate of progression. I now do the following - every morning 30 half press ups [on my knees rather than toes] 20 squats 20 towel stretches and 50 heel raisers. Every evening I do about 30 minutes - 20 squats, 40 single leg teaser crunches, 20 double leg teaser crunches, 7 full press ups [gradually trying to do more of these] and 20 half press ups, 20 jack knife, 50 glute walk, plank - either holding for 3 mins or with 20, alternate, single leg lifts or 10 with alternate opposite arm + leg extensions. Obviously I worked my way up to this by doing 30 minutes of much easier exercises to start with and then Luke [my exercise guru] gradually got me to do harder and harder ones. I see Luke for 40 minutes of one to one every four weeks and it only costs the same as if I was attending a Pilates class each week but I get personal attention, so a] it doesn't cost much, and b] it's well worth the money. I no longer have baggy, saggy, flabby bits and I can do all sorts of things that I hadn't been able to do for several years like squat down and then down stand back up effortlessly and touch my toes.
It was a bit hard at first to find time [and the inclination] to exercise that regularly but I kept at it and now it's as much a part of my routine as cleaning my teeth and I really miss it if for some reason I don't do it and not doing it only happens about once every three months if that and there is always an insurmountable reason for not doing it. If any of you have bothered reading this far, I seem to have gone on a bit! and if you want to ask me about anything, please go right ahead.
