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Diabetes, life and all that - personal diary

If your son is anything like mine, cash is a suitable bribe. It would be nice if he could draw one but writing it is OK too ! Enjoy the special day with your Dad


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A bit of a setback in my efforts for glycemic control as I tested my HbA1c today and it seems to have deteriorated by 0,5%
My last three HbA1c scores are:

While on Januvia 50/1000 x2
- 15/1/2014: 5,5% or 37 mmol
- 15/2/2014: 5,3% or 34 mmol

Since changing to Metformin 850 x2
- 18/3/2014: 5,8% or 40 mmol

No need to panic as 5,8% is still in the non diabetic range, so I will not be asking to go back on Januvia just yet.

Still a little bid disappointing to see a rise in the numbers.

Challenge now is to get them down or at list stop them from rising further. Back to the drawing board for a few twigs to the diet.


Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 
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If diabetes was easy, everyone would want it lol !
Still decent numbers. Well done.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
The prolific Rosa Banksiae, the double white banksian rose, climbing through a tree and putting on a generous display of sweetly scented white flowers just outside our bedroom window






Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 


Visit to dad went really well!

He was especially pleased to see his grandson.


Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 
Great pic ! Striking resemblance between your boy and your father !
 
Determined to lower hba1c score back to 5,5% or lower from today's 5,8%.

Morning blood glucose today was 99mg/dl.

Breakfast was two poached eggs with two slices of grilled bacon and a mug of tea with semi skimmed milk and a slice of whole meal toast.

Lunch was a bowl of tomato soup with a small brown bread roll and about 200g of fresh strawberries for desert



Afternoon snack was another similar quantity of strawberries.

Before dinner I was at 86mg/dl and at 101mg/dl two hours later.

Dinner was about 350g of a Greek vegetarian casserole of fresh white beans boiled with celery and carrots and dressed with virgin olive oil and the juice of half a lemon



Decided to forego the bread that usually accompanies this dish

Late night snack of 100g of Greek yoghurt with about 100g of frozen raspberries and some frozen blueberries

According to myfittnesspal my daily calorie total was 1353 of which 290 were burned by physical activity, total carbs 176g of which 37g was dietary fibre so net carbs of 139g


Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 
Woke up feeling that my glucose level may be a bit low.

Tested and my fasting sugar was a very normal 99mg/dl (5,6mmol/l).

So I decided to go for my walk before breakfast . An hour and six kilometers later decided to test again before breakfast 125mg/dl (7mmol/l)!

Liver damp? Meter inaccuracy? Natural variation between blood samples? Not knowing is not helping my mood.

Breakfast was a slice of multigrain brown bread toast with a slice of low fat ham and a slice of cheese with a mug of tea with semi skimmed milk. Total gross carbs 22g less 3g of dietary fibre makes for net carb content of breakfast of 19g.

I do hope that I am counting this right and it's net carbs rather than gross carbs that I should be concerned about!

At least it's warm and sunny outside and this is making me feel better. We had a couple of days of very dusty overcast skies over the weekend, which was not helping matters.

Everything seems easier somehow when the sun is shining.



Red Kalanchoe blossfeldiana on a neighbor's balcony


Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 
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Two hours after breakfast and glucose is 115mg/dl (6,3mmol) so well under my self imposed 120mg/dl( 6,7mm/dl) limit.

I have decided that, as I did not really expect the rise in HbA1c from the fasting levels I have mostly been monitoring, the rise must have been due to my postprandial levels having been too high.

I will therefor monitor these more closely and try to stay under 120mg/dl(6,7mmol) at two hours after meals and if possible under 140mg/dl( 7,8mmol), one hour after a meal.

I am also trying to see if having no between meal snacks will help.

It may also be time to invest in that bicycle I was thinking of buying just to add some variety to exercise sessions

Now having visions of the son and I riding our bikes into the sunset; que music and closing titles!



Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 
In the last couple of mornings, my mother has taken to greeting me with this little clay pot of burning olive leaves.



Burning dried olive leaves, after these have been blessed in church on the last Sunday before Easter, just like burning incense, is meant to be an offering to God to word off evil spirits and to keep us well.

It is something my late grandmother used to do all the time.

I am not sure whether I should be concerned at my mother turning into her mother, or think it sweet that she cares enough to do this for me, even if I have my doubts on how effective it all is.

Oh well, the smoke is pleasantly aromatic and a bid of divine protection never hurt anybody!




Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 
Went back home for lunch today to have some leftover bean casserole from last night's dinner.

I had a small side dish of about 100g of green wild asparagus sautéed in olive oil with some onion and combined with one egg.



According to myfitnesspal my carb count after breakfast and lunch is gross carbs of 84g less dietary fibre 21g leaving net carbs of 63g.

Blood sugars before lunch were at 95mg/dl (5,2 mmol/l)

Update: blood sugar two hours after lunch 113mg/dl (6,2mmol/l)


Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 
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Pavlosn, is your wild asparagus real wild asparagus or this?
http://www.cuisinealafrancaise.com/fr/dgal/produits/78-reponchonin
Reponchon, (an Occitan word) is the young shoot of the black Briony , in a few weeks time you'll see quite a few of the locals gathering it in the hedgerows around here. Interestingly the English Wiki tells me that all parts are poisonous. It is quite bitter.

We have a bit of 'wild asparagus. in the garden but sadly it was really once a cultivated bed . I didn't recognise the roots and dug it out when we first moved here.
I had a similar lunch to you yesterday using Spanish asparagus which has come into season (French is still over 12€ a kg)
 
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It is wild in the sense that it grows wild in the country side rather than being cultivated.

Just like wild mushrooms you first have to find it in the fields and then pick it by hand. It is time consuming and labour intensive exercise and this is reflected in the price

It has a rather bitter taste quite unlike the normal white asparagus.

In Cyprus it is traditionally sautéed with eggs, it ends up like an omelette.

I had the lighter version with only one egg divided between a big bunch of asparagus.

I am afraid I do not read French




Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 
Apologise for the French, it was for the picture (basically it says that the locals eat a lot of them in season and one village has a fete devoted to them. ) Decided to try to find out a bit more. There is a true wild asparagus that is foraged but apparently both plants are foraged and eaten in Cyprus. Indeed they are eaten all over the Mediterranean. Their leaves are very different but the shoots look similar and they have in some places been found mixed together in markets. They always seem to be eaten with eggs. There are lots of mentions of foraged 'greens' in in Crete/Cyprus in connection with the Med diet, I've never ever seen mention of it in SW France but I've seen that a lot goes on)

Sorry, if I've jumped in on your thread.
I love your photos though and that one set me thinking.
 
No need to apologize for jumping in, it is a pleasure to hear from you.

A lot of traditional food in the Med was foraged particularly in the more mountainous/infertile areas. Of the top of my head I can think of mushrooms of various types, asparagus, a type of artichoke even capers and various types of greens.

Although these were originally the food of the very poor they are now highly sought of and often expensive delicacies.

Unfortunately as most people have moved away from the countryside a lot of the knowledge about culinary or other uses of native flora seems to have been forgotten, which is a great loss. How many of us for instance can separate edible mushrooms from poisonous ones.

Some of the things that I remember from my childhood as being perfectly ok to eat would really surprise my son.

The tender internal part of the stem of this Daisy for instance is perfectly ok to eat once you peel the outside layer




The flower stalk of this common garden weed (oxalis something or other) has a sour but to me pleasant taste



While the fresh tender part of the shoots of thIs commonly found plant is delicious when boiled and served with some olive oil and juice of either lemon or better still bitter orange.



Regards





Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 
The oxalis in my garden is pink and it's a pest, I've even tried sieving the soil to get rid of the tiny bulbs. Not sure what the last one is, I thought it could be some sort of geranium.
It's quite an elderly population around here so the continue to do what they've always done As well as the 'faux' asparagus, they pick a lot of dandelions and even dandelion flowers for 'honey'. They collect huge amounts of chestnuts (that used to be the staple peasant food so there are lots of trees). Mushroom picking though is done by both young and old. In early Autumn, the pharmacies have displays showing both edible and toxic,you can take your finds in and the pharmacist is supposed to be able to tell good from bad. I'm too scared to try picking my own, some of the others in our walking group laugh at us when we leave the champignons to them!.
 

Oxalis is a pest in any garden- though an attractive one.

The formal name for the last one is Malva nicaeensis. You can google it for more info and better photos



Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 
Dinner last night was a pork kebab and the counts before and two hours after it were 95mg/dl(5,2mmol/l) and 118mg/dl( 5,7mmol/l) respectively.

Total net carbs intake yesterday 101g ( gross carbs 129 less dietary fibre 28)

Fasting level this morning 93mg/dl (5,1mmol/l)




Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 
What yesterday looked like this



Someone has today reduced to this



Is there really so much beauty in our world that we can afford to pay it such scant respect.


Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 
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It always amuses my when catching myself responding at an emotional level in a way which is contrary to what my rational brain tells me to.

My weight today is 88,7kg down from 89,0kg last week. A reduction of 0,3kg is hardly significant. However whenever weight loss causes a whole number of kg to shift from say 89,0 to 88,9 it feels as if something significant has happened, as if a barrier has been broken.

Onwards and upwards... Or should that be downwards!



Caught my first sight and smell of jasmine blooms this morning.


Pavlos
Type 2 - Diagnosed 2009; Latest HbA1c 5,8%; Diabetes Medication: metformin 2x850mg; Other medication: Aspirin 75mg, Valsartan 80mg, Rosuvostatin 20mg, Ezetimibe 10mg; Exercise: One hour walk daily, tennis weekly, swimming when warm enough
 
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