I'll Follow The Sun

"Sunshine cannot bleach the snow, nor time unmake what the poet's know."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

The sun is out today. There is a chill in the air, it is winter after all, but looking up, and seeing blue skies makes me so happy that I don't really notice the chill. I could become addicted to days like this. For the most part, I am a happy girl. I have some realities I wish I didn't, like the Type2 diabetes, but a little rain has to fall. It's just life. I wish I could help others... or rather I wish they would let me help them. I have been lucky enough to be surrounded by some pretty amazing people all my life, both here on the Internet, and in my real life.

I have met some people who have meant a lot to me. I have a current friend who I think I could help feel better about themselves, by sharing some of the lessons I have learned, sometimes the hard way, but they glaze over when I try. It hurts. Not that they won't take my advice, but that they won't even try. I want to encourage my readers and my friends to strive to be the best they can be, but sometimes I feel like when I do some folks run as hard as they can in the opposite direction. I don't understand why they would do that.

I have had challenges to face like everyone else. I haven't been a happy lady every single moment of my life. Not at all. In fact I got so sad, I stopped living all together at one point. I eventually got back up, because the alternative would have been death. Maybe it was cowardice, but I couldn't face never seeing the sun again. Never hearing a new song on the radio, never tasting my beloved chocolate dipped strawberries, which are only 45 calories for two medium sized dipped berries! And never touching Alan, or petting Elvis.

I have seen friends run straight into heart disease, and diabetes by way of their eating habits. I lost one of those friends. One day, at 37 she had a heart attack and died. She was alive and fine at noon, and by three that afternoon she was dead. No second chance. No warning. Dead. My other friend got warning after warning. She went through life with the assumption that karma would take care of her. "I am a good person, bad things won't happen if I am a good person." One day she fainted at work, she then began peeing herself, which was a combination of urine and blood. Her kidney's began to shut down. Ignoring the doctor's warning 6 year's earlier that she was in prediabetes, she now had an average blood glucose level of well over 400.

We all watched as she ran headlong into the symptoms of severe diabetes. We all tried, and her eyes glazed over and she avoided us. She went to our mutual friend's funeral 10 year's earlier, and cried along with us, and I wanted to ask her, what she supposed our friend did to deserve dying at 37, hadn't she been a good person? Was this karma? Why didn't our friend deserve a second chance?

I suppose I was in the anger stage of grief. I just don't know. Sigh. Was there anything I could have said or done? Did I do all I could? After my friend was diagnosed with kidney failure, she began to change her lifestyle, but the word "Diabetes" was not to be mentioned. It was a rule. (Insert TEARS here). I have learned so much about diet and nutrition over the last 6 months. I know I can help my current friend... I know I can.

But he/she won't let me. Will I be going to another funeral in the near future? What good are we in life, if we can't, or won't share the lessons we have learned to help other's lead a longer, healthier life? My current friend shares that he/she isn't feeling well, and that he/she is in some pain. He/she describes eating mostly high calorie/high cholesterol foods for convenience reasons, and is a measure of overweight. I know they would like to look better, because that is what they mention most often, but they don't really share about the health concerns they may or may not have.

So tell me, when you see someone hurting themselves do you try to intervene? Do you try to help? Or do you just resign yourself to let people be who they are? Is it wrong to try to help someone, even if they don't ask for it? When do you intervene? Do you ever give up? Do you keep knocking?

If you feel comfortable sharing your thoughts please do so, or, feel free to send me your thoughts by email. But either way... just know... having me as a friend comes with my personal philosophy that everyone can be the best that they can be, if they make the effort to do so, and that I will care about you, and encourage you to be the best you can be, but don't look to me to enable your destructive behavior. Fair enough?

Remember, February is National Heart Health Awareness month! Use your blog for GOOD! Do your own entries about how you try to live a healthy lifestyle. Encourage your readers to educate themselves on living a healthy lifestyle. Share your own tips on staying active or eating properly. Come on. Encouraging others will make you feel good inside.

Now I am off to eat my Campbell's Tomato Soup, and Fresh Green Salad ala Carly! And later today I am going to take my camera, and follow the sun, for about 2 miles or so. LOL.

Mmm, Mmm Good! :)

-OndineMonet
"Happiness"
Conservatory of Flowers
San Francisco, California
January, 2008
Afternoon

In Praise Of The 100 Calorie Pack

"No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after eating one peanut."

-Channing Pollock

Okay, the holidays are over, and Alan's birthday is over and now it's back to reality, so, it must be said. I am Carly, and I am a diabetic. I have Type 2 diabetes, and what that means is, I have to watch a little bit closer then most people, what kind of nutritional decisions I make. I was given some phenomenal news last November by my personal care physician, she told me that in just under four months I had managed to lower my A1c test result into normal numbers. Not normal for diabetics, normal for the average human. Did it mean that I was no longer a diabetic? No. It means that I have things well under control. It meant that with a little more time, and the same consistently lower numbers, I would no longer be considered diabetic, but I need to also be aware that now that I have had a taste of the disease, there is a higher then likely chance that I could once again be diagnosed with full tilt boogie Type 2 Diabetes.

Sounds a bit contradictory, but really it makes all the sense in the world. To live in the best health possible, it would be a good idea to live as if I have diabetes. So I do. I have found the differences I have made in my food intake to be very easy to manage. I don't eat at fast food restaurants anymore, well, ok, I do, but I plan for my visits. I don't just go there on a whim. I have a pocket nutrition guide that tells me the fat and calorie content of fast food, and if I know I might be eating out, I plan for it. I have been trying different convenience foods, such as the new line of food at Safeway, Eating Right. The frozen dinners are the perfect size for lunch, and they taste really good. Some of my favorites are the Spaghetti and the Salisbury Steak. Both fill me, and my blood glucose reading 2 hours after the meal has always been well into my target range of 140-160 mg/dl. Although most days it reads at a much lower number. And I always eat my meals with a time limit of 30 minutes maximum.

Like everyone else, I get the munchies late in the day. I thought when I was first told that I had Type 2 Diabetes, that it meant I had to give up the snacking I loved. I especially crave snacks when I am on a long walk, or when Alan and I are playing a board game. POUT. Well, my doctor told me that I didn't have to give up much as a diabetic, and she is right. I am thrilled with the 100 calorie packs which have been around for a couple years. When I first started seeing them in the stores, I thought it was just another diet gimmick, but then one day I decided to give them a try.

I found out, when I did a random check on my blood, that 100 calories seems to be a magic number for me. When I get a craving for, say, cookies, I grab a 100 calorie pack of, Keebler Chocolate Grasshopper cookies, and it fills that momentary need for a little something to tide me over to dinner. I rarely, if ever, see a rise in my blood after eating one of these packs, but I am careful about when I indulge. I only eat one of these if it has been at least 2 hours since I ate a meal, and if it is more then 2 hours before my next meal. I know, I know a piece of fresh fruit would be better for me, and a lot of the time, I do grab a tangerine or an apple, but it's not realistic to give up the "bad stuff" all together. So, I now I just make better decisions on when and where I indulge. As you can see, lol, we love our snacking!

I visited a few websites this morning to, see what's being said about these 100 Calorie packs, and for the most part they are being praised, but there is a downside as well. For one thing, the cost. It's true, they are a bit more expensive, which is always the way with anything that is packaged for convenience. Sigh. I could probably save a little bit and buy a big bag, and weigh the snacks, and put them in individual Ziploc bags, but it does take time to do this, and then there is the willpower factor. How difficult it is to not sample here and there while I am bagging them up. Willpower is something we all struggle with... right? Which brings me to the other negative factor... the 100 calorie pack doesn't fill you. But a snack shouldn't replace a meal. I tend to look at as snack as something fun until I eat my next meal. So keeping things in a proper perspective is key as well.

For now, this all seems to be working for me. Diabetes is a little different experience for everyone who has it, and I am one of the lucky ones who caught her diabetes early in the disease. As I get older, it will be more and more difficult to manage, but it seems like having all this information and resources available to me, has only made it all easier. Last weekend, I joined the Discovery Channel's 2008 National Body Challenge. Have you heard of it? When you get the chance, drop by and have a look around. There are healthy recipes, and tips for living a more healthy lifestyle. It's fun. And the other day, I found an adorable website called, Hungry Girl. On that site you can find all kinds of information on food, dieting and nutrition. It's one of my new favorite websites. See the links below.

Sigh.This is going to sound strange, but I think being diagnosed with diabetes is the best thing that ever happened to me. I am enjoying taking care of myself, and learning new things. It is really fascinating to find out what different types of food does to my blood. It has been a eye opener what stress does to my blood sugar, and how exercise makes me feel better. Stress seems to be my biggest trigger. Like I said, George Bush gave me diabetes. LOL. But no, I have to take the responsibility here, letting George Bush irritate me is probably what gave me diabetes. LOL. That's all I'm saying. LOL.

I have some struggles ahead, such as adjusting my calorie maintenance so I maintain my weight, another important factor in things, but right now I am having fun, and even on days like today, when my Fibromyalgia causes my hands to hurt so bad I can barely type, I am smiling at my blood glucose number when I woke up this morning. It was 94mg/dl. Yay! And thank you 100 Calorie Packs for keeping me sane! I just wish it was this easy to control my cat Elvis's diabetes. Sigh.

Articles

Discovery Channel 2008 National Body Challenge

100 Calorie Packs: Do They Help With Weight Loss? (ABC News)

Weighing In On 100 Calorie Snack Packs (Boston Globe)

Hungry Girl

-OndineMonet
"100 Calorie Packs"
Berkeley, California
January 10th, 2008
Morning