Welcome to the YAWYE GROUP!

[tailgate72]

Hello All,

I LOVED the skin on chickens, the cracklins my grandmother made, was drinking Mt Dew like there was no tomorrow. The fried fat on chops and steaks was a great tasty thing to eat. Orange Juice, Apple Juice was always around. I had my gallbladder taken out and within two years after that I noticed in one day I drank nearly 8 gallons of liquid and was peeing nearly every five mins. This got annoying so I looked up online what could be the problem. Diabetes was the first on the list. This was in 2004. I finally made an appointment to see a doctor and when I went in he had my blood sugar tested. 774. No that wasn't a typo. It was 774. Two days later I was in the hospital with ketoacidosis. The doctor told us that I would have been dead in another 24 hrs. That was a pretty strong wake up call to get my act together.

Diet and work along with fun and enjoyable hobbies have helped me lose 100 lbs so far. I was between 330 and 340 at the time. I am down to 230's. I cant give a straight number as it fluctuates. Diet Mt Dew is my drink of choice now as well as flavored water with sugar free water flavor. Splenda and sugar free items are all you find in the house ALMOST. My wife drinks Dr. Pepper and my brother drinks reg dew.

After readying what pops posted about chicken skin and fat and from a few other posts I have read from others we have been changing alot of things. It doesn't happen over night and I dint expect it to. We use alot of EVOO, Trim alot of fat off items. I do leave certain fat on for cooking, but then trim it off before eating.

I know we have a long way to go to get things to a very healthy life style and I don't know if we will ever get it to a great spot as perfect is a unrealistic goal here, but improvements are always something to look forward to and to strive for.

Diabetes has been hard for me. I have always lived life with a devil may care attitude. I grew up in the country, been around dangerous stuff most of my life. Served in the US Army from 1989-1998. Was hurt a few times but always healed. I have rode bulls, broncs with injuries galor. Always healed and kept the mental idea that no matter what happened my body would fix itself. When I found out I was diabetic and went through everything I did, at first I listened to the doctor and did what I was suppose to do. I got my sugar under control enough to where I came off insulin, then came off medication period. My blood sugar was back under control. My a1c's were great. I thought " See my body is doing it again."

In 2009 a bull at a rodeo and I got into a disagreement, as you can see from the pic on my profile. He won. I was not riding, I was running the out gate for a youth event. I was slammed into the chute head first that knocked me out, guess he wasn't done with me as he broke my leg, tore my ankle apart from stepping on me and tore the tendons or ligaments from my bones, damaged my knee and thank the stars above a clown got him off me before he did anything else. When I came to, a friend of mine was pulling me into a chute to get me out of the arena.

I saw a doctor, was put into surgery two days later, he patched me up and I walk and run fine now but found out my blood sugar was WAY out of wack again. I wasn't testing myself like I should have been, I got into a funk I guess you could say. I plain didn't want to deal with it. My wife tried to talk to me about it, I didn't want to hear it. I was being hard headed. I never saw the same doctor twice it seemed. They wouldn't stay long at the VA clinic that I go to. Then I started to feel pain in places that I shouldn't have been. I put it off and was dealing with it until it got to the point of really starting to smart. Found a doctor that I have been working with now that informed me that it is neuropathy.

So, with the help of a great doctor that plans on being here we are getting my sugar back under control, my a1c's back down to a reasonable level and hopefully getting a handle on the damage I done while being hard headed.

I have to admit that the people I have met here has been a huge help. The posts that I read and have read will be a great way to keep on living.

My wife has been a huge supporter for me and a constant pillar of strength.

But I want to say THANKS for letting me join what is going to be a great group and good luck to all with their own personal fights to eat and live healthy.

Tailgate72

Dave

 

[justpassingthru]

werdwolf,

Glad to have you here, please feel free to clear up any misconceptions, it seems the more I read and listen the more different opinions I see, which causes me to wonder what the truth really is, ...no offense intended at you.

Let me explain:

The first Diabetes medicine prescribed for me (I don't remember the name) made me sick, gave me stomach cramps and diarrhea, so the doctor prescribed something different, Amarel and Avandia, then I read on the net Avandia was bad so asked him what he thought, he didn't think so, a couple of months later I went to my cardiologist for my yearly checkup and asked him about Avandia, he advised I stop taking it immediately and phoned my doctor and I was prescribed Actos the same day, then Actos is bad for us so I had to stop taking that and started taking Metformine, which again gave me severe stomach cramps. 

I went back to the net and learned from Metformine users that the cramps are not so severe if it is taken after eating, exactly the opposite of what I was told when it was first prescribed, take it before meals, the consensus here is diabetics only eat three times a day, 5-6 hours apart and NO between meal snacks and to eat only and all of  the portions they prescribe without any deviations.

I have learned that if I take the Metformine 30 minutes after I have eaten I don't have the cramps until 4-41/2 hours later, then if I eat a slice of cheese, or a swig of cream, or a small handful of nuts the cramps stop, I have also learned that the portion of carbs they prescribe for each meal is too much for me, so I have cut back on the portion, when I explained to them what I was doing and how I now have an average monthly blood sugar level of 120, they shake their heads and don't believe it.

One top of that, at my quarterly doctor's visit last month, when I explained to him what I was doing with the Metformine and why he checked in his medication book and said, "yes, that's right, to be taken after meals," duuuuhhh...., then he looked at my records and commented that maybe the first medicine he had prescribed for my diabetes would of worked if I had started with smaller doses and gradually increased, ...double duuuhhh!!!

So you see, I'm kind of treating myself to see what works best for me, ...and maybe that's the way it has to be, each person has to learn what works for them, ...so again, I'm all ears, please clear up the misconceptions.

(Just to make it clear my doctor isn't the bad guy, ...he writes on the prescription, in his hen scratching, how many times and when, morning-noon-night and it's the pharmacy that deciphers it and tell us how to take it, ...that's just the way it is here)

May I reiterate what pops and I have both said, ...please, consider buying yourself a blood sugar test kit and start testing yourself to see what is going on in your body, they can be bought on line and they are not that expensive, the name of the kit I use is "One Touch," you can google it to learn about it and read the reviews.

Also, exercise is necessary, the apartments I work at are two story so I'm going up and down the stairs a lot, I've found my blood sugar level is always lower (80-90) before lunch the days I've been at the apartments, compared to (100-115) the days I work in the cabinet shop, compared to walking 5 miles in a circle (boring) at the track (120-130), so, for exercise, why not walk up and down the stairs if you have any, if not try and build just one step and walk up and down it for 15 minutes or every time you walk by it, for me the stairs are the most effective way to burn the calories and lower my blood sugar level.

I hope this helps someone.

Gene

 

[supercenterchef]

Glad you guys are highlighting the dangers of diabetes...I find that too often, people don't take the disease seriously enough.  This quote hits the nail on the head:

developed into the terminal disease that will one day take my life

I often tell patients that they should think of diabetes like cancer...you'll never get over it, and it takes a lifetime of commitment to battle...

PS werdwolf, nice to see I'm not alone :)

 

[chef jimmyj]

SupercenterChef...Hey Doc, Have we become so Litigious that you have to put a Disclaimer in your Signiture before making a comment in a public forum?...That's just Sad...JJ

 

[werdwolf]

It will be hard to go over here what I normally would spend a half hour with patients going over ( yes that's right, I actually have some 1/2 hour visits with my patients, call me old fashion.).  First lesson is to learn that it is the insulin that causes most of the problems. 

Insulin is what the body uses to move the sugar from the blood stream into the individual cells so that it can either be utilized for energy or stored as fat.  It also has a few other functions, but I don't want to confuse things.

Second we know from physiology 101 that insulin is lipogenic (fat generating).  Most of the triglycerides (the other fat in your cholesterol blood tests) and some of the cholesterol is actually generated in our bodies when these levels are high.  Insulin also weakens the immune system (a very complex set of pathways that even I have trouble following) and causes inflammation throughout our bodies.  High sugar and insulin also causes our sex hormones to shift in the other direction (by activating aromatase enzymes for those with enquiring minds).  This causes men to have more estrogen and women to have more testosterone.  If you ever heard of a woman with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) this is her primary problem and why we put her on the metformin (diabetic drug) when she doesn't have diabetes.

Some people have insulin resistance.  This means they require more insulin to be generated by the pancreas to move the sugar into the cells than normal.  Much of this is familial, or if a person is obese enough that will also cause the resistance.  This example is from the good doctor McDaniels;  get the ketchup out of the fridge to put on your hamburger.  the ketchup in the bottle is blood sugar and when it goes onto your hamburger it moves into the cells.  The pressure you put on the bottle is the insulin.  a young brand new bottle requires little effort.  As the ketchup is around longer in the bottle, it takes more pressure to get it out.  Sometimes we have to excerpt so much pressure, then blop and a big glob of ketchup comes out.  this is when we overshoot how much insulin we need, and many times if we don't eat further we become weak, tired, grouchy, shaky and this is what happens with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). 

Lets stop with this and if I lost anyone with this post a way and I will try to clear it up.  Next lesson we will cover the traditional medicine treatment for this, then after that I will go over what I recommend as someone who has insulin resistance and a birth defect that makes my triglycerides about 1000 when I am untreated (compared to the upper normal of 150).

 

[werdwolf]

Yes Chef Jimmy it is that bad.  When I get to the part about what I do, I will put a disclaimer up also.  for right now there are no treatment recommedations here so I can skip that.  If you look thru some of my other posts that have talked medical, I have noted that and that I am not establishing a relationship as a physician with anyone.

 

[supercenterchef]

It is sad...you'd be suprised at the lawsuits I read about every month.  It's a crazy world out there these days, but that's a whole 'nother forum ;)

 

[daveomak]

 

[forluvofsmoke]

 

[justpassingthru]

Werdwolf and SupercenterChef,

I for one I'm glad to have you here in the group, personally I consider us united in the common bond of smoking, if you are willing to share your expertise with us that is fantastic.

Thank you for your time,

Gene

 

[DanMcG]

Werdwolf and SupercenterChef,

I for one I'm glad to have you here in the group, personally I consider us united in the common bond of smoking, if you are willing to share your expertise with us that is fantastic.

Thank you for your time,

Gene

I couldn't agree more with Gene, I'm also diabetic and any sharing of information or ideas has to be good..

 

[Bearcarver]

Great info on Diabetes guys!!--------Thanks!

And---Good one Dave !!!!   

Bear

 

[roadboss]

Pops, 

Thanks very much!  Thanks to all the stories.  I'm 56 and not in the best of shape.  It seems simple enough that if you put in less calories than you burn you should lose weight. Simple and straight forward.  Diet and Exercise.  Sounds easy!  It's not.  Knowing that all the posters here have a love of great food and can put things in perspective with exercise is a great motivator.  It can be done.  Thanks to all for sharing your thoughts and stories of what works. Just get out and start moving! Great advice.  YAWYE        Tony

 

[supercenterchef]

Stick with it Roadboss!  The human body is a great machine of homeostasis, it usually takes a month or so of doing all the right things before it begins to reset it's 'set point'...

 

[roadboss]

Stick with it Roadboss!  The human body is a great machine of homeostasis, it usually takes a month or so of doing all the right things before it begins to reset it's 'set point'...

Thanks SupercenterChef.......It's frustrating when you're doing the right things and not seeing any results.

 

[humdinger]

Not sure if this is the right thread to do a roll call for the YAWYE group, but I just joined and wanted to say hello and thanks to the Docs and others who have are sharing their wisdom and experiences.

Over the recent Thanksgiving weekend my friend and fellow smoker (though not on SMF yet) told me he met with his Doc and found out he is borderline Type II diabetic. He's 31 years old. I knew a little bit about it, but not enough to realize what he was trying to say. However what caught my attention was how dead-pan serious he was and the little bit of fear I saw behind his eyes. He is usually very jovial or relaxed about everything, but not this time, so it really got me thinking/researching.

I've been reading all the stories and info in the archived YAWYE threads for about 2 hours now and each one is like a flat shovel to the back of the head telling me that I need to wake up too.

Every day so many of you post new and inspiring ideas about what kind of new and interesting food to smoke next, which I love, but the things I've read in this group have been the most inspiring so far. Thank you! Hopefully this post will "bump" a few more folks to join the group.

 

[supercenterchef]

Glad to hear that he 'gets it'

All too often, people don't understand how serious and life altering diabetes is...

 

[aussie rod]

]Researchers at the University of Missouri have discovered a

   substance in celery called Apigenin that is shown to reduce breast

   cancer cell progression in their studies with mice. In addition, celery

   apigenin also shrank existing cancer tumors for even stronger evidence

   to suggest further research as an alternative to chemotherapy for the

   treatment of breast cancer.

     Links:

       2. http://munews.missouri.edu/news-rel...in-celery-parsley-and-spice-by-mu-researchers

 

[jarjarchef]

Just joined the Group. At this time I am blessed with not having any dietary related issues. My wife and I enjoy food, should exercise more.

I joined for a point of reference and resource for my job. I am a Catering Chef and we get Guests in all the time that require different dietary needs.I am by no means a Doctor nor did I stay in a Holiday Inn Express. I am just a humble Chef who is wanting to learn more about special diets and ways to take care of my Guests..... and maybe find some different things to help impact my family's way of eating.

My wife and I are like most have stated here. We enjoy food!!! Some of what we enjoy is not the best for you, but we take it in moderation.... We do not eat pulled pork or bacon every day, actually we only have things like that maybe once every 2 weeks. We eat a lot of salads. Usually I will cook some skinless chicken breast or other lean meat for the protein....We could do better.....

Over the past 20 years in the professional kitchen I have noticed a lot of changes for guest needs. When I started you did not here of most of the dietary restrictions you are getting now. I am not talking about the different diets people choose to go on. I am talking about the life changing ones like Celiac, PKU, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Nut/Peanut and the list goes on...... What I find that is amazingly shocking is you have 2 very different groups out in the public. You have the guest that are very educated and know what and how much of what they can eat. They know what brands they can eat and the ones that they can not.They are very proactive and reach out before they go places to make sure they are able to be taken care of correctly. They appreciate everything and anything you can do to assist them. I love that group!!! Yes they can be high maintenance, but they know what they can and can not do and are taking responsibility for themselves. Then you have the other group. They don't communicate out what they need. They just show up and expect you to know what they need or want. Without ever having any prior contact before hand. Then expect you to diagnose what they can and cannot eat. They take no responsibility or ownership of what is happening with there bodies. I find it sad that people are like that..... sorry I'll stop... My advice if you are having to make life altering changes. Take ownership of it. It will only benefit you and your family if you do....

If I can be of any help please ask me and I will do my best to answer what I can....I think I have the cooking part down, just the dietary part is my area or opportunity and we can work it out together....

Jeramy