Primal Scream
In college, friends developed the Primal Scream, which was accomplished into a towel after I complained about my shattered nerves. I had a disappointment with my blood sugar this morning (111 fasting, sigh) and was reading about what I should do. Inevitably you run into the low-carb lifestyle which leads you to the Primarian Diet. Which sounds great, and I think has a lot going for it, but I am always stopped by the following:
1. How do we know what primitive man ate, really? and
2. Primitive man, as far we know, was not known for his longevity, and
3. Plant based diets seem to do better in studies than ones involving tons of meat. My dad was eating Atkins which did great things for his blood sugar, but his lipids were going in the wrong direction. The cardiologist wanted him off it.
That said, I made an effort to drop my carbs a bit today. Felt fine and plenty full. 136 grams carbs and 39% fat, yikes. I also (drumroll) walked four miles today, so my burn should end up pretty good. Intake 1675.
1. How do we know what primitive man ate, really? and
2. Primitive man, as far we know, was not known for his longevity, and
3. Plant based diets seem to do better in studies than ones involving tons of meat. My dad was eating Atkins which did great things for his blood sugar, but his lipids were going in the wrong direction. The cardiologist wanted him off it.
That said, I made an effort to drop my carbs a bit today. Felt fine and plenty full. 136 grams carbs and 39% fat, yikes. I also (drumroll) walked four miles today, so my burn should end up pretty good. Intake 1675.
Larkspur, as I think I have stated on my blog before, I had tremendous success with Atkins medically. All my indicators not only went the right direction, but were 'perfect' according to my doctor at the time. That being said, the reason I started the South Beach Diet was the same as your reason for dieting - to stave off diabetes. My blood sugar has not officially changed that much, but I am quite confident I slipped into full-blown diabetes between physicals, so part of the story is missing. While my sugar is still borderline (just above 100), I feel this diet does very well in that regards. The book that inspired this lifestyle change for me was The South Beach Heart Health Program, which is just the South Beach Diet surrounded with medical studies and his thoughts on heart (and diabetes) health. I encourage you to pick up a copy of that. In my opinion, it is a must read for someone wanting to stave off diabetes and heart disease.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, great job on the walk!
I remember you saying that. I had some terrible numbers last summer and that's when I started doing something-- just stepped it up intensively in May. Just kinda pretended those fasting 120s didn't exist last year, but I wonder if my beta cells are creamed and the goal now is to not progress further. Sometimes I feel frustrated/sorry for myself as I "don't look diabetic" (for what that's worth!) and am lighter than other people who succeed in lowering their sugars, even though I know such thinking is completely silly. I have fat patients who have wonderful blood sugar and slender ones who are Type 2. Some people can tolerate an American diet better than others, I guess. I have read South Beach and I am probably fairly South Beachy now, although I eat more fruit and dark chocolate than he would probably approve! It does put a bit of a spin on the whole process because although the changes in my personal appearance have sparked a lot of compliments, I'm feeling frustrated because the measure I care most about is not responding the way I'd hoped. Never say die, though.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how much fruit and dark chocolate you are eating, but he is okay with both. I think a piece or two of fruit a day is fine, maybe even three. He just encourages some protein with that to slow the digestion. That is the reason I began eating my apples with nut butters. He also talks about eating the fruit after a meal where you have eaten some protein. Regarding the chocolate, the really dark stuff (70% or greater) has few sugars. Of course, much above 70% is bitter. I can handle 80% with peanut butter, but I don't care for it plain.
ReplyDeleteNever say die is right - just keep at it.