Forums: September 2011 Kickstart Forum: Anyone else out there a T2 diabetic?
Created on: 09/21/11 10:50 AM Views: 995 Replies: 8
goingvegan Joined: 09/21/11 Posts: 3	Anyone else out there a T2 diabetic? Posted Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 10:50 AM Hi, all! I'm a T2 diabetic and am trying to go vegan to improve my blood sugars and get healthy. Going vegan hasn't been that difficult for me, as I used to eat vegetarian for 15 years. Then, about 6 years ago, I started eating meat out of the blue. I gained almost 60 lbs. Anyway, I've lost 40 lbs just by going back to eating vegetarian. Recently, I read Dr. Barnard's book on diabetes and eating a plant-based diet. I was intrigued with the scientific research, so I decided to try going vegan. I even have my husband trying it out for the 21 day kickstart. Just wondering if there are any others out there who are having success on a vegan program as a T2 diabetic. Are your sugars improving? How about weight loss? Thanks!
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Bugsmom Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2072	RE: Anyone else out there a T2 diabetic? Posted Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 11:35 AM Yes, there are a bunch of us type 2s (and even a few type 1s I think) out here. When I was diagnosed (6-7 yrs ago), I changed how I was eating - watching carbs, working to lose weight, etc. We (family) had already cut out red meat and pork, and were basically on track toward vegetarian (fish/poultry once or twice a week at that point). I lost weight and kept my glucose under control...for a time. Then my weight got 'stuck' and I got frustrated and things started getting out of control. After a scary jump in my A1C, while I was trying to figure out what next, I happened upon Dr. Barnard on PBS discussing diabetes and low fat vegan eating. I went online and checked it out and signed up for the kickstart which was starting in a few weeks. My hubby and son agreed to help me out with it for the 3 weeks. That was a year ago and we haven't gone back (though there have been slips and DS is still basically on the vegetarian/omnivore side). My weight has dropped another 15-20 lbs and I'm getting my glucose under control without having to obsess over carbs. It makes a lot of things easier - when I see a cake or cookies or something, I don't do the 'well, maybe a little piece if I just have a salad' juggling carbs act. I just think 'nope, not vegan' and move on. KWIM? I have found over time, too, that I can much better keep my weight down (still need to lose some) - as long as I keep my weight below a certain point, my glucose levels tend to be better - even if something I eat causes a spike, it doesn't go as high, it comes back down to a good level sooner and easier than it used to. All that to say, I think there's definitely something to this whole thing (otherwise I would've totally jumped ship already). Both my hubby and I are getting comments on how good we look, how healthy, how much weight we've shed, etc. Over the last 7ish or so years, I've so far lost about 48 lbs and hubby has lost 80+ lbs. I'm keeping my cholesterol profile in a good place without meds of any kind; hubby's blood pressure and cholesterol meds haven't needed to be increased (part of his medical situation is genetic so that's hard to get away from). And, our son is learning about healthy eating early on so he can potentially avoid a lot of what we've gone through as adults. He's minimizing his risk factors (since having a parent with diabetes, with hypertension, with high cholesterol, are risk factors for him to develop the same). How many 13 yr olds say YUM! when you tell them that dinner is quinoa chickpea pilaf with braised kale! (heck, how many know what kale or quinoa are?) --Deb R
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theodore Joined: 09/16/10 Posts: 641	RE: Anyone else out there a T2 diabetic? Posted Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 3:18 PM Deb Congrats on your good health. Has your husband had his check up yet ?? I think you said a few months ago that he was going for a check up soon. Never make assumptions. You'll end up being an A**, and the UMP will TION you. -- Coach Smiley -- Fresh Prince of Bel Air
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Bugsmom Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2072	RE: Anyone else out there a T2 diabetic? Posted Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 3:29 PM theodore wrote: Deb Congrats on your good health. Has your husband had his check up yet ?? I think you said a few months ago that he was going for a check up soon. He did have a checkup a few months back. He had dropped a few more pounds - he's now under 300 lbs for the first time in his adult life. His cholesterol and blood pressure were good but not enough of a change to decrease medication. That may never change - sometimes heredity is a bummer. Last month was my quarterly checkup and my A1C had dropped a wee bit further, I had lost a wee bit more weight. It was humorous - I'm still holding off on taking a statin. It's SOP for diabetics but my HDL and LDL are both in the mid-80s, so I see no reason to muck about with medications (my compromise with my doctor is to take a baby aspirin each day to reduce possible inflammation - not to mention plant based eating). However, I brought up the subject of whether to add another diabetes regulating medication but my doctor wants to hold off since things are at least stable, if not dramatically changed. --Deb R
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theodore Joined: 09/16/10 Posts: 641	RE: Anyone else out there a T2 diabetic? Posted Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 4:42 PM Sounds good, Deb. I don't understand lbs though. Is he at his target weight now ?? Never make assumptions. You'll end up being an A**, and the UMP will TION you. -- Coach Smiley -- Fresh Prince of Bel Air
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Bugsmom Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2072	RE: Anyone else out there a T2 diabetic? Posted Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 4:46 PM theodore wrote: Sounds good, Deb. I don't understand lbs though. Is he at his target weight now ?? I believe 2.2 lbs = 1 kilo, so 300 lbs is slightly under 150kg. Nope, neither of us are at target weight yet. We both could stand to lose at least another 20 or so lbs (somewhere around 8 - 10 kg if I calculate correctly). --Deb R
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theodore Joined: 09/16/10 Posts: 641	RE: Anyone else out there a T2 diabetic? Posted Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 5:13 PM Deb Do you think your husband'll ever join the forum ? Never make assumptions. You'll end up being an A**, and the UMP will TION you. -- Coach Smiley -- Fresh Prince of Bel Air
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goingvegan Joined: 09/21/11 Posts: 3	RE: Anyone else out there a T2 diabetic? Posted Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 9:09 PM Thank you for your reply, Deb. I'm hoping eating vegan will help me get healthier. I'm about 20 lbs from my goal weight. Currently, I'm taking one pill of Metformin 500 mg daily. So far, my glucose readings have been decent. This morning after my oatmeal with soy milk, bananas and raisins, my reading was 129. Supper was a good serving of spaghetti with lots of veggies and tomato sauce. My reading was 161....not bad...might try whole wheat spaghetti next time. I hope to "meet" other T2s to see how well this program works for us as individuals. Not sure how active this forum is, but I'd be interested in popping in to see how others are doing, as well as share my progress. Thanks again!
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Bugsmom Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2072	RE: Anyone else out there a T2 diabetic? Posted Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 8:18 AM theodore wrote: Deb Do you think your husband'll ever join the forum ? Not likely - he's not much of a forum visitor type person. I generally pass along interesting bits (recipes, new information, interesting discussion points, etc) and we discuss them. Sometimes, I'll ask for his 'take' on a discussion topic and bring that back to the forum discussion, usually prefaced with "I asked my hubby and he said..." I'm at the computer all day (for my work) so popping in occasionally is pretty simple. He's the at home parent, so he's cooking, cleaning, playing videogames, assisting our 13 yr old with meals as needed, that sort of stuff. He also has a craft/hobby business making useful and colorful items with duct tape (yes, that stuff, it comes in colors besides gray, black, and dark green! Check out Creative Ductapestry on Facebook). And, he's about to launch a second business as a Pampered Chef consultant. He LOVES to talk about and prepare tasty food - and this will also give him some opportunity (depending on who is hosting the gathering) to discuss healthy food prep (instead of the processed prepared stuff). His "thing", and one reason he's willing to promote these particular tools, is that healthy nutritious foods are relatively simple to prepare if you've got the proper tools and techniques. There will, of course, be some constraints (he won't be refusing to do parties where the host/hostess chooses a chicken recipe for the demonstration, for example - that would be like a vegan refusing to work in a grocery store because it sells meat, a job's a job in this economy; I've had interesting discussions with cashiers who turned out to be veg*n) but he can still get a good word in here and there. --Deb R
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