"Healing Type 1 Diabetes" - 5 new articles
Healing my Environment FirstI wanted to provide an update as to what is going on in my life. I used to think, first I am going to get my diet perfect and heal my diabetes and then I will work on everything else in my life. Well, guess what? I think I had it backwards. I have read about this also in certain raw food newsletters. You need to work on getting your life somewhat where you want it to be, before you switch to a 100% raw food diet. So, I recommend eating a high raw diet while you work on the other big issues in your life. Then when you feel more comfortable and supported, when your instinct tells you that you are ready - then go for it. But as Matt Monarch points out, high raw is good too and the best foods to eliminate are the starchy carbs like breads and pastries. It is better to stick with high raw for life, than to switch back and forth from all raw to no raw over and over again. The family dinners are still going well. My hubby thinks it was a great idea to start that up again. We had a sit down family dinner 4 times last week. One night I worked late and my daughter fixed supper. One night my daughter was out. And one time we ate in front of the TV while we had a family movie night. We watch "Big". My kids had never seen it before, can you believe it? We have been doing family movie nights off and on for a few months now. I think we'll watch "Groundhog Day" next time. I have also stuck with the elimination of the majority of my TV series watching and going to bed when the kids go to bed, at around 10:30. I get up at 5:40, so I should have been going to bed that early a long time ago. I have to get up that early to get my daughter to school by 7:15. Not trying to catch up on my series watching on the DVR freed up so much time for me this weekend that I cleaned up and organized the formal dining room. It was a mess! I cleaned out piles of stuff that had accumulated under my buffets. Then I cleaned off the top of the buffets and moved all of my daughter's art work (mostly clay & ceramic) off the dining room table and onto the buffets. Then I set out a puzzle on one end of the table and I work on it a little each day. Sometimes one or both of the kids stop and help me. The simplest things are really the most fun. I feel like we are reconnecting with our kids again. I guess it is never too late since they are 14 and 16 years old. I asked for a gift certificate to help me buy a GPS for Mother's Day and to be given it early so I can buy it and we can go geocaching on Mother's Day. I'm sure the teenagers will complain, but hopefully it will be a fun time. My blood sugars have been up and down. But I actually feel good and happier than in a long time. I feel like a cloud is lifting. Maybe it is better to eat a less than perfect meal together as a family, than to eat a perfect meal alone. Getting More Sleep
It's going to take a few days for my body to readjust to the 10 units of 24 hour insulin per day. But even though my blood sugars were high half of the day, my ketones were low and I felt great. The family dinners are going great. A little resistance from the teenagers, but the interaction with them during dinner has actually been really enjoyable. No withdrawals from TV. Probably because I still watch some of what other people are watching. We have actually been turning the TV off more and the quiet is awesome! Last but not least I am getting to bed earlier and getting more sleep which is really important for my health, especially since I have diabetes. Here is one of many articles on sleep deprivation increasing the risk of diabetes - http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/results.php?storyarticle=1021, Seeking Balance in My LifeI feel great today! I think part of the reason is because I had an epiphany. A fight with my daughter made me realize I am unhappy with so many other areas of my life. For example, I am a TV addict and we seldom eat together as a family. When the kids were little, I never tried to keep up with any shows. If I caught part of them, fine. If not, fine. Mostly I watched Barney or Pokemon or a Disney movie with the kids. I really liked that. But now we have a DVR and I had become obsessive about keeping up with certain shows. I never watched Dallas or Knotting Hill (is that right?) and I don't think I missed out on anything not watching them. So why I am watching Lost and Desperate Housewives? So starting today I am not watching any shows in particular. If something is on and I happen to be in the room or we watch a movie together as a family that is great. We actually turned the TV off a few times today and the silence was great! Then we cleared off the table, the kids helped me set it, and we all ate dinner together. It was very enjoyable. This feels so good and so right. My daughter and I even walked to a nearby grocery store for a few groceries. That was definitely fun! There is more to healing than just diet and I feel better today because of non-dietary changes in my life. Now if I can just get this house cleared out and organized. Oh well, one step at a time. I am going to Brenda Cobb's Living Foods Institute in Georgia in November for 10 days. She says some Type 1s have gotten off their insulin, but her approach includes more than just diet. They have emotional healing classes everyday. I am really looking forward to that. I am eating fruits, veggies, and salads now. I've decided to gradually work on making it more alkaline.
I made my decision to trade TV for family dinners in the afternoon. This is crazy, but I think it improved my blood sugars! I'm having a hard time trying to decide how much 24 hour insulin to take tonight. I used to take 10 and then I reduced it to 0 on the juice fast. I think I will go back to 10 now that I am eating and see how it goes. Juice Fast vs Juice Feast - I Did it WrongLooking back I realize that I did a juice fast instead of a juice feast. Being Type 1 Diabetic that led to high ketones and could have sent me into ketoacidosis. So if anyone else reads "The pH Miracle for Diabetes", I recommend not doing the juice feast unless you have the time and appetite to eat and drink as much as he says and truly make it a feast instead of a fast. Otherwise, it would be better to go straight into the eating plan. I was still struggling with high ketones today so I made and drank grapefruit juice most of the day to bring them down. Then I was still hungry at night, so I made lettuce wraps with tomato, cucumber, and avocado. Sure hit the spot and my cravings went away too. I plan to stick with eating alkaline raw foods and see how it goes. I still reduced my 24 hour insulin from 10 units to 1 unit in 1 week so that is good. If I wake up tomorrow with high blood sugars again, I am going to take 1 unit of slow acting insulin tomorrow night. Yesterday's blood sugars in the evening:
Today's blood sugars:
Day 6 & Nearing the End of my Juice FeastWhen I went to bed I had a blood sugar of 87. I woke up with a 358 bs, nausea, and diarrhea. As my endocrinologist taught me, it takes 3 days for my body to adjust to a new slow acting insulin dosage. She said to ignore high levels until those 3 days are over and just take more fast acting insulin. Tomorrow is the 4th day without any slow acting insulin at night, and I used to take 10 units. So if my levels are still high tomorrow, I will start taking some slow acting insulin. I took 3 units of insulin to bring down my morning bs. My ketones were also high again. I hoped the insulin would bring that down too. At 9:15 my bs was still 243 and insulin should definitely work within 3 hours. So I took 2 more units. At 12:15 my bs was better at 175 but my ketones were still high. So I made & drank 8 ounces of fresh oj and took 5 units of insulin hoping to get my ketones down. At 3:15 my bs was 215 so I took another unit. I drank 4 ounces of oj at 4:20 and took 2 units. Here is my response to Claire today on her blog: More Recent Articles |
Yes, I think I haven't been eating & drinking enough either and the avocado soups are gross to me now too. The idea of drinking and eating as much as Dr. Young recommended just seemed too much to me. I just can't eat that much when I'm not hungry. But maybe you have to drink & eat that much to do this and not go into ketoacidosis.
Remember that blog you found of Charly who juiced to heal his Type 1? After one week he said his stomach felt bad and he switched back to raw food.
I think I'm about at that point. Maybe because of my very high ketones, even veggie juices sounded gross to me today. So I have been making and drinking orange juice all day and taking insulin. I find the only sure way to bring my ketones down is to get some sugar in me like orange juice and take insulin.
I'm thinking about drinking orange juice one more day so I can figure out my slow acting insulin level and then start eating alkaline foods on Sunday.
I know what Dr. Young wants us to do is retrain our bodies to burn fat for energy instead of sugar. So I know drinking orange juice won't work. I cannot stand the idea of avocados in a soup anymore, but I think if it was in a salad or squished onto some lettuce leaves I could eat it.
I'm so sorry you are having a tough time. I'm glad you are checking your ketones and blood sugars a lot. Maybe you should start eating right away. We should listen to our bodies like Charly did. If I had to do it over, I think I might just go straight into the eating plan and maybe other people with tough to control diabetes should skip the juicing part too.
I had diarrhea today and had to call in sick today again. I think it's partly due to the drainage. I want to feel good next week and not miss any work, so I am definitely going to start eating by Sunday at the latest.