But first, some background.
I got diagnosed as type 2 diabetic last year. I've always been hyper sensitive to sugar. I hate that they call this insulin resistance, because I didn't understand the problem at all and the term didn't make sense to me. I had plenty of insulin. I would spike, insulin would kick in and then I'd drop precipitately. If anything, I had too much insulin.
Seriously - I suffered from hypoglycemia a LOT which is not something diagnosed in USA. But on a 3 hour test - I dropped 100 points from 170 to 70. In one hour!
When I was diagnosed as gestationally diabetic I dutifully went on a diabetic diet and my blood sugar never rose about 80 and I felt miserable. Like - seriously horrible. I started drinking sodas, which I rarely do because - I hated the drops in blood sugar so much. I actually wonder if the reason my first child was still born was because of this diet. I gave up after about a week and found information on the hypoglycemic diet out of Australia and that is what I followed up until recently. And it kept me pretty even and my blood work always looked good. Even my fasting numbers were good.
Menopaused changed everything
All that changed after menopause and suddenly - I was spiking but not dropping and I had weight gain. Exercise more. Ok. Did that, nothing changed. Eat better. I was already eating pretty healthy actually.
So after getting a really bad blood result back - I asked my doctor for a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). I was too scared to do a diabetic diet because, it turns out I have unprocessed trauma from the last time I did the diabetic diet. I wasn't adverse to finding out my metabolism had changed, but I had to know for sure what was going on before I committed to anything.
It really helped. Yes, my blood sugar was high. No I no longer needed to worry about dropping super duper low like I used to. Yay.
So I started experimenting with foods and figuring out what worked and what didn't. I also tried to learn the science. For this I highly recommended Nourished by Science. https://www.youtube.com/@nourishedbyscience He explains the science and provides actionable information. All of the changes I've made - were recommended by him. The most important bit of philosophy imparted is - don't engage in self harm!
Changes Made
I wanted easy changes that would be easy to stick to. So - I started walking after meals (as suggested by nourished by science), and I cut out all sugary drinks. I did not drink a lot - but what I did - like icees at the movie theater, I cut out.
To my surprise, I started dropping weight rapidly. One year later, I'm down 50 lbs and I do not feel like I've radically changed anything. I just walk when I should (after meals to help use up the sugar) and reduced my sugar intake.
I wear a CGM every other month. This helps me keep on track and not fall into bad habits. You know - cheating and thinking it's ok. Nope it is not. I also use these sessions to experiment with things.
Want to know if cooking then freezing then reheating your starches like bread, pasta or rice makes a difference? According to my personal experiments it does. Yesterday I had lasagna made by my hubby using pasta sheets he had cooked then stuck in the fridge and instead of my blood sugar spiking into the 200s, it crested at 149. Walking after the meal helps, but even if I walk, if I eat something that spikes my blood sugar - walking 15 minutes doesn't really do much. I would need to walk for 1 hour to use up all that sugar in my system.
I can also verify that stress, raises your blood sugar. I watched Jaws last night and my blood sugar spiked 3 different times during the movie - times with jump scares and rising tension.
Food Experiments
Anyway - I'm currently wearing a monitor and have several experiments planned. I've already completed a couple. The first - sugar free candies.
My go dark chocolate which barely moves my blood sugar. I can eat an entire bag of Skinny Dipped dark chocolate almonds with very little effect on my blood sugar. It's my go to movie theater snack. With my water of course. Or - if I am buying a drink - I'll mix a sugar free powerade with water.
Which brings me to my current experiments. Any sugar free candy I wanted to try - would need to be tastier than my go to snacks.
The first one I tried was an Unreal product. A type of mounds bar. Coconut covered by dark chocolate. They use Cassava syrup instead of sugar. I didn't walk after, I just sat and read. It raised my blood sugar 30 points. Which is better than a regular mounds would impact me. But - I didn't really care for the taste. My son is eating them and likes them. For me - I'd rather have my dove square even before taking into account the relatively high blood sugar impact. 10 points vs 30 points.
The 2nd one I tried was the Reese's sugar free mini cups. They use maltitol for the sweetener. Which, apparently (according to the tiny bit of research I looked up on it), is protective against colon cancer in rats and has a mild laxative effect in rats (which would be good for me). It tasted EXACTLY like a regular Reeses, but - it only raised my blood sugar by 10 points. This is a keeper. But - with sugars - it's not just about how much sugar, it's also about portions. I will need to be careful to only have them occasionally, when I'm really craving a Reeses (which is my all time favorite type). I will be getting their mixed bag that uses Maltitol and try out their other offerings. But - I'm very excited about this.
Another experiment had to do with frozen tator tots. They raised my blood sugar by 50 (just ate the tots - no ketchup). Which means - yeah - I could occasionally have them if I walk afterwards, but it's probably best to stick to my current practice of only having 1 or 2 instead of say - 10.
I just had some sourdough pretzels as a snack. I spiked 100 points and that was with only 5 pretzels! NOT a good snack for me. At all. I was hoping given they are sour dough - they'd be ok. Nope, they are not. Bummer. Back to carrots to dip in my hummus. But this is why you don't cheat! Find out if something is ok using the tools we now have at our disposal. Don't just assume a few will be ok. 5 sourdough pretzels isn't filling and - 100 points. I can easily dip carrots in my hummus instead.
Next I'm going to experiment with Makhana (puffed lotus seeds). And revisit my popcorn experiment. I do need something easy and salty and crunchy and while I love roasted seaweed, it's not - toothy if that makes sense.
Hope this helps. It is stuff I like.
