Roofers, blood sugar and body fat
Sep. 12th, 2009 11:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamsharkI see that except for the birthday report I haven't posted about much of anything lately except my new electronic toy. Other than that, life is either totally banal or much too interesting, depending on your point of view.
After talking about it and making abortive attempts to schedule it for at least 10 years we are finally getting our roof replaced. Now I realize why I kept putting this off. There is absolutely NOTHING fun about a new roof. There's the baffling and stress-inducing process of signing a contract and then wondering when they will actually show up. The last-minute changes when they "discover" how much was actually wrong with the roof and start adding additional charges. Then when they finally DO show up there is 3 or 4 days of crashing, banging, ripping noises and people shouting in Spanish. We're in that stage now. There is something profoundly disturbing about pounding noises coming through the roof, as if the squirrels had finally given up on disorganized scurrying and chewing and acquired jackhammers. And when it's all done... it's exactly the same as it was before. I guess the roof will be a different color, but our house is so tall that we can't see the roof anyway.
Richard has now joined the ranks of the Minnstf diabetics. I guess. He has had an A1C of about 7.0 for years and sort of high blood sugar readings. He finally got a fasting reading of 146, which is well into the diabetic range. But TECHNICALLY a diagnosis requires two readings in the range. Wouldn't you think that the doctor would have called and told him to get in for a second test to confirm the diagnosis? Well, he didn't. But Richard had a follow-up exam a couple of weeks later, so maybe he just figured he'd wait until then. However instead of doing another glucose test he just agreed when Richard asked for a referral to the diabetic class (following orders from me!). I'm a little dubious about this doctor, frankly. But I've never met him, and Richard's reports of doctor's visits are ... well, pretty much in keeping with the male sterotype. ["He said I might have, um, something that begins with T I think. But that I shouldn't worry about it unless it gets worse."] So who knows what the doctor actually says about anything?
Judging from the readings he's getting on his blood-o-meter he's definitely diabetic, but in the early stages. Depending on what and when he eats, the readings mostly range from under 100 (just great) to 160-something. But he's been following the diabetic diet pretty faithfully, so I'm not sure what that tells us. On the one day that he ate pizza and cookies at a party, his reading soared to 240. So ... I guess that means he's diabetic and will have to eat accordingly for the rest of his life. But it's weird not to have an official diagnosis. If he loses weight and follows the diet faithfully he might very well never get another high reading in the doctor's office.
Anyway, this new regime coincided nicely with my own decision a few weeks earlier to get back on the diet horse and relose the 20 pounds I lost last summer and gained back. I bought a new diet book which turns out to work perfectly as a diabetic diet. So we've been happily trying out recipes like "Seared Wild Salmon with Mango Salsa" and "Grapeful Chicken." It's been kinda fun so far. I've lost about 6 pounds. Richard, of course, is eating pretty much the same thing I am and losing twice as fast (the always-irritating side effect of couples dieting together). But it's more important for him, so I'm happy. He'll HAVE to keep up this eating plan, which should make it a lot easier for me to do the same.
In other news -- my bad knee has been getting gradually better for weeks and I think it's finally back to normal, or close to it. However, I'm still feeling cautious about biking and still wear a knee brace most times. It was a very minor injury, but frustrating how much it restricted my usual summer activity. But even with my reduced biking schedule I have managed to have two flat tires and 3 broken spokes in the past couple of months. My bike is currently upside down in the bike shed waiting for me to put the wheel back on (again). With one thing and another we haven't done any of the fun out of town bike trips we did last year.
After talking about it and making abortive attempts to schedule it for at least 10 years we are finally getting our roof replaced. Now I realize why I kept putting this off. There is absolutely NOTHING fun about a new roof. There's the baffling and stress-inducing process of signing a contract and then wondering when they will actually show up. The last-minute changes when they "discover" how much was actually wrong with the roof and start adding additional charges. Then when they finally DO show up there is 3 or 4 days of crashing, banging, ripping noises and people shouting in Spanish. We're in that stage now. There is something profoundly disturbing about pounding noises coming through the roof, as if the squirrels had finally given up on disorganized scurrying and chewing and acquired jackhammers. And when it's all done... it's exactly the same as it was before. I guess the roof will be a different color, but our house is so tall that we can't see the roof anyway.
Richard has now joined the ranks of the Minnstf diabetics. I guess. He has had an A1C of about 7.0 for years and sort of high blood sugar readings. He finally got a fasting reading of 146, which is well into the diabetic range. But TECHNICALLY a diagnosis requires two readings in the range. Wouldn't you think that the doctor would have called and told him to get in for a second test to confirm the diagnosis? Well, he didn't. But Richard had a follow-up exam a couple of weeks later, so maybe he just figured he'd wait until then. However instead of doing another glucose test he just agreed when Richard asked for a referral to the diabetic class (following orders from me!). I'm a little dubious about this doctor, frankly. But I've never met him, and Richard's reports of doctor's visits are ... well, pretty much in keeping with the male sterotype. ["He said I might have, um, something that begins with T I think. But that I shouldn't worry about it unless it gets worse."] So who knows what the doctor actually says about anything?
Judging from the readings he's getting on his blood-o-meter he's definitely diabetic, but in the early stages. Depending on what and when he eats, the readings mostly range from under 100 (just great) to 160-something. But he's been following the diabetic diet pretty faithfully, so I'm not sure what that tells us. On the one day that he ate pizza and cookies at a party, his reading soared to 240. So ... I guess that means he's diabetic and will have to eat accordingly for the rest of his life. But it's weird not to have an official diagnosis. If he loses weight and follows the diet faithfully he might very well never get another high reading in the doctor's office.
Anyway, this new regime coincided nicely with my own decision a few weeks earlier to get back on the diet horse and relose the 20 pounds I lost last summer and gained back. I bought a new diet book which turns out to work perfectly as a diabetic diet. So we've been happily trying out recipes like "Seared Wild Salmon with Mango Salsa" and "Grapeful Chicken." It's been kinda fun so far. I've lost about 6 pounds. Richard, of course, is eating pretty much the same thing I am and losing twice as fast (the always-irritating side effect of couples dieting together). But it's more important for him, so I'm happy. He'll HAVE to keep up this eating plan, which should make it a lot easier for me to do the same.
In other news -- my bad knee has been getting gradually better for weeks and I think it's finally back to normal, or close to it. However, I'm still feeling cautious about biking and still wear a knee brace most times. It was a very minor injury, but frustrating how much it restricted my usual summer activity. But even with my reduced biking schedule I have managed to have two flat tires and 3 broken spokes in the past couple of months. My bike is currently upside down in the bike shed waiting for me to put the wheel back on (again). With one thing and another we haven't done any of the fun out of town bike trips we did last year.
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no subject
Date: 2009-09-12 07:09 pm (UTC)I've also had diabetes when preggo. Eating properly (ha!) is helpful, and the local hospitals have programs to help figure it all out. I found them wonderful. I still had to do a shot a night for AnnaLee, but that was all. I've heard of people with readings in the 300's. I don't think I had one over 160 after eating pizza. My fasting numbers were usually around 100 which is why they wanted me to do the shot the night before.
Best of luck with the diet. The only thing that's ever worked for me was to journal everything I eat. I'm still down 40 of the original 60 I lost, but I'd like to get back down that 20 some day. HA!
no subject
Date: 2009-09-12 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-12 08:21 pm (UTC)That's a lot of have going on. I am glad he found out about the blood sugar problem, and that he's got a plan for doing something about it. And that you're along for the ride. I should read up on what the diabetic diet is.
K.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-13 02:19 am (UTC)Also he needs to lose some weight, which almost always helps stabilize the blood sugar. New studies keep coming out on what seems like a minute-by-minute basis demonstrating that fiber-rich diets are good for diabetics, what diabetics REALLY need is more calcium and Vitamin D, that it's all about the Omega 3 fatty acids, etc. etc. What it comes down to is - a low-carb healthy reducing diet - lots of fruit, vegies, olive oil, fish and so on.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-14 12:49 am (UTC)An important point with low carb diets is that you are allowed good carbs and should use your allotment to eat things like whole grains and veggies not sugary crap. This would be the part of the information my mom seems to overlook.:(
no subject
Date: 2009-09-12 08:56 pm (UTC)I was also diagnosed with high blood pressure, and that's when I had my hearing aid prescribed.
Oh -- I saw the doctor because of tinnitus which wasn't going away. And I still have the tinnitus....
Good luck on dieting and other health stuff!
no subject
Date: 2009-09-13 03:34 am (UTC)