What I Ate

[Nancy]

had 1/2 cookie [22 carbs.] for one whole cookie] 11 for 1/2 cookie,
pumpkin spice from a mix dgds brought over very tasty
reminds me of the applesauce cookies my mom used to make.
& cocoa for breakfast today.

Going to try out turkey burgers later on as they are on sale this week.

Lunch
h. grilled steak and stir fry veggie pouches.

Dinner
salad & fried summer squash.

[lucylee]

Indiana -- it seems like it would just be easier to count carbs, rather than starches. Carbohydrate totals are marked plainly on every package. Couldn't I just give myself a total for the day of carbs (not counting fruits, b/c I think I need those -- I'm too much of a meat & bread person if I'm not purposely trying to add fruits & vegetables.) Is there a reason that wouldn't work just as well?

Today I had
6:00 a.m.
PB crackers (19 g carbs)
Banana
Diet Pepsi
11:00 a.m.
Granola (almond crunch) bar (13 g carbs)
Noon
Turkey
Cheese
6 Triscuits (20 g carbs)
3:00 p.m.
Pineapple
6:00 p.m.
Kashi Go Lean Clusters cereal (36 g carbs) (Maybe I should stay away from this?)
8:00 p.m. ?
4 Krystal hamburgers (but only two buns) (34 g carbs)
French fries (49 g carbs)
Kaleidoscoops ice cream cone (24 g carbs) with two scoops ice cream --
Black cherry (19 g carbs) and
Nutty coconut (16 g carbs)

I think this adds up to 230 total carb grams for the day. I don't know how many would be a reasonable number, but I'm thinking 150-200? I think the nutrition info on most labels says 300 g for a 2000 calorie diet, so I figure if you cut that to 1500 calories, you should cut a fourth of the carbs, too? That would be 225, wouldn't it?

Also, I would say it was a pretty dismal day overall, b/c the bad stuff far outnumbered the good stuff.

I'll never be able to keep this counting business up.

[Indiana]

lucylee I'm not ignoring your question. I'm taking a crash course in carbs before answering.

[Nancy]

Breakfast; cocoa 2 eggs. 2 bits of plum from the yard not very tasty so that's all I wanted.
Lunch; cod fried squash leftover and salad
Dinner;Turkey Burger patty salad fruit plum from our tree [one cookie for a low bs reading]

[Indiana]

Wednesday

Strawberry milk smoothie 1 dairy, 1.5 fruit

Salad with ham, cheese & apple 2 protein, 1 fat, 2 fruit, 2 veg
Crackers 2 starch

baked parmesan chicken 1/2 starch, 4 protein
spaghetti squash 3 veg
spaghetti sauce 2 veg
bread 1 starch
milk 1 dairy

milk 1 dairy
English muffin with cream cheese 2 starch, 1 fat
3 salerno butter cookies 1 starch

Summary (goal) actual
calories (2000) 1805
starch (8) 6.5
protein (7) 6
fat (4) 2
dairy (3) 3
fruit (5) 5.5
veg (5) 7

I’m happy with Wednesday’ eating.

[Indiana]

Nancy from my exchange list 1 starch = 15 carbs.

[Indiana]

lucylee counting carbs isn’t easier it gives you more flexibility. You would need to count fruits and vegetables since they have carbs. The only things that don’t have carbs are protein and fat. You still need to count those as calories, which would reduce the carbs allowed for the day.

As far as working as well. Yes, you have labels for both exchanges and carbs. Some restaurants have nutritional information about their menu items. For foods that don’t come with a label like Triscuits you could use the links I put in the diabetic thread. Also the manufacturers have the information.

I came up with 225 carbs too.

Starches = 15 carbs
Fruit = 15 carbs
Milk = 12 carbs
Vegetables = 5 carbs
Meat = 0 carbs (but calories)
Fat = 0 carbs (but calories)

While you need to plan eating on exchanges I think you need to plan more with carbs so you can have the calories need for meat and fat for dinner.

As you are finding out nothing is easy – counting calories, counting exchanges, or counting carbs. It still requires looking up food items to get the counts. Once you start putting the food, amount, counts on a spreadsheet you can refer to it.

Also it takes more time in the beginning but once you keep doing it for 21 – 30 days it becomes easier and easier because you have some counts memorized and know you need to set aside time each day.

When I was diagnosed as a diabetic food exchanges was the way to do it. I was so comfortable with exchanges that I didn’t change to carbs. I like tracking groups instead of one number.

It was important to me to get my glucose numbers under control and to get rid of pounds. I wanted to get healthy. I’m so glad I did.

Nothing is easy. I think you should give one (exchanges, carbs, or calories) way 3 months and then look at other ways if you aren’t happy. 3 months gives it time to sink in and become habit to see if you like it or not.

lucylee please read this carefully. I only mean good things from it.

I think the most important thing to think about is how important is it to you to eat healthy. If it isn’t important, to you it will be frustrating for you. Important means eating as close as you can to healthy, tracking numbers, using tools available, and having a good attitude (some times, it may be hard).

It is ok if it isn't important to you. Sometime it may be. Just don't get frustrated with maintaining your weight.

I’ll help where I can on counting.

Did I explain it?

[Indiana]

lucylee I hope you understand what I'm saying.

Maybe you should wait until you are ready instead of getting frustrated. You have been content to be frustrated and so just back off and wait until you are ready. It isn't a good thing to be content to be frustrated. You need to be at the top of your game.

Be content to eat the way you have in the past or be content to be frustrated to the way you eat or be content that you are doing the best you can the best you can to eat healthy. I'm sure there are more options to being content. I can't think of them. I have fried my brain.

[lucylee]

(((Indiana))) Thank you for spending so much time on me... I'm just sorry b/c I feel like I'm failing YOU, now!
I am reasonably content, I guess... obviously. Otherwise I would be working harder at this.

The first few weeks of school are definitely NOT the time to start a difficult lifestyle regime... I find myself coming in tired, with too much work remaining to do, and I think, "I've worked hard and if I want a Hershey bar, I'll have a Hershey bar..." or ice cream or whatever... etc. etc. Just being a stubborn brat about it, I know.

Now that I've considered yesterday's tally, I think counting the starches IS a better idea for me, b/c like I said, I think I should keep up the fruits as much as possible b/c I'm NEVER going to get enough vegetables, probably, and if I'm going to eat anything besides meat and potatoes, fruit is probably my key to filling up on anything even remotely healthy. And I just can't believe that anyone can do too much damage eating too much fruit. I may be wrong -- but it seems like the best option for me -- unless I just started to force-feed myself stuff I absolutely HATED.
After I translated the carbs to starches yesterday -- 15 g = 1 starch, right? -- then I could see sooo plainly where the bad parts of the day were. If I had left off the french fries and the ice cream... the total would have been sooo much better.

Anyway... I may just try to concentrate on adding the fruits/vegetables right now... just try to get some healthy stuff INTO my diet, rather than focusing on the things I need to being taking OUT of my diet.
Until I really get back into the school routine, and ds & ddil get settled into their own house, I've just got too much going on around here right now. I can't commit the time. I'm not giving up -- I'm just putting it off till things settle down a little bit. You're exactly right -- I need to be at the top of my game to be able to have any success at all out of this.

Anyway -- you've been a BIG help to me and I do really, really appreciate all the time you've spent counting and tallying and teaching me. I know you think it has been wasted, but I promise you, it has not been.

[Harriet]

Here, HRH and dsonil going over diabetic NS and all the info, the packaging, foods, etc. Talking about the difficulties of being in workplace when on it, traveling when on it, etc. Generally positive chat. Dsonil is considering trying it, too. (family history of diabetes, and borderline) We all had burgers for supper but of course HRH had NS, even though he helped cook and even got the little boys their snacks and chocolate milk. We apologized, but he said that he had gotten himself into the overweight situation by eating plenty, so don't feel bad while he reigned it back in.

I ate my own burger and finished what dd12 left . This is the way I eat/act with company here every time. I just keep eating all the while they do. Am going to try hard to be aware tomorrow and eat what I plan.

First few days of school are shaky for all plans. When things settle, the difficulties ease up and plans seem possible again.