Updates and Fun


I have worked very hard in the studio this past month and a half. I haven't done much social networking. I have been expanding my Motivated Motion Gallery and Etsy sites and I have been participating in a few craft chats and development EGroups to expand awareness for my crafting.

Please browse my craft blog to see all the news about how the Motivated Motion business is growing.

On the home front....well I have not been that well. This summer I tried to go un-medicated for my diabetes, and despite all of the positive work with weight loss and food programs to bring down my sugar (which I did bring down to normal readings).....my sugar is not stable. I can get it down and then it will suddenly shoot up for no known reason. The Diabetic clinic at Sunnybrook Medical Center had given me the summer to see what would happen if I was un-medicated as the very last pill form medication that I could take called Jenuvia had given me a bad reaction at the end of May and had me hospitalized. I am allergic to all pill forms of diabetic medication :( Metformin makes me deaf, Actos and Avandia cause my blood pressure to rise and my body holds too much fluid, and Jenuvia caused me a reaction like a stroke.

So my only alternative is Insulin. In June Carl and I went to the Clinic and had some instruction from the Diabetic nurse and Dietitian on the needle Pen.
Monday I go back to the clinic, and I will go on Insulin. I won't need much, and I won't need it all the time. But I will need it on unstable days.

For the diabetics out there, and those that understand this stuff I will explain what my sugar readings are like. First of all I am not average when it comes to being diabetic. Readings that other folks would be happy to have and may even be fine and normal for other folks cause my body great trauma. I was hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) until 2003, then I went the other way to diabetic (high blood sugar). I was warned that the hyperinsulinia I had the majority of my life would make the pancreas tired and I would eventually become diabetic. Plus I have multiple auto-immune diseases and one of them- Sjogrens attacks the pancreas and makes my pancreas and my digestive enzymes unstable.

My sugar readings that cause me exhaustion, very blurred vision, and edema are in the low ranges. I can have these reactions to the extreme if my sugar reading is 8mmol (which is in acceptable levels for a diabetic). I only feel fine and have all my energy at 6-6.9mmol.
My highest sugar days this summer with no medication were an average of 9mmol.
I only had one bad spike and it was 11mmol.
For many folks their sugars can run in the 8's every day and they could get 11mmol and just begin to get my extreme reactions at that time.
I figure my sensitivity has something to do with the fact that my whole life I ran like 4-4.6mmol and functioned well, so my poor body just can't handle the glucose.
The Hemagloben A1C test I just had was 8.1 my usual reading is 6.3 and this proves I cannot manage my diabetes without intervention.

Glasses

THE SUMMER OF DIABETIC HELL also effected my vision, and I now need reading glasses. I went to have my diabetic eye check and the eye Dr told me my eye irritation (burning and red) was due to strain because I needed glasses while doing my Needle Felting and Jewelry making.
So I have reading glasses ordered from SEARS at script 120 125
The good thing is there is no sign of diabetic arterial disease in my eyes.

How Am I Managing The Diet Now?

For over a year I used Dr. Poon's program. You can look it up on the net as Poon Diet (quit laughing). In December my Sjogrens acted up and effected my digestive enzymes. When this happens I have to go vegetarian for a while to give my pancreas a rest. If I am Vegetarian I cannot be on the Poon Diet. So Dr Poon gave me a sabbatical from the diet until my enzymes stabilized. Once I stabilized (around May this yr) I went back on the Poon Diet and my body wouldn't respond. It seems that if you unstabilize on his Diet it is hard to kick your metabolism into gear again. I still use a lot of the Principals of his diet when it comes to carb control, but I have moved on to another program that is working. I am using Dr. Gallup's GI diet. It is the one that divides foods into three groups (Red Light, Green Light and Yellow Light) Red foods are the bad ones, Yellow you have to watch out how much you take, and Green foods are unlimited.
Gallup's newest books are quick references and restaurant eating guides.
I want to say I have learned one thing through the years of weight control I have had to endure (because I can vary within 100lbs at any time of my life, sometimes I am fat and sometimes I am skinny and everything in between)is you need to change up your food programs often to keep your body responding. No food program can do it all for you. But you cannot do this food work if it is just to lose weight. Make yourself an expert in why you are on the food program and make sure that you keep moving the food programs into your lifestyle. It is important for obese folks to be eating for their health and no other reason. There is no room for guilt in eating. Never be guilt ridden for gaining again. Just get on the bandwagon and work on it.

Also never get yourself down when you're fat. (I am sorry I cannot say large or chunky or overweight. I am fat and I can't help it and I work on my health every day)The best way to feel good is to dress appropriately. You will never see me in a sweat suit. You have to be elegant. I don't spend tons of money on clothes. I buy classic styles and I do my best to wear a bit of makeup, pick an easy classy hairstyle, and dress so you feel like a princess in your heart. My friends don't even take notice of my weight, they spend time asking me questions about what I am doing or where did I get that outfit. I believe that is because I don't take notice of it. I know I am doing my best and if I am meeting all my medical requirements (cholesterol readings, good even normal blood pressure and the lowest sugars I can get) I am doing GREAT!

The difference between Poon and Gallup is Poon's diet has me eating no fruit and no grain accept for limited berries and MOD soy breads and no dairy. Gallup's diet gives me fruit, whole grains and limited dairy.


I enjoyed Poon's diet and I was very disappointed that my body wouldn't bounce back, but I am enjoying Gallup's diet because of the variety of foods in the veggie and fruit area that I can have.
I am also very thankful to have cheese back. I eat low fat baby belle Gouda and no fat sour cream, low fat cream cheese, and low fat feta.
I also was not allowed pulses on Poon's diet. Now on Gallup's diet I got back my Peas, Beans and Lentils. I am so greatful for that. I live on Hummus, avacado, and olives.

My typical food days are like this:
Breakfast: Scrambled egg white or poached egg.
One slice of whole rye sourdough toast dry

Snack: Gallup's apple oatmeal crumble (made from scratch-7min in microwave)
1 baby belle cheese

Lunch: Whole grain crisp bread of any kind if it has 3gr of fibre
Feta and Olives drizzled in a bit of olive oil
Hummus

Dinner: some sort of Loin meat stir fried
whole grain pasta or rice in pesto and olive oil
stir fried or raw veggie mix from fresh (Snow Peas, fresh beans, peppers, onion)

Snack: Silhouette Yogurt with oats on top or bran buds

I drink mineral water, black tea, unsweetened iced tea, or black coffee all day.

I also eat one square of 70% dark chocolate a day. (like in a Lindt bar)

Some Fun:

I have a Fan Page for my Motivated Motion Gallery on Facebook now. I am releasing the exclusive Gallery stuff on there first. So if you want the most up-to-date progress of my collection and special offers it will be on the fan page: It Would Be An Honour To Me If You Become A Fan

Motivated Motion Gallery on Facebook

Speaking of Fans: If you have a Google account or you are a blogger you can become a fan of this blog or the craft blog in one click. If you have not become a fan yet, please do. I will return the favour. If I am not a fan of your blog yet send me a note in comments and I will become a fan of your blog or site.

Susan Boyle released her new album and Perez Hilton has got the exclusive on her first single release. You can hear her version of the Rolling Stones Cover: "Wild Horses" by clicking HERE. Susan also sent me a note saying she is performing on America's Got Talent this week coming! I believe America's Got Talent is on Monday this week.

Tom Felton told me he was getting an exclusive tour of Universal Studio's Harry Potter Theme Park in Orlando this weekend. This is under construction now. I am sure I will get news on that soon.

https://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/09/updates-and-fun-i-have-worked-very-hard.html

The Metabolic Diet Progress


Ok, so it has been almost 5 weeks since I started the Metabolic Poon Diet. I have lost close to 25 lbs. I have never starved. I eat a lot (every two hours cuz my diabetes) and I have more and more energy each day.

My headaches have not changed, but my joint pain is gone, and the sensory nerve in my leg that went on me is coming back, so that means it was jammed into my hip joint from some fat connected to a scar in my hip in the front of my leg! So if you are fat like me and you have weird joint pain or have numb spots don't shrug them off....or excuse them. They are because you are fat. Think of this as the common reason, and all the other stuff are the uncommon reasons.

I believe the joint pain reduction is because of two things. The loss of the excess weight the frame cannot hold well, and the fluid being held from too much salt.
I don't salt my food....never have, yet when I started the program I was holding 26lbs of water. I didn't lose all the water yet, and actually when we were stressed during the funeral, and having to eat restaurant salads I gained some water weight and lost fat. So it is important to understand how much hidden salt is in restaurant food. Apparently all restaurant meat is loaded with salt. And we won't even talk about the cheese and sauces! Wha!

I can eat as much as I want of lean beef, pork, chicken, fish and shellfish. I can stir fry with olive or canola oil. Olive oil is better because it is not genetically modified. Also my friend who is a holistic nutricianist said that deep frying should be done in pure coconut oil. So I switched the fryer to coconut oil for Cam and Carl's benefit. I don't eat deep fried anything now. Coconut oil cools hard like Crisco. If you cook or bake you can see the benefits of the coconut oil for other dishes as well (like cake icing).

I can eat as much as I want of green leafy vegetables and any vegetable from above the ground. Tomatoes should be eaten sparingly, and Cucumber and Broccoli should not be the entire amount of the veggies you eat in one sitting. There needs to be green leaves too, and they should be the majority of the portion.

The rule is you can eat as much as you want of the above meat and veggies but there must be two hours between the meals.

Things I can never have: peas, beans, butternut or acorn squash, corn, potatoes,
This is where this diet is very different from the diabetic diet.
The diabetic diet counts carbs as ok if they can rate 15g in a serving.
This is not ok for Metabolic Diseased people. They will still take those carbs and turn them into fat creating sugar.

Also notice I have not said anything about wheat or fruit.
On phase two of the diet I can have all the above good stuff, and I can add two servings of fruit or a grain product(that is not wheat) per day. A serving of fruit is 1/2 cup. The grain product I use is a special pita made of soy flour. One pita is a serving.
If you want to lose more weight then don't do phase two and save it for special days. Cuz phase two lists desserts and treats that I can have if they are in a measured portion.

A lot of folks like soda pop and flavoured drinks, and they are recommended in very limited quantities if they are diet ones. Apparently these empty carbs in diet drinks can cause carb cravings. So I don't drink them at all. I drink coffee (black), tea (black), mineral water(for the fizzz), water, and home made black iced tea. My majority of drinks is mineral water.

Since I started the diet I have been able to reduce my anti-seizure meds to one portion a day from two, remove my diabetic meds all together, and I am off my blood pressure meds, aaaannnd my arthritis meds are used only if I overwork myself exercising.

Yeah, I said it....EXERCISING....HA....HOW....'BOUT....THAT!? I am not constantly exhausted, and I can exercise! Carl and I did almost 3k on a walk to and from Chapters two nights ago and I kept a good pace. The reward was some new books and a coffee! Woo Hoo!

Yesterday I had my blood work, so I am really excited to see what that says.

I went into the Metabolic Diet program with the idea I wanted to feel better. I did not worry about the weight. After about the first 5 days I began to feel better and better. The first 5 days were hard because of carb cravings and withdrawl headaches. But it was a bearable hurdle for many more weeks feeling great!

My Rheumatologist was tickled pink with my progress, my family Dr. is cheering me on, and my pain Specialist is the one completely responsible for getting me into the program.

I truly believe that two things happen to me with foods. Some foods cause my body to react with inflammation (arthritic) pain because they trigger bad signals in my body. Those bad signals turn on the survival mode of my body and flick all the switches to store everything I eat into fat stores because the wrong switches got turned on by the reaction food.

So my reactors are wheat, corn, potatoes, excess salt, and by looking at that list is is easy to see gluten has no place in my body. Years ago I was off gluten and for those years I never gained weight. I just never correlated the gluten with slim for me. I used gluten-free products because when I got diagnosed with Sjogrens it was because I was unable to digest gluten or meat for a long time(6 yrs). Using a gluten free Asian vegetarian diet (which meant veggies, fish and eggs) I put myself in remission of my auto-immune disease. When I got the enzymes back to eat normally I jumped at the chance, but about a year later I started to gain weight, and never even thought it could be because of the gluten I began to ingest.

So far I see why the diabetic diet didn't work for me, and how some of my pains and vital statistics were greatly effected by my weight after my neurological injury. This knowledge is paramount to learning how to eat.

When I feel like I have an understanding of it...I will tell you about the second part of my weight loss program which I have done on my own, and is not part of the Poon Program.

The next part is using a very specific hypnosis to help me learn how to listen to my body, and to not work through pain, or tiredness or stress, and give my body time to heal up.

This will stop me from being a work-a-holic me so I can really hear the messages my body gives me so I won't overdo it and aggravate my head pain by being too type A for my own good.

This part is a very personal skill which has to do with changing a very entrained and ingrained part of my personality so I can stay healthy and keep recovered. This will have much more of an impact on my life than the weight loss for sure. But, the two definitely go hand and hand. This hypnosis is only for those who are not afraid to know their hidden truth. Which could be one's ugly side. So it is not for the faint of heart or the ones who don't like change.

https://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2007/06/metabolic-diet-progress-ok-so-it-has.html