Blood Sugar Solution Update

This update is long overdue but I've been on vacation and you know how that can just turn your life upside down.

Before I get to the update, let me recap my whole blood sugar situation.  I had followed the Blood Sugar Solution to the letter (food wise) from mid-March to the end of May.  That's when my blood sugar dropped the most (19 points) and I also dropped around 13 pounds. 

Starting in June, I slowly transitioned into one of the suggested strategies outlined at the end of Dr. Hyman's book.  I continued to eliminate gluten, dairy and refined sugar.  I was, however, mostly grain free.  Meaning 70-80% of the meals I had were grain free.  I did allow myself honey, maple syrup, and stevia which I usually used in cooking.  

I cooked easily 90% of everything I ate.  If I went out to eat it was either Hugo's (they list all of their ingredients on their website) or sushi (pretty easy to maneuver).  And on special occasions, I would also order from this local Thai place around the corner from my apartment.  My fiance (who's half-Thai by the way) went to talk to them about some of their ingredients and it turns out, one of my favorite dishes passed the gluten challenge (yellow curry).  I tried not to eat this too frequently because I'm well aware of how Thai food and sugar go hand in hand.  

I also started weight training (Drop 2 Sizes) June 1st.
So at the end of July I had a follow up appointment with my doctor.  My blood sugar had only dropped one more point.  My doctor was happy with that but I had hoped for lower because it still was at high normal.  I also hadn't dropped any more weight. 


We surmised that perhaps my weight training offset any changes in scale weight due to muscle gain because while I hadn't lost any weight I HAD lost one jeans size.  She had me keep my diet the same and we instead focused on some things to help my hormones a little more.



From July to mid-September, I continued to eat 100% gluten and dairy free, and I was eating around 60-70% grain free.  And I stayed away from the refined sugar.

As you can see, I started really strict and with time loosened the reigns.  It's really hard to maintain that level of discipline for an extended period of time because it is VERY restrictive.  And while I wasn't in that crazy restrictive mode, I was doing pretty great by comparison. 

 I had another appointment with my doctor last week.  We went over the usual but I still haven't lost any weight since May.  She wasn't happy about that either.  So we discussed the last 6 months to see what we could come up with.

I log my food everyday using Loseit and they have this great tool where you can see 30 day averages of your calories and macros.  So I looked at my calories and carbs from March to April and from April to May.  Then I compared each subsequent 30 days.  What I found was that while my calories were consistent across the board, my carbs were not.  In those first 2 months I was averaging around 85 grams of carbs per day.  And then after May, it starting creeping up.  In June it was up to 100 grams, then 125 grams, then 150+ grams. 

So she suggested I go down to 80 net carbs (total carbs minus fiber count).  The nurse drew my blood to check my insulin, blood sugar, and thyroid levels.  She also put in a test to check for something called a MTHFR mutation.  It may or may not be inhibiting my weight loss and I may or may not have it.  So, if I end up having it I'll let you know.

So as of right now, I'm really trying to focus on keeping within that carb count to see if maybe that's the magic spot for me.  It's low but not crazy low - completely doable in my opinion.  Yesterday was my first day and I hit it easily.  I'm also still gluten and dairy free.  And it looks like I ended up completely grain free too.  That's something that's also pretty easy when the carb count is that low.  I don't like to "waste" my carbs on grains. 

Yesterday's Menu:

B:  almond flour pancakes with sliced strawberries and bacon
L:  stuffed poblano peppers with chicken and salsa
D:  lettuce wrapped sliders with sweet potatoes fries and watermelon


  

The Blood Sugar Solution: 10 Day Detox

Hello internet.

I had no idea it's been 7 months since I posted.

So lets do some updates.

After I finished my Drop 2 sizes challenge I ran into a snag with my thyroid treatment.  During the months of September, October and the first half of November my body went haywire.  I hadn't changed anything with my prescription, supplements, diet or anything when I just started feeling kind of bad.  And then bad changed to horrible.  My hair started thinning/shedding, I required at least 2 naps a day just to make it to 8pm for bedtime, and my ears were ringing all the time.  Fun times right?

So mid November my doctor made some changes to my protocol.  I switched to a new brand of thyroid with a new dose, added high doses of certain vitamins and (knock on wood) by December I felt great.  Fast forward to February and while I was still feeling pretty good, I had ZERO weight loss and for the first time, the letters PCOS became apart of the conversation.  So we have now added progesterone cream to see if that will help improve things (I'm low).

Now, while most of my numbers are now ok, my blood glucose is not.  And with the PCOS conversation comes insulin resistance and all of the fun things that comes with that.

So I've been working on trying to get those numbers down with diet and exercise in order to avoid going on any other medication because I don't want any more pills.

Enter Dr. Mark Hyman and the Blood Sugar Solution. 

 
In a nutshell, I'm doing a 10 day detox to see if I can get my blood sugar under control.  That's all.  And while he calls it a detox it's really unlike any detox I've done.

Basically you drink a "detox shake" for breakfast (aka a whole foods smoothie), eat a whole foods lunch and then a whole foods dinner.    So basically you're just supposed to nourish yourself with lots and lots of vegetables, healthy fats, and proteins because there's no grains, no starchy vegetables (potatoes), no sugar (obv) and no dairy (hello Paleo).  The detox part I think comes from the other things he wants you to do:  detox bath every night (Epsom salt bath), writing in a journal, breathing exercises, walking 30 minutes every day, and taking supplements to support your body.  So by detox, it's clear he means detoxing from stress which I like.  I'm not a fan of those detox juice cleanses or fasts or anything.

Before I started I was already gluten free and refined sugar free (I still used coconut sugar or 100% maple syrup on occasion) but other than that I WAS still eating gluten free grains, dairy, and starchy vegetables, so I didn't have to make too many changes.  I'm usually dairy free anyways.

How's it going you ask?

Today is Day 5 so I'm actually already halfway done.  The first 5 days were just fine.  I avoided the usual withdrawal symptoms like headache and crazy fatigue because I had already cut out sugar and my body had already done that.  The only thing I experienced was just a TINY bit of fatigue.  But it wasn't anything that stopped me from doing anything. 

How's the food?

Well, I'm not a fan of the recipes he offers up in his book, but I'm quite satisfied with what I've been making (which meet all of the requirements).  Like I said before, it's pretty much just a strict version of Paleo.  I HAVE been drinking one of his recipes for the detox shake because it's pretty good AND it keeps me full all the way til lunch.  It's just a bunch of seeds, nuts, almond milk, coconut oil, and fruit.  Nothing too fancy.  Now look, it's NOT the most delicious smoothie I've ever had in my life (my fave used to be the orange dream machine from Jamba Juice - delicious!) but I LOVE that when I drink it I FEEL like I'm being nourished AND it keeps me full.  Lunches have been a big salad with protein and olive oil and vinegar for dressing or soup (I made 2 of his and honestly, I did not like them either).  Dinner has been chicken curry (he also has a recipe for this but I used my own which only differs in the spices), breakfast (eggs and such), or chicken/steak with vegetables.  Basically, everything tastes fine, I always have enough to eat and I'm not really experiencing any hunger.  All pluses if you ask me.

Any results so far?

Well, my stomach feels flatter, my energy is good and I'm sleeping well.  All good things in my book. And in four days I've lost 2.6 pounds which is nice.  What I find interesting is that in the month before I started, I had already cut out sugar AND had been limiting my carb intake to under 100g/day per my doctors orders, and I feel like I'm getting better/faster results doing this.  The crazy part is that I'm eating the SAME amount of calories and the SAME amount of carbs, protein, and fat.  Interesting right?

and finally ....

Will I continue past 10 days?

Probably.  I did this for my blood sugar and I'm not scheduled to get my blood taken for another 3 weeks and I REALLY want to see what kind of effect this way of eating has on my blood sugar.  At the end of the book, he gives you options for what to do when you come to the close of the 10 days.  There are 4 options but they are only minimally different.  My gut says it's best to just stay the course and see what happens.  Either way, come day 10, I'll report back and let you know what kind of results I got!

Test Results and a Drop 2 Sizes Reboot

Hello world.

I got my test results back yesterday.  My thyroid numbers aren't moving so my dose is getting doubled.  I actually was expecting that to happen so it wasn't a shock.  I also found out that I am low in Vitamin D.  Like really low.  I thought that living in Southern California would have given me an edge with all the sunshine but alas, no.  So I'm also on a large dose of that.

I'm hoping that with getting my Vitamin D levels up my energy will also come back up because that would be super awesome.  I started supplementing with Vitamin D just under 2 weeks ago and I had noticed that my energy was slightly improved during my workouts.  Enough so that I actually WANTED to do them.  Maybe wanted is too strong of a word :)

 My doctor threw the Vitamin D test onto my blood work late last week to see where I was at and I'm so glad she did.  I'm not positive that's what caused the improvement in my energy but if it gets even better I'll be thrilled.

I'll keep you posted.


I also I told you all that I would try to revisit the Drop 2 Sizes challenge and I finally did.

Actually, I'm in the last half of phase 2 right now.  I started it about 6 weeks ago.  So you lucky folk will get to see what kind of results someone with hypothyroidism, fatigued adrenals, wonky female hormones AND low levels of Vitamin D will get :)

All I know is that if I get ANY sort of results, then all you normal people out there should be getting MAD results :)

And yes, I did lose inches at the end of phase 1.

I, of course, will post the numerical results when they come in.  I have just under 6 weeks to go I believe.

How is it going this time?

Much better.  The first time I attempted it, I was frustrated with the LACK of exercise.  But since then and the fallout of my energy and ensuing medical discoveries, lack of exercise is apparently what I needed.  Having to maintain 4 days a week of exercise was actually the absolute maximum I could handle.  In fact, there were at least 2 weeks that I could only handle 3 days.  But I am hopeful that with each week that passes I will gain more energy and will be able to add more days a week.  I really can't wait to feel like my old self again.

I'm not weighing myself at all.  The program tells you not to anyway.  Usually I cheat but I seriously have no desire to do so this time around.  I'm only taking measurements at the end of each phase.

I'm also not really following the food program outlined in her book.  I am on a strict gluten free diet (doctors orders due to thyroid) and besides, I feel pretty confident in my food choices.  I'm also still under doctors orders to keep calories between 1500 and 1700.  I personally prefer to err on the lower side of that but I don't always.  (She did a "body scan" thing with some machine in her office and calculated my calorie requirements based off my lean body mass.  The machine calculated me at a higher intake but she lowered it due to the hypothyroidism.)


And that's it for today kiddos.  Have a great weekend :)