journal

Stress; in the midst

This is an interesting time. COVID-19 is really ramping up and everything is changing. We have never seen anything like this, certainly in my lifetime. Its like a big storm is coming – runs on food and toilet paper. Yep, when I re-read this ten years from now, I need to remember that that was really a thing.

Whether stress is caused by something broad like the coronavirus or work or family or whatever, it adds an order of magnitude of complexity to sticking to your plan. It can be easy to be a little more loose on choices. And some of that is perfectly a-ok! However, I must remember that it can’t totally backslide.

Remaining calm. Knowing what is in my control and what is outside my control can help manage emotions and actions. Deep breaths. Still good advice.

Overnight Questions

I tested my blood glucose first thing in the morning and came up with 150.

I know I had some snacks and drinks pretty late last night. So the question I’m thinking about is how much of that makes up the 150 vs. Dawn Phenomenon? Its been about 8 hours since it was consumed, which seems like a long time.

Goals

What am I working towards?

There is a lot to unpack here. In the questionnaire from Omada (still don’t have my circle setup yet) there was a question about why I was doing their program. I started that answer with a very simple statement. To live. There is a lot that goes wrong if diabetes goes unchecked. Ultimately death. So fairly motivating.

There was an article in Diabetic Living (Eat to Beat Diabetes issue) that focuses on building a Wellness Plan. There is a bunch of good information up front that I will likely internalize and write about as well. There is a section on goals and a series of questions to guide you in the process.

  • What does my ideal wellness look like in 1, 3 and 5 years?
    • In 1 year, I really expect to have dropped a significant amount of weight. My initial target is to lose about 90 pounds. I expect my AC1 and trigs to be in the normal range.
    • In 3 years, I will have maintained the weight loss, build endurance and muscle mass. Maintaining all of my numbers at this point.
    • In 5 years, I would like to have moved back out of T2D. Not sure if that is possible at this point, but I should know one way or the other.
  • What activities am I happily engaged in once I reach my ideal level of wellness?
    • I will be doing regular walks (possibly running) and hiking.
    • I expect my tennis game to be much improved.
    • All of this with a natural “flow” not herky-jerky.
  • How do I look, what am I wearing and what new habits have I adopted?
    • I will look smaller, with a proportioned body.
    • I have a pretty generic style of dress and may look to spruce it up a bit. Not sure what that might look like, but that is a good one to consider as I progress.
    • I will have adopted a normal pattern of eating the right type of food in the right proportions. I will have a very good understanding of what makes up the food I eat – anywhere.

What’s Next: Wellness Vision

Diabetic Retinopathy

There are days when I get up my vision is blurry and I might be overly sensitive to bright light. This normally starts to clear up by late afternoon/evening. I had no idea what was causing this and would just push through these “eye days” knowing it would pop back to normal.

Sometimes, it feels like there is a grain of sand in my eye as well. I’ve gone to an eye doctor a few times for this and they found nothing. They would ask if my eyes itched and I would reply “not really” and we move on.

Flash forward a few years and I realize part of this is allergy related. Seems so obvious now but it was quite a revelation. Armed with OTC drugs and nose spray things are better. There are days were it will still pop up, but not as frequently.

Today I woke up and am having a bit of an eye day. I write this hunched over my laptop so I can read what I’m typing. We have my kids cat here as well which might be a contributing factor. All of that aside, I was thinking about my high blood sugar numbers yesterday. Would there be any short-term impact to my vision?

Diabetic Retinopathy
Disease of the retina caused by diabetes that involves damage to the tiny blood vessels in the back of the eye.

So, I’m not sure, but maybe. There is definitely a long-term issue. But how much might be impacted by a high blood sugar day is not clear to me. More research is needed, but I will track this in the meantime.

Moderation

Today was interesting. My first day working from home (thanks COVID-19) and I didn’t eat lunch until about 3:00p. Well, by this point I was HUNGRY and got some Kung Pao Chicken from Pei Wei.

There is one close to work that I eat at a fair amount of time. I eat an original (vs. small) and usually a spring roll. Today I left off the spring roll because of my focus.

However, old habits and waiting too long to eat led to me eat the entire entree. I wasn’t paying close attention to feeling full. There is about 1300 calories in that dish – easily two meals. Focus is key. Listening to the body is critical.

Eating that type of meal at that time of the day meant that I was not super hungry into the evening. I did have a slice of bacon and an apple. Working from home also changed my blood test habit as well. I forgot and ate the bacon and then did the test. Because of the bacon and possibly the large meal in the middle of the afternoon when I did the test it was sky high.

This is most certainly a journey that needs a fair amount of attention.

Status

Late Night

I tested my blood sugar this morning and it was lower than it has been for the last few days. What did I do differently:

  • Stayed up later
  • No fruit after dinner
  • 1 sugar-free popsicle (vs 2/3)

Tracking my intake will hopefully help me with awareness!

International Women’s Day

Today, my wife earned a special Apple Activity Award for exercising outdoors for at least 20 minutes. It was in honor of International Women’s Day. She chose to do an outdoor walk. I went with her. We walked and jogged about 3 miles.

The image below shows the path we took. It was a little path by one of the lakes in the area. Each lap was 0.25 miles. Not ideal, but we alternated walking and jogging around each lap. Until the end when we did a few walking for cool down. The image below is from the Apple Health app. The app does a nice job of showing your stats and the fun items like this make you want to do more.

Just a note, I did not get the special award. Likely because I’m not a woman. I was happy to be outside with my wife … moving.

Update: The 2020 award showed up in my list.

Portions

I’ve been focusing on portions. The size of the meal as well as the quantity of the different elements. I’ve cut way back on the bread. If I get a chicken sandwich, I’ll ditch the buns and chop up the chicken and put it in a salad or bowl of spinach. No breadsticks etc. This won’t always happen, but balance!

Was looking for a good graphic of a well-balanced plate and I like this one.