No meds for me!

It's been ages since I last posted. I was kinda stuck in a lot of other places and couldn't find myself anywhere near this blog. ;-S Bad diabetic hobbit, I know.

But I am back with good tidings: I won't be needing any medication for my diabetes and my cholesterol! double w00t!!! Last Monday (May 11) was D-DAY for me. That was when the doctor would decide if I my efforts in the last 2.5 months were not enough and thus would be needing medication. It turned out pretty well since I was able to bring my glucose level down from 8 to 6.3 mmol/l and my total cholesterol level from 7 to 6.3 ;-) My weight also dropped from 72 kg (when I came back from holiday in the Philippines) to 65 kg! Whee!!!

I'm extremely happy and relieved. It's good to have confirmation that I'm on the right path. It also proves (to some extent) that my diet experiments are on track. Hmm, maybe I should start publishing my own diet plans ;-p A bit too premature for that I guess. Let's see what the next 3 months will bring. Besides, if I cannot be more creative than my chocola Brinta concoction, then my diet plan wouldn't be so appealing to the rest of the world.

Talking about Brinta (it's a Dutch breakfast brand of oats and grains; very simlar to those quaker oats stuff), I think shifting to it from cereals was one of the best choices I made in my diet. I still eat those delicious Dorsett cereals (no-sugar) every now and then but have to make do with much smaller portions. Brinta still gets the best score in terms of keeping my glucose level no higher than 7 (after 2 hours of eating) even if I've eaten from a bigger bowl ;-p. With cereals, it would go up as high as 10. So I get to eat more Brintaand keep hunger at bay longer.

This is how a typical weekday meal plan looked like for me in the last month.

Breakfast
1 glass Slim-Fast (half-water, half-low-fat milk) - Lately, I've been having it warm and sometimes, I mix in a handful of Brinta
1 small cup of yoghurt (with plant sterol)

Snack
1 small apple
cherry tomatoes
cashew nuts (unsalted)

Lunch
Chocolate Brinta - I heat up chocolate milk (0% fat and sugar -- yes it exists! not sure if it's real choclate though, but it tastes like one!) and put in about 4-6 heaping tablespoons of brinta

Alternately, I would go for:
1 500 gms bowl of brocolli-courgette / pumpkin soup (+ hard-boiled egg sometimes)
OR
1 small bowl of baked beans + 2-3 whole wheat Wasa crackers

If I have lunch with colleagues, I end up either ordering omelette and soup or burgers ;-) I eat only half the bun, but still leaves me satisfied.

Snack
Cheese slices OR hard-boiled egg
2 biscuits
Nuts
Tea

Dinner
Brocolli-cauliflower mash
Burger / Fish / meat dish
Dessert (usually yoghurt or 1 sugar-free popsicle)
Tea (with milk)

Sometimes I even have about 150 grams pasta, e.g. raviolli plus a burger ;-)

In the weekend, I usually started eating at a later time so I'd have brunch instead while watching my fave tv series ;-p

Brunch:
Omelette (2-3 egg whites, 1-1.5 egg yolk) with cheese or tomatoes or tuna
Some beans OR for a special treat, 1 scone! ;-p
Coffee

Snack:
Apple
Cheese

Early dinner:
Brocolli-cauliflower mash (sometimes with beans or a bit of rice)
OR
String beans sauteed in onions, garlic and coconut milk

Grilled chicken / roast beef / meat stew / fish

Evening snack:
Cheese
Dessert
Tea, tea, tea

What I have been missing is really the cooking part. I think I will do more cooking in the next three months and even experiment with baking low-fat, no/low-sugar goodies. If only there could be a nano-cakes, pizza and pasta without carbs or starch ;-) I'm sure the technology is out there already! So, more variety with cooking and eating, plus MORE physical activities. The last months were spent really more on changing my eating habits. It took a lot of hard work and at times were emotionally and mentally taxing. But now, I think I can add the extra complexity of physical activity in this whole adventure. I'm sure it will do me good, as long as I can find the right balance. It has to work for me and I must like it if I am to really do it. Hopefully with good weather coming up, I can bike more and get to enjoy the outdoors more. Have to be a better buddy to my Wii Fit again and I really should stop using my cross-trainer as a clothes rack ;-p