Florida Times.

So Baz and I are settled in and sitting pretty (for the most part) here in Florida.  We've been here for about three weeks now, just trying to make our house a home, and boy is it tough.  We are not used to the space that a regular sized space affords, and the first week was exhausting walking back and forth across the apartment to do the things we needed to do.  You know, like normal people.

My llama painting gets to come out again!!

When we got here, for the first two weeks I was really lousy about my diet and started eating like garbage - Sweet Tomatoes and bread, all day erryday.  Result? My blood sugar skyrocketed after a four week decline (gradual as it was) - my average BG went from 250 in Brooklyn to 290-310 in Florida.  No good at all!  

For those of you who don't know, I was never really diagnosed (by two doctors!!), but I had a third doctor (my OBGYN, of all people) confirm that I have Type 2 Diabetes.  I went through a scary patch about 2 months ago where I went in for a routine physical/bloodwork, and my blood sugar came back at 629.  For reference, 80-100 is normal, anything higher than 140 is diabetes, so I was fucking sick.  I knew something was up - I was drinking ungodly amounts of water and peeing all the time, but was fine otherwise, so I didn't think anything of it.  I mean, I'm young, active, not incredibly huge (my BMI places me at "normal"), and don't have any medical issues, so how could it be diabetes??  But it was.

Thankfully, nothing major happened - I never had to go to the hospital or anything, but it was a really scary period of time, and I'm just glad I got help before something horrible happened.  I'm on an oral medication currently, with a self imposed strict-as-hell diet and not-strict-as-hell exercise regime.  That's what sucks about Florida - no opportunities to walk!  I'm so used to walking 1-3 miles a day, so not walking is upsetting to me.  Baz and I joined a gym to counteract that, so at least I can burn off energy that way.

So I mentioned earlier that my diet was shit when I got to Florida - I wasn't counting my calories, or really limiting my foods.  Kind of a disaster.  I gave myself those two weeks, then put my ass in gear and started tracking again.  After a week of tracking, I was still having high numbers and getting discouraged.  I looked at what I was eating, and everything seemed right - lean meats, fish, non-starchy vegetables, and whole grains.  Where to start??

After looking everything over, I made a super tough choice - I decided to cut out any and all wheat products from my diet.  All breads, cereals, snacks, etc.  I thought I was going to have an anxiety attack just thinking about it - I'm the queen of bread, I would eat bread for every damn meal if I could.  Meats? Nope, I'll snack out of the bread basket, thanks.  Bagels, cereals, toast, muffins, cookies, love em all to an insane degree.  I don't think I've ever met anyone who loves bread more than myself. True story.

But I did it.  By gum, I FUCKING DID IT.  Cut all the bread from the diet - the whole wheat breads, the super-high-fiber healthy cereals, the pastas, etc.  Did that on April 11, and since then (today is April 18), my blood sugar has stabilized incredibly, as well as stayed low.  Well, low for my standards anyhow.  For the last three days, my blood sugar has averaged around 210-220.  That sounds (and is) high, but for someone whose blood sugar would spike 150-200 points after a meal, that's a victory.  The funky thing is, I haven't cut out sugar completely - I'll have trail mix with chocolate and raisins in it, or an apple with peanut butter (omfg, amazing), and while my blood sugar does rise a little, it doesn't spike.  It makes me sad to realize wheat products are probably out of my life from now on, but if that's what it takes, that's how it has to be.  Meanwhile, I'm just happy that my blood sugar is now somewhat manageable and getting closer to normal.  I just had my lowest reading ever a few days ago - 124.  That's unheard of for me!  I keep getting more and more readings under the 200 mark, and it's wonderful.

Now to juggle this and a new house.  Fun.  At least I have a dining room table to eat my meals at now.  Haven't had one of those in years!

Oh heck yeah.