Chia seeds are a new "fad food" but despite the fad, I find them a super convenient and filling food! Here is a recipe for Chia Seed Pudding you can make and use for breakfast! They are super high in fiber, but have significant amounts of protein and fat to fill you up.
Ingredients:
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
1/3 cup chia seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Heat all ingredients in a sauce pan but do NOT bring to a boil or let bubble, stirring frequently until small streaks of steam begin to come off of milk. Once heated, refrigerate for a few hours where it will firm up, and it is ready to serve! Add some blueberries or blackberries if you want to add a tad bit of sweetness to it.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Exciting news about diet and type 1 diabetes
I could attest to these findings!
http://diabeteshealth.com/read/2013/08/03/7947/dietary-changes-could-preserve-beta-cells-/#commentpost
http://diabeteshealth.com/read/2013/08/03/7947/dietary-changes-could-preserve-beta-cells-/#commentpost
Monday, August 5, 2013
Snacking at a party with diabetes
It's a lot easier to control what we eat when we do our own shopping and cooking at home. But when we go to a party, the temptation to "just have a good time" can get in the way of not eating the foods we know will make us sick. So here are some thoughts on snacking at a party.
In short- don't eat the stuff you know will not help you! Are you actually hungry when you pick up that brownie?
It seems like having some beers or munching on chips and salsa is a good way to have fun, but if we think about the real reason for a party/ get together, it comes down to interacting with the friends or loved ones we are meeting up with. If we expend some effort, we can teach ourselves how to let go and have a good time without alcohol or unnecessary foods.
I was talking with a friend, and we both agreed that the most enticing thing about drinking alcohol at a party is its time-stripping effect- when drinking, it feels as if time doesn't really exist and you forget your temporal obligations. I proposed that this suspension of concern for past or future events can also be conjured consciously without the use of alcohol and other drugs. He concurred, but we both agreed that that kind of mindset takes time and effort to train. So my advice in that realm- get started!
When it comes to eating food at parties, it more likely than not becomes a means of escape the same way as recreational drugs and alcohol. The sensations that occur when snacking on brownies or ice cream are certainly drug-like, though more subtle and fleeting. But the fleeting nature of all these sensations is exactly the reason to avoid the snacking. The momentary benefit of a pleasurable sensation is not at all worth the trouble it will cause in controlling blood sugar. Aside from that, there is the fact that all sensations are fleeting! They will all come, and they will all go. In essence, they are all empty and have no inherent meaning other than that we prefer some over the other. If we can alter our perception about which we want and which we don't want, we can remove our attachment from them. This does not mean that we do not experience them in their entirety- we are still engaged with what is happening, and do not deny either presence. But what such an attitude does allow us to do is to engage with the more important things.
Practically speaking, we might, especially at my age in college, want to go to gatherings that are all about drinking and eating. But this doesn't mean you don't go. You can go and strip yourself of all judgement, go and suspend your worries, and go and have a good time without any of that. You can be silly, dance ridiculously, and do things your mother wouldn't want you to do all on your own accord. Sometimes I bring seltzer water and celery if I feel like I'm going to want to snack and not reach for the cookies or booze, but I always bring an attitude of silliness and my reediness for fun. If you so desire, you can even play flip-cup, Kings and beer pong and have one of your larger friends drink for you.
It doesn't really have anything to do with a moral abstention if you don't want it to be that way, but more with the question: Do I need this? Is this actually useful?
Instead of gorging, or "having fun" with something that will ultimately cause an un-fun situation, we have more of our consciousness to focus on the people we are with. If having a meal together where food is freshly prepared, we have the chance to come together and share nurturing our minds and bodies with healthy food and meaningful interaction. That's not to say that if someone does make something out of their consideration for their guests that is not something you should eat, that you shouldn't eat it. Perhaps you can have a very small portion to show your appreciation and reciprocate their concern for you. It's a compromise that might be worth making, but its a compromise. It doesn't mean forget and ditch the entire effort to put only things that will help you in your body. In a way, your friends concern and consciousness in their creation might outweigh the strictly nutritional components, and you consuming it together is an act of mutual appreciation. With adjustments in outlook and in cooking nurturing food, eating together can take on another level of significance when it is not simply about the pleasurable sensations created by the drug-like effects of sugar, but pleasurable on a whole new level when friendships are deepened and the soul nurtured.
In short- don't eat the stuff you know will not help you! Are you actually hungry when you pick up that brownie?
It seems like having some beers or munching on chips and salsa is a good way to have fun, but if we think about the real reason for a party/ get together, it comes down to interacting with the friends or loved ones we are meeting up with. If we expend some effort, we can teach ourselves how to let go and have a good time without alcohol or unnecessary foods.
I was talking with a friend, and we both agreed that the most enticing thing about drinking alcohol at a party is its time-stripping effect- when drinking, it feels as if time doesn't really exist and you forget your temporal obligations. I proposed that this suspension of concern for past or future events can also be conjured consciously without the use of alcohol and other drugs. He concurred, but we both agreed that that kind of mindset takes time and effort to train. So my advice in that realm- get started!
When it comes to eating food at parties, it more likely than not becomes a means of escape the same way as recreational drugs and alcohol. The sensations that occur when snacking on brownies or ice cream are certainly drug-like, though more subtle and fleeting. But the fleeting nature of all these sensations is exactly the reason to avoid the snacking. The momentary benefit of a pleasurable sensation is not at all worth the trouble it will cause in controlling blood sugar. Aside from that, there is the fact that all sensations are fleeting! They will all come, and they will all go. In essence, they are all empty and have no inherent meaning other than that we prefer some over the other. If we can alter our perception about which we want and which we don't want, we can remove our attachment from them. This does not mean that we do not experience them in their entirety- we are still engaged with what is happening, and do not deny either presence. But what such an attitude does allow us to do is to engage with the more important things.
Practically speaking, we might, especially at my age in college, want to go to gatherings that are all about drinking and eating. But this doesn't mean you don't go. You can go and strip yourself of all judgement, go and suspend your worries, and go and have a good time without any of that. You can be silly, dance ridiculously, and do things your mother wouldn't want you to do all on your own accord. Sometimes I bring seltzer water and celery if I feel like I'm going to want to snack and not reach for the cookies or booze, but I always bring an attitude of silliness and my reediness for fun. If you so desire, you can even play flip-cup, Kings and beer pong and have one of your larger friends drink for you.
It doesn't really have anything to do with a moral abstention if you don't want it to be that way, but more with the question: Do I need this? Is this actually useful?
Instead of gorging, or "having fun" with something that will ultimately cause an un-fun situation, we have more of our consciousness to focus on the people we are with. If having a meal together where food is freshly prepared, we have the chance to come together and share nurturing our minds and bodies with healthy food and meaningful interaction. That's not to say that if someone does make something out of their consideration for their guests that is not something you should eat, that you shouldn't eat it. Perhaps you can have a very small portion to show your appreciation and reciprocate their concern for you. It's a compromise that might be worth making, but its a compromise. It doesn't mean forget and ditch the entire effort to put only things that will help you in your body. In a way, your friends concern and consciousness in their creation might outweigh the strictly nutritional components, and you consuming it together is an act of mutual appreciation. With adjustments in outlook and in cooking nurturing food, eating together can take on another level of significance when it is not simply about the pleasurable sensations created by the drug-like effects of sugar, but pleasurable on a whole new level when friendships are deepened and the soul nurtured.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
New to the blog?
If you're new to my blog, check out Creating the right conditions for self- healing as a good introduction to the kind of information you can find here! Please comment and leave suggestions/ questions or general reactions. I want to hear from people.
Info from my endocrinologist
With recent blogging, I frequently encounter some reasonable disbelief, even hostility on occasion (as per my post Polarities in reception), so I decided to check in with my endocrinologist to get some more facts about my diagnosis and see what he thinks about my whole not having to take insulin anymore situation.
I e-mailed him asking if it was possible that I don't actually have type 1 diabetes. I had heard that perhaps up to 20% of Type 2 diabetics have insulin antibodies and even perhaps 15% of non-diabetics do.
To my inquiries he told me the following:
-When I was diagnosed, blood sugar was 445 mg/dl, serum insulin low at 3.3 uU/ml and A1c of 10.5%.
- there were both GAd and IA-2 insulin antibodies
-I was not overweight, nor have I ever been insulin resistant
-No, I do not have Type 2 diabetes. It is Type 1.
His best guess is that:
- the beta cell destruction may have been arrested
-some degree of beta cells have been allowed to regenerate
-I test positive for C-peptide (meaning I make insulin)
From what I have learned in my study of yoga and diet, the diet I eat now is full of foods that are non-inflammatory (wheat, one that I cut out, is one of the inflammatory food that contribute to auto immune responses), and the yoga further decreases inflammation and stress hormones through its attention to the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system. (for more on this, see this article)
So there are the facts, and some speculation as to the situation via my endocrinologist.
I e-mailed him asking if it was possible that I don't actually have type 1 diabetes. I had heard that perhaps up to 20% of Type 2 diabetics have insulin antibodies and even perhaps 15% of non-diabetics do.
To my inquiries he told me the following:
-When I was diagnosed, blood sugar was 445 mg/dl, serum insulin low at 3.3 uU/ml and A1c of 10.5%.
- there were both GAd and IA-2 insulin antibodies
-I was not overweight, nor have I ever been insulin resistant
-No, I do not have Type 2 diabetes. It is Type 1.
His best guess is that:
- the beta cell destruction may have been arrested
-some degree of beta cells have been allowed to regenerate
-I test positive for C-peptide (meaning I make insulin)
From what I have learned in my study of yoga and diet, the diet I eat now is full of foods that are non-inflammatory (wheat, one that I cut out, is one of the inflammatory food that contribute to auto immune responses), and the yoga further decreases inflammation and stress hormones through its attention to the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system. (for more on this, see this article)
So there are the facts, and some speculation as to the situation via my endocrinologist.
Saturday, August 3, 2013
A typical daily menu for a "vegetarian paleo diabetic"
When I am at school, I often times find myself eating foods just to power myself without getting too creative. Here, I will post a menu of what I might eat on a day where I am just eating to keep powered, and what I have made on a day where I get the creative juices flowing!
A Typical "just eat for power" day:
* note, when I say handful of mixed nuts I mean a goodly sized handful
when I say assorted veggies and hummus, I mean a goodly sized portion of veggies!
Breakfast:
Two eggs sunny side up with asparagus and peppers cut and mixed in. Cheese perhaps added on top.
Glass of unsweetened almond milk
A few bites of chia seed pudding
2.5 hours after breakfast:
Handful of raw mixed nuts and some veggies and mixed nuts
Lunch:
More mixed nuts, assorted cut up veggies and hummus with raw sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds mixed in
Nice big salad with alll the fixings (could if you wanted add tune/ chicken or something like that)
or
a whole avocado cut up with lemon, pepper and olive oil
3 hours after lunch:
Celery and peanut butter
Handful of nuts/ seeds
Dinner:
Vegetable "mash up"- yellow squash, zuchini, eggplant and shitake mushrooms stir fried with lost of olive oil
Unsweetened almond milk
or
bake a piece of fish/ chicken serve with lots and lots of lightly steamed vegetables with olive oil
2.5 hours after dinner/ bedtime snack
Celery and peanut butter (is my favorite snack ever)
or
a few slices of cheese and some olives
or
a handful of veggies and hummus
or
a spoonful or two of peanut butter
A "I'm feeling creative" day
Breakfast:
Regular or egg white omelet with avocado, tomato and brie or cheddar cheese
or
home made paleo breakfast loaf with peanut butter on top and unsweetened almond milk:
click here to view
2.5 hours after breakfast
chilled steamed broccoli with sliced almonds and olive oil
handful of nuts
flax seed crackers/ kale chips
or
whole avocado with lemon, pepper and olive oil
Lunch:
Kale salad with red cabbage, asparagus, brussel sprouts, broccoli, walnuts, pumpkin seeds and balsamic vinaigrette
2.5 hours after lunch:
seaweed salad or side salad with some peacans
Dinner:
My favorite brussel sprout recipie: click here to view
Cauliflower "mashed potatoes" (there are some great recipes on google)
side dish of steamed kale or chard or a nice side salad of arugula, goat cheese, cucumbers, etc.
Paleo pizza: Click here for recipie
Dessert:
mixed berries (low GI)
Typically, I don't eat meat. You might call it a "vegetarian paleo diet." This doesn't necessarily have anything to do with how I address the diabetes, but more of a personal choice. Because I don't eat meat, I end up eating a little bit more cheese. You might have good luck using meat in your diet to increase options.
A Typical "just eat for power" day:
* note, when I say handful of mixed nuts I mean a goodly sized handful
when I say assorted veggies and hummus, I mean a goodly sized portion of veggies!
Breakfast:
Two eggs sunny side up with asparagus and peppers cut and mixed in. Cheese perhaps added on top.
Glass of unsweetened almond milk
A few bites of chia seed pudding
2.5 hours after breakfast:
Handful of raw mixed nuts and some veggies and mixed nuts
Lunch:
More mixed nuts, assorted cut up veggies and hummus with raw sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds mixed in
Nice big salad with alll the fixings (could if you wanted add tune/ chicken or something like that)
or
a whole avocado cut up with lemon, pepper and olive oil
3 hours after lunch:
Celery and peanut butter
Handful of nuts/ seeds
Dinner:
Vegetable "mash up"- yellow squash, zuchini, eggplant and shitake mushrooms stir fried with lost of olive oil
Unsweetened almond milk
or
bake a piece of fish/ chicken serve with lots and lots of lightly steamed vegetables with olive oil
2.5 hours after dinner/ bedtime snack
Celery and peanut butter (is my favorite snack ever)
or
a few slices of cheese and some olives
or
a handful of veggies and hummus
or
a spoonful or two of peanut butter
A "I'm feeling creative" day
Breakfast:
Regular or egg white omelet with avocado, tomato and brie or cheddar cheese
or
home made paleo breakfast loaf with peanut butter on top and unsweetened almond milk:
click here to view
2.5 hours after breakfast
chilled steamed broccoli with sliced almonds and olive oil
handful of nuts
flax seed crackers/ kale chips
or
whole avocado with lemon, pepper and olive oil
Lunch:
Kale salad with red cabbage, asparagus, brussel sprouts, broccoli, walnuts, pumpkin seeds and balsamic vinaigrette
2.5 hours after lunch:
seaweed salad or side salad with some peacans
Dinner:
My favorite brussel sprout recipie: click here to view
Cauliflower "mashed potatoes" (there are some great recipes on google)
side dish of steamed kale or chard or a nice side salad of arugula, goat cheese, cucumbers, etc.
Paleo pizza: Click here for recipie
Dessert:
mixed berries (low GI)
Typically, I don't eat meat. You might call it a "vegetarian paleo diet." This doesn't necessarily have anything to do with how I address the diabetes, but more of a personal choice. Because I don't eat meat, I end up eating a little bit more cheese. You might have good luck using meat in your diet to increase options.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Polarities in reception
This blog is new, and in making attempts to spread it's content, I have encountered what appear to be two polarities in it's reception: curiosity and indignant disbelief.
Last year, I performed a survey for Children's Hospital Boston for college students with Diabetes. To finish the survey and get your gift card, you had to join this social networking website- www.tudiabetes.org-a website for those touched by diabetes. I also joined another website called www.juvenation.org. I thought such a websites would be an ideal place to post interesting tid-bits about my recent explorations into diabetes. The reception was largely unforgiving.
I always aim to make the content of my posts informative, with an attitude of self exploration. I try and share an experience and then encourage others to experiment and find out for themselves. I do not make it the main point to convey that my dietary and yogic experiences have allowed me to stop taking insulin. Many say that they have tried yoga as well, or that they have changed their diet as well, but remain adamant that there is absolutely no way that this could be possible. I don't know what to say to such responses, unless I've been hallucinating for the past year and a half and don't know what is actually happening, then I'm pretty sure that I haven't stuck a needle in my body to inject insulin in a year and a half.
Inevitably, this becomes part of the discussion, whereby I am accused of making claims that I have cured myself, and berated for spreading false information, and accused of saying things that will cause others to hurt themselves.
When I meet someone in person, I am hit with the following list of questions:
1) When were you diagnosed? (2009)
2) Are you sure you're type 1? (Yes, my endocrinologist is sure of that. Not obese, not insulin resistant)
3) Do you have insulin antibodies? (Yes, both GAD and IA-2)
4) Did they do a C-peptide test? (yes, it was out of normal range)
5) Is it LADA? (No it is not. I was 17 at diagnosis)
6) Its probably just the honeymoon phase, right? (Partly, but the situation has improved since diagnosis)
7) What's your A1C (4.5)
8) Did you ever take insulin? (yes, for 3.5 years, I used a pump)
9) You don't even take a long acting insulin? (no.)
I get hit with all of the questions of how its impossible that I have had to stop taking insulin, instead of all the questions about how it is possible. This blog attempts to post information regarding all of the ways in which I think it is possible.
The first polarity is: indignant denial
The other polarity is extreme curiosity and openness. From other blogs where people are experimenting with the paleo diet and other alternative medicines, I get hit with all of the questions about how it is possible. From these people I get words of encouragement to share more, and continue on. Often times I see or hear stories about how similar things have also helped them. There is great faith in self exploration and in self- healing abilities. These people are a joy to encounter.
But the other polarity, the more closed one, is not bad to encounter either. The thing I espouse the most is your own systematic and non-judgmental observance of reality. I espouse self experimentation. If something doesn't work (ie. eating lots of carbs) then stop doing it because you know it doesn't work. You have to confront your own mind and get rid of your preconceived notions. It is only because of fear that someone will not try their own experiment.
It goes the other way too. It's important to be equally unattached to alternative methods. If something is not working for you, perhaps you do need to take your conventional meds until you find something that does. It is still about unattached observation of reality.
At the end of the day though, your self-healing abilities are unbounded. You can encounter the greatest strength and joy all within, regardless of which methods you seek. All you have to do is be willing to go deep and be open to unfamiliarly and scary.
Last year, I performed a survey for Children's Hospital Boston for college students with Diabetes. To finish the survey and get your gift card, you had to join this social networking website- www.tudiabetes.org-a website for those touched by diabetes. I also joined another website called www.juvenation.org. I thought such a websites would be an ideal place to post interesting tid-bits about my recent explorations into diabetes. The reception was largely unforgiving.
I always aim to make the content of my posts informative, with an attitude of self exploration. I try and share an experience and then encourage others to experiment and find out for themselves. I do not make it the main point to convey that my dietary and yogic experiences have allowed me to stop taking insulin. Many say that they have tried yoga as well, or that they have changed their diet as well, but remain adamant that there is absolutely no way that this could be possible. I don't know what to say to such responses, unless I've been hallucinating for the past year and a half and don't know what is actually happening, then I'm pretty sure that I haven't stuck a needle in my body to inject insulin in a year and a half.
Inevitably, this becomes part of the discussion, whereby I am accused of making claims that I have cured myself, and berated for spreading false information, and accused of saying things that will cause others to hurt themselves.
When I meet someone in person, I am hit with the following list of questions:
1) When were you diagnosed? (2009)
2) Are you sure you're type 1? (Yes, my endocrinologist is sure of that. Not obese, not insulin resistant)
3) Do you have insulin antibodies? (Yes, both GAD and IA-2)
4) Did they do a C-peptide test? (yes, it was out of normal range)
5) Is it LADA? (No it is not. I was 17 at diagnosis)
6) Its probably just the honeymoon phase, right? (Partly, but the situation has improved since diagnosis)
7) What's your A1C (4.5)
8) Did you ever take insulin? (yes, for 3.5 years, I used a pump)
9) You don't even take a long acting insulin? (no.)
I get hit with all of the questions of how its impossible that I have had to stop taking insulin, instead of all the questions about how it is possible. This blog attempts to post information regarding all of the ways in which I think it is possible.
The first polarity is: indignant denial
The other polarity is extreme curiosity and openness. From other blogs where people are experimenting with the paleo diet and other alternative medicines, I get hit with all of the questions about how it is possible. From these people I get words of encouragement to share more, and continue on. Often times I see or hear stories about how similar things have also helped them. There is great faith in self exploration and in self- healing abilities. These people are a joy to encounter.
But the other polarity, the more closed one, is not bad to encounter either. The thing I espouse the most is your own systematic and non-judgmental observance of reality. I espouse self experimentation. If something doesn't work (ie. eating lots of carbs) then stop doing it because you know it doesn't work. You have to confront your own mind and get rid of your preconceived notions. It is only because of fear that someone will not try their own experiment.
It goes the other way too. It's important to be equally unattached to alternative methods. If something is not working for you, perhaps you do need to take your conventional meds until you find something that does. It is still about unattached observation of reality.
At the end of the day though, your self-healing abilities are unbounded. You can encounter the greatest strength and joy all within, regardless of which methods you seek. All you have to do is be willing to go deep and be open to unfamiliarly and scary.
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