10:00AM
Blood sugar reading--80
10:00AM
4 local farm pastured eggs cooked in butter with Colby Jack cheese
Diet Rite
12:00PM
Blood sugar reading--95
4:45PM
Blood sugar reading--99
5:30PM
Big bowl of salad greens with chopped tomatoes, fresh goat cheese, and Ranch dressing
8 meatballs with provolone cheese, all-natural tomato sauce, and freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
Diet Coke with Lime
7:30PM
Blood sugar reading--87
9:30PM
Blood sugar reading--100
9:30PM
Carbsmart vanilla ice cream with cashews and whipped cream
11:30PM
Blood sugar reading--91
NOTE: My blood sugar readings were a little up from what they have been today ostensibly because of the continued pain from my ankle injury. But you'll notice the difference in blood sugar control was within 19 points--not too shabby! Stargazey who was the one who encouraged this experiment with my blood sugar just about one week ago wanted to know the answer to the following question: What is considered "normal" blood glucose numbers in the context of low-carbing? That's an excellent question to consider to put all this measuring into perspective. So I asked a couple of bona fide low-carb diabetes experts to help.
Dr. Richard Bernstein, who has lived with Type 1 diabetes for nearly six decades and helped tens of thousands of diabetic patients with his carbohydrate-restricted nutritional plan, said that "diabetics and older non-diabetics are entitled to the sme blood sugars as young adult non diabetics--about 83mg/dl around the clock." If you'll look at my average blood sugar levels over the past week, I'm right in line with this goal. Dr. Mary C. Vernon, co-author of Atkins Diabetes Revolution and well-known low-carb practitioner for diabetics, noted that Dr. Donald Layman from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign conducted a study that found if carbs were kept low, then the fasting and after meal blood sugars got closer together--in other words, a lesser rise after a meal and less drop after the food is gone!
"This indicates that the body is functioning on glucose made by the liver, and that production is a stable amount if it is not shut off by a rise in insulin and if your body has the enzymes geared up to do the work," Dr. Vernon said. She added that this explains why it can take some time to "adapt" to the low-carb way of eating. That said, she continued by saying any of her patients who have consistent blood sugars in the 80-100 range are "fine" although "lower or higher morning blood sugars may mean an adjustment in the dietary plan is needed." Additionally, Dr. Vernon said a "big rise or fall after a meal may mean the diet isn't yet optimized--or it may mean someone just binged on carbohydates." Fascinating! For now, it looks like according to both Dr. Bernstein and Dr. Vernon, my blood sugars are perfectly fine.
I've been requested by Stargazey to take my blood sugar readings a little sooner after eating a meal--for example, at 30-minute and 60-minute intervals to see what is happening just after consumption. When the elevation in my blood sugars from the pain returns to normal, I'll be doing this. In the meantime, I have a funny story to share with you about a visit to my doctor today.
I'll be interviewing someone for my podcast show from a company called LipoScience soon and they sent me a complimentary kit to have an NMR LipoProfile test run on my blood to check the particle size of my LDL as well as my HDL and triglycerides. This is the very best test you can have run for your cholesterol because it tells you exactly what kind of LDL cholesterol you have--because it's not all as bad as we've been led to believe.
I contacted my doctor's office to see if they would pull my blood sample and spin it for me, but they said I would need to come in for a visit to see my physician first. Ummmmm, why? I'm perfectly healthy and just want to have this test run. I even told them I had the kit and everything, but they insisted I come in for a visit. UGH! This just meant I would have to pay full price for an office visit and make small talk with my doctor for a few minutes so he could "authorize" me to have the test run. This is what's wrong with healthcare in America today--patients who take control of their own health are forced to play the games of the medical profession to get the care they need. I love my doctor, but this "visit" was totally unnecessary.
Anywho, I brought my NMR LipoProfile test results from 2008 which showed an elevated LDL and total cholesterol number, but an extraordinarily low small LDL-P number of just 30. As soon as he saw that number, I heard him mumble to himself, "that's impossible." With a big grin on my face and playing dumb I said, "what?" He went on to explain that he had never seen anyone with that low a small LDL particle size number and that it is simply spectacular. My doctor also said that he fully expected my LDL particles to be well over 2,000 with my cholesterol numbers as high as they were and I explained how LDL cholesterol numbers are different in people who eat low-carb. It was an educational experience for my doc.
He then went on to give me the lecture comparing LDL to spiders and snakes--there are poisonous ones and non-poisonous ones that he looks out for in people with high-LDL. And he said I have nothing to concern myself with regarding my "spiders and snakes" because they are harmless. Yep, I coulda told ya that! He added that with the heart health issues that my late brother Kevin and my father have both had that I should get a heart scan done. I told him I've been looking for a place in our area to have one done as recommended by Dr. William Davis and he gave me a prescription for a place about five miles from my house. COOL! I'll be getting this $99 test done soon to see what my calcium score is--I would suspect it is going to be next to nothing, but we won't know until we test it.
Incidentally, my family doctor started running the NMR LipoProfile test on his other patients a couple of years ago when I shared my experience taking the test. This is why I like seeing my personal physician because he is willing to learn from his patients which is the sign of an excellent doctor. It's the ones who are closed-minded and think they have all the answers that I loathe. At the end of my visit, my doc also knocked off 20% from the "brief visit" charge, so I paid less than $50 to see him which isn't half bad these days. I'll be having my blood drawn early on Monday morning after I have fasted. It will be interesting to see if much has changed with the numbers over the past year.
THANK YOU again for joining me in this continued low-carb journey to the best health possible!
Friday, July 10, 2009
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5 comments:
if only all dr's were open to learning from their patients!
Jimmy,
Just wanted to tell you that if pricking the tips of your fingers is getting to be too much, you can always do the sides or backs. There is blood supply there as well! LOL! In fact I believe Dr. B recommended this in his diabetes book.
Also, it would be interesting to see a fasting blood sugar when you wake up, which I assume is about 8 am or so. My fasting blood sugars got better and better as I dropped the carbs and some weight.
Great to hear that the calcium scores have come down in price and you will be able to get one soon.
Interesting to note that Hyperlipid pointed out in a blog post:
"Well, I finally got an EBCT scan last week (posted 09/24/2008) and the Agatston score came out as seven.
This is a bummer of a result for several reasons. The most obvious is that it's not zero, however inconclusive you might consider zero to be!
Second is that it's an isolated score, so there is no way I can tell if it's the start of an exponential rise to serious problems in 5 years time or the tail end of a fall from a higher number 5 years ago...
Third, I'm going to have to get another scan done in 12 months time to get a trend analysis."
It would be great if you could interview him one of these days.
$99 for a CT calcium score? Sounds too good to be true almost. I was under the impression that these tests were in the $200-$400 range. May depend I guess on where you live and what other tests they try to sell you once you have the $99 test I guess. Dr. Davis recommends that the machine is a 32 bit machine and not a 64 bit machine if I remember correctly. The 64 gives uses the equivalent of too many chest X-rays compared to the 32 bit machine which is like 4-8 chest X-rays. Don't remember what the 64 bit machine equivalent is but it is way too high in radiation exposure.
THANKS Mari! I've gotten creative with where I prick for blood now and it's all good. :D
As for Peter from Hyperlipid, I have already been in contact with him about an interview. :)
JD, that's what the doc said the cost would be for a heart scan, so we'll see. Maybe the office that does this has the entrepreneurial spirit of lowering the price for more customers. I'll let you know how it goes.
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