Super Green

On a scale of saintly to loathsome, I would say I'm somewhere around a moderately bad type 1 Diabetic. I eat whatever I want, whenever I want (pizza at 2 am? sure!...), but because I do know how to carb count, and have a genuine attraction to healthy, natural foods, my HbA1C (that's the Hemoglobin A1C test that diabetics take to determine their average blood sugar level for the past 2-3 months) is usually around 8. Not usually below 8, though. (It needs to be below 6 to avoid diabetic complications.) Going to the Endocrinologist is a pathetic affair for me, that leaves me feeling viciously depressed and helpless to actually control my blood sugars. This is because I am lazy. And I don't put the effort into controlling my disease that I should.

But it could also be because of my poor diet, which includes plenty of simple carbohydrates, refined sugars and hydrogenated oils. I eat a lot of vegetables at home, but when I am out and about I eat CRAP. In 4 years since my insulin pump broke and insurance stopped covering it's supplies, I have gained 25 lbs and continued to have undesirable HbA1Cs. All of this - the diabetes, the weight, the fact that I am ALWAYS hungry as a rule - has given me a rather unhealthy relationship with food.

I very often don't eat breakfast, but when I do, it's small. Lunch is my most controlled and healthy meal of the day, because I actually eat something, and it's usually something like vegetable soup with some wild-caught canned salmon. Or a veggie burger, avocado and sprouts on a spelt wrap. Really healthy stuff, and I love eating that way. The problem, no my NEMESIS, is Dinner. By dinner time I am STARVING, and I proceed to eat a) whatever is in the house, or b) some ungodly-large-portioned dish from a restaurant menu. Cue 15 - 20 units Humalog insulin.. and I'm either low 2 hours later, or my blood sugar is 298 all night. Generally no happy medium.

Ive been reading about vegan diets, raw foods and juicing on line and at the bookstore... One idea that particularly appeals to me is that removing refined sugar and flour from your diet seems to result in less of a voracious appetite. In other words, eating those refined carbs makes you want to eat more of the same. I'd like off this vicious cycle now, please.

I wonder if this can work for me? Well, education, education... read, read, read... I plan to keep researching these things and slowly make changes in the way I eat.

So I'm starting this blog because I think it will be helpful to share this process with others, and maybe even find other type 1 Diabetics out there who are using vegan/raw/juicing to help control their Diabetes.

I'm calling it "Hippie Lettuce" cause that's one of my husbands nicknames for me. And yesterday when I told him about all the raw food ideas I was considering, he, of course, used it again - it's one of his favorites. Yep, I know it's a colloquialism for Mary Jane, ha. I'm not a partaker and that's not really where I'm going with this blog... but it seems appropriate since most of the green products I've been looking at are similarly titled: "Amazing Grass" "SuperGreen" etc... :D

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Anyway, to business! My first step is going to be to EAT SOME FREAKING BREAKFAST. Ok? Today I started off my day with a disgusting green smoothie, because I really don't know how to make these. Any recipe ideas would be appreciated. And I'm also looking online. But today, here is what I crammed into my unsuspecting blender:

1 cup of baby spinach
1 cup of fresh strawberries (ooh, this is going to be good, I thought)
8 oz. water mixed with Garden of Life Raw Protein packet (it smelled like matzo meal. uh...)
2 tbsp flax seeds

then I hit "liquefy"

I opened the top and tasted my concoction... GROSS!! I got out some apple juice and poured in about 8 oz. Then I decided, what the heck it's disgusting already and added 1 packet Amazing Grass green superfood, and just for kicks, threw in a packet of stevia sweetener.

Finally, I got the bright idea to add some frozen pineapple chunks (one thing I've learned is that a cold green smoothie is much better than a tepid green smoothie), one last "liquefy" and I poured it into a cup. I totally said a "borey pri ha'adama" blessing over my hideous drink, hoping G-d would make it taste better, and then drank that sucker down!

It actually tasted fine, the stevia and apple juice took the edge off the matzo protein and green food sludge. It just looked like... Dagobah bog water:

My blood sugar was 74 this morning. I counted the smoothie(s) (I drank almost 3 of these cups) as 63 carbs, but took 5 units of Humalog because I know how these hippie drinks tend to NOT spike my blood sugar.

Here's to Real Food, healthy eating habits and G-d-please-help-me-get-my-blood-sugar-under-control! Seriously, though, I know it's up to me. My health is my responsibility. And if I can find a balance of controlling my health issues and eating in a way that benefits the planet and my body more than the typical carbo-loading of our modern society, that's something to be grateful for.

Here's the collateral damage of smoothie tiems:

Damn you, Nutter Butters! Looking smugly on the fruits of my labour; your days in my house are numbered...

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update:

Three hours after Dagobah smoothie, my blood sugar was 186. When I eat cereal, my blood sugar is invariably over 200 three hours later, even with the right dose. This is a step in the right direction... yee haw.