Aunt Mary

Ok, So last night at the bar Aunt Mary told me that she would like for me to quit being a slacker and to restart my blog.
I have missed it! I have been writing some reviews on urbanspoon.com and I have been trying to think of a way to write an informative restaurant review on that site, and then somehow link it to this diabetes blog. I am not sure how that will work, but for now I am leaving urbanspoon alone and focusing on this. I don't want to be just a food critic. The diabetes aspect of my food journey is what is important!

So, I have been logging all of my fasting blood sugars on a chart.
This morning's (thursday, April 29th) was 156.
Too high!
Funny, but as I look at last week (thursday, April 22nd) it was 155.
Too high!
So as I think about what was in common both of those dates, I remember that the previous week after work I had IHOP, and last night I had Waffle House (Steak and shake's dining room was closed and only the drive thru was open. I still have not gone through Drive thru yet this year! Thank God!) ( I would also like to point out that I realize that Waffle House and IHOP are all just as unhealthy if not worse then what I would get at a drive thru, but it is the point that matters)
Hmmmm?
Could this be why my blood sugar was elevated?
I say YES!

The moral of this story is "Stop going out after work and eating crap!"

Now, On to today!

Mark and I started at lunch at 4 Rivers Barbeque.

I can't resist their food and I had the Burnt End Sandwich (Brisket and pulled pork) with Mac and Cheese and Cornbread salad.
It was not the healthiest, but it could have been worse and I did skip dessert.

Later for dinner, Jeff, J.D. and myself went to Citrus before we went to see XANADU. There I had the ARTISANAL AMERICAN CHEESE PLATE, mission figs, marcona almonds, mango blossom honey, baguette for my appetizer and for my entree I had the MAYOR DYER’S LIME CHICKEN, grilled lime marinated chicken, romaine, black beans, sweet corn, plantains. I have eaten there before and I really enjoy the food and the atmosphere.
XANADU was great!

then before bed I made a parfait with yogurt, fresh strawberries and walnuts.
My goal for tomorrow's blood sugar is between 100 and 130.
We will see, and now that I am back in the blogging state of mind, I will be sure to let you know.

Thanks for reading!

Anna's Polish Restaurant

Today Mark and I went to lunch at Anna's Polish Restaurant.
Probably the best food that Mark and I have ever eaten together.
I wrote a review of it on urbanspoon.com and you can read it by going to this link

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/26/1506505/restaurant/Orlando/Annas-Polish-Restaurant-Winter-Park

One of these days I am going to figure out how to link this blog with my restaurant reviews.
Until then, i would just like for you to enjoy my photos of this delicious food from one of my new favorite places.

Oh, and by the way, My blood sugars have been very good and seem to be right in check!

Blood Work Update

I went to the Doctor yesterday and was delighted to hear the results of my latest blood work.
My previous total cholesterol was 125, and now is down to 117,
My triglycerides were 157, and now are down to 102.
Such an improvement, for my next lab work she isn't even testing it because it is so under control.
My Hemoglobin A1C which was previously 6.5 is now 6.7, however she was still very pleased with the control and is actually doubling my intake of metformin pills, yet she is decreasing my insulin from 16 units a day to 10 units a day.
Apparently my diet control and exercise are paying off, now if I tighten up a bit on both of those things, perhaps I can come off of insulin all together? For now anyway!

Vegetable Day

If you are a reader of this blog, you have probably realized that I am not doing a daily blog anymore.
I don't want it to get monotonous and I found that I was just saying "I had this" and it was "delicious".
So..... For the next little bit I am going to do different blogs about delicious meals that I have while dining out, meals that i make at home, and will continue to discuss my diabetes and keep you all in the loop of my health.
Also, I know at this point there are only a few of you, but I would like for you to tell me what you might be interested in reading.

So today was vegetable day.
My eating was with Addison and she is on a new diet where today she was only allowed to eat vegetables.
We started the day out at Sweet tomatoes. I had a couple of meal vouchers and although Addison stuck to the vegetable rule, I might have had some pasta and muffins. It is Lemon week for Christ's Sake.
Then we went to Publix and did a little shopping for dinner, which I made for her and I and Nicole here at the house.
Roasted vegetables (Mark's recipe) which included Carrots, Fennel, Parsnips, and Onions with fresh herbs.
Oven baked potatoes with a butter and sauted mushroom topping.
Brussels Sprouts.
Curry roasted Eggplant.
and a Spinach and Artichoke Salad.
It was Delicious and we were all extremely satisfied!

Honolulu

Ok, So the day that we were docked in Honolulu I split up with my parents and went exploring.
I loved the city, and walked around for several hours taking pictures and walking through different sections of town.
Well you know that this meant eating out a couple of times.
The first place was the New Liberty Grill. It looked like a cozy little diner from the outside and upon entering I found a very friendly staff. I told the server that I wanted something culturally Hawaiian and to bring me whatever she wanted.
I don't remember the names of anything but the main dish was Pork wrapped in banana leaves and then it is cooked in the ground. It was served with rice and then another kind of Pork and cabbage dish, along with a coconut flan.

For my second meal I had stumbled across a place called Govindaji's Vegetarian Cuisine. It was an organic restaurant which specialized in local ingredients. Once again I told the server to make me whatever and Boy was it good. Quite possibly my favorite meal of the whole trip. It was a vegetarian curry which definitely had a kick to it, along with rice and salad, and a vegetable Samosa. I also ordered a Honey Ginger Green Tea! So tasty, I might as well have licked my plate clean!

Salad Bar

Another favorite thing of mine on vacation was the Salad Bar.
They always had a great variety of lettuces, toppings, and freshly made dressings.
I would usually have a salad with at least on dried fruit and at least one nut.
All of the dressings were good, but they usually had a lemon chive dressing which was outstanding.
Looking back through some of these pictures only makes me want to have more salads.
You should have one today!

Breakfast

The Breakfast Buffet every morning on the cruise was usually my favorite meal of the day.
Bacon, Sausage, Omelets, roasted potatoes, fresh fruit, toast and jelly, Veggie Fritattas, and one of my new favorites...Museli.

Muesli (ger. Müsli) (pronounced /ˈmjuːzli/ or /ˈmuːzli/) is a popular breakfast cereal based on uncooked[clarification needed] rolled oats, fruit and nuts. It was developed around 1900 by Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital. It is available as a packaged dry form, or it can be made fresh.

Did you like my Wikipedia definition?

all that with a cup of coffee. Delicious!
My favorite was in photo #3. Bacon, spinach and cheese omelet, Potatoes, Sausage Patties and a bowl of freshly made Museli!

I usually ate a pretty hearty breakfast, but then followed it with a workout in the gym, and (most of the time) smaller meals throughout the rest of the day!

Pasta!

So while i was on the cruise, My taste buds were delighted to find that every night there was a Pasta Bar.
There was always 4 selections of Pasta to choose from, then while it was boiling they would ask you what veggies you wanted?
There was everything from mushrooms, peppers, onions, spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, peas, artichokes, bacon, chicken, etc....
They would then saute your choices in a pan, and when the pasta was done they would add it in.
Then they asked what sauce you wanted?
There were always 4 or 5 different sauces to choose from.
Then you would top it off with grated cheese.
My God was it delicious!
So I noticed that every day that I had Pasta, I would have a blood sugar that was elevated by 10 - 15 points.
I also remembered my Dad telling me that when he had Pasta his blood sugar would go up as well.
Damn!
Heredity?
Probably so.
So, The moral of this story is that I will continue to eat Pasta, because it is delicious! However I will try to limit the quantity and the frequency. All things in moderation, Right?

Back from Vacation

Ok. I've been gone awhile. I had a wonderful time, but I am thrilled to be back.
I did "pretty good" with my eating. My blood sugars were usually about 10 points higher then I would have liked for them to be.
Most of my choices were not that bad, but I found that not only being out of my element hurt, but also with being around endless amounts of food at all times, it was difficult to keep portion size down.

So here goes with the blood sugars up until date.......

138, 120, 140, 135, 136, 117, 125, 115, 139, 107, 105, 126, 118, 135, 102, 104, 131, 129

Some were definitely not good, but I guess that since pre-insulin I was almost up to 400, they were OK.

I'm going to write a few more blogs about the trip so look for those soon.
I've been home for about a week and have not been submitting a daily blog, however I plan to start that again soon. Maybe tonight?

Got to get some photos in order!
Someday I hope to be a little more organized.

and by the way, if any of you get the chance to go to Hawaii you should. It is Beautiful!!!!