Solving the riddle of yuk juices!

Day 10 & 11

Today has been a good day.

Yesterday was a tough day. It should've been great as we attended our weekly meeting with the Diabetic Health Clinic and listened to all the amazing results achieved by the group. Many are looking healthier in the face, some have lost unbelievable amounts of weigh, many well over ten kilos. Most are off all medication, even those who have been injecting insulin. It was great to celebrate our achievements together.

So why was it a tough day? I guess I was a little jealous of some of the weight losses. I have lost 3.7 kilos, but it seems small in the face of many. But the real reason it was a tough day was the juice. It didn't matter what I put in the machine, it tasted awful. Last night I finally got it!

Carrots!

I have had carrot in every juice. I like them and when I first started I bought a 20kg bag of the biggest, juiciest carrots you have even seen. Last week, when they ran out, I went to buy another bag. As they were much cheaper than the first bag, I assumed they were juicing carrots. I dragged them home crowing over my savings. Last night I grabbed a carrot out of the big bag in my pantry and my finger sunk into it. Yuk! I threw it in the bid and went to investigate. In the middle of the bag was this fermenting, bubbling, foaming, revolting mess.

Being a little slow to catch on, I carefully selected sound carrots from the edge and made my favourite tomato juice, determined to drink a juice I enjoyed. I added a little olive oil, salt and pepper and warmed it in the microwave in a soup mug. With my feet up, I settled down to enjoy it. Wrong! It too was foul. Finally I understood! I've been juicing old, off carrots. I emptied the glass down the sink, drank 80 mls of orange juice and went to bed.

So the offending vegetables are in the bin. I've had two lots of juice today without carrot and they've been a great improvement. This episode forced me to make my first 'Green Delight' juice, following a recipe.  Not having enough silver beet, I added some cabbage, straight from our vegetable garden. This was the first juice I've enjoyed in days.

I guess I'm still learning to be selective about what I put in my mouth!

Good news! Blood sugar readings have been in the normal range for last two days. How wonderful! I know I'm on the road to better health.

PS. This is the ninth blog in a series. The others can be read by clicking on the links at the left.

Little victories and the Hill that Pained me.

Day 6 Of Lifestyle Change Adventure

I woke feeling a little better, maybe a lot better than when I went to bed. The Carb Monster was savage yesterday afternoon and evening and I was relieved when the family left early and I could retreat to bed! However I managed to host a birthday party and join them at the table with my spiced-up tomato juice which I drank from a fine china cup and saucer.

Whilst assembling the lasagna, I talked to my friend who is supporting two of us through this adventure. This helped me notice when I licked my fingers, after getting Ricotta cheese on them. I ran to the sink and washed my mouth out. Extreme maybe, but I am very determined to see this lifestyle change succeed. The conversation also stopped me from eating the stray piece of grated cheese or scraping our the frying pan to get the last of the sauce on my finger. I also asked others to help to clean the kitchen. These are strategies for success as Peter, our coach, would call them.

This morning, I went for the first walk for a couple of weeks. I love to walk early enough to watch the sun send its first rays of light over the world. It reminds me God begins everyday fresh and new. Enthused, I left my normal concrete path and tramped across the open paddock. The ground is rough. It still has the ridges and troughs from when it was a farm and grew pineapples. I was about a kilometre from home when my right knee started to complain, loudly. It took an hour to get home, as I rested about every hundred metres on strategically place green boxes that belong to the electricity company.  

All this is good news. Last Sunday I learned that one of the advantages of drinking only juice is the release of micro-nutrients into the system to bring healing to old injuries. I hurt this knee about five years ago, so I'm claiming this pain as a healing work.

So far today I'm not hungry, so I'm hopeful the worst is over. I've stopped all my medication and this morning my blood sugar was 7.7. I can only get better from here.

Here's to good health!

Busy Hungry and a tad disappointed.

Day 4

The day was busy, so busy that I'm late in writing this blog.
It was a hard day. I felt hungry for most of it, in spite of large servings of good juices and four or five cups of herbal tea. Still the stomach complained. I'm blaming the Carb Monster, but I'm very sick of his company and can't wait to shut the door in his face.

I went shopping yesterday. A big mistake. There are coffee shops on every corner. Having been eating low carbs for a long time, it isn't the cakes that tempt me. My other addiction, Cappuccino Comfort, beckoned to me at every turn. I can't say I'll never have another, but I can decide not to have one at this moment. So I managed to resist and sip a full pot of peppermint tea while my granddaughter ate icecream!

My last port of call was Lawnton Country Markets and then home to wash and try to store a mountain of vegetables. Whilst doing that I comforted myself with a fruit juice drink. I used orange, lime and mint, mixed with ice and water. I so enjoyed it! It meant no fruit in the main dinner drink, but that was warm tomato so didn't need sweetening.

The big disappointment was my blood sugar figures. The before dinner reading was 11.3, up over three points from the last three days. I found that very discouraging! The next reading was down to 7.2. There doesn't seem to be any logic there!

* * * * *

Day 5

I woke with a thumping headache, but it was eased by panadol. I'm also feeling more joint pain and felt very old this morning! (Of course there may be some truth in that!)  However, the day has rushed on and I'm doing well. My stomach is still grumbling. This morning's daily email from The Life Style Change Program assures me this must be the tail end of cravings. I hope they are right!

Today's challenge is a family dinner. I'm serving Lasagne and salad. Fortunately my friend who is living here at the moment has made the meat sauce, tasted it, and adjusted the seasonings. The challenge as I assemble the layers is to avoid popping cheese into my mouth!

I have already prepared tomato juice with other vegetables to add flavour to drink as they eat. I will drink it warmed with added olive oil, salt and pepper. And I intend to use a fine china cup. Wish me luck.

Sugar reading was up this morning, and I've only lost 1.5 kilos. I may be disappointed but I'm very determined!

The picture shows the lastest in table decoration in my house. It will be empty in two more days!

(See Blog Achive on top left for more Blogs in 'The Adventure Begins Series')

Day three closes

    Three days I've survived without carbs, without meat, without chewing.
It's not easy, especially when someone cooks toast and the smell wafts through the house, or when I can hear Steve chewing nuts, or when I walk past the fruit bowl and see a banana!
 
    However today was easier than yesterday, and this afternoon I've been encouraged as our group met for our weekly Lifestyle Change Program and listened to others who are on the same journey. Some have lost a lot of weight, others have seen dramatic drops in blood sugar levels. Some have been savagely attacked by the Carb Monster, but all are surviving and doing well. Peter Pratt, from Diabetic Health Clinic has told us many stories of people who have been successful in normalising blood sugar levels and regaining ten years of energy. We are inspired!

     Today's juices tasted better. Is that because I'm getting better at blending flavours, or is it that I'm adjusting. As I write I'm sipping a warm tomato juice (with added red onion, capsicum, parsley, celery, capsicum, lime, olive oil sat and pepper). Yum. Tonight I even made soup for the family.

    My blood sugar reading before my juice tonight was 6.5. That is the first reading in the 'normal' range that I have ever seen on my monitor in over ten years. Looking forward to tomorrow.