I am happy to report that I’m finally starting to feel better and my knee is getting stronger. Unfortunately, I’m still having bouts of significant pain and having to limit my activities but it is better than before. I only have one more physical therapy appointment to go which is fabulous because it really hurts. My therapist tells me that it could take weeks or months to get back to my full activity capacity but he says I’m doing fabulous, as well :-)
As I’ve previously mentioned, free time can spell trouble with me because I begin to percolate and ponder all of life’s issues. Things I never have time to think about when I’m at the hospital working. With all this time on my hands, I have been reflecting on my dietary journey and what’s best for me moving forward.
Power Plate – Four New Food Groups
My about page briefly speaks to my nutritional interests but let me take a moment to explain where I’ve been and where I’m going … I come from a family ravaged by diabetes and other significant chronic illnesses. My whole life I was overweight and so was my family. I became interested in the power of food and nutrition when I was caring for my mother as she battled diabetes, stroke and renal disease. You can read more detail about this time in my life on this post; however, the gist of the story is that food is powerful and can cure disease. This is one of the most significant reasons why I went into healthcare. When the day came that I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, I completely overhauled my eating and became serious about not becoming chronically ill. I immediately went on a low carbohydrate eating plan and saw some results with my blood glucose coming down. Unfortunately, I was never able to to take off the weight or decrease my hunger for any length of time.
About five years ago, I decided to try to clean up my eating by eating more whole foods. In fact, I jumped in with both feet and consumed a raw vegan diet for about 3 months. This lifestyle was extremely difficult to dive into but once my body adapted, I was hooked. I felt the most energy and vitality I had every felt in my life. More than anything, it made me feel confident and powerful because I was finally able to control my hunger and lose weight. If I was hungry, I ate … If I wasn’t, I didn’t. It was life-changing! Unfortunately, this lifestyle was very challenging to fit into my long shifts at the hospital and I finally converted over to a vegan diet. This diet was much easier to maintain and I still felt great.
I was a strict vegan for a couple of years and I felt vibrant and healthy. Unfortunately, my diabetes worsened and I just couldn’t justify the continuation of carbs in my diet when my body was struggling to process them. After much research and thought, I decided to go back to low carb but I went extreme low carb (so as to try mitigate the damage to my body from the elevated blood sugar levels) to give my pancreas room to breathe. To eat almost no carbs, my diet consisted of predominantly meat, cheese & nuts which was extremely hard to do after being vegan for years. My husband was also vegan so this was very difficult to navigate in our household. During this time period, my husband went vegetarian and consumed some meat and cheese but he remained primarily vegan.
As my diabetes continued to worsen, I began taking medication and researching how to best care for myself. Being that I had been overweight my entire life, the next step was bariatric surgery. I had the sleeve gastrectomy procedure in late 2010 and started dropping weight rapidly. During the rapid weight loss phase, my surgeon recommended that I stay low carb until my body settled out. This procedure does not re-route anything, it just decreases stomach size so I can physically digest any food but in smaller quantities. I have been eating low carb since my procedure because I do still have weight to lose but now that I’m at home with plenty of time to catch up on my nutritional research and reading … I’ve been re-thinking how good I felt when I consumed a vegan diet and have been asking myself what would happen if I went back.
Power Plate – The Four New Food Groups
After bariatric surgery, I was able to go off all my diabetes medications and my fasting blood glucose numbers remain in the normal range; however, when I eat carbs my body does struggle to get my blood glucose levels back down. A lot of research indicates that a low fat, vegan diet that favors lower glycemic index foods will bring blood glucose down but it doesn’t happen overnight. It can take time, even up to a few months for some. Before my bariatric procedure, I had always intended to back to vegetarian/vegan eating but I had never really made up my mind completely as to when, how and how much.
I guess there’s no time like the present. If I want to eat vegetables, grains, legumes and fruits then I should probably just do it and see what happens. Hence, the blog post title of The Vegan Experiment … Can I feel great and keep my blood glucose at a reasonable level? I’m not sure so let’s see what happens :-)
For the next couple of months, the hubs and I will be eating a low fat, vegan diet that focuses on low glycemic foods and I will be monitoring my blood glucose to see what my body thinks. For the record, dear hubby is very excited about this as he never fully embraced meat & dairy, anyway. Also, I will be adding my daily fasting blood glucose values to the bottom of each of my blog posts, primarily for my own benefit, but you guys can follow along, if you so desire. Now, I’m off to have some steel cut oats with cinnamon … so the experiment begins :-)
_______________________________
The Vegan Experiment & Type II Diabetes
Today’s Fasting Blood Glucose was 86
My goal is < 100
By the way, here are some great educational links & resources:
- 21-Day Vegan Kickstart
- 21-Day Vegan Kickstart Meal Plan
- Cooking Without Eggs - PDF
- Diet & Diabetes: Recipes for Success – PDF
- Essential Fatty Acids - PDF
- Health Concerns About Dairy Products - PDF
- Healthy Eating for Life: Food Choices for Cancer Prevention and Survival - PDF
- Foods & Arthritis - PDF
- Foods for Cancer Prevention - PDF
- NEW Four Food Groups - PDF
- NutritionMD
- Power Plate
- Protecting Your Bones
- Protein Myth
- Vegetarian Starter Kit
- Vegan Diet How-To Guide for Diabetes - PDF
you are a brave lady. battling so many health issues over years. i wish you all the best.
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dassana recently posted … garlic naan recipe
Thank you so much, Dassana … So glad you stopped by :-)
Wow, C.J. I never knew the whole story. You are really brave, resourceful, and driven. Glad your knee is better. I look forward to keeping up with you on this new food journey.
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Debra recently posted … The new addition
Thx so much, Debra … My life has been pretty eventful so I try not to drone on about it :-)
Good luck with your diet change! I’m vegetarian, but I’ve also cut down on dairy and eggs, although I haven’t cut them out together. I think as long as you focus on eating healthy foods, like fresh fruit and vegetables and whole grains, that’s the important thing!
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Kiersten recently posted … Recipe | Ginger Orange Cranberry Sauce
I agree with you, Kiersten … Thx so much for stopping by the site & sharing :-)
I am sorry to hear about your health issues, but hats off to you for being so disciplined and focussed and turning vegan. I thought about it for some time, myself. One of my friends had turned vegan and lost so much weight. Was very motivated by that since I wanted to get rid of a few extra kilos. But I guess it’s a change of lifestyle not fix for some time so I dropped the idea.
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Asmita recently posted … Rabri
Actually, veganism is a great way to drop some extra pounds so don’t feel like you have to commit to a lifetime :-)
I am very proud of all the changes you have made in your diet. I hope you will be able to continue your journey of managing diabetes and keeping off the weight. And kudos to your husband for supporting you in this vegan journey because having some support makes the whole journey easier.
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Dixya recently posted … Popcorn, Pizza, & Football
Dixya … Thx so much for stopping by & lending your support :-)
During my pregnancy I had to eat low glucose food…it was difficult for me, expecially at the beginning! I’m greedy and I always thought about cakes and cookies! But I also realized that it’s a matter of habit , too! After two months of diet I felt really better and I appreciated lowglucose food.
Good luck and fingercross! Simo
Thx so much … Habit does play into it so much :-)
Thanks for sharing your powerful story ! So glad you’ve found a way to manage the diabetes. All the best with the low fat vegan diet. I did vegan for Lent and it was tough !!! I guess I am a flexitarian. That seems to work for me :) ! More veggies the better though. A friend of mine turned completely vegan about 2 yrs back and seen so much of a difference in his cholesterol , wt, and diabetes he’s sticking to it. I mean he doesn’t even have chol, DM anymore and has trimmed about 50 lbs just changing to the vegan diet , so … again ” all the best ”
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Sunithi recently posted … Quinoa Almond Coconut Cookies For World Diabetes Day #GlutenFree
Thx for sharing that, Sue … It gives me hope that I can have my whole grains and stay healthy :-)
Of course I always wish you the best of health and the best of luck! I’m curious though, why vegan is better than vegetarian in your case. I know this is about health and not animal rights so why leave out the milk, eggs, cheese, etc.? I’m also interested in nutrition and have done a lot of research although nowhere near as much as you have. I do know that a lot of vegan products use soy to replace the animal product and I’m concerned about too much soy and the cancer risk associated with it. Love to hear your thoughts.
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Anita at Hungry Couple recently posted … Skillet Whole Wheat Cheesy Cornbread
Anita,
I’ve had a lot of free time on my hands to read nutrition research and I read some provocative studies that indicate protein from animal sources increases health risks dramatically for a number of chronic diseases. Since my family’s gene pool is teeming with cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, & cancer I would like to do everything I can to give my body the tools it needs to care for itself.
I am familiar with the soy connection that you’re referring to. I’m not necessarily of the belief that the connection actually exists but there is enough evidence to make me think it might be true so I do try to temper the amount that I consume.
Also, you are correct … This isn’t an animal rights issue for me; however, there is a component to consider. I believe that the way the animals are treated will directly contribute to the value of the products they produce and I don’t want to be consuming unnecessary chemicals and other byproducts that land in animal products. For the last few years, when I was consuming meat products, I was very stringent about only buying organic so as to lessen the “stuff” that landed in my food.
One last comment, some of the research indicated that a decreased amount of protein from animal sources is all that’s necessary to decrease the risk of chronic disease. In the end, I really miss cheese and may have to fit that back in somewhere.
Love your questions & comments … Feel free to add to the discussion :-)
Thanks for letting me know I somehow became spam. :) Thanks for the explanation about why vegan instead of vegetarian and I guess it makes sense from that perspective. I tend to eat very little meat during the week and more on weekends (having to do with the carnivore in the house) but my veggie meals do contain eggs, skim milk, cheese, chicken stock and other products that you would consider potentially tainted. Ultimately we’re all our own grand experiments when it comes to food. But while I understand your concern given your family history (and rightly so!), don’t you think the fact that you’ve lost a tremendous amount of weight has also reshaped your future?
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Anita at Hungry Couple recently posted … Skillet Whole Wheat Cheesy Cornbread
You are correct … My weight loss has significantly affected my health and my future for the better. After surgery, so many of my issues have resolved and I’m grateful; however, I believe that food is the best medicine and I try to make the best choices. This is a constant evolution … especially when I have time to read and ponder :-)
FYI … My dad died from a massive, instantaneous heart attack, my mom passed at 52 from diabetic (type2) complications, my sister passed at 29 from diabetic (type 1) complications and my brother had a quadruple bypass at 48 … I’ve got a lot I’m trying to fend off :-)
I’m very sorry that you’ve had to experience so much loss and stress in your life. Much credit to you for trying to change what would have almost certainly been your fate as well. I wish you all the success in the world with this and the reward of a long, healthy life.
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Anita at Hungry Couple recently posted … Skillet Whole Wheat Cheesy Cornbread
Thank you so much, Anita :-)
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had so many health issues but it’s great that you’re tackling them so well. I hope you and your husband get a lot from your upcoming vegan diet. You have a lot more discipline than I do. I think I would find going vegan very tough xx
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hotlyspiced recently posted … The Wrong Side of the Law and…Caramel Popcorn
It’s not as hard as you would think but I will admit that cheese is my biggest issue – I love cheese almost more than any food on the planed so giving that up is a true sacrifice – Hope my experiment works :-)
Good for you for doing this! I’d love to try a lifestyle like this but I don’t know how long I’d last. But if I felt a lot better then I think that would help me make it last! :D
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Lorraine recently posted … Made From Scratch: Cured Salmon Gravlax
Lorraine, it’s not for everyone but it makes me feel amazing – Leaving my vegan diet to go back to meat was one of the hardest things that I ever had to do so I hope this works out :-)