Saturday, February 1, 2014

Geez!!!

It just seems that no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to say no to sweets.  And I really need to find a way to get my sugar numbers under control.  I started to keep a journal to keep track of my weak times, because I'm just so frustrated with myself.  My kids tell me that I've always been able to accomplish anything I have set out to achieve.  So why can't I do it with my diabetes, my weight, and my self control??!!

What I discovered with my journal it that I'm lazy.  I don't want to take the time or put the effort into preparing healthy and delicious foods for myself, so I just grab whatever is handy.

While searching Pinterest for some healthy snack ideas, I came across this pin for a snack drawer.  I think this may just be a solution for me.  But to take it a step farther, I am also going to create a snack basket for myself.  I've had one for the grand kids for years, but now it's time for my own.  I also found this chart for clean eating snacks, and am going to use it as a guide for my snacks.

I am going to put some pretzel sticks into single serving bags for myself.  I love pretzel sticks, and can dip them into hummus, sugar free chocolate pudding, peanut butter or just eat them plain.  I am also going to portion out some Nilla Wafers for the nights when I crave something sweet.  Hope this will keep me better on track.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Off To A Good Start

I haven't gotten brave enough to weigh myself yet, but will probably do that tomorrow morning.  I've tried to figure out when my weak times are, and am doing my best to change them.  I love to have something sweet with my coffee after dinner, so Hubby bought me some Weight Watchers snack cakes.  They aren't much more than a bite, but do seem to satisfy my craving for that time of day.

I'm a person who likes to grab whatever is on hand.  This morning, with Hubby's help, we cooked for two hours and have some great things stashed in the refrigerator for this coming week.  The first thing we made were Toast and Egg Muffin Cups.  I have done these in the past, and loved them.  They remind me of one of my favorite childhood breakfasts - poached eggs on toast.  My mom had a five cup egg poacher for on the stove, and would make them on Sunday mornings.  To keep the tops of my egg cups from getting hard, I add 1/4 of a slice of fat-free American cheese to the top before I put them in the frig.  To reheat them, I just pop them into the microwave for 30 seconds or so and they are good to go.  We made a dozen because I have a feeling that little Jake will help me eat them.  I used 35 calorie bread and so two of these are very WW friendly.

Lunch is another hard time for me.  I have been pinning some lunch recipes on my board, and decided to try the ham and pasta salad for this week.  We made the salad pretty much by the recipe and used whole wheat pasta.  We did, however, reduce the ingredients to make two servings.  I love the mini sweet peppers, and one of the orange ones was enough for my taste and looked so pretty with the ham and green peas.  Of course, I had to test it.  It was very much to my liking, and will be a great lunch.   But I wanted to make something else for two lunches and I decided to try Hungry Girl's Scoopable Chinese Chicken Salad.  It's another recipe that I had pinned.  The only thing I changed was the scallions.  I had used scallions in an Asian salad once before, and they flavor was very overpowering.  Instead I substituted a couple of sprinkles of Tastefully Simple's Onion Onion seasoning.  I didn't think I would like the dressing, but it's pretty good.

So in just two hours, we cooked 5 breakfasts and 4 lunches.  Will let you know how it works.

Monday, January 13, 2014

A New Beginning - Again!

Here it is 2014, and I'm still battling the Diabetes Dragon.  And the dragon has a partner - Obesity.  I've made so many fresh starts, and I'm sure you are all rolling your eyes and saying, "Here we go again!"  I have to tell you that I have been on a sugar rush.  I have been eating everything I can find that's sweet - not good for a diabetic.  And I have not been checking my blood sugar because I really didn't want to know - also not good for a diabetic.  I know that some of it has been depression.  This was my first Christmas without my mom, who passed away in May.  Since Christmas Day was her birthday, it was doubly hard.  We returned from Disney and I came down with a cold the next morning.  My daughter says I have "Disney Depression" - resulting from no trip to look forward to.  And then our Mr. Willy cat passed away.  He had been attacked by a stray dog, suffered some serious injuries, but was on the mend.  A blood clot thought otherwise.

But, I've picked myself up, dusted myself off, and decided to make a serious fresh start.  I've discontinued the Victoza.  Every time I start to use it again, I experience more problems with my gall bladder.  This makes things a little more difficult.  I have to curb my appetite, account for what goes into my mouth, and I have to do it all my myself!  I have an entire bookcase of diet books, all shapes and sizes.  But I've always done the best with Weight Watchers.  But I still need to watch my carbs and sugar intake.  So, I'm planning on meals that are Weight Watchers and diabetic friendly.  I've cut out caffeine - seems that it makes diabetes harder to control.  I am now three days into the "No Cheat Area".  For some that doesn't seem like much, but for me I need to start with little steps before I can do a long jump.  So, here we go again.  Let's hope I will be successful.