Thanks for the information.

I find that it is not a problem to avoid hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated
foods if one reads labels and pays attention. The health food store brands have
their own problems - usually issues with starches and soy added into everything
because they seem to think grain and soy is the answer to the world’s problems,
which they are not.

In general I find stores like Wild Oats, Wild Harvest, Whole Foods and Trader
Joes to be over priced, have only moderate quality (at best) fruits and
vegetables and to be a danger zone for a diabetic who is serious about carb
reduction. Trader Joes probably has more to recommend it that the Wild’s and we
have no Whole Foods anywhere around here.

I’ve been low carbing since I was 19 years old - with the except of a few years
of high carb that Dr. Death insisted I do - so I have been low carbing for about
39-40 years. I know I can’t have most of the food they carry and I know almost
all the low carb places on the web and the products they have. In fact, if you
need links, I’d be happy to send them to you.

All milk products are loaded with lactose - which is a sugar - and I tend to
avoid them in large measure except for some plain yogurt and some cream, neither
in huge amounts.

I don’t entirely avoid soy because there are sometimes few options, but I don’t
seek the stuff out in any form because of the hormones and other problems
associated with it. Hence, I leave all the soy for the people who want it -
like you. I’d rather have lasagna made with zucchini "noodles" than soy,
not that I have bothered with lasagna with zucchini noodles for a few years.

Just so’s ya know, these day "free range chickens" mean that the door to the
cage is left open, not that they are running around like the chickens my family
and I used to raise. If you are really into that sort of thing you can go to
farmer’s markets and see whom they can direct you to who raises a few eggs
locally so you can get fresh free range (real free range) eggs during the egg
laying season. There are farmer’s market and home egg sellers in our area.

Stevia is just another AS to my mind, although I know it is made from ground
plant leaves and then extracted. It is no better nor worse than the rest,
although I admit that I simply loathe licorice so I am very careful with stevia
when I use it. I know all the hype about splenda being dangerous, etc. and it’s
just hype. I am am even old enough to remember when the FDA banished cyclamates
for no really good reason. I now get them from Canada. I figure in 10 years
someone will be howling about the dangers of stevia too - it always does happen.
(shrug)

Anyway, it is better, to my mind, to simply eat foods we make ourselves rather
than dive into the alternative junk food available at so called health food
stores. When you don’t eat soy (except in tiny amounts), nor grains, nor much
in the line of milk products and you’re not interested in being fructosed to
death then the fact that you can get organics at a regular store at a lesser
price and in better quality the whole health food store thing sort of pales. In
all honesty, I can do far better in quality and price at Stop and Shop and a
little place in our area called Butcher Boy for organic products than at Wild
Oats.

But, if you can eat that stuff and your BG can handle it, hey, more power to
you! I can’t. My husband can’t. I don’t want my grandkids developing a bad
Frookie habit. We’ll keep making things from scratch at home - besides which,
it is a very nice grandmother/grandchild thing to do. (smile) And then they
can view grains and sweets as an occasional treat instead of something to have
every day and end up with a carb addiction.

We are all apparently very different in how we approach diabetes treatment and
I’m definitely not into grains. Fortunately, living low-carb generally means
avoiding trans-fats quite easily because meat does not contain transfats, nor
does milk/butter, nor the fruits and vegetables we eat.

Cheers!
Marsha

I don’t know where you live, and COMPLETELY agree that you find
transfats in most processed foods, BUT if you live near a Whole Foods,
you can buy anything and there will be no transfats. It is a corporate
policy with them. Also, Trader Joe’s has many (although not all) foods
without transfats.

Both of those places also tend to be devoid of other chemicals — they
have organic fruits and veggies, hormone and antibiotic free dairy
products and beef products, free range eggs and chicken, wild (instead
of farm-raised) fish, free-traded coffee, single-source chocolate, as
well as a dearth of chemicals like preservatives, fake sugars (except
Stevia, which is a marvel), colourings, etc. In addition, their deli
and bakeries have whole grain, like-home baked goods, soups, salads,

smoothies, etc.

You can easily at both places (especially Whole Foods) find ersatz
foods that you can get used to — like tofu "pasta" which is truly an
acquired taste but has only 20 calories per serving, and hardly any
carbs. Also, Whole Foods sell bulk foods that turn over so quickly you
don’t have to worry (things like nuts, as well as other things).

And Whole Foods has Stevia drops. If you don’t know what Stevia is –
it is a plant based food that has a slight licorice aftertaste when
you first use it, but then it disappears. It has virtually no calories
and functions as a sweetener. Some studies have shown that stevia
helps to decrease blood glucose levels. The drops come in flavours
like raspberry and cherry, and you can put them in water for flavour
– no calories.

Jessica

Transfats are created by hydrogenating what are called cis-fats - for instance
if you bubble hydrogen gas through corn oil you create trans bonds, a different
type of hydrogent bond. For instance, margerine is largely a transfat with the
exception of one or two made without transfats. On the hand, butter is a
cis-fat, even though they are both solid.

Unfortuantely, smooth peanut butter is full of trans-fats, only natural (grainy)
peanut butter has no transfats. Oil that is used repeatedly for frying (like
that used over and over for frying donuts and french fries) develops a

transfatty structure that is imparted to the product fried in it.

On the other hand, bacon fat can be reused once. Fry the bacon, save the fat,
use it for an egg and then after that throw any remains away.

Sugar and transfats are in almost all processed foods. Soups, cereals, pancake
mixes, all baked products (cookies, cakes, etc.) except those made from scratch.
I can make lovely baked products for the grandkids using lard or butter in place
of transfat crapola so long as I buy all products needed as individual items and
avoid transfat filled products. Chocolate can be a problem. Cocoa butter is
not a transfat, but if chocolate is highly processed with fats added to keep it
stable and room temperature does have transfat in it. Of course, the best
loved junk food for children is filled with transfat and sugar. (sigh)

Ahh, the wonders of the chemical world that I have learnt from my dear public
health schooled hubby.

Cheers!
Marsha

About 6 months later, I went to a lecture which was supposed to be on
whiplash, but turned out to be on transfats. I’ll spare you all the
greatly detailed information, except to say that transfats are listed
as "hydrogenated" "partially hydrogenated" and "fractionated" fats on
a label. EVEN IF THE PACKAGE SAYS "NO TRANSFATS" you need to check the
ingredients label as the US gov’t says you can have up to .5 gm of
transfats per serving and still say "none".

We may argue here about low-carb vs carb, vegetarian vs carnivore, but
once you see HOW BAD trans fats are, you’ll never eat them again, and
you will have less pain (especially arthritic) less cardiovascular
problems, and you will feel much better.

my eyes change every year too. i am near sighted and only need glasses to
drive or watch telly in the living room. can’t read or work on pc’s with
them at all. i have glasses but every other year i get contacts too. they do
monovision so i only wear one in my left eye. dr orders 2 contacts in the
same script since insurance will charge the same for one or 2. so i get 2
years of disposables for the insurance cost of 1 year. then i get new
glasses every 2 years.

jodi

it has something to do with the glucose entering the

viscous of the eye. i can’t rememeber right off. i
used to could tell how high my sugar was at work by
whether or not i could read the exit sign at the end
of the hall. my eyesight is one of the first
indicators. my eyes change frequently too. i really
need to change glasses about every 6 months. but i
generally go about a year before i get new ones. they
are too expensive.i wonder what effect our diabetes
would have on lasik . i want to get that sooo bad.. my
brother had it and he can almost see into the future

jodi
-

****************************************************
If my fasting blood glucose is 110 and I take my Byetta and Metformin (at
the same time) and eat a relatively high carb breakfast, about an hour or
hour
and a half later my bood glucose is down to about 82. It usually stays
between 80 and 90 for several hours. Janet

****************************************************
If my fasting blood glucose is 110 and I take my Byetta and Metformin (at
the same time) and eat a relatively high carb breakfast, about an hour or hour
and a half later my bood glucose is down to about 82. It usually stays
between 80 and 90 for several hours. Janet

-
Hi Jodi,

I had a terrible sore throat and upper respiratory crud sort of thing for
several days, and my #’s were well above 200! Funny thing, though. When my
#’s are high, my eyesight is very clear. Lanie