Taking Things For a Test Drive Can Be Hazardous to Your Health (2/20/10)

Starting Blood Sugar – 95 (Yah Baby!  Finally below the 100′s again!)

Food For the Day:

• Breakfast – (This will sound UGLY.)  Pancakes with macadamia nuts, bananas, coconut shavings…and REAL SYRUP!  And eggs with corned beef hash…again.  (Went out to breakfast…tried a new place and couldn’t help it.)
• Lunch - None really, See breakfast.
• Snack – Some smoked, salted almonds.  I really need to get rid of these.  I can just feel that the salt and smoke flavor zap all the health right out of the almonds…
• Dinner – Zankou chicken (Middle eastern chicken restaurant).  Grilled chicken and steak, some basmati rice, tahini, and salad.  Definitely not enough salad.

Midday Blood Sugar – 157 (Decided to test myself 2 hours after the crazy ass breakfast.  157 sounds bad, and its really not, so stop freaking out mom!  its actually right where you should be 2 hours after a meal.  I guess this means I can eat this everyday!)

Ending Blood Sugar – 124 (Not too bad.  Dropped back to within normal levels, >140.)

Exercise:

Hour of jiu jitsu.  (Was going to rest, then ate breakfast and felt enough guilt to make me force myself to go.)

Analysis:

This morning I went and got my blood drawn to find out my Hemoglobin A1C.  This is a test that measures your blood sugar over a period of 3-6 months.  From what the doctor described, your blood cells have a shelf life of about 6 months, and then they die and are replaced by new ones.  During that time, the glucose attaches itself to the blood cells and stay there.  Basically, it gives you an idea of what your blood sugar looks like over a longer period of time.  Also, it stops people from cheating on their glucose meters.  I’ve heard that some people try and eat really healthy the last day or two before they got their blood drawn, I’ve realized that if you manipulate the times that you test your blood you can affect the blood sugar readings on a daily basis, to make it look better.  However, I have no idea why you would do this.  I guess some people treat their doctor like their parents and just don’t want to look bad in front of him/her.  I don’t care what he thinks.  In the end, the only opinion that matters is my own.  If I choose not to follow his advice and do whatever I like, its not like he’s going to yell at me and send me in the corner, that’d just be weird.  I feel its important to keep accurate data for myself, if only to know what can and will happen when i eat certain things.  This, I believe, will give me the freedom that I so desperately am seeking at this point.  I hope to at some point have enough control over my blood sugar that I can eat whatever I want, whenever I feel, because I will know the outcome of my actions.  One thing that I’m finding is that I don’t eat often enough on the weekends.  I tend to eat big meals, and snack way less.  I’m wondering whether or not this might have an affect on my blood sugar levels.  I’m pretty sure it has an effect on my night readings, but it probably affects my morning readings as well, since I consume larger meals for dinner.