While driving home a short while ago I came up with an idea! I know it is shocking. If I could ever get my head to turn off it would be a small miracle… Anyway, I thought that every evening I would post what I had eaten that day as well as my blood sugar readings. Kind of like a journal of sorts. It will be as much for me as you.

I think this will help me to ensure that I stay right on track and keep my diet tight and under control as well as showing you what foods have an effect on MY blood sugars. I know that everyone is different but there are some foods/carbs that will be no brainers and will have effects across the board.

I will also record my daily activity/exercise. Oh boy, I am feeling brave. I am not going to lie one bit either so you must be forgiving at times and remember that I am human too and that although I have extended knowledge, I might not always put it to good use. Is that a deal?

I will start right now, I am feeling lucky, haha.

Breakfast…1 diet coke, instead of coffee, 1 serving size of cereal with skim milk, 30 grams carbs together.

Mid morning… 3-4 glasses of water, I love water!!!!!!

Lunch… turkey sandwich with lettuce/tomato/onion and 1/2 slice cheese, on a whole wheat wrap, 40carbs. I tole you I was not going to lie, and I was in the car and should have packed something but didn’t. Well darn it! I also had an unsweetened iced tea.

I will update y’all this evening. I think my hubby and I will just have soup and fruit after swim practice with the kids.

I am also going to the gym while kids are in swim. I will keep you posted. And feel free to comment in your daily intake and such to keep you straight and honest with yourself.

I have shared in the past that one of my guilty pleasures in life is perusing the website Perez Hilton for all the important news in and around Hollywood, hahaha. I was joking on the important part… Well, one of my other very embarrassing, as my husband calls it, lil’ pleasures in life is my good ol’ People magazine! I love the dirt, the accusations and the occasional really good, informative story, which is what this would fall under.

Some of you might have already seen the article and read through it but for those that didn’t, I’m going to share. The story is about a Chicago first grader Lilly Jaffe who has been diabetic since she was one month old and her trials, complications and use of an insulin pump. At this point in her very young and full life Lilly does not need any insulin or pumps anymore, she takes pills to control her diabetes and is living a very active life. Um huh, I said pills!

After years of uncontrolled blood sugars and her father attending a conference, doctors discovered that Lilly had what they call “sleeping” insulin producing cells, which is marked on your insulin gene and can be stimulated by a drug that has been safely used in adults for years… sulphonylurea.

Sulphonylurea works on the beta cells of the pancreas to increase the secretion of insulin. And viola, success! Lilly now plays soccer, dances her heart out at ballet class and even has sleepovers with her girlfriends. Her father calls it a “miracle”.

via People magazine, December the 24th, 2007

Ch-ch-ch-changes… I really dislike when I read that how we have been doing what we have done for years, it is now not how it should be done! Are you following me? We all know as diabetics we prick our lil’ ol’ fingers and make sure that we keep our blood sugar levels within “normal” limits approximately 4 times a day. The typical, and I say typical because I know that every diabetic is different, is to check our blood glucose in the morning before breakfast, before we eat our lunch, before we eat our dinner and then once before we turn in for the night.

Due to some new research and a report titled “Guideline for management of Postmeal Glucose” that was carried out for The International Diabetes Federation we may need to be pricking our fingers even more frequently. Oh boy, how fun!

Warwick Medical School researchers looked at a range of studies that examined in particular the two hour post meal peak in blood sugars and found a substantial body of evidence that reducing postmeal plasma glucose is as important, perhaps even more important for achieving overall optimum HbA1c levels.

Read more

We are getting closer to cracking the code on gestational diabetes and thus providing more treatment options for all diabetics. Researchers out of Stanford University School of Medicine have been closely examining the protein called menin in the pancreas. It is already known to help prevent cancer in the pancreas as well as other organs but now… we have a more specific gestational diabetes implication.

According to Kim’s work in mice, the pancreas accomplishes that adaptive growth by producing less menin during pregnancy. With less of the brake present, the pancreatic islet cells can divide, and this growth provides the additional insulin. Within a week after delivery the menin levels in the mice were back up to normal and the pancreatic islets began shrinking to their original size.

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Researchers have discovered a new congenital heart disease. What does this have to do with diabetes? Well, it seems that the heart muscle in this case does not depend on and use glycogen for energy in crunch time thus leaving the heart void of activity. So, the children will suddenly collapse and die with little or no preceding symptoms other then low energy levels.

This is very scary; however, with the new research brings new hope both for the children involved and diabetics. It has been long been known that one theory of type 2 diabetes is that reduced formation of glycogen in the muscles is the cause of reduced insulin sensitivity and increased blood sugars. So… this research could help in identifying further treatments and bring about a whole new batch of studies to provide us with a cure for diabetes. Gosh, science is so amazing!

With an eye on curing diabetes, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have successfully transplanted embryonic pig pancreatic cells destined to produce insulin into diabetic macaque monkeys — all without the need for risky immune suppression drugs that prevent rejection.

Wow! Pretty darn cool. Within three weeks the transplanted “primordia” cells became embedded in three of the monkeys in which they were transferred. And the kicker… they started secreting pig insulin in response to rising blood sugars just like expected in a healthy “individual”.

The primates used in the study all had type 1 diabetes. This could be huge news in aiding in the cure for diabetes. None of the monkeys had the need for ANY immune system altering medications. Yes I said NO anti-rejection meds. Huge!!!

via Science Daily

I know that I have written about something similar to this in the past, but here is new research that offers a non invasive way to analyze blood sugars amongst type 1 diabetics.

By using a chemical analysis method developed for air-pollution testing, UC Irvine chemists and pediatricians have found that children with type-1 diabetes exhale significantly higher concentrations of methyl nitrates when they are hyperglycemic.

The methyl nitrate exhaled concentrations were found to be at least 10 times higher in diabetic children experiencing hyperglycemia than when they are not. Wow! This is very exciting news indeed for possible non invasive type testing in the future. Wouldn’t that be grand? To test your blood sugar without a single prick… but would it be as precise and accurate? That is my only hang up. But I am sure time will tell and I am keeping my fingers crossed. What do you think? Exciting or murky waters? Tell me your opinion.

via Science Daily

U.S. biomedical engineers have demonstrated a smart particle insulin release system that detects glucose spikes and releases insulin to counter them. Researchers at the University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences, led by Associate Professor Ananth Annapragada, said the system is designed to mimic the functions of the pancreas, which produces the hormone insulin.

This system worked in stabilizing blood sugars in animals for up to 6 hours. How does this work in plain English… or at least easy to understand words? Well, there are liposomes that are coated with sugars to form the inhaled particles, and when sugars becomes present in the blood, the particles bind independently to the sugar then releasing the particles that release their insulin. So basically, they bind to the unwanted sugars and allow insulin to be released or triggered thus decreasing blood sugars.

That is pretty cool and will allow for the possibility of new medications. It takes all of these little discoveries and research findings to allow breakthroughs! All of them are important in attributing to ultimately a cure for diabetes. Go science, go!

via Science Daily

Once again, I am going to say, “don’t shoot the messenger”. Before anyone gets all in a tizzy, take the time to really read through what the research is claiming in its entirety. Yes, they are suggesting that certain breakfast breads are effective in controlling blood sugars through the dinner hour, but they are in no way suggesting that you shove 5 pieces of white toast in your mouth and call it a morning.

“It is known that a carbohydrate-rich breakfast with low GI can moderate increases in blood sugar after lunch. But my results show that low GI in combination with the right amount of so-called indigestible carbohydrates, that is, dietary fiber and resistant starch, can keep the blood-sugar level low for up to ten hours, which means until after dinner,” says Anne Nilsson, a doctoral student at the Unit for Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry and author of the dissertation.

What constitutes whole grain breads? Whole-grain barley or rye are the 2 choices that are being suggested. It is interesting though, when the same whole grains were mashed down into porridge, they did not have the same effect of regulating your blood sugar after breakfast. And we all know that when your blood sugar is in check, you think clearer and are much more effective.

This is due to a combination of low GI (glycemic index) and certain type of indigestible carbohydrates that occur in certain grain products.

If you want to read about the research further, check out this article in Science Daily.

Scientists have revisited the fact that certain neurons in the brain are activated by glucose. And this time they have identified that defects in the brain’s ability to respond to glucose can play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes. How is this research of clinical use you ask…

“By identifying glucose-sensing neurons in the brain as important players in regulating glucose, our findings may open a new avenue of research,” Dr. Coppari said. “Because these neurons play a role in maintaining glucose homeostasis throughout the body, an impairment in their glucose-sensing ability could play a pathogenic role in type 2 diabetes, where homeostasis is altered.”

In a nut shell, curb the glucose-sensing neurons into reacting appropriately and there is a decreased risk for diabetes. The scientists were able to produce the desired outcome by injecting a molecule called genipin, which disrupted this process of a protein UCP2. What you say?

The researchers also determined that a protein called UCP2, present in energy-making parts of cells called mitochondria, disrupts the production of ATP. Dr. Coppari said this likely leads to more potassium channels remaining open in glucose-sensing brain cells, making them less active and less responsive to glucose.

Think of it like this… more UCP2 equals higher blood sugars. Our desired goal is less of the protein hence increasing sensitivity to glucose and lowering our bodies blood sugar. If you are interested in the complete story with all the big words, check out Science Daily.