Family Health

I haven't had much time for blogging. Turns out my Mom has been diagnosed with diabetes. It runs in our family so we should've seen it coming a mile away... but we didn't.

Mom was drinking alot of water... but hey, she's new to Arizona and she's not used to the heat... we never gave that a second thought!

She had to 'tinkle' alot... but that's because she was drinking so much water... makes sense, doesn't it?

Her skin was dry and itchy... everyone knows that the desert will dry everything in sight out... you mean she wasn't SUPPOSED to look like a lizard? Haha, just kidding, Mom!

Her vision was getting worse... but hey, that's a factor of age... who's vision isn't getting worse every day??

She was slowing down... but still more energetic than most people HALF her age... so her "slow" was really more like "normal".

So many signs of high blood sugar and we didn't see it until her sugar level reached 400!!! From what I've read, it should be anywhere between 70 or 80 to about 140 or so. Her A1C level should've been between 4.0 and 5.9 and hers came back as 14!!! How could we be so blind and let it go so far without realizing it. Especially since we always knew it was a risk because it ran in the family. She's just always been so healthy and active that we never thought she'd get it. I guess we thought she was above it. But, here we are.

So... I've been spending my days reading about diabetes and sugar and fiber and carbs. Trying to help Mom figure out what bad habits we need to cut out and what new habits we need to incorporate. I'm learning we have alot of bad habits and don't really know anything about nutrition. We have a long road ahead of us, but I'm thanking God for the internet and all the information available at our fingertips!

Her doctor told her to watch her carbs. He actually gave her a goal of 150 carbs per day.

We're also trying to add FIBER to our diets... through grains and veggies and some fruit. If only we had done this one thing all along!

Sugar, of course, is cut out... there are plenty of sugar substitutes, it's just a matter of finding one that Mom can tolerate. She just doesn't like the aftertaste.

On top of it all, her blood pressure is elevated, so we're also trying to cut down on salt.

Exercise. You always hear how good it is for you... but when diabetes is staring you in the face and you read that exercise is good for keeping your sugars level, or even bringing them down, then it's like you've heard it for the very first time. It's like OOOOhhhh, so exercise IS GOOD for me!!! If only I had a nickel for every time I've heard it but it bounced right off my thick head! Then I'd be so rich, I'd just BUY a nutritionist to explain it all to me!

Anyway, we're trying new recipes and finding ways to alter the old ones. Here's a revamp on Spaghetti:



It's not the greatest picture, but it's made with whole wheat spaghetti noodles and No Sugar Added spaghetti sauce... made with black olives, lots of whole garlic, red bell pepper and grape tomatoes and topped with chopped parsley. We had fresh asparagus as a side dish.



Not bad... with a little freshParmigiano Reggiano grated over the top of the spaghetti... not bad, if I do say so myself! Like I said, they were just bad habits... not that the new ones are hard, we just didn't know better. We're learning, though!!

Thanking the God of Second Chances for our "second" chance... and then some!