I don't know about you, but I actually like a good experiment. I find it fun to posit a theory, run a test and get some results. Now, I'm not a scientist and I was never good at science in school. However, I find that I've rekindled my love of experiments through being diabetic.
I hear stories of diabetics who never test. People who are afraid of looking at their numbers. Maybe it's because I'm in the early stages of the disease and my numbers are never scary high, but I love testing. It's information that can help me make decisions later. I like taking advantage of that.
One of my favorite thing to do is food test. I'll eat a salad or something with no negligible carb along side something with carbs in it. A one carb serving usually, but sometimes I want to see if I can push the envelope, so I'll eat two carb servings. Then I do the postprandial test at 2 hour mark, after I eat. I don't log, note or monitor in any scientific way (that's too much work!), but I make a mental note of how my numbers were.
For example, when I first started testing, I ate spaghetti and sauce at my favorite restaurant and took my Metformin. I found out that even with whole grain pasta, my postprandial glucose was in the 130's. For me, this is not where I like to be after dinner.
So, last week I went out to dinner at my favorite restaurant for spaghetti and had a little over one carb serving of whole grain pasta with meat sauce. I knew, going in, that there wouldn't be much besides pasta so I made sure not to go in hungry...that way I wouldn't eat the whole bowl. I ordered a salad and a bowl of spaghetti with meat sauce and Italian sausage. Oh, boy was that tasty!! I also only had a tiny bit of bread. I ate every bite of salad and sausage though. So, I was full. I took the rest of the pasta home. My postprandial was mid-90's that night. Now THAT's what I'm talking about!
It was easy to know what I needed to do to enjoy my favorite pasta and not shoot my numbers into the 130's. If I hadn't tested, I would've never known how much pasta to eat. I wouldn't have known when to stop. I certainly would've eaten more. So, testing gives me valuable information.
FYI - I've been eating a little bit (like 4-5 bites at a pop) of the leftovers every day since Monday. I've eaten it with lunch, for a snack as a side dish at dinner and finished it off today. Such a tasty treat!!! Now, I don't bring things like this into the house very often, because it's hard for me NOT to eat the whole thing. Every now and then, I can resist though.
What favorites have you tested? What do you do in order to keep yourself from going overboard?
Right after diagnosis, I tested alot, then stopped because it didn't change my meds (it was supposed to change my eating, but um... yeah.) Once I moved to insulin, I was testing three times a day minimum, made my fancy chart to log it, etc. Having been on insulin for a couple years, I still test to determine how much insulin to take based on my sliding scale, but I don't record it. For trends I have the memory in my meter and the quarterly A1C.
ReplyDeleteI don't record much anymore either. I pretty much stash it in my brain for next time. I've tested enough now that I know where I'll stand. However, I do test several times a day so I know where I'm at and how I did that day. So, I can mentally note where things may have gone a little off and make a better choice next time.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to insulin, it's a whole different ball game. I'm not sure how all that works. You're in a different league, Tom. :)