Health update

[alexxkay]

Went to the doctor last week, and just got back a letter with my lab results. Almost everything they measured is smack dab in the middle of the 'normal' range. My A1c (a long-term measure of diabetes severity) is not yet into the desirable range, but is getting very close to it.

For many years, I would order new pants when my old ones started to wear out. Since I started modifying my diet a couple years ago, and exercising more recently, I've been ordering new pants when the old ones start to fall off. I'm now down to a 33 waist. When I put away laundry last night, I pulled my 38-inch jeans out of the closet, and put them in the "drop off at goodwill" pile.

There will probably be some backsliding this month. Picking strawberries isn't nearly as aerobic as other exercise stuff I was doing, but takes up so much time that I don't do nearly as much of that other exercise. And the strawberries themselves are pure carbs. But the point of improved health is to enjoy life, and I enjoy the strawberries too much to not make this trade-off :)

Comments

[hugh-mannity.livejournal.com]

I find that unsweetened strawberries don't have too significant effect on my blood glucose when eaten as dessert. They seem to affect me a lot less than many other fruit.

[tamarinne.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the tremendous progress!

[negothick.livejournal.com]

strawberries are lower on the glycemic index than some fruit--and surely you get to charge off the labor of picking them!

[negothick.livejournal.com]

and speaking of jeans and Goodwill: I've found that Goodwill and other thrift shops have a better selection, next-to-new, in the smaller waist sizes. More people give away their old clothing that's too small rather than too large.

[russkay.livejournal.com]

That's good news. As you know, I became diabetic with age and weight until I lost 150 (now 200) pounds. These days my A1C runs under 5.0, which delights my GP (target is under 7), so your prognosis sounds excellent. Also, you have good genes for low cholesterol. But I was never able to get into an exercise routine, so my waist stopped shrinking at 34, and even with that I still have a bit of a potbelly, thanks to the vagaries of kidney disease. On non-dialysis days I sometimes wear a 36.