When I was first diagnosed with diabetes, more than 10 years ago, the diabetic nurse told me that there were new inventions that would make having diabetes easier.  I was fascinated by the Gluco-Watch and similar devices.   This device promised to contiuously monitor your blood sugar, it could give you a graph of your entire days sugar readouts, it could sound an alarm when your blood sugar went out of range when you were sleeping.  It was in testing for years.  It was recently renamed to the G2 Biographer.  Here is some more info on the device that diabetics like me have been waiting for.

You can technically get the watch from the makers website.  But it has many problems.  First off, it is not intended to replace finger testing.  Isn’t the entire point of me wearing this horribly ugly watch to replace having to prick my fingers?  The device irritates the skin. (source)   Wikipedia reports that “the GlucoWatch system is not able to cope with perspiration at the measurement site.”  And… finally, “Due to these limitations and others, the product is no longer on the market.”

No we are told, that diabetics will be able to implant meters that send data to their watches, or their cellphones.  These “glucophones” are not covered by insurance, require surgery for an implant, and yep you guessed it, are still in testing.

Its enough to make me think their is a conspiracy afoot.  Maybe the drug companies don’t want to give up up their dollar a teststrip fortune.  Or maybe a device that could measure your sugar continuously is to much to ask for.

• Crust
• 7 large apples
• 1/2 cup fruit sweetener
• 2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon of nutmeg
• 1 tablebspoon of low fat margarine

Directions

1. Line pie bottom with pastry.
2. In large bowl, combine ingredients except margarine. Mix well and spoon into pastry lined pan. Dot with margarine.
3. Cover with top crust, seal, and flute edges. Cut a few small slits in crust. Bake 40 minutes at 350� F., or until crust is golden brown.

Comments

This Low sugar apple pie is treat for diabetics or people who just want to watch their sugar intake!  We have enough family and friends pushing high sugar foods to us during Christmas.  So make this apple pie for a Diabetic and his sugar won’t spike!  (or it least it will spike less than with a sugar laced pie).

Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 10 min

Ingredients:

* 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
* 1 tablespoon cold water
* 2 tablespoon boiling water
* 1 cup of splenda or other sweetener
* 1/2 cup sugar free powdered cocoa
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup heavy whipping cream
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* Light dusting of sugarless cocoa powder

Preparation:
Chill a medium mixing bowl in the fridge.

Meanwhile, place the cold water in a small bowl. Sprinkle with gelatin and let stand 1 minute. Add boiling water and stir until gelatin is dissolved. Set aside.

In the chilled bowl, combine splenda or other sweetener, cocoa powder, salt, whipping cream and vanilla until roughly mixed. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat mixture until it becomes stiff. Do not over-beat. Beat in the gelatin mixture just until combined.

Spoon chocolate mousse into decorative dessert dishes or martini glasses. Chill 1 to 2 hours before serving. Top with whipped cream lightly sweetened with splenda or other sweetener and a sprinkling of cocoa powder if desired.

Serves: 4 (1/2 cup) servings with less than 4 net carbohydrates per serving

Ingredients

• 4 Chicken Breasts (Cut off excess fat)
• 1 Onion (chopped)
• 2 teaspoons of garlic (chopped)
• 1 teaspoon of oregano
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup of stuffed green olives (sliced)
• 1/4 sun dried tomato salad dressing

To cook

1.  Cook onions and garlic in a pan until browned

2. Cook chicken in pan, 3 minutes each side

3. Add tomatoes, dressing, oregano, and green olives.  Stir for 5 minutes.  Be sure chicken is cooked.

Serve with vegetables for a spicy Christmas treat!

MSNBC front page.

What are the claims?  Well apparently they noticed that overweight diabetics who had Gastric Bypass Surgery were having better controlled blood sugars.  So, doctors have been doing this experimentally on non overweight diabetics. The results?

Well, all you have to do is look through youtube and you will see hundreds of testimonials of Gastric Bypass Surgery curing, or making the symptoms of diabetes go away.

So, will I get it tomorow? No.

But I will be talking to my doctor, and I will be asking…

1. What are the risks of Gastric Bypass Surgery?
2. How long does this “cure” work for?
3. How long has it been tested?
4. Will I have to get the surgery done again?
5. Are we talking about a real cure? Or just some of the symptoms going away?
6. Will I still need to inject insulin?
7. Is this only for type 2 diabetics, or can type 1 diabetic patients benefit as well.

When I meet with my doctor I will ask him these questions and post the summaries of his answers here.

What do you think? Is this diabetes cure too good to believe in? Or are you interested? Comments are appreciated!

When I was first diagnosed with type 1 diabtes my doctor placed me on an insulin pump.  I was 19 at the time, and it didn`t take me long to hate my disease.  It virtually assured that relations with my girlfriend would be weird, and it just made me feel bad.  Also I always felt hungry.

I used a case to hide my pump, this one is really good

But eventually I asked my doctor to be placed on regular injections, or as they call it ìntensive control. Thats when I started taking Humulin N and Humalog. Now I take Levemir and I like it a lot better.

What do you think

Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons of olive oil
• 2 cups of chopped onions
• half a cup of green peppers
• 3 cloves of chopped garlic
• 1 chopped jalepeno
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 can of tomatoes
• 1 zuchini
• 30 ounces of kidney beans
• 40 grams of cilantro

Heat the pot, add olive oil, onions, peppers, garlic and jalepeno.  Let it sit for about five minutes  until the onions are browned.  Add chillin powder and cumin, let it sit for a minute while stirring.

Chop the tomatoes and add the juice and the zucchini.  Once it is boiling let is sit for 15 minutes while stirring.  Stir in the beans 5 more minutes.  Stir in the Silantro.

Serve while hot!

Add some whole wheat garlic bread or crackers to add a carb to the meal!

• 4 x (5 ounce) salmon fillets with skin attached, thawed to room temperature
• Olive oil (2 teaspoons)
• Fresh Chives (Minced, 1 cup)
• Sea Salt
• White pepper
• Sage sprigs for garnish

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Rub half a teaspoon ofolive oil on the fillet.  Cover the fillet with chives and push them into the skin.  Put the salt and pepper on afterwards.  Put the fillet with the skin down on a nonstick pan, or use a cookie sheet and roast for 25 minutes.

This salmon is a great low to no carb meal.  And it has those Omega 3s!

• Whole Wheat English Muffins
• 1 Egg
• Canadian Bacon (optional)

Equipment

• Frying Pan
• Microwave
• Egg Ring for Single Eggs (I got mine from Amazon)

Process
You can simply fry the egg, but to make it a real mcmuffin you need a ring. Here is a simple egg ring I got from Amazon.com, but some people say they make their rings out of old tuna cans, it works for him but I`d rather spend the 6 bucks on the real Teflon deal.  I have a link to the Rings I use below…

If you think you deserve it add bacon to make it a true egg mcmuffin, fry untill crispy, or Microwave it until crispy. Toast the whole wheat muffins and use the egg ring to fry the egg!
This is a great low carb morning waker upper that I treat myself to on the weekend.

I would wake up in the morning and take 4 units of Humalog and 20 units of Humulin N, I would repeat this at supper.  I would also take Humalog to  readjust everonce in a while (e.g. after supper,at night).

This worked, but it had problems.  Mainly the Humalin N hit all at once, witch made me eat more which made me fatter, and which made my insulin management a little harder.  It also made my morning fasting glucose a little higher.

So my doctor said that I should go on Levemir, its a long acting insulin, should last for almost 24 hours, also it has less of a peak.  I was resistant to my doctors advice, in fact I delayed the switch for more than a year while my sugars got worse.

But wow when I tried Levemir did I notice a difference.  My morning glucose is MUCH better, and I have less unexplained hungers.

Anyways, I hope this helps someone out there.  My hemoglobin A1C ’s are better, and I do a little less management which is always nice.

As always I am telling you my own personal experience, your mileage may vary.  Talk to your Doctor, I am not a professional and this is not advice, just my experience.

If you have comments about Levemir or your diabetic management in general, please reply.