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Dyingman 85: Slow Poison - Part III

dyingman posted on Jan 25, 2009 | views: 101 | Tags: cereal, carbs, carbohydrates, diet, blood sugar
Sleep is a major weapon in my arsenal against disease.  I sleep well and I get about 8 hours daily.  Many many Americans give short shrift to the power of sleep and perhaps I seem quite the lazy bones to the rest of the world.

Partially for this reason, I tend to be short on time to get to work.  Some folks make up for this by surviving on coffee until lunchtime but I subscribe to the dictum of nutritionists that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  If I'm to get to work and eat this meal, I'm going to need to do it in transit.  At red lights, I get several bites of cereal in, holding the bowl for the two parts of the trip that involve bumps in the road that can spill milk.

This was not a problem until my incident years ago with my lack of firmness in areas that should be and we're not talking about muscles here.  The two suspects were arteriosclerosis and diabetes.  In both cases refined carbohydrates (flour products) were indicated as causes of high blood sugar spikes that can produce both conditions.  While investigating cholesterol lowering mechanisms, I found I was unable to improve my cholesterol balance but my most distressing symptom went away and really hasn't been seen since. 

By disposing of soda, juice, and flour products (bread, pretzels, biscuits, etc.) I had gotten control of my blood sugar enough to get the result I was after.  But who is to say this is a permanent solution?  What if the problem returns?

Given the success of the approach of reducing refined carbs, I plan to become even more strict if I see signs of danger.  This might mean elimination of the high fiber cereals I eat every morning. 

I have generally made it a rule that I eat no cereal with less than 3 gram of fiber per serving and I rarely eat less than 5 grams per serving.  Some cereals give 10 grams and more.  Puffed wheat gives 1 or 2 grams but is so low calorie that Dr. Mirkin recommends them as low glycemic options as well.  Combining these cereals with just a dash of low fiber choices for flavoring produces tasty high fiber breakfasts.  What if this approach isn't good enough?

Someday, I may find I need to munch carrots on the way to work, or have wild rice with beans or some other absurdly healthy dish that requires preparation.  The convenience of food that is unhealthful is a ubiquitous trap that most Americans are falling into on a daily basis. 

Are these supposedly healthful carbs still a risk?  Am I kidding myself that I'm killing myself slowly enough to keep enjoying the extra time each morning snoozing instead of heating up a batch of whole grain pilaf for breakfast?  Is my laziness the next casualty of my quest to cheat death?
Are these crunchy, tasty, supposedly wholesome cereals a third slow poison?

We'll find out as the years go by.




*DM


Next:  I'll Take It To Go.


THE CHART:
Recording device inoperative.  Chart will return when I replace it.

Estimated Grade: B

Workout Partner's Progress:  Improved.  Estimated Grade - B.

RECENT SYMPTOMS : Weak left knee.
ONGOING SYMPTOMS:  Clicking knees, Pain in right knee when kneeling and shifting knee to the right.  Hyperhidrosis.
DIAGNOSIS: Suspected neuroma or hairline fracture to foot. Unknown injury to right knee, possible impact from small stumble (c. 2006) onto landing of concrete stairs. Injured knee joints from sprinting (c. 2007) 
ONGOING TREATMENT: Tri-Annual dental visits, Meta-tarsal pad in shoe
DRUG REGIMEN:  Aspartame.  (3 diet sodas daily)  Caffeine (three cups of coffee daily.  two colas.)
PROGNOSIS:  Gradual decay of knee function.
POTENTIAL TREATMENTS:   Fish Oil supplements.  Axillary vacuum curettage.

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Comments

  • secretlife said on Jan 25, 2009....
    my husband just had his yearly physical a week ago-
    diabetes runs in his family-  his father and 3 of his dad's siblings had it.
    and the doctor tells my husband his sugar is HIGH.
    it's been on the high side for years and i've had such a hard time getting him to cut out white flour.  everything he loves is made with the stuff.
    yet i'm trying again to have him make small changes to get control of this before it becomes a more serious issue.
     
    you must have a great deal of self discipline dm-  i know my  husband isn't very good at watching his diet- which is why he's on high blood pressure and cholesterol meds already....
     
    do you do low dosage aspirin?  this is something his dr told him to begin taking for the diabetes...i had never heard of it for that before.
  • dyingman said on Jan 31, 2009....
    Ah, yes. 
    The low dosage aspirin.
    Aspirin is an anti-inflammatory drug.  It costs next to nothing.

    It masks the real problems though.
    In previous entries I mention some causes of inflammation like chronic infections:  undiagnosed VD (chlamydia can be asymptomatic), gum disease (gingivitis),.
    The fat cells of the belly also release inflammatory hormones so excess weght for people like your dad and me with Metabolic syndrome X have a hard time controlling our risk factors,

    Discipline, I suspect i has some genetic component.  Some people get chemical reactions to sugar that others don't.  I suspect fat people get a mentally rewarding high from a sugar binge that the rest of us don't.  They crave sugar (including processed starch that turns into sugar) like some folks crave nicotine.  The hell of it is, no one HAS to smoke.  Everyone must eat.

    Perhaps your dad is an all-or-nothing kind of guy, but maybe he can be persuaded to mix his flour treats with less dangerous stuff like I did with brown rce from white and high fiber cereals mixed with a dash of the tasty low fibver ones.

    Your pop may need to start out by adding just enough high fiber food that his meals/snacks are still enjoyable. 

    Triscuits are a rather good choice if crackers or pretzels are his weakness.
    If that's too close too health food, perhaps using a Chex Mix and adding in nuts might help.  If you can afford it, mixed nuts provide more nutrients and a better mix of oils.  This boosts the protein and fat ratio as well as fiber.  He's likely to eat less of it but still enjoy it because it's more satisfying for a longer period of time.

    If he can migrate to nuts, all the better.  Crackers, pound for pound, are getting to cost almost as much as peanuts for some unfathomable reason.  (Ethanol conversion of grain?)

    Cake?  I'm not sure how much I can help.  There's not much substitute.

    I'm wondering if there's a good bread substitute out there.  High fiober breads are a good start.  They're usually the "Light" breads.  If I ate more sandwiches, I'd investigate the possibilities of using rice cakes.  They are low fiber, but mostly air so they'll provide less sugar. 

    Egg salad on triscuits is a pretty good dish and not nearly as bad as a sandwich.

    Still, all this compensation may not work if the sugar high is what overweight people's brains unconsciously seek out.  They'll still crave a good sugar rush, snarf a box of Cheez-Its and wonder why they do this to themselves and engage in self-loathing, calling themselves "weak" and "worthless".  Maybe just understanding teh nature of our bodies mental functioning could help with discipline.  Your body isn't your friend.  It is an opponent.  Your will is housed in a brain that has its own "id".  It wants the drug called "sugar" and will signal its desires until sated like a mouse hitting the button that delivers a shot of cocaine.
    If put in these terms, could people grow angry with their bodies and brains.  Fight them like a schoolyard bully?






  • dyingman said on Jan 31, 2009....
    I got off the subject a bit.
    The aspirin strikes me as a preventative measure for inflammation.  The inflammation is a chief suspect in causing heart disease.  Not so much to do with diabetes, but diabetes itself has connections with heart disease including construction of LDL molecules which increases when sugar spikes hit the body.

    I don't think it's to treat the diabetes so much as it is to stave off inflammation which will work in tandem with the diabetes to put your dad at risk.  Your doctor may know this and not wish to complicate matters with explanations that A) he may not understand or care about B) the HMO won't pay him to provide. 

    Then again, he may have read literature I haven't.

    For the record, I take no medications.  I do take a multivitamin every other day, though I don't necessarily think it's vital to anyone's health to do so.  LATELY, it might be a good idea because I've been burning the cadle at both ends and not eating right.

    I'll talk about that soon.



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