Skinny Diabetic???

If you are like most people you probably think that diabetic people are overweight. I thought the same thing. I thought that my husband was the one who would benefit most from going low-carb because he is overweight. I am 5'4", and weigh 115 pounds (hate to mention this, but I am 30 years old). I am your typical skinny, but flabby girl (meaning I do not exercise). I thought that if anyone should be worrying about diabetes- it would be my husband. He has a family history of diabetics, and he has been overweight all his life. However I got an eye opener this week when I got my blood work results back from my doctor. She just did a typical fasting blood test, my results are as follows:

Glucose 90 (65-99)

Hemoglobin A1c 5.7 (non-diabetic: <6.0)

Now, I realize from these results that I am not a diabetic, but I am getting really too close for comfort! Jerri and her husband had the same test done, and even though they were overweight, their results were lower than mine. They were diagnosed as prediabetic, and I believe I will be diagnosed the same (see sidenote).

Did you know that having birthed a baby over 9 pounds puts you at risk for prediabetes? Our son (3 years old) was over 9 pounds at birth. Craving carbs and eating too many (that's me!) puts you at risk for prediabetes! I am the kind of person who will eat a bag of potato chips over "sweets" any day! I love salty carbs!! You can do a search online and find a complete list of symptoms for prediabetes.

Did you know that "the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) estimate that 41 million Americans between the ages of 40 to 74 are living with prediabetes, and most remain unaware of their condition. Without intervention and appropriate treatment, people with prediabetes are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes within 10 years."

So beware! You might be prediabetic just like me but be blissfully unaware as you mow down your potato chips and sandwhich! You don't have to be overweight to have this problem. There is such a thing as a skinny diabetic person!! However YOU don't have to become diabetic- talk to your doctor, get a simple blood test, change the way you eat (throw out those high carb foods), and change your future.

Sidenote: I am going to talk again with my doctor on Tuesday next week. I'll see what she says and what she recommends as a plan of action and let you'all know what happens.

Hello, my name is Julie. I'm a carb junkie . . .

Greetings everyone! "So-Called Low Carb Life" is a great title for my family!

We started going low-carb around the 10th of January (2007). My husband has a family history of diabetes, and obesity. My husband has struggled with his weight all his life. He has done the cabbage soup diet (lost lots of weight, smelled horrid!), the Eat-Less-Diet and exercise lots (lost some weight), but unfortunately no matter what diet he tries, he always gains the weight back plus some. He has not had a physical in a couple years, but I figure that diabetes is just around the corner as he grows older and more overweight.

When Jerri told me about the low-carb diet she was on, I was instantly interested because of all the information that she gave me about how going on this diet helps people with diabetes. I checked out some books, talked with my husband and we decided to give the low-carb diet a try. Now we haven't been on the diet very long, but we have already had our struggles! We did fantastic for the first 2 1/2 weeks, with no cheating (ie: eating excess carbs). My hubby lost about 15 pounds. Then he/we started diving into the carbs every once and awhile, but enough to make us crave more carbs etc. So to date he has lost 17 pounds. I think that he would have had more weight loss but the flirting with carbs proved to be disastrous! I cannot blame him alone though, because I was right there with him eating carbs also! Unfortunately, I have the mindset that I can get away with eating more carbs, because I am already skinny. Okay, it's time I realized that being skinny doesn't mean you don't need to eat healthy!

We have three children who have been going lower-carb also. I say lower-carb because they are eating many more carbs than their parents, but still less than what they would usually be eating. They went for one month with no desserts, which was actually really nice! (Okay they wouldn't agree with me on this one!) They are in public school, which for my middle daughter means that she gets a snack everyday in Kindergarten. These snacks are provided by different parents each day. Since she couldn't have desserts/sugar for one month, I sent a healthy snack every day with her to school for her to eat just in case the snack parent sent in a dessert food. It turned out that every day of that month, the snack was some form of a dessert food! I found this unbelievable that these children are eating a dessert every day before lunch! I just had no idea that this was happening! So even though their month of no desserts is over, I am continuing to send a healthy snack to school with my kids.

My older daughter is in first grade; she eats lunch at school. I have begun to realize that if she ate "hot lunch" at school everyday, she would be eating pizza every day! So we only allow her to eat "hot lunch" a couple times a week, and the rest of the time she either gets a sandwich made with low-carb bread, a lettuce wrap sandwich, or chicken salad, etc.

I think one of the hardest changes has been the first meal of the day- breakfast! I have never cooked breakfast for my family before unless it was a Saturday. My husband leaves for work most mornings before 5:30am, which makes it impossible to cook breakfast for him (I am not a morning person!). However on the mornings that he goes to work a little later (6:30 ish) I do get up and cook breakfast for him and the kids. I have found though that I am sick of eggs (so are the kids) and am not able to stomach them any longer. I need to find some other low-carb breakfast items. Please let me know if any of you have any suggestions for new breakfast foods that we can try! Keep in mind that we are not home-schoolers, and we have a limited amount of time to devote to breakfast making (again, I am not a morning person and I have 2 children to get on the bus by 7:45 am.).

Anyway this week we are back on track and re-devoted to the low-carb lifestyle.

Encouragement is deeply appreciated.

Long healthy lives are our goal!!