First Day of VLCD

So today was my first day on the Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD). It was not so bad. I had moments of hunger but nothing unbearable. I didn't feel like I was starving ever. Which is very important when you are on a diet. I know I fail whenever I feel very hungry.

Yesterday was my last load day and I did not gain any additional weight. This morning I woke up to 226.2 again. I had some organic coffee, black with stevia. I mix it with half decaf and half regular coffee because this particular flavor of coffee raises my blood sugar a bit. So my compromise was to mix half with the regular and half with decaf.

I made it to lunch time and had 3.5 ounces of chicken breast. I'm not much of a cook so I just seasoned it with garlic powder and basil, then baked enough for a few days. Then I had a whole raw cucumber. I cut off the green skin, cut it into chunks and sprinkled some of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar and basil on them. I also had a cup of sliced strawberries sprinkled with stevia.

For a mid afternoon snack, I ate one melba toast. Then for dinner I ate the most: 3.5 ounces of whiting (seasoned with lemon juice and tarragon), 3 cups of romaine lettuce (seasoned with apple cider vinegar, minced garlic, basil and tarragon - like a salad dressing), one more melba toast. For dessert, I had a gala apple.

All my foods except the melba toast I got from the Farmer's Market. That way I know everything is organic with no hormones or antibiotics added. This is important because my gynecologist thinks there is a link between hormone fed animals and fibroids. After that surgery I want to do everything I can to keep them from coming back.

It is unfortunate that organic foods tend to cost more than processed foods. So far I haven't figured out a way around this. It does give me satisfaction that for the first time in my life, I am truly taking care of myself. I may have to research co-ops and local farmers if it becomes a strain on the budget but so far it's okay. Not to mention the meats in the "regular" section are so much bigger and more colorful than the organic ones !

Yesterday I went to see my endocrinologist and was very disappointed. Basically she ended with asking ME what drugs can she prescribe for me. My goal was to get her to file an appeal to my insurance for byetta. Instead she passed the buck to one of the nurses, who in turn blamed everything on the mysterious "Tina" who is supposed to call me. I won't be holding my breath. Perhaps my internist has had better luck in getting samples from the representative. I will have to wait until April 24th to find that out.

If all goes well with this diet, diabetes medicine may not even be an issue. I still took my Januvia this morning with my coffee. This morning my fasting blood glucose was 159. That's a little high for my goal. My goal is to keep my glucose levels between 80-140. 140 should be something I may see two hours AFTER a meal. But the loading days with all the fat and some sugar thrown in (which I don't normally have) resulted in the high morning number.

Before dinner I was at 117. That's a good start. When I was on byetta, I would see double digits, which is even better. Right now I am at 120. Hopefully tomorrow morning I will still be around 120. I won't be eating anything else tonight but I am drinking green tea. I drank almost a gallon of water today. Two liters is recommended but I found it easy to drink the water. Some people drink even more than a gallon.

Now if my FBG tomorrow morning is higher than 120, it will be due to dawn phenomenom. This happens to many diabetics. Your liver anticipates you waking for the day and dumps sugar into your bloodstream. Who wants that ? So many diabetics try to compensate by eating protein before sleep or flaxseeds, Apple Cider Vinegar, Red Wine, or waking up in the middle of the night to eat - whatever they can try to compensate but so far none of that works for me. So for now, I can't worry too much about it.

As far as I feel right now, I have a bit of a headache. This was explained by Dr. Simeons to be a need for potassium. I have potassium supplements on hand because one of my diabetes medicines (which may have been Actos) leeched the potassium from me and I would get horrible leg cramps in the middle of the night. Nothing worse than waking up to your calf muscle turning itself into a knot ! Of course, it still hurts the rest of the day just in case you forgot how excruciating it was !

Well, I am excited to see what kind of release I have tomorrow morning. All weight loss is described as "release" which I find interesting. You are releasing fat from your body. I have ketone sticks and in a few days I plan to test to see how much fat I am actually releasing.