Re: trying the no-meds approach!

[Guest guest]

Elva writes:

<< I am on Day Nine of no meds, having weaned myself off of glyburide with

my doctor's assistance ... >>

Good job! I will blather on a bit about my routine, in the hopes that we can

share insights here. I admit that if it's in the house, I will eat it. So I

spend 1-2 hours grocery shopping, scanning every label for nutritional

content. But I don't think you have all the nutritional info on your labels

in Canada yet? Anyway, I subtract the fiber grams from the total

carbohydrate grams and keep that number 15 or less grams per serving. I stay

away from snack crackers and snacks and foods that contain the words

" partially hydrogenated. " I have weaned myself from sweet-tasting things. I

eat mostly gigantic salads. I eat cannonballs (Spanish olives with the pits

in - you can nibble away and make quite a snack out of 5-10 cannonballs). I

eat dill pickles, guacamole, salsa, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans,

nuts, flaxseed (no more than 1/4 cup per day), celery, lean meat, and

low-fat cheese. I eat the lean varieties of beef, chicken breast and ham

(such as Healthy Choice) but no deli meats. I avoid pasta, rice, potatoes,

sweets, junk food. I limit my bread intake and for desserts stick to

low-carb items such as the TCBY Fat-Free Fantasies yogurt, and Good Humor

sugar-freeJello and Jello desserts, as well as limited amounts of apples,

pears, tangerines, oranges, grapefruit, and melons. One rule is: Never drink

what you can eat. I go for the pulp and fiber. I try to graze several times

a day, rather than chow down on 1-2 major meals. A lot of my snacking is

baby carrots, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, and cucumbers, sliced and

dipped in something. I enjoy this eating style and it has really turned my

disease around. I hope this helps!

Susie )

[Guest guest]

Susie, thanks for answering my question about flaxseed. But the important one

you didn't answer -- how specifically does it help diabetes? Or does it?

Vicki

[Guest guest]

Regarding the benefits of flaxseed, I will let the Flax Council of Canada

web site do the talking:

" • Relief from constipation - Eating 50 grams of flaxseed per day (baked

into muffins) helped increase the frequency of bowel movements and the

number of consecutive days with bowel movements in a group of older Canadian

adults.

• A lower risk for heart disease - Total cholesterol levels dropped 9 per

cent and LDL (the " bad " cholesterol) decreased 18% when a group of nine

healthy women ate 50 grams of milled flaxseed a day for four weeks (as flour

or cooked into bread) along with their regular diets, according to a report

from the University of Toronto.

In a similar study with men and women, 50 grams of flaxseed (eaten daily in

muffins) lowered total cholesterol and showed a constant trend of about 11

to 16 per cent lower serum lipids (fat in the blood).

• Cancer prevention - Lignans and alpha-linolenic acid are found abundantly

in flaxseed. Population studies of diet and disease risk suggest an

anticancer role for flaxseed. Long-term studies of flaxseed effects in women

with breast cancer are underway. "

The Canadians also seem to be taking the lead in feeding flaxseed and other

nutritional goldmines to animals to improve the quality of meat and eggs we

humans consume.

Flaxseed is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids (the good kind - most Americans eat

diets too high in Omega-6 and too low in Omega-3 fatty acids). It is also an

excellent source of lignans, which appear to boost the immune system, and

may prove to be a cancer fighter. And it is high in ALA (alpha-linoleic

acid), which the Drs. Eades (diabetes, obesity and nutritional researchers

and authors of " Protein Power " ) and others recommend. This may aid us in

staving off cardiovascular disease, which is so closely linked with type 2

diabetes.

http://www.nutritionsciencenews.com/NSN_backs/Jul_98/diabetes.html has this

to say regarding flaxseed:

" High-fiber diets are uniformly recommended for diabetics. Particularly

important is soluble fiber, including gums, mucilages, pectins and

polysaccharides, all of which can slow the absorption of glucose in the

intestines. However, some plant foods provide synergistic benefits beyond

just inhibiting glucose absorption. A few examples follow.

Flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum): In a 1993 study at the University of

Toronto, five nondiabetic subjects were given a glucose solution along with

plain water or water containing mucilage extracted from flaxseed. The

flaxseed mucilage dose improved glucose metabolism by 27 percent compared to

water. Two other groups were given either plain white bread or bread with 25

percent flaxseed meal. The flaxseed bread improved glucose metabolism by 28

percent compared to plain bread.20 Because the mucilage content of flaxseed

meal is only a few percent, the effect appears to go beyond the simple

inhibition of glucose absorption to the synergistic actions of

phytochemicals throughout the body. Flaxseed, the richest food source of

lignins, also has protein, PUFAs and trace elements, all of which are

beneficial. The daily dose is two tablespoons flaxseed meal powder mixed in

water. "

Susie