Re: diet and sarc

[Guest guest]

Greg,

Kudo's to you my friend! Your will- power to do this is encouraging. I know for me, when I cut out the majority of the dairy foods I so love-- alot of the body pain went away. I have been able to reintroduce some-- but now go with low-fat or non-fat choices. And I had to eliminate the processed cheeses, and dairy products. So, it's "au-natural" for me!

After I'd cut out the dairy, I went "gluten free" and that has been amazing. So many of us have intolerances to wheat products-- if it's "white" forget it-- to many carbs, too many additives, too little nutrition. Again, I saw improvement in some of the arthritis issues, along with the mucus issues in the bronchials. If we want quesadillas or enchiladas, I use the corn tortillas-- and the wheat wraps for sandwiches. When we eat out, generally I'll order a wrap-- instead of a sandwich breads. I haven't graduated to asking for lettuce wraps yet....

The next thing I did was to cut out the caffeine and sodas-- and I noticed another improvement in the arthritis issues, along with the headaches.

The hardest has been to cut the processed sugars and sweets. What works for me is that I will stop at the local homemade candy store-- and get a truffle or a special goodie--- and call it good. I figure if I am craving something, it's better to indulge in a really good piece of candy-- then to go home with the whole box. If it's not here-- I do better.

We're fortunate enough to be caretaking an old heritage apple orchard where some of the trees are 100 yrs old. Some are 80+ and some 60+-- it's the "young" ones that we're losing to winds and root rot. Those oldies are still producing some of the best apples and even tho they have very little bark left, they refuse to die! This year we've set up over 60 qts of homemade applesauce, 36 qts of pears and 20 qts of peaches. We're on our 70th gallon of fresh pressed apple juice-- and I gotta tell you, you cannot buy this in a store-- it is so amazing. Straight from the tree to an oak press to the freezer. We are begging neighbors for freezer space! Most of the apples are varieties that are getting close to extinction, so we are trying to get cuttings to keep them going-- but they don't seem to like that.

We took over the orchard a few yrs back, and it had been ignored for 14 yrs. The blackberry bushes and the wild sweetpeas had wound themself into the canapy of the trees, and we literally had to pull the vines out by hand-- gently so not to break the limbs. Last year we got a freeze the week after they'd bloomed, so we lost the crop. This year has made up 10 fold--- Ymmmm!!! I get to go out and watch my husband work around the orchard-- I make a great "supervisor"! Up until now-- I was able to help, but at least I can sit out there and catch some fresh air, watch the deer and quail, and the jackrabbits. We know we've got at least one bear that has been feasting-- as this year it's been apple bear poop all over the orchard. (Two years ago it was "pear-bear poop!")

Anyway, I digress, -- it was trial and error in making changes in our diet-- but by eliminating the stuff we know isn't good for us, I feel better. I've not lost the weight-- but my focus is on staying as comfortable as I can for as long as I can.

To: Neurosarcoidosis Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 5:45:13 PMSubject: Milestone

Hi Y'all, Several people has asked how I lost 50 of 100 lbs gained on Prednisone while still being on Prednisone. I shared in on facebook and thought I would share my thought processed with all of you and see what feedback I get. Please let me know if you agree or disagree. Greg aka KrumdawgGreg's Lifestyle DietIt has been necessary to radically change my lifestyle and diet due to Prednisone use to control my Neurosarcoidosis. Prednisone use has made me Pre-Diabetic and to have high Blood Pressure and also to have gained approx 100 lbs of body weight.To control the Diabetes and high Blood Pressure is has been necessary to extremely lower the following Sodium, Sugar, and Starch. Now for starch it was necessary to limit myself to 2 starch servings a day (i.e. one piece of bread is one starch serving. To assist in accomplishing this I have been using wraps in place of sandwiches. The wraps are

"Flatout" flatbread I usually get the light wheat. It was brought to my attention when researching a good diet at bestlife.com. These light Flatout s are 90 calories, 8g of net carbs and 0g of sugar.Now for lunch meats I have found that Boreshead has a, low sodium Roast Beef and a Lacy Swiss cheese that is low sodium also. I find these are the lowest that I could find in sodium and sugar and still taste good. Basically you need to choose lifestyle habits and choices that lead towards low starch and low sodium and low sugar food. Heck I make pizzas out the Flatout every Saturday nite using low fat and low sodium cheese and turkey pepperoni. Prior to this change in my eating habits while on Prednisone my blood sugar avg. jumped to over 200 and blood Pressure avg. of 200/115 after two months in this life style change I have lowered the my blood sugar avg. to 82-91 and blood pressure

to 125/85. Blood pressure was still too high and I had to start taking a light blood pressure med. But at least I have lowered my blood sugar and also while doing this in 6 months while still on Prednisone I have dropped over 50 lbs. from almost 300 leaving the hospital and now down to 246.4 this morning which backs up a 249.4 on Monday. I will post more as I think of it. I hope this starts other people on the right path and it is helpful. This lifestyle choice was correct for me. Please check with your primary Doctor to make sure it is right for you. I believe this is a lifestyle choice is the right one. If anyone has questions please message me and I will try answer fully.