Whenever there's good news/bad news I always want the bad news first preferring to end the revelation on an up note. So, the not so good news first.
I had my annual yesterday with the results of my blood work and yes, my cholesterol is still a little high which I don't take meds for, my blood pressure was a little high (it fluctuates) and I don't take meds for that either and my PCP is fine with that, we just keep an eye on those things, thyroid levels good and I do take meds for that, however, my blood sugar level was 120 and anything over 100 is considered pre-diabetic. Last time I had blood work done it was 86, the time before that 108. A blood sugar level of 126 is considered diabetic. Yay me.
Diabetes runs in my family. My maternal grandfather was diabetic and his brothers all died from diabetes related health issues. My maternal aunt was diabetic. It seemed to have skipped my generation until a couple of years ago when my brother achieved the level of pre-diabetes and both my children have high blood sugar and now me. My sister is holding her own.
So dietary changes are in order. Since I don't use sugar, I drink my coffee black, don't drink soda, don't drink sweet tea, don't snack, only have desert in the house less than a fourth of the time, that leaves carbs. Now no more than a half cup serving at a time of corn, potatoes, rice, bread, tortillas, and pasta. Fruit should be limited to berries which have less sugar than tree fruit though I can still have tree fruit, just not a whole peach or banana etc. at one time. I can still have my evening cocktail with vodka and tequila being the best choices as they have the least sugar (so that's good cause that's what I drink) but no more orange juice as a mixer and I have to switch to diet tonic (actually the tonic I use does have a 'light' version but still uses sugar instead of chemical sweeteners, just not as much).
Oh, and I have a vitamin D deficiency which I surely don't understand as I'm outside nearly every day and I don't use sunscreen so she wants me to take a supplement. And of course vitamin D is essential for absorption of calcium so she scheduled a bone density test to see if my osteoporosis (something else I refuse to take a med for) is progressing or what.
Great. Just great. I turned 70 and started falling apart.
So, now, the good stuff.
As I mentioned previously, not one of our 4 pecan trees produced any nuts this year but my neighbor Leonard, who also has several trees, some of which produced, shared some of his with me
And my other neighbor Gary who knows a guy who manages a small pecan orchard and blah blah blah story and he's got a lot that got cracked by the picker (I assume that's a machine that gets them off the ground) and was happy to get rid of some and I came home to find this by my garage door.
More good stuff...Mary Moon sent me some roots of her pine cone lilies that I've been pining for (see what I did there?) and also included in the box was this sweet little feather and...
cookies! Her oatmeal, pecan, raisin, chocolate chip cookies and yes, I am going to eat them, pre-diabetic or not. They aren't that sweet so perfect for me.
And the last bit of good stuff is that I found the jeans I want, Levi's women's 505 straight leg size 6 S, on-line and ordered them and they'll be here Thursday. This style and size is almost impossible to find in stores. Not the style so much as the preferred color and size. And of all the places that came up from my internet search, only Amazon had the style, the preferred color, and my size. The last time I thought I ordered what I wanted, they turned out to be Levi's classic straight leg. Sounds the same right? Wrong. Classic straight leg are stretchy. So now I'll have two pair of intact jeans. My other two are torn out at the knee or just above and while people pay good money to buy jeans already torn out at the knee or just above, I'm not one of them. I get my torn out jeans the old fashioned way, by wearing them out.
Might I suggest that you buy two pair. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, both G and I have pre-diabetes. Mine vanishes when I cut out the carbs as does G's. According to G, a blood level lower than 140 is normal. 110 to 120 is fasting. He googled `blood sugar levels`.
Ooh boy. Well, you surely have fewer health problems than most people our age. It's just the way of it, isn't it? And everyone I know who has been tested for Vit D has levels which are considered too low. Me too. My husband too. And god knows we spend plenty of time outside and no, I don't wear much sunscreen either. So WTF?
ReplyDeleteEh, I just take a supplement. Whatever.
So glad the package got there. So glad the cookies are still edible. I'm glad you like them! And let's hope the pine cone lilies adapt to Texas as well as your rose adapted to Florida!
Your good news out weighs the bad. We usually have tons of pecans from our trees but this year was strange. We had no pecans at all and something else, no webworms. David said this is the first time in 45 years that the trees didn't produce pecans. Cut the pasta, potatoes and bread from your diet and any processed foods like crackers and your sugar will fall back to the 70's and 80's fasting drawn. I did the same thing, I cut processed foods and sugar and now I have great fasting sugar draws and low A1C's of 5.2. I have to take Vit-D for Lupus because I can't be out in the sun for more than 5 minutes or I become ill so I take the pills. I take blood pressure drugs and a statin and that's it.
ReplyDeleteOh man, do everything you can to back away from diabetes!!! It is the "holy shit" of diseases! Do a keto diet for a while- then do extreme keto for a while. Glad you found the perfect pair of levis- it's tricky out there trying to find the perfect pair. I gave up years ago.
ReplyDeleteyeah, cutting carbs which is about the only thing available for me since I don't need to lose weight, don't eat or drink sugary things, already get plenty of exercise so carbs it is.
DeleteI'm so sorry about the diabetes! Hopefully you can manage it well with diet, but this seems very insulting to me. You get plenty of exercise, are trim, eat reasonably well. What the actual heck? I guess we can't outrun our genes (which means I should take extra care of my heart). I've been taking a Vitamin D/Calcium supplement for years - I guess it was low at some point? I had osteoarthritis, so maybe I wanted to makes sure my bones were strong? It's been too long now - just part of the routine. I take it at night, with dinner.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy you got pecans, but I'm especially glad you got cookies! My mom used to make some that were similar - she called them Cowboy Cookies. Yum!
pine and pining - haha
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to read about your health issues, especially the Vitamin D deficiency. With all the time you spend in the sun and at the latitude where Vitamin D is produced by sunlight even in winter, it seems so unusual. I have Vitamin D deficiency and osteoporosis, and sunlight up here at 41 degrees north just won't do it. I do hope you can manage your Diabetes with dietary changes. Please take care there and stay safe and as healthy as you can. Nice pecans, feather, and new jeans!
ReplyDeletewell, I'm not diabetic yet but do plan on eating less carbs. and yeah the vitamin D deficiency surprised me too.
DeleteI agree -- buy two pair of those jeans! Redundancy is a wondertul thing -- except when it comes to sugar, I guess. I need to pay more attention to my sugar intake, that's for sure. Maybe I'll start tomorrow. Well, or whenever I finish the orange juice.
ReplyDeleteI totally support your refusal to take meds for warding off osteoporosis. We all have some degree of bone loss as we age, and I did try the generic for Fosomax, very small dose, for a while at two doctors' strong recommendation, to avoid osteoporosis.
ReplyDeleteThe side effects were not worth living through, and I went off it and refused to try any other idea. In fact I don't go back to the doctor, the endocrinologist, who pushed me, because her only other idea was more meds. Nooooo. We're pretty much guinea pigs for these fairly new drugs, and they are very very powerful. My entire digestive system was hideously messed up for two solid years. Finally when it was all out of my system, I felt well and just fine, the way I always used to. So don't do it! you're already active enough and doing a lot of resistance work which should keep your bones working just fine. I have spoke! Now I'm very well, doing fine, and in my 80s. Sometimes doctors go by the statistics rather than by the patient.
I took Fosamax for about 2 years before there was a generic and it was expensive even getting it from Canada. Then I stopped because I wanted to get some dental work done and I met a lady who suffered from that horrible side effect of losing the bone in your jaw. I never took it after that. also researched how it works which is bullshit as it just prevents your body from breaking down old weak bone to be replaced with new strong bone, so in essence, the med increases the density of your bone but it is old weak bone and people who had been taking the med still had hip fractures...duh. so I joined a gym and worked out for 7 years to increase my muscle strength to protect my bones. I don't do the gym thing anymore, yoga instead though I do have a pair of 10 pound weights, and I stay active.
DeleteBuy more jeans!!!! They'll do something bad to them and then there won't be anymore. If I get something I really like, I buy another one. Finding jeans you like is just hell. For some reason the fashion gods decided all women's pants must be full of spandex, and I hate the way it feels. Finally bought a pair of men's just in case I ended up in cold weather somewhere. Where did you get yours? I would really like a pair that fits better. Sorry about the elevated sugar levels - so far, I'm good, but at my age it will always be something and it will never be good.
ReplyDeleteA Vitamin D deficiency and pre-diabetes both seem surprising for you, given your healthy body weight and all the time you spend outdoors working hard! But I guess some of it may be genetic, as you said. We had pinecone lilies at our house in Florida when I was growing up -- they're very cool plants!
ReplyDeleteyeah, it all surprised me too.
DeleteThank goodness for the good stuff because the bad stuff sucks. You will handle this well though. By the sounds of it.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with keeping your blood sugar down. My husband is diabetic--skinny as a rail, so it was a real shocker for us. He turned 70 on day and the next day was a dr's appt. blood sugar was off the charts. Like you, diabetes runs in my family (maternal grandfather died from it, two maternal aunts had it and a maternal uncle had it, and my mother had the poor circulation part of the disease). I wholeheartedly agree with your refusal to take certain meds for your physical conditions. I quit taking all sorts of heart meds because they were making me ill (felt like I was being poisoned) and tests done showed that the meds only improved my heart by 5%--not worth the side effects/illness, for sure. Take care!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't take cholesterol meds for several reasons...one, doctors are constantly changing what they think is a safe amount, two, cholesterol is connected to memory, three, it's not the amount of cholesterol in your blood so much as if your veins and arteries are inflamed which is what makes it stick, and four, I don't have any heart disease. I had a complete cardiology workup 3 years ago and got flying colors, no blockages at all and my cholesterol has been a little high for decades. I don't take the osteoporosis meds because they don't really work and the side effects can be heinous. Also there are other ways to protect your bones.
DeleteOh goodness, we have so many of the same medical issues (and I turned 70 this year). I do take meds for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, my thyroid, and calcium and vitamin D for my bones, but luckily no high blood sugar (yet). I had surgery this year (pituitary tumor - benign), a colonoscopy, a mammogram (and followup ultrasound - benign) AND bone density test. I do say that getting older is not for sissies! I have spent a lot of time this year going to doctor appointments. Ugh! and of course, the COVID worries! I am not as petite as you but I do walk everyday and watch what I eat.
ReplyDeleteHoping for a happy, healthy 2021 for all of us!
I don't take calcium because I can't swallow the pills and the liquid stuff is too expensive. I already take one outrageously expensive med, eliquis for the afib. plus I'm not convinced the body really absorbs whatever is in the calcium supplement. so I just eat a piece of cheese every day and lots of calcium green vegs and calcium enriched rice drink (milk is nasty). and my blood pressure fluctuates. it's always good in the dentist chair (go figure) but a little high at the doctor's office. I trust my doctor will be more insistent on meds if things get dangerously high.
DeleteI did not get meds until I turned 72. And then it was for cholesterol and for high BP. Still working on it. I take Vitamin D even though I am outside a lot. It seems I just am not getting enough. Love you neighbors gifts and glad you found comfortable jeans!
ReplyDelete