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Diabetic Social Networks, Forums and Discussion Websites

Over the last several years I have found and joined many Diabetic Websites. Mydiablog is a new Social Networking website where people can go and ask questions or post discussions topics related to diabetes. David Mendosa wrote a post about the site and I followed the link and joined. I join most websites similar to this one when I find them online. I don’t always participate or give advice or tell my story.  Some places I find I really don’t feel to comfortable joining in the discussions.

A while back the creator of Mydiablog asked us bloggers who joined the website to post a review of the website. So I decided to not only due a review of his website but decided to add a page on my website for people needing a place to learn and discuss

Diabetic questions and concerns.

Some of these websites have lots of information for you to research diabetes. Some are just social networks with little or no information other than what’s discussed in the sites blogs or discussions groups. Some have live chat rooms and some you have to post a question and over several days people will respond with there opinions.

Some opinions are good and some not so good. You have to read what people are saying and with your knowledge of the subject matter at hand, have to decide for yourself what’s good and what’s bad.

If I post on these websites, I usually will post what I believe has helped me with controlling my blood sugar. I may join other discussions but usually only respond to people looking for help with controlling their blood sugar. Most of the people I post my story to are either newly diagnosed or have been struggling for years and have not been able to control their blood sugar. Some were diagnosed years before and when complications set in start looking for help.  These are the sites I found so far where people can join and discuss diabetic related topics. All are free to join and I don’t really recommend one over the other. Of all the sites here I spent most of my time trying to reach out and help people on Diabetic Connect.

Diabetic Connect  http://www.diabeticconnect.com/discussions?by=newest

I joined this website over a year ago. I regularly post here every week. There are lots of good people here who will try and help anyone who is looking. Some have been around for a long time and some have just joined. This is where I spend most of my time and efforts.

Dlife  http://www.dlife.com/diabetes-forum/

This is the first place I joined and started posting my story about what I believe has helped me the most. I spent about a year here posting mostly in the Introduce Yourself section of their Forum.  I used to spend like 3-5 hours everyday reading and writing and posting. Then one day I had some issues with some of the moderators and found it was better for me to just move on than to stay there and fight with the moderators. I recently went there to visit and took a look at the Forum. It was like a ghost town.  There used to be several new members logging on everyday and lots of discussions going on, now I seen maybe 1 or 2 new member for the week and only a couple of people participating in the discussions. I thought that maybe one day I might return and post to some new people looking for help. But since I visited there I don’t think they have enough people there to help. Probley will not go back.

Diabetic Rockstar.

I took out the link to this site because it no longer is valid. I joined here shortly after joining Dlife. It was a site mostly with young type 1 diabetics. I liked the site and would go there once in a while to see what was going on or what was new with the site. Christopher Thomas founded the site and I thought it was well done. I recently tried to follow my bookmark and there is a totally different website there. Its still about diabetes but not the same as it was. Its no longer I discussion website.

Diabetic Diet Secrets http://www.diabetic-diet-secrets.com/

I joined this website about a year ago.  Toma Grubb developed this site. When you join he has a free e-book you can download. I think some of the stuff he writes about is a little extreme but most of it is good advice and he has lots of info if you’re new to diabetes. I would recommend joining and reading as much as you can. I did. I hardly go there now. He doesn’t have a lot of traffic and I was spending a lot of time on Diabetic Connect so I will visit once in a while and that’s about it.

Diabetes daily http://www.diabetesdaily.com/forum/

I joined this website some time ago. I don’t think I even finished my profile there. I spent several days looking around and never even posted a comment there. I recommend you visit and if you like what you read you can always join in. I just never really felt comfortable there. No particular reason I can think of. Maybe I was just busy with Diabetic Connect and didn’t have the time.

Diabetes forum http://www.diabetesforum.com/forum.php

I joined here a while ago. I didn’t really feel to comfortable posting there and spent a few weeks going their reading posts and discussions. I don’t think I ever posted anything in the discussions there. Hardly ever go there. I recommend you visit and see if you fit in or not.

Endocrineweb http://www.endocrineweb.com/community/type-2-diabetes

This site has a discussion forum. I joined a while back and may have posted some comments. I spent a few days going there reading posts in the discussions section and hardly ever go there now.

Diabetic Social Network http://diabetic-social-network.com/index.php

This was a new diabetic social network. It got about 100 members and died. I used to go there everyday and read whatever someone was posting.  It was the first site I joined that had live chat room or you could chat with any member who was logged on. I’m not one for the chat room scene much. Most of the time when I go to websites with live chat I will go invisible or not log in.  Anyway the site is still there the last time I checked but the owner no longer moderates the site and the spammers have taken over. I liked the site but when the spammers took over I stopped going there.

MyDiaBlog http://www.mydiablog.com/

This is another new diabetic social networking site I joined last winter or early spring. There is a live chat room or you can chat live with other members who are logged on. David Mendosa blogged about this site when it first came online. That’s how I found out about it. I joined and it has grown to about 400 members so far. There has been some issues with the site lately but the owner has decided to continue supporting the site for now. I recently volunteered to help moderate the site. So I will be logging on most days checking to see if there is any moderating to do. The owner and moderators would like for this site to take off and become popular. So if you like live discussions or chatting live with other members I would recommend you join and look around. There are a lot of good people here trying to make the site successful. I’ll probley be logged on most days after work or mornings on the weekends. Hope to see you there.

Medhelp http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Diabetes—Adult-Type-II/show/46

This is another website were they have discussion groups.  I spent a few days here reading some discussions and may have posted here. I don’t visit here anymore but you maybe interested in what the site has to offer,

Sparkpeople http://www.sparkpeople.com

This isn’t really a diabetic website. But they have several sparkteams or groups dedicated to low carb cooking and diabetes. I am a member of several of these groups. Sparpeople also has a recipe analyzer that I use when figuring out how many carbs fats protein and stuff is in the foods I make. The nutrition labels you see posted with my recipes are done there. They also have a nutrient analyzer where you can input all the foods you eat and it will break down the carbs fats and proteins percentages of what you eat. It will even let you add your recipes to the analyzer.  I use it all the time. I need to spend some time on there soon so I can plan my meals so I know how many calories I’m eating. I have been gaining weight lately and want to start monitoring what I eat. Need to cut back somewhere and the analyzer will help me to determine serving sizes. This is what I use. You can always go there to see if it may help you also.

After being diagnosed I stopped eating pasta because it spiked my blood sugar more than what I liked. 100 plus points most of the time after 2 hours. Several months ago I tried the Dreamfield brand of pasta. I found if I cooked it according to the instructions, it’s half raw and did not spike my blood sugar. I found that if I cooked it till it was done, it didn’t spike my blood sugar too much. But if I over cook it, it will spike my blood sugar a lot. Biggest problem is it’s hard to determine if it is just right or over cooked.  That’s why I started to make my own pasta with soy flour.

This is the pasta machine I use. My mother bought it for me like 15 years ago. Pasta was cheap back then. I used to buy 5 lbs for $1.00.  A few weeks ago I got it out of the Attic and put it to use.

For the last several weeks I have been eating soy noodles.  I tried them with just margarine, salt and grated cheese.  Well they didn’t taste to good at all.  They were edible, but just barely.

That week I found at Save a Lots a no sugar added pasta sauce made by Hunts. It has only 6 carbs per ½ cup serving.  4 net carbs after you subtract the fiber. It tastes pretty good. When added to the soy noodles along with some hot sauce and grated cheese the dish tasted a whole lot better.  

This is the hot sauce I use most of the time. You can buy it, in most Oriental grocery stores. They also sell it in Wal-Mart. Just have to make sure it’s the one from Rosemead Ca. I bought it once in an Oriental store and it was made somewhere else and wasn’t as good. If you don’t like hot and spicy hot sauce then don’t buy it.

I tried experimenting a little bit and for the second batch and I added a ¼ cup of whole-wheat flour. It added a little bit to the texture without it spiking my blood sugar. For the third batch I tried adding ½ cup whole-wheat flour. I found that it spiked my blood sugar a little bit, so I now use just ¼ cup of the whole-wheat flour.

1 ½ cups of soy flour
¼ cup of whole wheat Flour.
Beat 2 eggs add 1-teaspoon oil with 1 oz of water
Add to flour and mix.
The machine I use does all the mixing for me.

The recipe above makes 5 cups of dried  pasta. I now make two batches at a time and only have to make them twice a month.  The last time I made soy noodles I managed to make 4 batches.  I’m getting better working the machine.  I store them in the refrigerator.

Soy noodles boiled

Add the low carb sauce

Throw on some cheese

Microwave one minute and eat. Taste pretty good.

Greek Yogurt Ice Cream

Recently I found a low carb fat free Greek yogurt.  The Greek Gods brand tasted good but was high in fat.

I now make my ice cream with the no fat Chobani Greek Yogurt.

I just blend one cup of nut milk with one cup of yogurt add 2-3 scoops of protein powder with a tablespoon of peanut butter and add to ice cream machine. I think it taste pretty good. If using chocolate protein powder I will add I tablespoon of sugar free chocolate syrup. 

1 cup Vanilla Peanut Butter Ice Cream Made with Greek Yogurt.

Pumpkin Pie

I added the following pictures to my pumpkin pie recipe page. It tastes as good as it looks.

I also made Mrs. Atkins Pumpkin Cheese Cake. It also tasted good. But it has a lot of fat. I found it tasted similar to the pumpkin pie and will probley not make it again. I will stay with the pumpkin pie.

Chana Dal

Me and the Wife spent the last 2 weeks of August in Massachusetts in the Berkshire Area. It’s not to far from Albany, New York. The wife likes to shop the Oriental Stores there in Albany. They have several nice stores on Central Ave.  While shopping there I stopped by an India Store in between the Oriental Stores. 

I ran out of Chana Dal several months ago and couldn’t find it for a good price on line. I was paying $4.00 for a 2-pound bag. The store I was buying it from closed and I couldn’t find a place to buy it cheap.

At the India store in Albany I couldn’t find the price for Chana Dal. Expecting it was going to cost me some money, I had the wife ask the guy at the store how much it cost. When he said $4.00 for a 4-pound bag I couldn’t believe it. He showed me the place where the price was posted and sure enough it was only $4.00. A dollar a pound. The wife made me buy 5 bags. I figure it should last a year or so.  I have priced it on line and found it way to expensive to buy.

If you can find an India store, close by where you live I recommend you buy it there.  I also found that a lot of the spices, that are needed to make it by the recipes posted on David Mendosa’s website are cheap there also. I found that you can buy a large bag of spices for the same price you would buy a small amount in any other store or supermarket.

Chana Dal Kabuli

I find its great to use as a dip for my vegetables. I really don’t like vegetables too much and sometimes have to force myself to eat them. But when dipped in the Chana Dal they taste great. Broccoli and cauliflower both taste great when added to my Chana Dal.  I also add 1-2 tablespoons of my favorite hot sauce with a little cheese before I heat it up in the microwave. When hot I mix it all together and then add my vegetables.

Chana Dal Kabuli with Hot Sauce, Cheese and Broccoli. Taste great.

The recipe I use for dipping, or I eat it like soup is this one on Mendosa’s website.  http://mendosa.com/chanarecipes.htm. The Kabuli recipe. I puree all the Chana Dal.  Other wise I make it pretty much like the recipe as posted.

I added a couple of pages to my blog. I scanned my blood sugar readings into the computer and decided to post them by years.  I wanted to show how quick my blood sugar dropped after being diagnosed. I didn’t know what I’m doing. Still don’t. But whatever I’m doing is working. I just posted the proof.

I don’t know if it was the Metformin, low carb vegetables, drinking 8 glasses of water, adding 2-3 ounces of vinegar to my salad or what. All I know is my numbers dropped down is a very short amount of time.

At the top of the first chart, it was on 2/19/09 when I had my blood drawn. That day my blood sugar was 366. On 2/26/09 was when they took my blood sugar reading at the urgent care clinic. It was 281. On 3/1/09 was when I bought my first meter and starting testing. That night it was 228.

At first I was testing before and two hours after eating. My numbers were very high and I wanted to see if they were coming back down after 2 hours. I wasn’t interested in the peaks at that time.

After joining Dlife my numbers had been pretty good for some time and I was starting to wonder about the picks. How high was my blood sugar going. There is a guy on Dlife who refers people to his blog. He has written a lot about testing.  I read his blog for a couple of days and found it very good. He has a lot of useful information. Its one of the websites you can access here on my blog roll for Diabetic Websites. He tells people to find their peak and test then. So for the last year, I have been testing before and 1 hour after eating.

The charts on the page don’t look to good and are hard to read. Each chart has 4 weeks of testing. If you click the mouse over the chart you will get a lot better view of my readings. You can even zoom up and get a real close view if you want. You have to hit the browser back button to get back to my blog to look at another chart. 

The reason for posting them is to show how fast, numbers can come down when you eat the right diet. I cut starchy carbs down to almost nothing.  Lately I have been trying new foods and some day hope to be able to add whole grain foods and brown or wild rice. Time will tell. By now, most people who read my blog should know what I eat.  I’m currently working on setting up menus on Sparkpeople.  I would like to lose a few pounds and need to pay attention to how many calories I consume.  If I ever finish, maybe I can post them also.

I uploaded a blank chart I use and put a link to it. Just click on the green text. Blood Sugar Chart Blank  It’s even in color. I print it out in black and white. Most printers have an option to use only blank ink. If you like the chart I use, you can print it from your browser. I printed a copy using the Microsoft Internet Explorer.

I started writing this for an intro to my blood sugar readings pages I just posted and it doesn’t seem to fit that purpose. So I decided to post it by itself. Its long and probley boring, but I spent several hours writing it, so here it is. 

 On 2/19/09 I went for a physical. I haven’t had one in about 10 years, so I made an appointment and went to have a physical. During the visit everything seemed fine. I asked the Doctor for a list of tests I wanted and after the appointment I went to have my labs done. I made a morning appointment and fasted the night before because I was hoping to get labs done. I wanted my cholesterol levels checked so I fasted. That day I told the doctor that I feel great. Couldn’t feel better. I made another appointment for a follow up on my physical and labs in 2 weeks.

The following week on Wednesday I happen to check our cell phone, which is also our home phone number. To my surprise it had lots and lots of missed calls and voice mail. I started to listen to the voicemails and was surprised it was the doctor’s office. On Monday they called my house every 30 – 60 minutes. Just left a message to call the doctors office. On Tuesday and Wednesday they also left 5-6 messages through out the day to contact the doctor’s office. Well I was starting to get scared. I had no idea what was wrong. Didn’t know what happening. In 3 days I got like 20-30 calls to call the doctors office. I used to smoke. Smoked like 20 years.  In 1992 I finally quit smoking. But I read somewhere that even if you quit; you can still get lung cancer someday. The risk goes down but never to zero. Lung cancer is a death sentence to most that get it.

It was a little after 5pm and I called the doctors office right away.  I was told the office was closed and would have to call back between normal business hours. I was scared and didn’t know what to do. So the next morning I called the doctors office from work at lunchtime. I work in a prison-teaching inmates, so I waited till lunchtime. So before I ate I called the doctors office. The receptionist said I would have to talk with the nurse. So I gave her my work number and extension and waited for her to call me back.

While waiting for the nurse, I ate my lunch. I was hungry and decided to eat while waiting for the call.  When the phone rang I was totally clueless to what was wrong with me. She told me that my blood sugar was very very high and I should go to the emergency room right away. Said I was at risk for going into a Diabetic Coma. She told me not to eat anything with sugar or to drink any soda or juice. I told her that she should have called back about 30 minutes earlier. I just drank like 20 ounces of orange juice. For lunch I ate a tuna fish or chicken salad sandwich and drank a big container of orange juice everyday. 

When I was told that I had Diabetes it was a big relief. I didn’t know much about diabetes but I figured people took meds and lived for lots of years with the disease.  I didn’t have cancer. Cancer is a death sentence and people usually die within a year or two of being diagnosed.  I was kind of glad I had diabetes. I figured it was manageable.

I felt fine and didn’t feel like I had to go to the emergency room. I didn’t want to have to cancel my class or make a big fuss at work. So I decided to go to urgent care at the clinic where my doctor worked after work. The nurse said she would make arrangements and that they would be expecting me when I got there.

When I arrived they had no clue to why I was there. I had to tell the receptionist, the nurse and the doctor my story why I was there. After waiting 30-40 minutes I got to see the nurse. She took my blood sugar and it was 281. I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink for 5 hours. I was then left alone in the exam room for about an hour.

Finally a doctor came in to see me. Told me I was diabetic. He then went on to explain about how diabetic meds worked. Talked about 20 min how they squeezed the pancreas and forced the pancreas to produce more insulin. He told me that eventually the pancreas will give out and I will have to eventually take insulin. I asked him if I was going to need a meter to test my blood and he said that it was not necessary at this time. Then he said that my blood pressure may be damaging my kidneys and wanted me to take blood pressure and cholesterol drugs to lower them.

I asked if I could try diet to control blood pressure and cholesterol.  He said that my levels were so high that I needed to get them down as fast as possible and said I really needed to take the meds. When I asked if I could maybe try diet when I got my numbers down, he seemed to think that it would not be possible.  I said I would try someday anyway and he didn’t look like it could be done. I decided to take the meds. I figured I would be taking meds to control the blood sugar for the rest of my life, why not take the blood pressure and cholesterol drugs until my numbers dropped. I figured I would bring it up again with my regular doctor sometime in the future. 

Well the doctor finally left and again I was left in the room for more than an hour. Finally he came back and gave me the prescriptions. On the way home I stopped by the pharmacy and got a bag full of drugs. I read all the direction and they said to take them in the morning. Since it was around 9:00pm I figured to finish the beers in the frig and got something to eat. I was starving. Hadn’t had anything since lunch.  I sat watching TV eating my supper and drinking my beers. It felt like my last supper. I was scared, knew very little about diabetes and didn’t know what my future was going to be like. Figured I was drinking the last beers I would every drink.

Well for several days I researched the Internet about diabetes. Years ago, I found an article about the Glycemic Index. I saved the page because I found the article interesting and figured to someday do more research about the diet. At the time I was more interested to losing weight than diabetes. So the first place I went was to David Mendosa’s website.  I found it was all about diabetes. I read for hours and hours. I then found a site by Julia Hanf and signed up for her emails.  This is where I got started on how to control my blood sugar. If you read the rest of my website you already know the rest of the story.

That Sunday I was in Wal-Mart to buy something and stopped by the section that sold meters. From everything I read on the Internet, it seemed like I should be testing before and after I eat. I looked at all the meters. I found that the ReliOn blood glucose meter was only 9 dollars. A box of 50 strips cost only twenty. So I purchase a meter and a box of test strips and started to test my blood sugar. 

The following week when I seen my doctor he didn’t seem to think my progress was too good. The doctor said I didn’t need to test but when he seen I was testing he was real interested in the readings. I thought I was doing well. I had maybe 5 days of results and it seemed the numbers were dropping but the doctor didn’t seem like, he liked my progress so far. I just looked at my chart for that week and maybe the doctor was right. But I just started testing and taking the drugs. Figured it was going to take some time to get them under control.

 When I first seem the doctor he looked pissed off at me. He wasn’t happy about me going to urgent care. Said some remark about it.  When I asked if someday, when my numbers come down, if I could stop taking the meds for blood pressure and cholesterol. He had a fit, called me a diabetic like it was a dirty word and ranted about how I was going to have to keep taking the meds. I already wasn’t too happy with him and I decided that he was only going to be temporary at best.

When first diagnosed, one of the first websites I found was by Julia Hanf. She sells a supplement that she claims to cure diabetes. Or at least, to get it under control. She claims she cured her husband. She also sells some e-books. I almost bought her e-books but didn’t. I was desperate and looking for information. I signed up for her e-mails. It didn’t cost anything for the e-mails. There free. I don’t like buying on the Internet. If I seen her books in a store, I may have bought them. 

The only book I have bought to date was Diabetes for Dummies. Pocket Edition.  I bought it in Wal-Mart for $4.24. I was desperate and bought the book. I read and referred to the book a lot when first diagnosed.  It was a lot cheaper than what Julia was selling.

For over a year I have been getting her e-mails. I get about 3 a week. They’re all about buying her supplements, but she does give lots of information about diabetes and the nutrients in her supplements. Well after going to her website, I got the idea to make a list of all the ingredients or nutrients in her supplements.  I Googled them one at a time. I made a list of the nutrients and wrote what foods contained them.  I decided I would eat the foods that contained them nutrients. I don’t eat everything here. There’s lots of food here I don’t like. But there are lots I do like and some I force myself to eat.

The Vitamin K wasn’t in her supplements. A while ago, when I joined Diabetic Diet Secrets I viewed a video about the benefits of Vitamin K and added it to this list.

She recently began selling a supplement for Diabetic Neuropathy. I made a list of the Vitamins and nutrients in that also. I haven’t completed it yet. It’s still a work in progress. She also wrote an e-book she gives away for free. Click on the colored text.  How To Reduce And Eliminate Your Neuropathy. I have a copy on my computer. I read the book and thought it was well done. You may have to find some way of getting rid of her e-mails. I don’t mind her sending them to me. I like reading them sometimes. It’s my way of saying thank you for the info. Some day I plan on sending her an e-mail thanking her for all that she has done for me.

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Nutrients & Foods

Alpha Lipoid Acid

              A) Foods containing alpha lipoid acid are spinach, broccoli, peas, brussel sprouts and rice bran.

Chromium

         A) Few foods are rich sources of chromium in the Western diet, the best being organ meats, mushrooms, wheat germ, broccoli and processed meats.

Zinc

             A) Your body absorbs 20 – 40% of the zinc present in food. Zinc from animal foods like red meat, fish, and poultry, is more readily absorbed by the body than zinc from plant foods. Zinc is best absorbed when taken with a meal that contains protein. The best sources of zinc are oysters (richest source), red meats, poultry, cheese (ricotta, Swiss, gouda), shrimp, crab, and other shellfish. Other good, though less easily absorbed, sources of zinc include legumes (especially lima beans, black-eyed peas, pinto beans, soybeans, peanuts), whole grains, miso, tofu, brewer’s yeast, cooked greens, mushrooms, green beans, tahini, and pumpkin, and sunflower seeds.

Biotin

             A)Biotin can be found in brewer’s yeast; cooked eggs, especially egg yolk; sardines; nuts (almonds, peanuts, pecans, walnuts) and nut butters; soybeans; other legumes (beans, black-eyed peas, peanuts); whole grains; cauliflower; bananas; and mushrooms. Raw egg whites contain a protein called Avidin that interferes with the body’s absorption of biotin. Food-processing techniques can destroy biotin. Less-processed versions of the foods listed above will contain more biotin.

Cinnamon

             A) Bought 5 pounds when I bought the TVP. Got it cheap. Use it a lot in my cakes and TVP oatmeal. I added ½ teaspoon to my protein drink in the morning for about 2 months. Didn’t see any benefit to my blood sugar reading so now I just use it as a spice when called for in a recipe.

Fenugreek

             A) Bought five pounds of it when I bought the TVP. Got it cheap. I add a little to my chana dal. Recently have been making tea out of it. It’s the first thing I added to my diet in a long time, that I have noticed improved blood sugar results after using.  I grind in a coffee grinder several times and mix about 20 grams of fenugreek seed to 2 quarts of boiling water. Strain it and store in the refrigerator. I have been adding the leftover seeds to my chocolate soy cake and pancakes. I mix it with regular or green tea. Sometimes I add a teaspoon to my tea at work. When I finish my tea, I get to eat the seeds.

Banaba leaves    

Banaba, also known as Crepe Myrtle, Queen’s Flower and Pride of India

             A) Haven’t found it yet. The wife is from the Philippines. She said it’s cheap there. She was on vacation when I was diagnosed. I didn’t say anything to her when she was over there. She said she could of brought it home with her. She went back there again and is due to come home in July.  She said she is going to buy some. Said she is buying some bitter melon tea also. Can’t wait. I’m also getting tired of the doing the dishes and laundry.

Bitter Melon

             A) The wife uses it all the time. Buys it at the oriental store. She made me some. It’s hard to eat. I was thinking about dehydrating it and making a tea out of it. Found some bitter melon tea in a Philippine store while on vacation. Tasted pretty good. Not sure if it did anything for my blood sugar. Recently found some dehydrated in a Vietnamese store. Been making tea out of it. I have been mixing it with my fenugreek tea.

Gymnema

           A) Haven’t found it yet

Ayurvedic

          A)    Haven’t found it yet.

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Vitamin K

       A)Excellent sources of vitamin K include: spinach, Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, green beans, asparagus, broccoli, kale and mustard greens. Very good sources include green peas and carrots.

This is the ice cream machine I use. I bought it at Aldi’s for $20.00 last year. I tried making ice cream and wasn’t to impressed with it. I couldn’t find a low sat-fat, low carb recipe that I liked.  I tried making ice cream with tofu and I didn’t make any ice cream for a long time.

About a month ago, I joined Fast Track to Fat Loss. It’s a website for people who want to lose weight. You can join for free. They call it the silver membership. They have a gold membership but it’s too expensive for me. Anyway they have a product called Protein Freeze. It’s just a protein powder mix. They make all kinds of things with it. They mix it with water and peanut butter in a blender and freeze it. It’s supposed to be like ice cream.

I use the EAS 100% Whey protein powder shake mix. It cost a lot less then the Protein Freeze they use. They want $35.00 for a 3 lb container. I buy 5 lbs for $28,00 at Bjs. There protein mix has twice as much carbs in it also. I don’t recommend you buy their Protein Freeze. I figure you can use any brand. It’s the peanut butter than makes it come out so good.

I watched another video on there website and learned about Probiotics. She made a protein shake with Greek yogurt and the protein freeze. So when I found some Greek yogurt in a local grocery, I decide to try and make some ice cream. I have been making this for several weeks now. One serving is about 1-cup.  The recipe makes 3 cups.

They say that the Greek yogurt has a funny taste to it and many people don’t like it. I found this recipe I like very much, but if you don’t like Greek yogurt, the other ice cream recipe is also very good. I recommend it over the Greek yogurt. It taste a lot like peanut butter ice cream. I love them both. I found these recipes make very good ice cream. I like them a lot. The peanut butter does something to the ice cream. It gives it the ice cream texture somehow. 

The only problems with the ice cream maker is that I make 3 serving and have little cups I put it in and put them in the freezer. I found that they freeze up pretty good. But if you take them out of the freezer 30 minutes before eating they soften up real good. Today I put one in the microwave for 10 seconds and it was soft enough to eat.

Another problem with the machine is that about half of a serving sticks to the side of the machine. After making the ice cream, I store 2 serving in the freezer and eat one serving out of the machine.  Have to wait for about an hour or so for the ice cream to melt in order to finish it.

The machine is otherwise very easy to use. You just freeze the bowl. Take it out of the freezer and assemble the machine, turn on and pour the ingredients into it. Very easy to use.  No ice or salt. I just bought a second one. Recommend it highly.

I posted the recipes on there own page in the recipe section.

I found that I could eat 2 cups and they don’t spike my blood sugar. I have to force myself to eat one serving at a time because I don’t want to gain any weight.  I now eat ice cream once a day. Usually with supper. I think there great. I thought I had to give up foods like cake, ice cream, pancakes and waffles for good. I’m very happy to be able to eat all of them now. Low carb versions anyway.

I have been making pancakes and waffles with the soy flour. I follow recipes in the Joy of Cooking cookbook. I replaced the flour with soy flour and sugar with splenda. I also use my homemade nut milks. Otherwise I follow the basic recipes.

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Lately I have been adding about 1 cup of the nut pulp, I have leftover from making the nut milks.  It has been working out just fine. I also made the waffles with Olive oil instead of butter and I don’t think there as good as making them with butter. I figure next time I make them, I will use margarine and see how they come out.

I found that I can eat a pretty good size serving and they haven’t spiked my blood sugar. I try and limit the serving size because of the calories. I have to watch what I eat so I don’t gain any weight. 

I have put sugar free maple syrup or sugar free grape/blackberry jam on them and they taste great. At least I think so. I also eat them plain with nothing on them and there good that way also.

I found that spraying the waffle iron or pan with a no-stick cooking spray helps keeping them from sticking to the pan or waffle maker. I use a fat free, calorie free and carb free cooking spray. Its made from canola oil. Will have to buy some more soon. I also use it on the bottom of the pan I make my soy cakes with.

I posted the recipes on there own page in the recipe section.

I highly recommend making them. I think they taste great and they don’t spike my blood sugar. There well worth the effort. I eat a serving or two when I make them and bag and refrigerate the rest. I eat one or two with lunch or super.

I’m thinking about adding them to my breakfast. Sometimes the protein shake leaves me hungry after an hour or so.  Will have to see how my blood sugar is after eating them in the morning.  I stopped eating foods in the morning because of the big spikes I got in the morning after eating.  I’m thinking that maybe I can start to experiment a little since my last 4 A1C’s have all been under 6.

This morning I got up late and my blood sugar was 98. Liver dump. I didn’t have to work today. On days I work, I get up early and my blood sugar is usually between 75-85. On weekends I get up later and my blood sugar will be higher. Anyway this morning I had my protein drink and one big pancake with sugar free blackberry jam and one hour later my blood sugar was 109. I figure I’m eating pancakes or waffles in the morning from now on. Will have to follow my meter.

I recently ordered 50 lbs of soy flour. I started to make my TVP cakes with it. I replaced the TVP with soy flour and the cakes have come out pretty good so far. I still need to make more things with it, but so far its been working fine. I read somewhere that it can’t be used to make bread. But there’s still lots of foods, that I’m going to try and make with soy flour, instead of regular or whole grain flour.

I posted “This is what I do” when setting up this blog. I wanted my story to be on the homepage. Since starting this I learned that I could only post messages to my home page.

Soon my story will be lost at the bottom of my homepage somewhere. So I decided to move it to its own page. In the future I will be changing the referrals so people will be taken there instead of my homepage.

When I started this, I had no idea of what I’m doing. I’m learning a lot about blogging. My intension was to have people come here and read my story. I figured to make this about my experiences with controlling my blood sugar. What I did and why I do the things I do. What I eat and why I eat the way I do.

I have plans to add more pages and recipes in the future. But sometimes I have thoughts and opinions that don’t necessarily warrant a whole page of their own. When I have something I think is interesting to say or just want to talk about something I’m trying, I can post it here. 

I would like to thank everyone for coming here to read my story. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback and encouragement form the people who have read my blog.  Thank you

I spend a lot of my time reading and posting on Dlife and Diabetic Connect. Hopefully I will find the time to do what I want here.