The wins for the party:

• I really liked the Game Day Green Goddess Veggie Dip – it went great with cucumbers. I saved some and will have it as a snack tomorrow.
• I also liked the cucumber, corn, black bean, tomato and avocado salad. Saved this as well and will have it tomorrow.
• I didn’t have any alcohol.
• Some things I could have improved on and will for next time:
• I set a goal of four wings and ended up having six.
• Probably had too much cheese spread but had it with whole grain crackers so maybe not that bad??

• I also had a half of an apple pot pie and a smidge of ice cream; and then I almost forgot, a half chocolate chip cookie. Of course my daughter made fun of me because I split a cookie but I have trouble turning chocolate down so only having half was a win.
• I ran out of time and didn’t exercise, but did clean the house so I did see some exercise today, just not the traditional kind.
• Fasting Glucose: 124
  Water: 12 oz coffee, 12 oz sparkling water, 12 oz sparkling water, 12 oz green tea, 20 oz water, 20 oz water = 88 oz (argh, 11 oz under my goal)

I’ve planned my menu for the whole week so hoping I’ve set myself up for success. Talk to you tomorrow!

Here goes nothing. Lets do this!

Woke up to a fasting glucose of 137 which has been the typical norm for the past few months. Curious to see how that will go down as the month progresses.

I haven’t gone grocery shopping yet so pickings were slim for breakfast. I ended up with coffee w/ Splenda and fat free half and half, 2 over easy eggs and a whole wheat english muffin with Ghee. I’d never heard of Ghee before I made a recipe a few weeks back. When I googled it, it seems to have a ton of health benefits such as vitamins A, D, E, and K, promotes flexibility and lowers cholesterol to name a few. That’s good enough in my book to start using it!

Lunch was also slim pickings so I just ended up making tuna salad which was the bagged (not sure that’s the right word but it wasn’t in a can) tuna ranch flavored and mixed that with a little bit of avocado oil mayo on top of whole grain bread and a slice of Swiss cheese and a tomato. Cheese is one of my big vices…I can’t be perfect right out of the gate.

I did manage to menu plan this afternoon and hit the grocery store. I ended up eating grapes as a snack and made the following dinner which got rave reviews from the whole family. Yes!!!

https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/caprese-chicken-roasted-broccoli/

I also made yummy healthy banana bread. Recipe below.

https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/my-favorite-healthy-banana-bread-recipe/

Day one is in the books! Looking forward to what day two brings — one day at a time!

Stats:
Fasting Glucose 137
Water 24 oz coffee; 33.8 water; 24 oz green tea; 20 oz water w/ true lemon flavoring = 101.8 (I think coffee may be a stretch but baby steps!)
Starting weight today 221

Exercise 60 min of martial arts class

I’m not sure when it all went downhill but it seemed to happen gradually and then all the sudden I was overweight and diagnosed with diabetes last year. I’ve also had high cholesterol for years but it’s been under control with not one but two different meds up until recently.

Within the last few months I’ve struggled with keeping my sugars low and after my most recent blood test, I had an A1C of 7.2 again and triglycerides of 175. Clearly something needs to change and my once under control cholesterol was off the charts. I also have very low levels of the good cholesterol which comes from exercise which makes zero sense…I’ll address that later.

Let me give you a little bit of background. I was very active and thin throughout high school. College of course I gained some weight but in the grand scheme of things not too much. I really noticed a change when I hit 25, worked a desk job, and told myself I didn’t really have time to work out. As time went on my weight continued to go up. And about 4 years ago the doctor gave me a lecture about my sugar and the fact that it was continuing to creep up so I needed to make sure I changed my habits before I was diagnosed with diabetes. I should have taken it seriously, but I didn’t.

In the last year I have managed to drop about 15 pounds which is good, but not good enough. My sugars leveled out for a while but in the last few months jumped back up to the same A1C before I was put on metformin.

So, this is my journey to health. I have some goals for the next three months and I expect my readers to hold me accountable. Here it goes:

• Journal every day – feelings, what I ate, etc.
• Check sugars each morning – I always have high fasting numbers so this is a good gauge of how well I’ve eaten the prior day
• Exercise 5 days a week – this is relatively easy for me; I enjoy exercising
• Drink 100 oz of water each day – super hard for me; of all my goals this will probably be my hardest; example – I am writing this blog at 3:40 p.m. And I’ve had 12 oz of coffee all day and nothing else; this is going to be a long uphill battle. I will say though when I drink more water, my sugar in the morning is under 130 so my body clearly needs the water
• Eat clean – I’ve read a lot on this and I am intrigued. I’m going to do my best to make sure that more times than not I am eating less processed food and more fruits and vegetables. This will be a challenge.

These are a lot of goals. Notice I didn’t put anything in about weight. I’m going to track my weight each week but it’s not my main goal. My main goal is to get my sugar and triglicerides under control and they go hand in hand. The weight will come with time.

I welcome you to join me as we work together to becoming our healthy and happy best selves yet.