About This Site
Thank you for visiting my website! My name is Lora, and I am 39 years old. My husband Steve and I both have diabetes, and one of our daughters is borderline diabetic. We are also obese. We were all diagnosed within a week, and our lives have forever turned the corner to a new, and much better, lifestyle.
Making Cookies With Kyla
We have struggled with trying to get healthy for a long time. After I went through cancer in the fall of 2006, we decided to try to make the necessary changes to become the people that we long to be. We ditched the red meat and went to eating ground turkey and boneless, skinless chicken breasts for most of our meat. We avoided overprocessed entrees and began cooking our meals ourselves. We also started to eat more fruits and vegetables, and I started to bake all of our bread so that we could avoid all of those additives and preservatives and whatever else they put in that stuff. However, we were still losing the battle with sweets. We are always watching for bargains, and it is hard to pass up the box of donuts that are marked down, or the price chopped cake, cupcakes or cookies. And when they put those big chocolate bars on sale 10 for $10, who can resist??!! I also had an addiction to Pepsi, and drank at least a couple of cans every single day for 20 years or more. I tried to give it up, but nothing came close to being as fanstasticly sweet as that fizzy brown drink.
Becoming a diabetic is like moving to a new planet. Everything is different. You start to notice foods in the grocery store that you have never seen before. You can find almost anything in a low carb or sugar free variety! I have finally been able to give up my beloved Pepsi, and traded it for Diet Rite Zero, made with Splenda. I am not really fond of all of the fake sugar and chemicals that are used, but it is the best that science has been able to give us thus far, and I can not be without sweets in my life. We have learned to really enjoy sugar free jello, pudding and other treats. I have learned that we don’t have to do without, we just have to change varieties! Yay!
We are trying to keep our diet very low carb for now, and we are both losing weight and finding better results when we do blood glucose tests. Neither of us have gotten to normal levels yet, but we are working on it! With the diet and exercise changes, so far I have lost 40+ pounds, and Steve has lost about 25.
There are a lot of foods that diabetics CAN eat, and ways of turning some of the off-limit foods into foods that are ok for us to have. Whole foods are very important, and the closer they are to the way nature makes them, the better. For instance, eating an apple is better than eating applesauce, or drinking apple juice. There is an exception to this though, as some chemical changes in foods when cooked make them better. For instance steamed broccoli is better than fresh broccoli. It is confusing, and takes a lot of studying to learn what is ok and what isn’t ok. I am still learning, and if you happen to come across something that is wrong, please do not hesitate to email me!
Exercise is very important in staying healthy! We all must exercise, but we don’t all need the same exercises. Some of us can jog 10 miles, and some of us struggle with 10 steps. For us, walking is good. When the weather is nice we walk outside, but when the weather is bad, we walk on our treadmill. We also use small hand weights to do a bit of arm exercising while we read at our computers or while we watch tv. We will be increasing the number of times a day that we walk, as well as the distance that we go, as our bodies get used to all the new moves. Every bit of movement helps! Be honest with yourself, and do what you can. Unless you can not move at all, you CAN exercise! If you need help in figuring out ways to get some exercise, send me an email and I will try to help. Always check with your doctor before starting an exercise regime.
I will discuss these things in more detail in other places within this website, and also in my blog entries. I hope that you will enjoy getting to know us a bit, and that you will learn some ways to find and/or keep a healthy and happy lifestyle, through cooking made simple, and exercise too!