On January 19, 2012, I had outpatient surgery of retina reattachment. My eyesight in the preceding months had been declining in spurts, mostly with the release of floaters that enter the vitreous liquid in the center of the eye. The floaters cast shadows and darkened the vision with shadows and obstructions. By this time, most of the red cloud of the October 2009 vitreous hemorrhage had healed and cleared. The vision was declining with symptoms of diabetic retinapathy by summer, 2010. Researching the PRP surgery I had undergone after urgent pushing by Koch Eye associates revealed that the side effects of the PRP laser are identical to the symptoms of diabetic retinapathy. Too late for me. What’s done was done, and after the first round of symptom development including flashers that began after the third PRP session and the recession of peripheral, the darkness advanced. Fall 2011 saw it getting worse regularly.
The retina reattachment halted that. Part of that surgery included replacing the natural eye fluid with a silicone oil. The silicone helps to maintain pressure in the eye to keep the back of the eye "glued together." This can increase eye pressure and cause glaucoma, one of the few problems I didn’t have in either eye. Two kinds of eye drops kept that problem at bay. At one point the pressure was too low; stopping the drops on the doc’s recommendation saw a surge in pressure. Resumption of the drops brought that back under control.
From all physical signs from doctors looking at my eye, the reattachment was successful and "stayed together." Looking out from the eye, however, indicates different results. The vision was at a slow decline in the year since the surgery.
The specific problems have not been traditional signs of diabetic retinapathy. Before the retina reattachment, the cloud overwhelming my vision was dark, and had definite, noticeable onsets as "gunk" in the eye released This year’s decline has been different.
I suffered no sudden "setbacks," as I called the release of floaters. Two problems developed and worsened over time.
The first is the light sensitivity and my eye’s apparent inability to process light. Strong light sources blind me with their brilliance and glare. My eye experienced increasing difficulty adjusting to variable light, even that of inconstant and inconsistent outdoor shadows of leafy trees. The reverse also proved true. Not enough light just was not enough light. Night vision is blindness. Vision in overly bright light is blindness.
A new cloud also developed, much like bottled fog that I carry with me everywhere. This was not like the red cloud of the hemorrhage or the black cloud of developing retinapathy. The fog is very clean, and has been since post op. But as "clean" as it has stayed, it has thickened over time. After the reattachment, I could see more than four feet away with finger motion. Now I can barely see overall motion at one foot away.
Without cues of voices, I cannot identify who I am talking to. I cannot see people sitting across a table from me. Moving around even familiar environs is extremely difficult, and always runs the danger of collision with people who assume I will see them and get out of their way. Seeing the computer even with multiple ways and levels of enhancements has become more difficult, and more painful.
Thursday’s procedure may improve the new disabilities.
Maybe.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
On the Road
I went away in late December. I don’t bring this up as automatic excuse for the lack of posts, although that is the main reason. I use the computer not just with glasses, but also with a 32-inch TV as a monitor and a magnifying mouse and at increased zoom levels. Computer things just weren’t possible away from home.
More significant was just how poor my vision has become. Most of the places I go are t least somewhat familiar, none, obviously, moreso than my own home. Removed from that for more than a week, I was totally and completely lost. Even most other places I go locally are familiar, including the same restaurants and grocery store. I do not leave the house alone and can usually get myself at least close to where I need to be within a building. Outside the building, I often cannot tell where the building is.
Yes, it’s gotten that bad.
While traveling, nothing was familiar. I seldom knew what town I was in, and often did not know the state. The layouts of unfamiliar hotel rooms became indecipherable mazes,
I live in a townhouse style apartment on the third and fourth floors of the building. This has become increasingly difficult for a blind guys with a bad foot and permanent reliance on a Crow boot. There’s thirty-three steps up to the apartment, a difficult proposition when empty handed, a challenge when doing something such as carrying groceries.
Away from the familiarity of home and familiar haunts, I was utterly useless. This made the trip harder on me and my companions.
The extent that I routinely utilize knowledge of my surroundings became acutely apparent without familiar surrounding.
Worse, my eyesight is further diminishing daily these days. Away from the familiar, I could not notice the further decline. Once home again, it was evident how much less I could see from barely more than a week’s passage of time.
I‘m coping. Self pitying moods are more common. Despondency is my most prevailing feeling. But I am coping, trying to stay positive.
I can see about a foot in front of me. I can see about two weeks ahead.
"Through Rose Colored Lenses" is due for publication around the 15th. This comedic short story is the only fiction I have written about the experience of going blind. A few days before that, I will be having what may be the last ditch possibility of restoring some level of vision and functionality.
More significant was just how poor my vision has become. Most of the places I go are t least somewhat familiar, none, obviously, moreso than my own home. Removed from that for more than a week, I was totally and completely lost. Even most other places I go locally are familiar, including the same restaurants and grocery store. I do not leave the house alone and can usually get myself at least close to where I need to be within a building. Outside the building, I often cannot tell where the building is.
Yes, it’s gotten that bad.
While traveling, nothing was familiar. I seldom knew what town I was in, and often did not know the state. The layouts of unfamiliar hotel rooms became indecipherable mazes,
I live in a townhouse style apartment on the third and fourth floors of the building. This has become increasingly difficult for a blind guys with a bad foot and permanent reliance on a Crow boot. There’s thirty-three steps up to the apartment, a difficult proposition when empty handed, a challenge when doing something such as carrying groceries.
Away from the familiarity of home and familiar haunts, I was utterly useless. This made the trip harder on me and my companions.
The extent that I routinely utilize knowledge of my surroundings became acutely apparent without familiar surrounding.
Worse, my eyesight is further diminishing daily these days. Away from the familiar, I could not notice the further decline. Once home again, it was evident how much less I could see from barely more than a week’s passage of time.
I‘m coping. Self pitying moods are more common. Despondency is my most prevailing feeling. But I am coping, trying to stay positive.
I can see about a foot in front of me. I can see about two weeks ahead.
"Through Rose Colored Lenses" is due for publication around the 15th. This comedic short story is the only fiction I have written about the experience of going blind. A few days before that, I will be having what may be the last ditch possibility of restoring some level of vision and functionality.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Bamboozled!
I approach this topic reluctantly, but while discussing diet and food intake, I think I would be remiss not to discuss alcohol on some level. Several people who have passed through my life have been alcoholic, some recovered, some not, and some who have fallen down those twelve steps. A couple people in that last category are among those no longer in my life who I miss the most, so the subject can be somewhat loaded for me as I was not able to help people no matter how much I sincerely wanted to and tried.
I am not judgmental about alcohol use. I drink on occasion but can take it or leave it. I felt a certain propensity towards becoming an alcoholic that I have successfully resisted since that first bottle of blackberry brandy in the woods behind the house at age 15.
The diabetes itself, I think, can increase the propensity. Most diabetics are not consistent in temperament. We can be prone to depression and suffer hormonal changes to our biochemistry. This brings certain vulnerabilities to alcohol dependency or abuse that anyone can suffer. so diabetics who feel these daily desires may not be able to deny inappropriate use of alcohol as non-diabetics.
I do not think diabetics need to totally avoid alcohol or can never safely drink. Health benefits such as found in wine usually apply to diabetics. With wine, the diabetic must remain self aware as the grape source of wine can elevate sugar levels with fructose. Moderation with alcohol should always be followed.
A second hand concern was the core of my perceived need to address alcohol. Just as my experience with low fat milk elevating my sugar level more than whole milk, a diabetic friend tells me that light beers raise his sugar more than regular beers. I never acquired a taste for beer, so do not know how they achieve the reduced fat and/or calorie effects in lute beer. Strictly in a blood sugar effect, I say diabetics need to pay attention to their beer drinking.
Most of my drinking experience is with hard liquor. Basic straight alcohol–rum, gin, vodka, whiskey, etc–will lower blood sugar. But as most of the straight hard stuff is often mixed with fruit juices or liqueur varieties, this effect can be easily overridden or overlooked. Liqueurs contain sugar. contain sugar from their manufacturing and processing. Brandy and Schnapps will often have sucrose added on top of natural fructose.
The effect on sugar levels can be very inconsistent, depending on so many factors that diabetics need to be self analyzing. A shot of vodka will lower blood sugar. A screwdriver (vodka and orange juice) may have the two sugar influences cancel each other out over time, but from my experience he orange juice sugar will take effect first and be lowered by the sugar reducing alcohol. A Fuzzy Navel, which is made with orange juice, vodka and Peach Tree Schnapps, will raise the sugar. How much this effect happens depends on prior consumption sugar levels, and whether the last meal contained a lot of carbs or not, and the proportions in the drink consumed, and activity level.
There’s a lot of variables that are just harder to track with any temporary mental impairment brought by the alcohol consumed.
Diabetics are wise to avoid most alcohol, but drinking always pares down to personal choices and comfort levels, so give this opinion without judgment. The important thing, as with anyone, is to drink responsibly.
I am not judgmental about alcohol use. I drink on occasion but can take it or leave it. I felt a certain propensity towards becoming an alcoholic that I have successfully resisted since that first bottle of blackberry brandy in the woods behind the house at age 15.
The diabetes itself, I think, can increase the propensity. Most diabetics are not consistent in temperament. We can be prone to depression and suffer hormonal changes to our biochemistry. This brings certain vulnerabilities to alcohol dependency or abuse that anyone can suffer. so diabetics who feel these daily desires may not be able to deny inappropriate use of alcohol as non-diabetics.
I do not think diabetics need to totally avoid alcohol or can never safely drink. Health benefits such as found in wine usually apply to diabetics. With wine, the diabetic must remain self aware as the grape source of wine can elevate sugar levels with fructose. Moderation with alcohol should always be followed.
A second hand concern was the core of my perceived need to address alcohol. Just as my experience with low fat milk elevating my sugar level more than whole milk, a diabetic friend tells me that light beers raise his sugar more than regular beers. I never acquired a taste for beer, so do not know how they achieve the reduced fat and/or calorie effects in lute beer. Strictly in a blood sugar effect, I say diabetics need to pay attention to their beer drinking.
Most of my drinking experience is with hard liquor. Basic straight alcohol–rum, gin, vodka, whiskey, etc–will lower blood sugar. But as most of the straight hard stuff is often mixed with fruit juices or liqueur varieties, this effect can be easily overridden or overlooked. Liqueurs contain sugar. contain sugar from their manufacturing and processing. Brandy and Schnapps will often have sucrose added on top of natural fructose.
The effect on sugar levels can be very inconsistent, depending on so many factors that diabetics need to be self analyzing. A shot of vodka will lower blood sugar. A screwdriver (vodka and orange juice) may have the two sugar influences cancel each other out over time, but from my experience he orange juice sugar will take effect first and be lowered by the sugar reducing alcohol. A Fuzzy Navel, which is made with orange juice, vodka and Peach Tree Schnapps, will raise the sugar. How much this effect happens depends on prior consumption sugar levels, and whether the last meal contained a lot of carbs or not, and the proportions in the drink consumed, and activity level.
There’s a lot of variables that are just harder to track with any temporary mental impairment brought by the alcohol consumed.
Diabetics are wise to avoid most alcohol, but drinking always pares down to personal choices and comfort levels, so give this opinion without judgment. The important thing, as with anyone, is to drink responsibly.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Milking the Diet
Cow’s milk has always been a major part of my diet, both as the base in which to eat cold cereal and on its own.
My body can be pretty primal. I don’t fight cravings, and any serious problems with bones or teeth or other problems such as a traumatic toenail injury will make me crave milk. During a time when a low level tooth infection went undiagnosed and treated, the milk craving was at an extreme. I would stop and buy two gallons at 7-11. I would swig from the gallon before driving the six blocks home. When parked, I would swig some more then walk up the two flights. I’d swig some more before putting the two new gallons in the fridge. The gallon I’d be drinking from could be more than half gone before it ever hit the fridge.
My doctor told me this was diabetic thirst. I know better. Milk doesn’t quench thirst; it usually coats the tongue and throat and increases thirst. Those times I have diabetic thirst, only water satisfies.
I never noticed any changes as the milk addictions came and went. About the time I gained a roommate, I switched from whole milk to the "healthier" 1% low fat milk. That was just easier than arguing for what I liked better. I also did not notice any change in my sugar during the time of the change. The 1% habit remained for years.
What has become apparent is that my body cannot metabolize the 1% as well. I’m not talking about lactose intolerance. Low fat milk raises my sugar more than whole milk does.
Shooting up extra insulin after a milk binge could not compensate when I indulged the cravings. When the ankle collapsed due to the Charcot Foot, my milk cravings were at a new high. The night I went into the hospital for the sudden toe infection had been a high milk night. I had eaten little throughout the day, a reasonable dinner, then about a half gallon of 1% before going into the hospital. Having become aware that milk was contributing to higher sugar levels, I had shot up before leaving.
My sugar was still in the 600’s when they tested in the hospital, and I could feel the insulin dose doing nothing.
I’ve since gone back to whole milk. The roommate mostly stays with 1%, but he has always been inconsistent about that and often eats cold cereal with ½ and ½ poured over it.
My sugars have felt better since I made the switch. 1%^ milk actually raises my sugar more than a glass of Kool-Aid will. Whole milk gets absorbed by my body in a more measured way, without absolute sugar surges.
I don’t claim to understand this. Low fat salad dressings definitely have added sugar. Low fat milks do not. Something about the low-fat process changes the milk’s biochemistry and how my diabetic body reacts to it.
This effect as observes in a "whole food" form reinforces my theories that "healthy" dietary changes can be beneficial to the normal dieter but catastrophic to diabetics. Our bodies metabolize changed foods in some fundamental and often unexpected ways. Diabetic diets are best in avoidance of pre-prepared and processed foods. As that can never be fully avoided in this day and age, we need to watch what we eat and what effects any change may bring.
The lower fat and reduced cholesterol benefits don’t amount to much if our blood sugar is always higher for the change.
My body can be pretty primal. I don’t fight cravings, and any serious problems with bones or teeth or other problems such as a traumatic toenail injury will make me crave milk. During a time when a low level tooth infection went undiagnosed and treated, the milk craving was at an extreme. I would stop and buy two gallons at 7-11. I would swig from the gallon before driving the six blocks home. When parked, I would swig some more then walk up the two flights. I’d swig some more before putting the two new gallons in the fridge. The gallon I’d be drinking from could be more than half gone before it ever hit the fridge.
My doctor told me this was diabetic thirst. I know better. Milk doesn’t quench thirst; it usually coats the tongue and throat and increases thirst. Those times I have diabetic thirst, only water satisfies.
I never noticed any changes as the milk addictions came and went. About the time I gained a roommate, I switched from whole milk to the "healthier" 1% low fat milk. That was just easier than arguing for what I liked better. I also did not notice any change in my sugar during the time of the change. The 1% habit remained for years.
What has become apparent is that my body cannot metabolize the 1% as well. I’m not talking about lactose intolerance. Low fat milk raises my sugar more than whole milk does.
Shooting up extra insulin after a milk binge could not compensate when I indulged the cravings. When the ankle collapsed due to the Charcot Foot, my milk cravings were at a new high. The night I went into the hospital for the sudden toe infection had been a high milk night. I had eaten little throughout the day, a reasonable dinner, then about a half gallon of 1% before going into the hospital. Having become aware that milk was contributing to higher sugar levels, I had shot up before leaving.
My sugar was still in the 600’s when they tested in the hospital, and I could feel the insulin dose doing nothing.
I’ve since gone back to whole milk. The roommate mostly stays with 1%, but he has always been inconsistent about that and often eats cold cereal with ½ and ½ poured over it.
My sugars have felt better since I made the switch. 1%^ milk actually raises my sugar more than a glass of Kool-Aid will. Whole milk gets absorbed by my body in a more measured way, without absolute sugar surges.
I don’t claim to understand this. Low fat salad dressings definitely have added sugar. Low fat milks do not. Something about the low-fat process changes the milk’s biochemistry and how my diabetic body reacts to it.
This effect as observes in a "whole food" form reinforces my theories that "healthy" dietary changes can be beneficial to the normal dieter but catastrophic to diabetics. Our bodies metabolize changed foods in some fundamental and often unexpected ways. Diabetic diets are best in avoidance of pre-prepared and processed foods. As that can never be fully avoided in this day and age, we need to watch what we eat and what effects any change may bring.
The lower fat and reduced cholesterol benefits don’t amount to much if our blood sugar is always higher for the change.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Splendid Equality
Here’s a natural bridge from the last post about sodas. I stated how I did not like the aftertaste of soda varieties sweetened with Splenda©. It tastes like sugar soda to me.
I don’t use Splenda, but have stuck with Nutrasweet as an artificial sweetener, in soda, coffee or any other things I feel the need to add an artificial sweetener. I like the taste and am used to it. If in a restaurant where the options are only Splenda or saccharine-based Sweet-n-Low, I will use Splenda.
But I would never allow myself to use Splenda regularly or habitually. This is a precaution based on the processes of my brain I call logic. I have not specifically researched this independently or for this post. My declining eyesight does not really allow me to research it now.
Here’s my precautionary logic:
Splenda is made from true sugar. It was modified to be a no- or low-calorie sweetener that tastes like real sugar. It did succeed in that, as my dislike of Diet Coke with Splenda demonstrated to me. I have no doubt that this is a great product for dieters.
I am not convinced it’s a good idea for diabetics, whether childhood or age advanced. Splenda, as a modified sugar, seems very likely to be processed by the body as sugar. Diabetics may benefit from the reduced calorie aspects, but could easily find that Splenda would raise their sugar as much as real unmodified sugar does.
I never tried Splenda to know if it would have such an effect on me. I saw no reason to risk this and still don’t.
You can call me paranoid, or cite studies that say Splenda is perfectly safe for diabetics. I will still stick with Equal.
Splenda is a new product, so may have effects not yet realized, or, worse, have effects that are being concealed. I do not know if it was ever specifically tested with diabetics. I would assume that any such tests were carried out by the manufacturer and spun to say what the manufacturer wanted without any outright lies.
This same logic, based on a general understanding of basic sciences, kept me from any temptation to try inhalable insulin, which was very shortly pulled from the market for causing lung cancer.
Just as I never thought inhaling a hormone was a good idea, I just don’t see any wisdom of diabetics habitually consuming modified sugar.
I don’t use Splenda, but have stuck with Nutrasweet as an artificial sweetener, in soda, coffee or any other things I feel the need to add an artificial sweetener. I like the taste and am used to it. If in a restaurant where the options are only Splenda or saccharine-based Sweet-n-Low, I will use Splenda.
But I would never allow myself to use Splenda regularly or habitually. This is a precaution based on the processes of my brain I call logic. I have not specifically researched this independently or for this post. My declining eyesight does not really allow me to research it now.
Here’s my precautionary logic:
Splenda is made from true sugar. It was modified to be a no- or low-calorie sweetener that tastes like real sugar. It did succeed in that, as my dislike of Diet Coke with Splenda demonstrated to me. I have no doubt that this is a great product for dieters.
I am not convinced it’s a good idea for diabetics, whether childhood or age advanced. Splenda, as a modified sugar, seems very likely to be processed by the body as sugar. Diabetics may benefit from the reduced calorie aspects, but could easily find that Splenda would raise their sugar as much as real unmodified sugar does.
I never tried Splenda to know if it would have such an effect on me. I saw no reason to risk this and still don’t.
You can call me paranoid, or cite studies that say Splenda is perfectly safe for diabetics. I will still stick with Equal.
Splenda is a new product, so may have effects not yet realized, or, worse, have effects that are being concealed. I do not know if it was ever specifically tested with diabetics. I would assume that any such tests were carried out by the manufacturer and spun to say what the manufacturer wanted without any outright lies.
This same logic, based on a general understanding of basic sciences, kept me from any temptation to try inhalable insulin, which was very shortly pulled from the market for causing lung cancer.
Just as I never thought inhaling a hormone was a good idea, I just don’t see any wisdom of diabetics habitually consuming modified sugar.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Drink Coke, Soon Croak
The last absolutely forbidden food to me is sugared soda. I learned this at 15 ½ years old in my driver’s ed class. My sugar was down, and I drank a quarter to a third of a friend’s can of Coca-Cola. By the time I was home, I was feeling ill from high sugar.
The effect was so pronounced that nearly thirty years later, I cannot comprehend why any diabetic would knowing consume sugar soda. In general, diet sodas are readily available almost anywhere, and the quality of the product has skyrocketed since the advent of Diet Coke n the mid-1980’s. Even with those who are allergic to the phenylamine in Nutra-sweet, the damage sugar soda will do to a diabetic body does not come close to compensating for the allergy.
I seldom order fountain soda in restaurant due to the risks associated with server error or the kitchen staff accidentally hooking up the wrong syrup bag to the diet spigot.
I can drink Kool-Aid. I can drink a restaurant brixed lemonade if my sugar is lower to begin with. Both will raise my sugar, but not to drastic levels. I cannot drink sugared soda under any circumstance.
Not all sugared sodas are the same. Caffeinated varieties such as colas and Mountain Dew contain more sugar than other varieties. Sprite or 7-Up have less sugar than Coke. Ginger le still has even less sugar than lemon/lime, but why would you drink it at all? It’s absolutely empty sugar than can overwhelm your system before you know it.
Tab stick urine sugar testers can be used to determine that you have indeed received diet soda in restaurants. If what you are served tastes like regular soda, it is best to return it and have it removed from the bill and drink water with the meal. Any other action can and usually will amount to an argument with the server that neither side can win, An error could have been made in the syrup bag, and even if fixed, sugar syrup may remain in the line.
If you are a Type 2 who doesn’t like the "aftertaste" of diet soda, you just need to make a longer adjustment. Switch to the diet of a different flavor or brand of soda and drink that exclusively for about a month. Then switch to the diet variety of "your" soda and the particular aftertaste will not be as noticeable. If still available, Splenda varieties of soda will have a very similar aftertaste to regular sodas. After forty years of diet soda, I don’t like the aftertaste of regular sodas, or their Splenda counterparts. This gives me innate understanding of Type 2 diabetics who have difficulty to this particular change necessitated by a new condition, but I still have no sympathy on that one. I am no fragile diabetic and can eat almost anything in moderation, but sugar soda always makes me ill.
The effect was so pronounced that nearly thirty years later, I cannot comprehend why any diabetic would knowing consume sugar soda. In general, diet sodas are readily available almost anywhere, and the quality of the product has skyrocketed since the advent of Diet Coke n the mid-1980’s. Even with those who are allergic to the phenylamine in Nutra-sweet, the damage sugar soda will do to a diabetic body does not come close to compensating for the allergy.
I seldom order fountain soda in restaurant due to the risks associated with server error or the kitchen staff accidentally hooking up the wrong syrup bag to the diet spigot.
I can drink Kool-Aid. I can drink a restaurant brixed lemonade if my sugar is lower to begin with. Both will raise my sugar, but not to drastic levels. I cannot drink sugared soda under any circumstance.
Not all sugared sodas are the same. Caffeinated varieties such as colas and Mountain Dew contain more sugar than other varieties. Sprite or 7-Up have less sugar than Coke. Ginger le still has even less sugar than lemon/lime, but why would you drink it at all? It’s absolutely empty sugar than can overwhelm your system before you know it.
Tab stick urine sugar testers can be used to determine that you have indeed received diet soda in restaurants. If what you are served tastes like regular soda, it is best to return it and have it removed from the bill and drink water with the meal. Any other action can and usually will amount to an argument with the server that neither side can win, An error could have been made in the syrup bag, and even if fixed, sugar syrup may remain in the line.
If you are a Type 2 who doesn’t like the "aftertaste" of diet soda, you just need to make a longer adjustment. Switch to the diet of a different flavor or brand of soda and drink that exclusively for about a month. Then switch to the diet variety of "your" soda and the particular aftertaste will not be as noticeable. If still available, Splenda varieties of soda will have a very similar aftertaste to regular sodas. After forty years of diet soda, I don’t like the aftertaste of regular sodas, or their Splenda counterparts. This gives me innate understanding of Type 2 diabetics who have difficulty to this particular change necessitated by a new condition, but I still have no sympathy on that one. I am no fragile diabetic and can eat almost anything in moderation, but sugar soda always makes me ill.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Diet at Fruition
The talk about the dangers of fruit pies to dieters and diabetics alike emphasizes one point of the "diet series" posts. Some things that are good for dieters are not so good for diabetics. Fruit. These are healthy foods with many benefits, but can easily be eaten into excess. Many menus or meal plans that diabetics receive from dieticians have the impractical inclusions of half a piece of fruit just for this reason. For all the health benefits, fruit contains a lot of natural sugars and can quickly throw diabetics out of whack. Diabetics are often advised to six to twelve servings of fruits and vegetable per day. The emphasis on such plans is to the vegetable, which should be roughly a ration of 2:1.
Diabetics should choose fresh fruit sources. As sweet as fruit is, most "prepared" forms have added sugar. The combination of sucrose and fructose can easily overload the system.
Canned fruits should always be checked and preference should be given to varieties with no sugar added. Apple sauce should always be analyzed for added sugar.
Jellies and jams are usually loaded with sugar and should be used sparingly, if at all.
Fruit juices, particularly "cocktails" also need close examination. Even without added sugar, juice can be high in sugar, particularly grape and orange. Properly made Tang actually has less sugar that whole and pure orange juice. Tang will provide Vitamin C, but not potassium and other benefits of orange juice.
The 100% "pure" Juicy Juice is typically one of the best alternatives, especially the varieties that mix lower natural sugar fruits with the higher. Cranberry juices almost always have sugar added.
As much as I would love to be more precise, my vision is no longer cable of label and ingredient comparison, even online. Fruit is an excellent option for dieter as the water based fructose generally pisses out of the system effectively, and an excess ill often trigger other bodily purges. Diabetics, however, need to limit and monitor consumption in the goal of keeping sugar levels down. This can be easy to forget when dealing with something so healthy.
Diabetics should choose fresh fruit sources. As sweet as fruit is, most "prepared" forms have added sugar. The combination of sucrose and fructose can easily overload the system.
Canned fruits should always be checked and preference should be given to varieties with no sugar added. Apple sauce should always be analyzed for added sugar.
Jellies and jams are usually loaded with sugar and should be used sparingly, if at all.
Fruit juices, particularly "cocktails" also need close examination. Even without added sugar, juice can be high in sugar, particularly grape and orange. Properly made Tang actually has less sugar that whole and pure orange juice. Tang will provide Vitamin C, but not potassium and other benefits of orange juice.
The 100% "pure" Juicy Juice is typically one of the best alternatives, especially the varieties that mix lower natural sugar fruits with the higher. Cranberry juices almost always have sugar added.
As much as I would love to be more precise, my vision is no longer cable of label and ingredient comparison, even online. Fruit is an excellent option for dieter as the water based fructose generally pisses out of the system effectively, and an excess ill often trigger other bodily purges. Diabetics, however, need to limit and monitor consumption in the goal of keeping sugar levels down. This can be easy to forget when dealing with something so healthy.
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