Never risk it for a biscuit… or a piece of cake…..my diabetes journey.

After years of dieting and bingeing my body has finally protested. In July this year I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Now this was not a surprise to me but it was a shock to my system. I went straight into total healthy eating immediately and haven’t looked back. 

The NHS measures your diabetes level  in mmol.

 If your mmol is under 41 then it’s ok. 

 42-47 mmol is higher risk. 

Over 48 is diabetes. 

My mmol when I was diagnosed was 64 🙈 so rather high. I am now proud to say that my blood test this week shows that my mmol is down to 38. My doctor had told me that if I have two consecutive readings of 38 or under over the next year I will officially be in remission. (Their terminology not mine.)

Originally I was put on a dose of 4 Metformin tablets a day but hadn’t even built up past 2 a day before the Dr was able to tell me to stick to 2. ( My 6 week blood test results were impressive .) I have now been told to cut back to 1 a day.

I have found a way of eating that is good for the diabetes, healthy and sustainable. My dietary approach is low carb, no sugary foods, not too much processed food and loads of fruit and veg. I don’t drink alcohol so that makes it easier too.

My diet could do with do more protein but I have always been a bit of a wuss with protein. The least thing makes me feel sick. 🙈. I am sure this is psychological but that doesn’t help. I am working on getting protein from lots of sources to increase my overall levels. 

Exercise is important too, and I still need to add more into my routine. My main exercise is walking and my exercise bike but I need to tone up and do more aerobic exercise. (To be honest curling up with a book is much more tempting after a day at work 🙊.)

To date I have lost 31 pounds in weight (14.06kg) and I am still losing currently. Weight loss is important in the fight against diabetes so getting to a sensible weight is imperative.

For the the last 4 Thursday nights I have attended the free NHS course for diabetics. It is run by two lovely experts from the medical profession who are teaching us everything we need to know about diabetes and managing the condition. Though I could have done with this back in July, I have to say that I have learnt a lot about what exactly diabetes is, the causes and approaches to live with and improve your condition. If you are diabetic and get offered this course, you should go on it. I know people who have refused but it is helpful. The course I am on is by X-PERT Health (www.experthealth.co.uk).  

When I was first diagnosed I used the charity diabetes.org.uk and I have found that very helpful. You can join and donate too, which I have done, but you don’t have to. It is another brilliant resource that is reliable and free. I avoided a lot of the general information online as there is so much that is not backed by a professional organisation. 

One thing that really scares me about diabetes is the side effects if you don’t change your lifestyle. Some of these are strokes, heart attacks, kidney problems, loss of sight, loss of the use of limbs and even amputation, and many other unpleasant and, sometimes life threatening, illnesses. 

Going forward I will carry on with the same dietary approach, I will up the exercise and I will live my life. I have been lucky that this has worked for me because some people struggle with getting their diabetes under control for all kinds of reasons. ( Including other medical conditions.)  

If you know someone with diabetes please do not be that person who says “go on, it won’t hurt to eat it once”….. you have no idea what that person is going through and everyone’s situation is different. Just because your neighbours’ aunts’ sister can eat it doesn’t mean someone else can. I listened to the medical profession and will continue to do so. What has worked for me may not work for someone else, but I hope it does. 

Update on the Dechox Challenge for BHF.

I totally forgot to post how I did on the Dechox Challenge for British Heart Foundation in April. I did the whole 31 days with no sugary food. I gave up chocolate, cakes, biscuits, puddings and pastries and it wasn’t that hard to be totally honest. 

More importantly I raised £110 for British Heart Foundation so a big thank you to all my friends and family who donated. 

A big thank you also to all the people in the Dechox Facebook group who were so supportive of each other. We were able to keep each other going, praise the wins and commiserate and support the slips ups or the down days.

BHF is a really important because any of us, however healthy or unhealthy, could have heart issues and not know.  Our lifestyle choices, hereditary issues or just a badly functioning heart, could cause us to have to deal with heart problems and related medical problems. 

I did lose 5 pounds over the 31 days but have sadly put it back on and a bit more. The psychology of denying myself specific foods has not been good for me and I have gone a bit mad with the foods I gave up. Right now I am not doing well and need to pull it back and be sensible for health reasons. 

British Heart Foundation Dechox Challenge….. my 31 days without chocolate.

I haven’t updated my weight loss posts for a while because I have not been doing too well with the weight loss so I decided to search for inspiration elsewhere. I found the incentive I was looking for with The British Heart Foundation Dechox challenge.

The idea behind the BHF dechox is that you give up chocolate for the 31 days of March. You can also pledge to give up cakes and biscuits too so I have gone for the triple whammy. It is only 31 days and then I can go back to eating chocolates, cakes and biscuits in moderation and not overeating them as I have been lately. 

It is day six and I am doing well. I haven’t had any chocolate, cakes or biscuits and haven’t replaced them with anything  else. I had a headache on day 4 and low blood sugar today, but I am doing ok.

I do believe that my intake of sugar needs to be kept to a minimum but my brain doesn’t always agree. I always think I will just have one piece of cake, bar of chocolate or biscuit but it always escalates and I eat too much.  The Paul McKenner books and CD’s do help me but I need to listen more often and do the techniques shown when I get cravings.

This challenge is easy to stick to because I want to raise the money and I don’t want to let anyone down. I also need to think seriously about my health and that is more important than weight loss or looking good. If I have weight loss as a result of this then that can only be a positive step. 

The Facebook Dechox group is amazing, motivating and full of lovely people supporting each other and understanding how each other. This is really important for motivation because it’s easy to slip up when you are trying to be healthy; motivation is a powerful tool and will help keep me on track for 31 days. 

Dechox is a fund raiser and I understand that this is a really hard time for people financially and that a lot of people are, quite rightly, giving what they can to the Ukraine. I only put £50 as my target so that if I didn’t get all the sponsors then I could make it up myself. So far I have put £11 in myself and friends and family have started donating too. My total is currently £41 so I am hoping to go over target. Some people are waiting to the end of the 31 days in case I decide to stuff my face with tasty, sugary treats. If I make the 31 days I will pay a bit more in myself. A big thank you to anyone who has donated or does donate.

My Just Giving link if anyone is feeling able to donate is: 

www.justgiving.com/Sara-Williams40

British Heart Foundation work constantly to find ways to improve the heart health of Britain and it’s worth looking them up online www..BHF.org.uk  (I have no affiliation with BHF, I just think they are a good charity.)

I will do a quick update post on the 31st March 😊❤️

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Happy Christmas and a fabulous New year

 I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It hasn’t been a good year for so many people and if you have lost someone this year my heart goes out to you.

I am also looking forward to a healthy and happy 2022 and to writing some interesting and funny blog posts. I can’t promise they will be as often as I like, but I will be writing and hoping to bring some good news on the weight loss front. 

File of Facts by Steve Morton…. A Book Review.

This long awaited and totally fabulous must have, book about Filofaxes is being released on the 3rd of January 2022. 

For a long time myself and many of the Filofax community have wanted a comprehensive guide to the Filofax in book form. There was a book out many years ago but it is as rare as a hen’s teeth and now partially out of date. Of course the perfect person to write this book is Steve Morton who runs the Philofaxy blog, the Filofax for Philofaxy Facebook group, the Instagram page, and many more interesting things. He is the husband of the brilliant author Alison Morton who has been instrumental in getting this book published. 

Steve is releasing the book on the 3rd of January 2022 and it will be available in electronic and hard copy. I was very lucky to be sent an electronic copy in advance to review but I will also be buying the hard copy on the 3rd January because I do prefer hard copy books. This is a book you will go back to time and time again.

This book is perfect for anyone who uses a Filofax or other ring bound planner but would be equally interesting to any organised person. It has a fabulous A-Z section full of fascinating facts and useful information. Planner sizes, what inserts you can buy, ring spacing, key words, the mechanics of the ring mechanism, leather types and so many more things you may not even realise you need to know, are contained in this handy section. 

The Chronology of the Filofax explains the key points in the history of the Filofax and also mentions the date the original Philofaxy blog was started. You can see the historical journey that the Filofax has taken with the company changing hands on several occasions. 

An invaluable list of all the Filofaxes made, also listed in chronological order, is perfect for anyone who finds that obscure old planner secondhand or even just wants to find out more about their favourite models. 

The book closes with the acknowledgments, a few words from key people in the Filofax/ planner world and a little bit about the esteemed author himself. 

As I mentioned, I will be buying the hard copy, but what I do hope is possible  further down the line, is a copy punched to fit in a personal sized Filofax. This would be the perfect book for a Filofax/ ring bound planner enthusiast. The cover could be the dashboard and it would work beautifully. We can all keep our fingers crossed that this will happen. 

If you are part of the worldwide Filofax and planner community you will love this wonderful book which I totally recommend. 

A few details you may need to buy this book are:

“ISBN 9791097310332 (ebook)

ISBN 9791097310325 (paperback

Release date, as mentioned, 3rd January 2022.

This picture is borrowed from the author, Mr Steve Morton, with thanks. 

Human comedy Christmas pudding versus weight loss.

The weight loss journey I hoped for is rather off track. I have now put on another 3 pounds making me the heaviest I have ever been. This is not good at all, in fact it is a disaster. I feel physically and mentally uncomfortable. Yesterday I realised that I don’t even like most of my clothes and that is something I haven’t felt for years.  It’s a sad fact that I only like 3 dresses that I can actually wear, and that does not make me feel good at all.

However, As I have said many times before, I am the only person who can actually get myself out of this funk, no one else can do it for me. Admittedly having a personal trainer to shout at me might help, but that is not something I can afford so I need to get a grip. I have had a flash of motivation today so shall see where it leads me. 

As it is now only a few weeks until Christmas I can either give myself a goal of losing a few pounds before Christmas Eve or hire myself  out as a human replica of a Christmas pudding. Now I am sure there are some work opportunities out there for the human pudding, but I already have a full time job so I suppose I should try the weight goal instead.  🤷🏼‍♀️

So how am I going to do this? How am I going to turn this around? Many would say that I should wait until the New Year,  but I am not the type to start a diet in January, that is far too normal and conformist. Also how much weight could I put on between now and January the first, rather a lot I think as giving myself permission to stuff my face is the last thing I need. 

Now I do know that with my abilities in the world of accidental slapstick comedy, I would probably make a hilarious Christmas pudding. Me in a costume that inhibits my natural spacial awareness could only lead to comedy gold and a level of hilarity not seen since The Chuckle Brothers tried to move a piano. 

I think, given the fact that my weight gain is making me physically and mentally uncomfortable and I am worried about my health, I need to make a huge effort to be sensible between now and Christmas.  Playing Russian roulette with your health is a really stupid thing to do so I am rather angry with myself. I have had a spark of motivation tonight so am putting that to good use.

I shall do a  Christmas Eve update and see how much weight I have lost. 🙈

I’m Alright Jack ! This Selfish world we live in.

 Lately I have noticed that in among the people being kind and thoughtful, the helpful people and the ones who care, there are some incredibly selfish and thoughtless individuals. This seems to manifest itself in several ways and these are just some of the misdemeanours I have noticed. 

“ I want to park my car, I don’t want to pay, I don’t want to follow the rules, I shall park where I like.”

“ I want to go shopping, I don’t want to wait, I am more important than everyone else therefore I shall push to the front of the queue.”

“ I haven’t got much work to do so I will make myself look busy doing tasks that don’t need doing. Why would I help the rest of the team; I’m alright Jack!”

“I have a right to get to the shelves before you even though you were already there; I shall push past you and get what I want. My time is far more valuable than yours.”

Unbelievably I have seen all of these things happen in the last couple of months. A sense of entitlement and an incredible delusion that they are the important people, make for some nasty characters.

I know it is not that common to be so self centred that you truly believe the world revolves around you, but it is definitely on the increase. I think too much reality TV is making people think that they do not have to work for a living and that they can just sail through life on minimum effort and maximum return. I am sure that is not what the programmes intend people to think but there are certain individuals who do.

Instagram is a fabulous platform but so many people want to be influencers or social media stars and that is not sustainable for most people. If we have too many influencers who will they be influencing? They can hardly spend all day trying to out influence the next person. 

The “be kind” campaign clearly worked for some people and, luckily they are a lot of lovely people around but I think there are a lot of people who need to start thinking about the people around them and how a lifetime of being selfish and arrogant will impact them. You cannot sustain a  lifetime of being miserable, mean and moody; so smile and laugh and be nice to other people. Life is short and should be as nice as you can make it. 

Before anyone tells me that there are maybe reasons why the grumpy brigade are as they are, I do understand that. But you have to remember that ruining someone else’s day does not improve your own and you may find you get a lot more out of being kind and thoughtful.