posted January 02, 2008 08:59 AM         

I have been a vegetarian for at least 18 years, though there were phases involved. One can be vegetarian, and still be overweight or have other health problems due to poor food choices. Diet (or regular) sodas, french fries, potato chips, pasteurized dairy, etc., are all vegetarian choices, but they will not contribute to wellness.

If you are at a weight that would be considered for gastric bypass, than one can only conclude that your diabetes is associated with obesity. If you were to say goodbye to the extra weight and adopt a more healthy lifestyle (and I am not advocating gastric bypass), you might find that you no longer are diabetic.

In regards to Linda, was it not discussed that Linda refused to manage her diabetes through food choices? That she was fond of cookies and refined sugars, the sorts of things none of us should be eating for our health, especially if one is diabetic?

posted January 02, 2008 11:37 AM         

And yes, being overweight doesn't help. Which is why I've been wanting to lose weight..hence the Vegetarian lifestyle. I've tried different "diets" and such but none were a good fit. So since being a Vegetarian is a lifestyle as opposed to a diet, I was hoping this may work.
And I'm sure that I'd lose weight doing this...and if I lose enough weight, the diabetes may go away on it's own. Wishful thinking, maybe. But my sister went down to a size 8 pants and is no longer diabetic after doing the gastric bypass. She says if she had it to do over, she wouldn't have done it. It's a very demanding way of life and you need to be extremely committed to it.

And the diet soda will be the hard part for me. (Or as a friend pointed out.. doing it as a lexi gram, DIEt) I'm not so sure if it's the caffiene I'll miss or the carbonation. I find that when I get cravings then drink a soda, it's like I can feel the relief from the bubbles once it goes down. I'll keep you posted on my success or failure..

But I'm more curious what kind of supplements you'd need...the omega 3 fatty acids, a multi vitamin...but anything else?

posted January 02, 2008 12:54 PM         

I hope you can remove the Diet Pepsi from your diet.....

The ingredients are:

Carbonated water
Caramel Color
Aspartame
Phosphoric acid
Potassium benzoate (preserves freshness)
Caffeine
Citric acid
Natural flavors

The big agribusiness/food/beverage companies have known for years how detrimental to health aspartame is. The studies have been suppressed. Aspartame was approved by the FDA as a no-calorie replacement for sugar. But no one said anything about it stimulating the neurons in your brain to death. Please find a copy of "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills" by Dr Russell Blaylock at your library or bookstore. I believe I can find a link to a 90-minute video called "Sweet Misery"..... the link is in this string: http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/001987.html

One of the best things you could ever do for your body is to stop consuming soda pop. I'll go Trillian one better -- it's not crap, it's POISON!! If you must have caffeine, drink some of the many varieties of green tea, or take ginseng -- or get Yogi green tea with ginseng

I lost 45 lbs on the South Beach Diet, which is a cousin of Atkins (Atkins was too strict for me). I'm not at my goal weight yet, but following the low-carb food plans helped me to develop better eating habits -- more vegetables and fruits, rather than the highly-processed junk that passes for food in the grocery stores these days. A rule of thumb?? Stick to the outside aisles of the grocery store -- all the produce and stuff that's not so bad for you is there. The inside aisles are full of the packaged processed-to-death stuff..... I still find it amazing how the food companies take a natural product (say, wheat) pulverize it, take out everything that makes it nutritious, then add back in artificial vitamins and minerals for the ones they took out!!

Note: For Omega-6,-9 I get bottled flaxseed oil, but you can buy the seeds and grind your own. I also take 1000mg Fish Oil caps for Omega-3 -- with EPA and DHA -- these also help stave off minor depression (not clinical depression). I have a bad reaction to dairy (psoriasis) and I can't eat cheese for protein and calcium, so I take Cal-Mag-Zinc supplements or get oyster shell calcium, and there's also calcium in the green-leafies. I eat a lot of nuts and seeds -- sunflower or pumpkin seeds are a wonderful snack!!

And beware, when you're reading labels, of "Natural Flavoring" and "Spices" -- they're a disguise for many unhealthy things like MSG.....

posted January 02, 2008 05:43 PM         

"Bowing to pressure from health advocates, who increasingly blame fast food for America's expanding waistline, McDonalds says it will begin providing information about the nutritional content of its food.

McDonalds CEO Jim Skinner says that starting next year, the company will begin placing easy-to-read charts on food wrappers and packaging, listing calories, fat, carbohydrates and sodium. Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, called it "a useful step" but said McDonalds could do more.

"I wish that McDonalds would distinguish saturated and trans fat from total fat -- an important distinction that would help Americans reduce their risk of heart disease. As it happens, McDonalds fried foods are high in saturated and trans fat, since their potatoes, chicken, and fish are fried in a partially hydrogenated oil blend," Jacobson said. "One reason not to praise an announcement like today's too loudly is that McDonalds infamously retreated from its promise to reduce and ultimately eliminate the trans fat in its cooking oils. We hope that they eventually make good on that," he said.

If they don't already know, McDonalds customers will find out that their Quarter-pounder with cheese has 730 calories....."