January 1, 2021
As this New Year’s Day draws to a close, I’m completing Day 1 of my planned 60-hour fast (from Thursday night to Sunday night). I’m hungry but I’m surviving. I just remembered to take my PM medications (only the prescription meds), and I’ve been drinking tea all day, first Earl Grey tea to stay awake and now Chamomile Lavender to help me relax and sleep. Linda and Emily are already asleep.
2020 was a pretty rough year for everybody. I had a lot of ups and downs in my attempts to keep my blood sugar under control. Same with weight. I started 2020 at 140 lbs. and ended with 134.4 lbs., although at one point in the summer I got down to 124.8 lbs. My average daily blood glucose was 132 in January 2020 and is 132 in January 2021. That’s equivalent to 6.2% A1C (on the high end of pre-diabetes). During the summer, I got down to 117 (A1C equivalent of 5.7% (low end of pre-diabetes). My goal is to get down to 5.6% A1C.
I have to confess that my current weakness is frozen berries (sprinkled with Truvia Spoonable). And dark chocolate, which would be fine if I could limit myself to “one square” (by Ghirardelli standards). And raw sunflower seeds which, again, would be fine if I would limit to 1/2 oz. For breakfast, I have 3 strips of microwaved bacon and one fried egg with tabasco or sriracha sauce. And coffee with heavy cream–always coffee–unless I’m fasting (when I drink Earl Grey tea).
I have a lot of work to do for Arlene Taylor this weekend, so I’ll probably do that on Sunday before I end my fast with a supper of ribeye steak with butter. Plus I’m planning to publish my own annual letter, and then continue with my obsession to get my book, Adventist Vegetarian Diabetics, published!
The worst thing is that the stress of the pandemic, along with Linda’s health issues, makes it very difficult to stay on track with diabetes control. I stopped keeping my food journal in MyFitnessPal in November when I was making recipes and it was too much work to find and/or add recipes right then so I stopped. Temporarily. I’m thinking I need to start again on Monday morning (when my fast will be over).
In lieu of New Year’s resolutions, I’m making the following plans (subject to change at a moment’s notice):
- Do a 60-hour fast the first weekend of every month in 2021. From Thursday night to Sunday night, as I’m doing now.
- Get back on track with intermittent fasting from 6 p.m. to 10 a.m. (16:8). Yeah, I could handle that, but I’ll have to eat supper at 5 p.m. (so I’ll be finished by 6 p.m.). Either that or delay breakfast until 11:00 a.m.
- For Lent (February 17-April 3), carnivore diet again.
- Stay on track with 20 grams net carbs daily.
- After meeting January deadlines for Arlene Taylor and Kinship Board Meeting, get serious about “gathering” financial information needed for income tax returns. Also, get a copy of TurboTax for 2020 (it’s available now on Amazon for $64.99!).
- Also, stay focused on publishing Adventist Vegetarian Diabetics!
- Continue to grocery shop in Alameda Safeway every Tuesday, and Alameda Farmers’ Market and Trader Joe’s every other Tuesday. Seriously, it’s the only day we leave home, except for the rare emergency medical appointments. All social interactions on done on Zoom or equivalent video chat apps.
- Continue to maintain financial records weekly and monthly.
All this, hopefully, will help to keep my stress levels down as much as possible.
Now it’s time to watch the January 1 edition of NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, which is on YouTube.
