Experiment 2: Salad with Vinaigrette Dressing

 Today, I made a vinaigrette salad. I expect it to have a small effect on my blood-sugar - an increase of 10 or 20 - and after two hours my blood-sugar will be back to where it was before.
 Ingredients:

• Mixed greens (mostly spinach)
• Olive oil
• A dab of mustard
• Balsamic vinegar (about 1/3 as much as olive oil)
• Salt
• Dried herbs
• Ground black pepper
• A few drops of lemon juice

Before: My blood-sugar read 118 (1:30pm).
Hypothesis: In one hour, my blood-sugar will read something between 125 and 135. After the second hour, my blood-sugar will be between 110 and 120.
Activity: Spent time on computer. Took a shower.
After 1 Hour: 115 (2:40pm)
After 2 Hours: 96 (3:40pm)

Conclusions:
 My blood-sugar barely went up at all. In fact, it went down more quickly than at any other part of the day. This surprised me, because I had assumed beforehand that the vinegar would elevate my sugar some. Especially since one of its ingredients is caramelized sugar. Eating green leaves probably helped my sugar drop. This is definitely a good meal for me to eat when my sugar is already high, but not ideal if my sugar is already below 70. I wonder if using different types of vinegar would affect my blood-sugar differently?

Experiment 1: Bell Pepper with Guacamole

 Since yesterday was cinqo de mayo, it seems appropriate that I make a dish that uses guacamole. The recipe is straightforward: 1 avocado, a bunch of parsley, several drops of lemon juice, and a couple pinches of salt. Nothing in this meal is cooked; it's all raw. I like this dish a lot. It's quick, easy, and I've never noticed it heavily effecting my blood-sugar before. However, I've also never taken a close look at what happens when I eat it.

 Beforehand: My blood-sugar measured at 60, which is lower than what I want. It is 10:40am when I am done eating. I have not gotten a noteworthy amount of exercise. I have not eaten any animal protein in over a month.
 Hypothesis: After 1 hour, my blood sugar will rise to the high 70s. After 2 hours, my blood sugar will have normalized in the mid 70s.
 Results 1: After the first hour (11:40am), my blood-sugar measured at 96.
 Results 2: After the second hour (12:35pm), my blood-sugar measured at 94.
 Activities: During the 2 hours, I drove to a grocery store, and spent time at my computer. No significant exercise.
 Conclusion: This dish is pretty safe for me to eat, but it does have a greater affect on me than I assumed. My hypothesis was wrong. In the future, I should try to discover if it was the avocado or the bell-pepper that caused the elevation.

Introduction

 Approximately four years ago, I was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes. It is sometimes called juvenile diabetes. I prefer to call it auto-immune diabetes, because the disease is an auto-immune disorder. This is a chronic disease, meaning that it will not go away on its own. It is caused by my aggressive immune system. For the most part, my white blood cells do a phenomenal job of protecting me from conventional disease, such as the flu or strep throat. However, they also attack part of my pancreas, hurting my ability to regulate my blood-sugar. Unless I learn how to take care of my health now, while I'm still young, I will likely have to face similar diseases in the future, such as multiple sclerosis and lupus.
 When we eat, some of the nutrients are converted into glucose, which is then kept in the blood stream. This determines one's blood-sugar level. Because this sugar is in our blood, having an abnormal blood-sugar will affect almost everything about me, such as: brain activity, vulnerability to illness, and physical strength. An ideal level would be between 70 and 90 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter), and this is what I strive to have between meals. As far as I know, all of the symptoms of diabetes (both types) are caused by having high blood sugar for long periods of time. If I can live a life-style where my blood sugar is nearly perfect, I won't show any of the symptoms. My life-span will greatly increase and I will have more energy and enthusiasm day-by-day.
 On January 8th, 2012, I stopped taking all medication. I no longer take Metformin. I no longer take insulin shots. In fact, I consume almost no drugs at all (including alcohol, caffeine, or pain-killers). I rely entirely on my life-style to function. Diet, exercise, sunlight. Some weeks, I have been more successful than others. In this blog, I will discuss my attempts to maintain a healthy life. By cataloging my experiments and data, I hope to provide more information about diabetes to the world at large. The evidence of one person might not be a game-changer, but if other diabetics compare their own information to mine, patterns can be discovered.

Conventional methods lead to conventional results.

 Relying on standard treatments will give me a reduced life span. I intend to live for a very long time, and to accomplish that, I have thrown away traditional medicine in order to find another way. By not eating meals that have been in preparation for over an hour, I have frustrated hosts and relatives. By opting out of using an insulin pump, I have suffered incredible fatigue when dealing with the transition between a high blood-sugar and a low one. I very rarely eat foods that I used to adore. In spite of all of these decisions, I can rarely maintain a healthy blood-sugar for very long, and not without eating very light.